As global competition over technology and supply chains intensifies, many Asian economies are shifting their focus from attracting capital to attracting people. High-quality human resources are emerging as a decisive factor in long-term competitiveness and are no less important than tax incentives or manufacturing infrastructure. After years of relying on cost advantages and macro-economic stability to attract foreign investment, Vietnam is now looking to add a new pillar to its development strategy: attracting and retaining talent, including overseas Vietnamese experts and highly skilled international professionals.
Party General Secretary To Lam has underscored the need to design special incentive policies, such as salaries beyond standard pay scales, housing, and supportive working environments, to attract “at least 100 top experts to return and work in Vietnam.” He has also called for the development of a comprehensive database of intellectuals at home and abroad, including overseas Vietnamese active in science and technology, to support high-quality workforce policymaking.
Breakthrough incentives
Vietnam’s talent attraction strategy is being gradually institutionalized through national policies, particularly as the country designates certain high-tech industries, including semiconductors, as priority sectors. Under this strategy, Vietnam aims to encourage overseas Vietnamese experts to return and contribute to domestic development.
Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan from the Department of Information Technology Industry at the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) said one of the top priorities of the national strategy is human resources development. The semiconductor development strategy identifies talent as the core factor and Vietnam’s greatest competitive advantage amid increasingly intense global competition.
In this context, the Law on Digital Technology Industry, passed by the National Assembly on June 14, 2025, and effective from January 1, 2026, for the first time introduces a range of breakthrough incentive mechanisms aimed at attracting and retaining talent. These measures particularly target overseas Vietnamese professionals returning to Vietnam to work while also widening access for highly-skilled international workers.
One notable policy, Mr. Tuan added, is the exemption from work permit requirements for high-quality human resources in the digital technology industry, including semiconductors. Previously, such exemptions applied only to special cases such as investors or diplomatic staff, but they have now been expanded to facilitate long-term employment for top experts, including overseas Vietnamese.
Vietnam is also introducing long-term visas of up to five years for high-quality talent, with eligibility extended to spouses and children under 18, whose visas will match the duration of the associated work permit. “This is a significant step forward,” he said. “For the first time, Vietnam is implementing such a broad, long-term visa policy, helping provide stability and peace of mind for experts considering returning to or coming to Vietnam to work.”
Another standout incentive is a five-year personal income tax exemption for high-quality workers in the digital technology industry, particularly semiconductors. This policy is designed to enhance the overall compensation package and strengthen Vietnam’s competitiveness in the regional race for talent.
The Law also allows for more flexible personnel mobility between the public sector and enterprises in digital technology and semiconductors. Under this framework, high-quality professionals can move between government agencies and private companies, enabling the State to attract top experts from the private sector while promoting the transfer of knowledge and experience across sectors.
Beyond central-level policies, local authorities have been granted greater autonomy to design their own resolutions providing additional support for talent, such as financial assistance, working conditions, housing, and transportation. Cities such as Da Nang and Ho Chi Minh City have already begun issuing tailored policies to attract high-quality human resources, helping create favorable ecosystems to draw and retain experts, including overseas Vietnamese scientists and engineers.
Mr. Nguyen Thanh Vinh, a semiconductor expert with more than 40 years of experience at leading US tech companies, said one effective approach would be to invite retired overseas Vietnamese experts to return to Vietnam for three to five years. “They could pass on their knowledge and experience to the younger generation,” he said. “To attract them, however, the government needs to ensure conditions such as housing, healthcare, and a good working environment.”
Encouraging returnees
Vietnam also needs a strategy to send young engineers abroad to study and work to gain experience, “but more importantly, it must have policies to bring them back,” Mr. Vinh stressed. “Overall, the government needs policies that encourage Vietnamese participation throughout the entire pipeline, from training and overseas placement to creating favorable conditions to return and contribute. If 100 engineers are sent abroad, just 10 to 15 returning with practical experience would be enough to lay the foundation for the semiconductor industry. They would become the nucleus for training the next generation. The key is to adopt long-term policies not only to attract them but also to retain them.”
China is often cited as a country that achieved notable success with such an approach, having sent talent abroad in the 1970s and 1980s before later attracting them back through large-scale programs such as the Thousand Talents Plan.
According to Professor Raymond Kai-yu Tong from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, attracting talent should begin by encouraging young people to study abroad to access advanced knowledge, technology, and experience, and then creating conditions for them to return and apply those skills at home.
The next step is to design comprehensive attraction packages, not only for individual experts but also for their families, such as housing support, preferential mortgage programs, and assurances of a high-quality education system so their children can study in Vietnam. “When experts have stable living arrangements and their children can pursue long-term education in Vietnam, they are more likely to develop a strong sense of attachment and remain committed to contributing to national development,” he said.
Creating an open environment
Professor Tong also noted that shifts in global supply chains have prompted many factories and production facilities to relocate from mainland China to Vietnam, creating significant opportunities for the economy. In this context, Vietnam’s increased investment in science and technology is, in his view, the right approach. He recommended that Vietnam remain steadfast in this strategy to better capture new investment waves and gradually build domestic manufacturing networks closely linked to science, technology, and innovation.
Alongside appropriate compensation and flexible policy mechanisms, modern research infrastructure and stable financial resources are seen as critical factors. According to Associate Professor Luu Anh Tuan from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and Executive Director of the VinUni Center for AI Research in Hanoi, income is not the most important consideration for many scientists. “What matters more is the research environment - an open space with academic freedom that allows experimentation and accepts trial and error,” he explained. “Science does not always deliver results on the first attempt, so there must be room to experiment, accept failure, and learn from it.”
Speaking at a policy workshop on solutions to promote Vietnam’s semiconductor industry, Mr. Nguyen Khac Lich, Director General of the Authority of ICT Industry and Communications at MoST, emphasized the need for more concrete and substantive support policies for high-quality experts. “Local authorities need to be bolder in designing policies and truly know how to value and utilize talent,” he believes. “Valuing talent should not stop at salaries or financial support. More importantly, experts must be entrusted with major challenges - tasks that are significant and demanding enough for them to fully apply their capabilities and remain committed over the long term. Without strategic missions and creative space, even generous compensation will struggle to retain talent.”
He also proposed clearly classifying experts, suggesting that alongside general policies, Vietnam should develop special mechanisms with stronger incentives for a truly elite group - those with outstanding contributions, multiple patents, or leadership roles at major technology corporations - rather than applying uniform policies across all groups.
Google translate