Holidays in Vietnam 2011 and 2012

If you’re traveling to Vietnam on business or pleasure, you’ll want to know when the holidays are.

You may be planning meetings, but offices or factories are closed.

Or you may be planning a relaxing trip, but find that the whole nation is on holiday and transportation facilities are congested.

So, here’s a list of holidays for your planning.

Holidays in Vietnam, including Vietnamese and U.S.
The U.S. Embassy list of official holidays has been approved consistent with the provisions the Socialist Republic of Vietnam’s Labor Code (Article 73).

U.S. Government Federal Holidays
If you’re planning to meet with U.S. officials at the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi or the U.S. Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City, these are the days when, by law, their offices are closed.

Federal law (5 U.S.C. 6103) establishes public holidays for Federal employees as listed on the link above.

Usually, when a federal holiday falls on a non-workday—Saturday or Sunday—the holiday is observed on Monday (if the holiday falls on Sunday) or Friday (if the holiday falls on Saturday).

The AmCham Vietnam in HCM City office is closed on the following U.S. and Vietnamese Holidays in 2011

2011

2012

Reference

Labour Code of Vietnam, draft revised Labour Code

SECTION III

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS, PERSONAL LEAVES AND UNPAID LEAVES

Article 129. Public holidays (Old Article 73)

1. An employee shall be entitled to have fully paid days off on the following public holidays:

a) Calendar New Year Holiday: one day (the first day of January of each calendar year);

b) Lunar New Year Holidays: four days (the final day of the old Lunar year and the first three days of the new Lunar year);

c) Victory Day: one day (the thirtieth day of April of each calendar year);

d) International Labor Day: one day (the first day of May of each calendar year);

dd) National Day: one day (the second day of September of each calendar year).

e) Commemorative Celebration of Vietnam’s Forefather – King Hung: one day (the 10th March of the Lunar year)

2. A foreigner working in Vietnam shall, in addition to the public holidays stipulated in clause 1 of this Article, be entitled to 1 traditional public holiday and 1 National Day of his/her country, both fully paid.

3. Where a holiday referred to in clause 1 of this Article coincides with a weekly day off, the employee shall be entitled to take the following day off as compensation.

Additional background information: Public Holidays in Vietnam