Key new policies will take effect from December 2025.
Several important new policies will take effect from December 2025, relating to National Identity Cards, civil service exams, payment accounts, and more.
Criteria for identifying particularly disadvantaged villages
This content is stipulated in Decree 272/2025/ND-CP on the demarcation of ethnic minority and mountainous areas for the period 2026 - 2030, effective from December 1, 2025.
Specifically, a particularly disadvantaged village is one located in an ethnic minority and mountainous area and meets at least two of the following three criteria:
- The multidimensional poverty rate is four times or more higher than the national average multidimensional poverty rate; in the Mekong Delta region alone, the poverty rate is two times or more higher.
- Less than 60% of village and inter-village roads are paved, ensuring convenient year-round access for vehicles according to road technical standards.
- The percentage of households with electricity purchase contracts is below 90%.
The debt is handled through the operations of a debt management company.
On September 30, 2025, the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam issued Circular 31/2025/TT-NHNN regulating the operations of subsidiaries and affiliated companies of credit institutions in the field of debt management and asset exploitation, effective from December 1, 2025.
Accordingly, the debt management company shall manage debt and exploit assets as stipulated in Clauses 1 and 2 of Article 4 of this Circular for the following debts:
- Overdue debts and bad debts include bad debts currently accounted for in the balance sheet, bad debts for which risk provisions have been used to write them but have not yet been recovered and are being monitored off the balance sheet, and debts that have been written off from the off-balance sheet according to the regulations of the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam (hereinafter referred to as bad debts);
- The debt that the Asset Management Company of Vietnamese credit institutions authorizes the Authorizing Party to manage.
The debt management company manages the debt and exploits the assets related to the debt that the Asset Management Company of a Vietnamese credit institution authorizes the authorizing party to manage, in accordance with the regulations on the establishment, organization, and operation of Asset Management Companies of Vietnamese credit institutions, and in compliance with the provisions on sub-authorization in the Civil Code.
Debt management companies buy and sell debts as stipulated in Clause 4, Article 4, arising from lending operations, payments made on behalf of others in guarantee operations, and receivables from financial leasing contracts that are overdue or bad debts.
Three individuals who violated regulations were suspended from taking the civil service exam.
The regulations and rules for civil servant recruitment and selection examinations effective from December 10, 2025, are outlined by the Ministry of Interior in Circular 22/2025/TT-BNV. This circular clearly specifies the cases of violations that will result in suspension, including:
- Having already received a warning but committing the offense again;
- Use in the examination room: Documents and materials not required by the exam; mobile phones, audio recorders, cameras, computers, technical means of receiving, transmitting and receiving information, data backup devices, and other information storage and transmission devices, except as otherwise specified;
- Causing insecurity and disorder, affecting the examination room.
Candidates who are suspended from an exam will have their results for that exam canceled and will not be allowed to continue taking any subsequent exams (if any).
Using an expired citizen identification card will result in a 1 million VND fine.
The government issued Decree 282/2025/ND-CP stipulating violations of regulations on the issuance, management, and use of Citizen Identity Cards, Identity Cards, Electronic Identity Cards, or Identity Certificates.
It states that using an expired Citizen Identity Card to commit illegal acts will result in a fine of 8 to 10 million VND.
At the same time, the offender will have the seized items and means of violation confiscated and will be required to return any illegal profits obtained from the violation.
In the case of a citizen identification card that has expired but the applicant has not applied for renewal or replacement, the offender will be subject to a warning or a fine ranging from 500,000 VND to 1,000,000 VND.
Those who take victims of traffic accidents to the hospital for emergency treatment will receive a subsidy of 5 million VND.
The government has stipulated this in Decree 279/2025/ND-CP on the establishment, financial sources, management, operation, and use of the Road Traffic Accident Damage Reduction Fund, effective from December 15, 2025.
Accordingly, based on the severity of the traffic accident, the level of support for organizations and individuals directly involved in assisting, rescuing, and transporting victims of road traffic accidents to hospitals is as follows: support not exceeding 10 million VND for organizations/01 incident and not exceeding 5 million VND for individuals/01 incident.
In addition, families of victims who died in road traffic accidents and are facing economic difficulties will receive support of up to 20 million VND per case.
Drilling wells without a permit can result in fines of up to 250 million VND.
From December 25, 2025, according to Decree 290/2025/ND-CP regulating administrative penalties in the field of water resources, the penalties for drilling wells without a permit are as follows:
The act of exploring for groundwater without permission from the competent authority will be subject to penalties based on the number of wells drilled in the project, with the highest fine reaching 40 million VND.
For cases of unlicensed groundwater extraction, the penalty is determined based on the extraction volume (m³/day), with the highest penalty being 250 million VND when the extraction volume of the facility is 12,000 m³ or more.
Twelve individuals were allowed to open foreign currency accounts abroad.
The State Bank of Vietnam has issued regulations on the opening and use of foreign currency accounts abroad by resident organizations in Circular 39/2025/TT-NHNN, effective from December 15, 2025.
Accordingly, there are 12 specific cases corresponding to 3 groups of individuals eligible to open foreign currency accounts abroad, as follows:
* The group of credit institutions includes 04 cases:
1. Conducting foreign exchange activities abroad requires a license from the State Bank of Vietnam; no further licensing is necessary.
2. Obtaining a foreign loan when the contract requires opening a foreign currency account abroad.
3. Meeting the requirements for obtaining a license to establish and operate a representative office, branch, or wholly-owned bank abroad.
4. To support the operations of overseas representative offices.
* The group of economic organizations includes 05 cases:
5. Meeting the conditions for establishing and operating branches and representative offices abroad.
6. Supporting the operations of branches and representative offices abroad.
7. Implement foreign loan agreements in accordance with the lender's terms.
8. Enterprises classified as particularly important investments or PPP projects that fulfill commitments and agreements with foreign parties.
9. Fulfilling commitments, agreements, and contracts with foreign parties, including: construction contracts, ship purchase contracts, or other contracts (Clause 5).
* Other organizational groups include 3 cases:
10. Receiving foreign aid.
11. Receiving foreign funding.
12. Carry out other actions permitted by the competent authorities of Vietnam.
Standards for the professional title of doctor
The codes and standards for medical doctor professional titles are outlined by the Ministry of Health in Circular 41/2025/TT-BYT, effective from December 18, 2025.
Specifically, doctors with professional title rank 3 have the following qualifications:
- Regarding educational qualifications: Graduated with a Doctor of Medicine or Dentistry degree; Possess a license to practice medicine or a certificate of professional development; If graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine degree from a foreign educational institution recognized by the Ministry of Education and Training, a license (certificate) to practice medicine or recognition of equivalent qualifications as a doctor is required.
- Regarding primary responsibilities: Performing medical examinations, treatment, emergency care, and professional consultations within the assigned scope; Providing advice, communication, and health education to patients; Managing and reporting technical errors and improving the quality of medical examinations and treatment; Participating in professional training, development, and scientific research at the grassroots level.
