Vietnam’s New Civil Servant Staffing Rules Set Annual Allocation Powers and Deadlines
Vietnam’s Decree No. 405/2026, effective November 11, 2026, sets procedures and deadlines for allocating civil servant positions across ministries and local authorities. Staffing levels must reflect job positions and prescribed standards.
The Vietnamese government has issued Decree No. 405/2026 on the management and use of civil servant staffing, effective November 11, 2026. It applies to administrative bodies of ministries and ministry-level agencies, provincial and commune-level People’s Committees and bodies of People’s Councils, and Vietnamese representative offices abroad. The Ministry of National Defense and Ministry of Public Security are excluded from its scope for ministries. Civil servant staffing must be determined according to job positions and staffing standards set by the relevant authorities.
At the central level, the Ministry of Home Affairs is responsible for submitting proposed five-year civil servant staffing totals for each ministry to the authorized body for a decision. After reporting to the prime minister, the minister of home affairs must decide each ministry’s annual allocation before October 1 of the year preceding the planned year. Ministry heads must then decide, or delegate authority to decide, the annual allocations for agencies under their management before October 31 of that year.
At the local level, provincial People’s Committees must report to the authority responsible for managing staffing before submitting annual allocations for provincial administrative bodies, and the annual staffing total for each commune-level administrative unit, to the People’s Council at the same level for a decision. Within the total set by the provincial People’s Council, commune-level People’s Committees submit annual allocations for each body under their management to the People’s Council at the same level for a decision.
The decree provides that people included in the staffing establishment before April 1, 1993, who currently work in support or service positions at the relevant administrative bodies remain part of the civil servant staffing establishment. The ministers of public security and national defense will issue implementation guidance for their respective areas of management, taking account of the characteristics of the armed forces.
In its report to the National Assembly on staffing for 2027–2031, the Vietnamese government said it had directed the Ministry of Home Affairs to work with the Communist Party of Vietnam’s Central Organization Commission to review job positions, determine staffing needs and develop a staffing plan. The commission is expected to report the political system’s staffing plan for that period to the party’s Politburo in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Source: VietVance
