🇻🇳 Lawful hiring · fair work · child safety
Domestic help and nannies in Vietnam
Vietnam's Labour Code expressly covers domestic workers—including housekeeping, babysitting, nursing, elder care, driving and gardening—and requires a written employment contract. This applies even when hiring through a casual recommendation or personal referral.
Last verified 29 August 2026
The short answer
Can a family hire domestic help in Vietnam?
A household hiring a regular nanny or domestic worker in Vietnam should use a written contract that states pay method and frequency, working hours and accommodation. The Labour Code also requires respect for dignity, clean accommodation and dining where agreed, an insurance-related payment and return travel at the end of service in specified circumstances. A foreign family should separately confirm its capacity to contract and any residence-registration or tax procedure locally.
Choose the type of help you need
Four arrangements with different responsibilities
A worker supplied by a company, a part-time household worker and a live-in nanny can create different employment, immigration, insurance and safeguarding responsibilities.
Cleaning service
Task-based visits with company administration
Part-time domestic worker
Regular work for one or more households
Household-employed nanny
Regular childcare under family direction
Live-in household role
Broader daily support with accommodation
Your responsibilities as an employer
What the rules mean for your family
Use this as a starting point, then confirm the current requirements with the relevant authority or a qualified local adviser. Swipe the table on smaller screens.
| Topic | Current position | What the family should do |
|---|---|---|
| Who is covered | Article 161 covers regular domestic work for one or more households, including cooking, housekeeping, babysitting, nursing, elder care, driving and gardening. | Name the actual role; do not relabel a regular employee as a casual favour or contractor without advice. |
| Written contract | Article 162 requires a written employment contract and specifies pay method/period, working hours and accommodation among its contents. | Use Vietnamese plus a version the family understands, and give the worker their signed copy. |
| Ending the contract | The parties negotiate duration; either may terminate at any time with 15 days' advance notice under Article 162. | Add handover, final pay, belongings, records and child-transition arrangements without taking away statutory rights. |
| Insurance amount | Article 163 requires the employer to pay the worker an amount corresponding to social and health-insurance premiums for the worker to manage. | Ask a current Vietnamese labour/payroll adviser how to calculate, record and pay it under the 2025 social-insurance framework. |
| Dignity and accommodation | The employer must respect honour and dignity and provide clean, hygienic accommodation and dining where agreed. | Treat private space, sanitation, food and off-duty privacy as contract terms, not informal generosity. |
| Prohibited conduct | Mistreatment, sexual harassment, forced labour, violence and assigning work contrary to the contract are prohibited. | Give the worker an independent contact and a route to raise concerns; never retain documents or use debt to prevent leaving. |
What matters most
What to include in a domestic worker's contract
Clear written terms help both the family and worker understand the arrangement and reduce the chance of later disputes.
Identity + lawful relationship
Name both parties, workplace, start, duration and the actual household role.
Duties + childcare boundaries
List cleaning, cooking, school runs, sole charge, medicines and tasks that are outside scope.
Time + money
Set hours, rest, pay method and date, extra work, leave and the insurance-related amount.
Dignity + safe exit
Protect privacy, accommodation, notice, final pay, travel and return of all documents and property.
Hiring a nanny also means making safeguarding checks
Employment checks and child-safety checks are different
Lawful status does not prove childcare competence, and a warm reference does not prove lawful status. Complete both sets of checks before anyone provides sole-charge care.
Direct references
Call former households using independently found contact details where possible; confirm dates, duties, child ages, reliability and reason for leaving.
Language-safe instructions
Translate allergy, medicine, pool, transport and emergency rules and ask the nanny to explain them back rather than simply agree.
Observed transition
Use paid overlap for meals, naps, school collection and child comfort; increase sole charge only after evidence, not urgency.
Respectful verification
Check identity and qualifications proportionately. Do not retain original documents or use invasive personal questions as a substitute for safeguarding.
Immediate red flags: pressure to retain a passport, unexplained recruitment debt, no private contact with the worker, resistance to direct references, a role or employer that does not match permission, or a request to hide the arrangement from an authority.
Research from home
Five steps to hiring safely and fairly
Use these steps before a scouting trip or move. They help you turn a vague plan to “get a helper” into specific checks, questions and records.
- 01
Describe the household job
Write a weekly timetable and decide whether childcare or domestic work is primary.
- 02
Understand the hiring arrangement
Identify whether an agency supplies a service or the household becomes employer; obtain current local advice for registrations and payments.
- 03
Verify competence
Check identity, references, infant/child experience, first aid, transport and language using real family scenarios.
- 04
Sign before the start
Complete the written contract, insurance-related amount, accommodation and safeguarding schedule before the first unsupervised shift.
- 05
Record and review
Keep pay, leave, changed duties and incident notes; update the contract rather than letting the role expand verbally.
Budget for more than the wage
Work out the complete cost of employing someone
Figures date quickly and roles differ. Collect current written quotes, then compare every required cost on the same basis.
Agreed wage
City, hours, experience, language, sole charge and live-in status affect market terms.
Insurance-related payment
The Labour Code places a specific payment obligation on the employer; calculate it with current local advice.
Leave and holiday cover
Tết and family travel can create extended absences and transport pressure; agree the calendar early.
Accommodation and meals
Where agreed, hygienic accommodation and dining are employer responsibilities with a real cost.
End-of-service travel
Article 163 includes return travel at service end, subject to its stated exception; budget and document it.
How local arrangements differ
What to expect in different places
- Ho Chi Minh City
- Broadest agency and candidate depth, with long commutes affecting punctuality and retention.
- Hanoi
- Strong household-support market; language, district and Tết planning are especially important.
- Da Nang
- Smaller pool and shorter geography; specialist newborn or English-fluent candidates may be fewer.
- Key warning
- A verbal arrangement does not satisfy the Labour Code's written-contract rule.
Continue the family research
Make domestic help part of the wider family plan
Domestic help cannot solve an impossible school run, unsuitable visa or unaffordable budget. Consider it alongside the rest of your household plan.
Common questions
Questions about domestic help and nannies in Vietnam
Is domestic help common for expat families in Vietnam?
Regular and part-time household support is available in the main family cities, but availability, language, childcare experience and commute vary. Common practice does not replace the Labour Code requirement for a written contract with a regular domestic worker.
Does a nanny in Vietnam need a written contract?
Yes, when the nanny is a domestic worker within Article 161. Article 162 requires a written employment contract and says it must specify matters including salary payment method and period, working hours and accommodation.
What jobs count as domestic work in Vietnam?
The 2019 Labour Code lists cooking, housekeeping, babysitting, nursing, caring for elders, driving, gardening and other non-commercial work for a household. Assigning work contrary to the contract is prohibited.
What notice applies to a domestic worker in Vietnam?
Article 162 says either party may terminate at any time with 15 days' advance notice. Obtain local advice for final pay, serious misconduct, overlapping general rules and any changed legislation before acting.
Does the employer pay social insurance for a domestic worker?
Article 163 requires an amount corresponding to social- and health-insurance premiums to be paid to the worker for them to manage. Because Vietnam's social-insurance law changed in 2025, obtain current local calculation and record-keeping advice rather than copying an old percentage.
Can we bring a foreign nanny to Vietnam?
Do not assume a family residence route permits this. A foreign worker would engage separate Vietnamese work-permit, employer and occupational rules. Confirm the proposed arrangement with the competent labour and immigration authorities before travel or work.
What should we check when hiring a nanny in Vietnam?
Check identity, references, actual child-age experience, language, first aid, transport, allergies and emergency judgement. Then use a paid observed handover and attach family safeguarding rules to the written employment contract.