Decree 124/2024/NĐ-CP · Amendments to Decree 86
What this means for you
- The 2024 amendments must be read with later 2026 changes, not used as a standalone licensing checklist.
- For joint programs, verify the current institutional-decision route while retaining curriculum, faculty, assessment and learner-protection evidence.
- For a new foreign higher-education provider or university branch, use Decree 361 and check any saved-file transition; old capital and procedure summaries may be historical.
Questions about how this applies to your institution? Talk it through with a USVN senior advisor.
The detail
1. The rule and its status
Decree 124 amended the foreign-cooperation and investment framework in86/2018, but later2026 instruments now displace some of its foreign-HEI/branch conditions. Amending instrument, partly applicable: issued October 5, 2024; effective November 20, 2024. Official consolidated86/124 text.
2. Who it affects and what it means for a US school
The changes matter to linked programs and foreign providers, including institutions using an older dossier checklist. Read the amended provision and its later history, rather than treating124 as a separate standalone licensing system. A2024 branch condition may now be historical for a new application while still relevant to a saved earlier file.
3. What to do, by partnership model
- Recruitment: ensure claims reflect the current program and delivery location. Separate study-abroad consultancy from running a linked program.
- 2+2/3+1: verify the actual Vietnam/overseas teaching arrangement under amended Articles 16–20, with course-level transfer decisions under the applicable later rules.
- Dual degree/joint program: use the current institutional-decision/quality-evidence checklist under Resolution 66.18 where applicable; the older government dossier is historical. The former supervisory-body policy-consent requirement at Article 21(1)(e) is repealed, as the official consolidation's footnote27 records. Keep the remaining agreement, institutional/program authorization, quality and operating evidence.
- Online/blended: amended Article 20(3) requires in-person assessments at the Vietnamese partner except specified force-majeure circumstances. Apply the current circulars to mode, technology and recognition separately.
- Branch campus: Decree 361 now supplies the new conditions. The former top500 test was one of the previous three years, not threeconsecutive years; the current361 test retains that distinction. Historical500-billion capital figures must be labeled as earlier rules, not the new baseline.
These implications depend on the relevant surviving provision; there is no universal exemption from approval based on an MOU, foreign accreditation or institutional autonomy.
Approval-route update, checked October 30, 2026: Resolution 66.18/2026/NQ-CP, Annex I.11 section 1.C.IV–VI, replaces the specified prior approval/extension/adjustment procedures with HEI decisions, disclosure, database updates and supervision, while retaining substantive quality conditions. Its relevant window generally runs July 1, 2026–February 28, 2027, subject to Article 7(4)'s intervening-instrument rule and the specific existing-approval/pending-file transitions. An old ministry dossier, five-year renewal period or autonomy label does not by itself establish the current route. Official resolution · Tracker and transition detail. Verify the institution's decision-maker and the actual program's current legal basis.
4. Change history
The official consolidation annotates 124's amendments to 86. Resolution 30 continues the older decrees only subject to listed exclusions and consistency with current law. Decree 361 Article 41(2)(đ) removes listed foreign-HEI/branch provisions from September 17, 2026. Article 42(10) preserves the remaining transition under 124 Article 3(2)(đ) for specified already-operating foreign institutions, while barring new Vietnam recruitment where investment registration had not been obtained by 361's effective date. This is a scoped transition, not permission for any new foreign provider to start informally.
5. Sources and verification
Official Vietnamese consolidated text · Later361 signed text
Last verified: 2026-10-30. English explanation; the official Vietnamese text controls.
6. Related pages
Decree 86 · New investment/operation rules · Joint programs · University Atlas · Why partnerships stall.
7. Briefing and legal note
Not legal advice. Prepare a briefing with a USVN senior advisor with the contract, approval and filing dates before relying on an older amendment or transition.
For general information only, not legal advice. Confirm requirements with qualified counsel and the relevant Vietnamese authorities before acting.