What does it take for a foreigner to start a small business in Vietnam?

i could be wrong but i believe you still must partner w a viet namese..wait for "smiler" and "traveler" to answer..they'll give you the straight scoop.. i do believe they both do business in vn

It is not too difficult for you to start a small business such as a restaurant in Vietnam. The most difficult thing in my opinion is to find a good place to open your restaurant because Sai Gon, Nha Trang and Hanoi are expensive cities. What you need to do is: - Find a location for your restaurant - Contact the authority of the place to pay business tax and inform him/her about the business - Start to sell your products. Some paperworks can occur during this process so if you have any Vietnamese friend in Vietnam, it would be great because he/she can help you. Everything will be fine and there should be no difficulty for you. Good luck! Albert

The paperwork is the main problem I think, not a big problem but it would take your time and delay a little bit before you can start your business or something may happen along your business running time. If you look at this ranking report: http://www.doingbusiness.org/economyrankings/ You can see that doing business in Vietnam has some difficulties in terms of paperwork. But I believe it will be much better and better in the future. Secondly, regarding to your business idea, another main problem would be the location for your restaurant like someone here already mentioned, including renting property price. Good luck and I personally love to see business coming here.

Rather than open a small restaurant in Nha Trang, why don't you go and throw your money in the street, or better still give it to the post card sellers ect, at least that way you will be giving it to people that need it and not the police or the mafia and you wont have all the head aches and dissapointment that will surely happen if you follow this dream,either way you will lose all your money. Sorry to be so cynical but i have seen dozens fail. If you need more detailes send me an e-mail, but might i suggest that you come and live here for a year or so, look and learn, and never ever trust anyone. As for paperwork ect, if you have the money they have the rubber stamp.