Is it possible to hire a foreigner as a Legal Representative? – Because of business strategy and goals, many business owners want to hire foreigners to run their businesses. However, if doing so, what conditions must be met? Is it as complicated as when foreigners invest in Vietnam? Let’s learn about this issue with Phuc Cau Law.
1. Regulations on legal representatives
According to Clause Article 12 of the Law on Enterprises 2020, the legal representative of an enterprise is the individual that exercises the rights and fulfills the obligations on when making transactions on behalf of the enterprise, represents the enterprise as the plaintiff, defendant, and person with relevant interests and duties before the arbitral tribunal, the court, exercises other rights and fulfills other obligations as prescribed by law.
In addition, the provisions surrounding the Legal Representative are as follows:
– A limited liability company or joint-stock company may have one or multiple legal representatives. The quantity, titles, rights and obligations of the legal representative of the enterprise shall be specified in the company’s charter.
– There must always be at least one legal representative that resides in Vietnam. If the enterprise has only one legal representative, such person must reside in Vietnam and authorize another person in writing to perform the legal representative’s rights and obligations when leaving Vietnam.
– The legal representative is responsible for being loyal to the interests of the enterprise, not misuse his position and power, or property of the enterprise and using information, know-how, business opportunities, and other assets of the enterprise for personal gain or serve the interests of other organizations or individuals and take personal responsibility for the enterprise for violating its responsibilities.
2. Can an enterprise hire a foreigner as legal representatives of companies in Vietnam?
According to the provisions of the Law on Enterprises 2020, there is no requirement that the Legal Representative must have Vietnamese nationality. Therefore, enterprises can completely hire foreigners to be the Legal Representative and this is a normal labor contract like any other labor contract. However, since this is a foreigner, the following requirements should be kept in mind:
– Have a specific place of residence in Vietnam;
– To authorize another person to perform his/her rights and obligations in case he/she leaves Vietnam for more than 30 days;
– Have a work permit for the position held at the company.
Above is the article of Phuc Cau Law. In case there is anything in the article that is confusing or unclear or the information stated in the article makes you not fully understand the problem, we look forward to receiving your feedback to the mail pclawfirm.vn@gmail.com or the call center online consultation 0236.777.3979. We are ready to respond.
