Labour outsourcing, which means the provision of labour force by a labour outsourcing service provider ("Labour Outsourcing Provider") to enterprises, is permitted under the new Labour Code No. 10/2012/QH13 ("Labour Code 2012"). In implementing labour outsourcing, the licenced Labour Outsourcing Provider will recruit employees and assign such employees to work for another employer in accordance with a labour outsourcing service contract.

A newly issued Decree 55 imposes certain restrictions on labour outsourcing. Under Decree 55, there are only 17 jobs in which labour outsourcing is allowed. Further, a Labour Outsourcing Provider is only allowed to allocate an employee to a client for a period of twelve months in aggregate; this period is not renewable. In order to be licenced, the Labour Outsourcing Provider shall satisfy certain conditions in terms of capital (i.e. VND 2 billion), facilities (i.e. 2-year leased office), and capable human resources (i.e. legal representative having at least 3 years of experience).

Although the Labour Code 2012 and Decree 55 serve to open doors for labour outsourcing, the provision and receipt of such labour outsourcing services is still under substantial limitation. Moreover, due to unclear regulations relating to labour outsourcing, more guidelines are still needed from the competent labour authorities for an efficient implementation of labour outsourcing.