Preparing Application Dossiers for the Multi-Level School License Vietnam Process

The multi-level school license Vietnam process requires more than standard business registration and must be carefully structured to avoid licensing delays, additional investment costs, and disruptions to school opening schedules. Investors that follow the wrong regulatory pathway may face difficulties with site approval, facility standards, staffing conditions, and education authority assessments. Under the Law on Enterprises and Businesses, establishing the corporate entity is only the initial step, while specialized education approvals remain essential before operations begin. Before proceeding with Long Phan Consulting, investors should review the proposed school model, land and facility documents, investment conditions, staffing plans, and application dossiers required for licensing.

Legal Nature of Multi-Level General Education Institutions

A multi-level school must be accurately classified as a multi-level general education institution rather than an independent “license” category. Misinterpreting this framework causes Foreign Investors to structure applications with missing corporate layers, inadequate infrastructure conditions, or incorrect educational licensing authorities.

Regarding investment strategy, Clients must finalize the legal model before committing land budgets, facility designs, and personnel recruitment. Each model dictates distinct licensing conditions, application dossiers, and regulatory risks:

• Domestic private schools: The enterprise acts as the legal entity executing the project, managing capital, and bearing operational responsibility. You must establish appropriate corporate status before applying for the Decision on establishment approval, pursuant to Clause 1, Article 19 of the Law on Investment.
• Foreign-invested educational institutions: The project requires supplementary investment procedures prior to school establishment. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) projects must secure an Investment Registration Certificate (IRC) before establishing the institution, pursuant to Clause 3, Article 30 of Decree No. 86/2018/ND-CP.
• Institutions executing educational linkages: The regulatory focus extends beyond capital to encompass curricula, tuition fees, enrollment scale, and diploma equivalency. The educational linkage program scheme must explicitly detail these elements, pursuant to Clause 1, Article 9 of Decree No. 86/2018/ND-CP.

Therefore, acquiring a school license fundamentally requires structuring the correct investment model first, followed by deploying the establishment and educational operation dossiers. This serves as the primary control point to mitigate capital overruns and severe project delays.

Prerequisites and Compliance Standards Prior to Multi-Level School Licensing

Foreign Investors must conduct thorough due diligence on land, structural design, Fire Prevention and Fighting (PCCC) compliance, and financial capacity before submitting educational dossiers. Regulatory bottlenecks rarely stem from the School establishment scheme itself. Instead, delays arise when land funds, permanent structures, and classroom blocks fail to meet practical operational prerequisites.

• Infrastructure and Academic Mandates: Secondary education institutions must possess land, facilities, and equipment satisfying statutory standards for location, scale, and area. They must simultaneously secure appropriate educational programs and teaching materials, pursuant to Clauses 1 and 2, Article 27 of Decree No. 125/2024/ND-CP.
• FDI Capital Minimums: Foreign-invested educational institutions require upfront financial risk quantification. Projects must maintain a minimum investment capital of 50 million VND per student, excluding land use costs. The total minimum capital must not fall below 50 billion VND, pursuant to Clause 2, Article 35 of Decree No. 86/2018/ND-CP.
• Design and Safety Synchronization: Severe compliance risks emerge when construction designs, PCCC dossiers, or site planning fail to synchronize with educational standards. In such scenarios, Clients may exhaust substantial capital without successfully securing the Decision on educational operation approval.

>> See more: Steps to apply for a Vocational Education Operation License

The 4-stage roadmap for evaluating and licensing educational activities

The process of applying for a license to operate a multi-level school should be managed as a multi-layered investment project, not a single administrative procedure. Each stage requires its own documentation, responsible person, and control points to avoid overlap between legal, construction, and educational operation.

1. Preparing the investment foundation: Investors need to establish or review the legal entity of the project, determine land use rights, capital plan, and infrastructure development plan. Enterprises are established according to Article 17 of the 2020 Enterprise Law; foreign investors, however, need to prepare investment procedures according to Article 33 of Decree No. 86/2018/ND-CP.
2. Please issue a decision allowing the establishment of the school: This is the step where the State legally recognizes the educational project, but does not yet permit enrollment or teaching. The application should include a proposal for establishing a private school, location, scale for each educational level, financial resources, and a draft of the organizational and operational regulations.
3. Please issue a decision permitting educational activities: This phase is the on-site assessment round, where the relevant agency evaluates whether the school, equipment, program, and personnel are ready to operate. The dossier should include a list of the principal, teachers, support staff, teaching materials, and student safety conditions.
4. Announcement, enrollment, and operation: Investors should only announce enrollment after receiving the Decision permitting educational activities. For educational institutions with foreign investment, violations of educational laws that warrant suspension can lead to further consequences suspend educational activities according to Point d, Clause 2, Article 50 of Decree No. 86/2018/ND-CP.

In cases of serious violations or when the suspension period has expired but the cause has not been rectified, foreign-invested educational institutions may be subject to penalties dissolve as stipulated in Points b and c, Clause 2, Article 51 of Decree No. 86/2018/ND-CP, as amended and supplemented by Point b, Clause 30, Article 1 of Decree 124/2024/ND-CP.

Therefore, the licensing process needs to be designed in parallel with construction progress, recruitment, and student recruitment communication. Collecting reservation fees too early can create legal risks and erode market confidence.

Decentralization of Approval Authority by Multi-Level Educational Model

Clients must identify the competent processing agency based on the project’s highest educational level. Submitting dossiers to the wrong appraisal authority strictly delays commercial opening schedules. This administrative error directly extends land lease durations and inflates pre-operational personnel costs.

The core dossier management principle dictates that the highest academic level determines the primary appraisal body. For models involving foreign elements, Foreign Investors must concurrently verify specific jurisdictions governing establishment and educational operations.

In practice, the Department of Education and Training (DOET) or the Division of Education and Training rarely conducts independent appraisals. The appraisal committee routinely requires consultative opinions from competent authorities overseeing construction, finance, land, and health. They will also mandate clearance from the Fire Prevention, Fighting and Rescue Police Agency.

Therefore, Clients must proactively prepare an interdisciplinary explanatory dossier covering capital, zoning, permanent structures, and school safety. Ultimately, a robust educational dossier lacking infrastructure acceptance testing will inevitably delay the Decision on educational operation approval.

Roadmap for Restructuring Educational Legal Entities and Transitional Provisions

Foreign Investors must review their ownership structures prior to expansion, Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) in education, or securing a multi-level school license. Transitional regulations can protect pending dossiers but simultaneously impose mandatory restructuring obligations on legacy legacy models.

Clients must integrate the following transitional milestones into their legal, financial, and internal governance plans:

• Restructuring individual investor groups: Private educational institutions directly established by two or more investors must transform into economic organizations. This must be completed within a maximum of 12 months from January 1, 2026, pursuant to Point e, Clause 3, Article 2 of the 2025 Amended Education Law.
• Preserving pre-transition dossiers: Valid dossiers submitted before July 1, 2026, shall continue to be processed under the regulations applicable at the time of submission. This applies even if the jurisdictional authority changes, pursuant to Point c, Clause 3, Article 2 of the 2025 Amended Education Law.
• Exemption from new dossier requirements: Licensing application dossiers submitted before the effective date of Decree No. 125/2024/ND-CP do not require supplementation under the new regulations, pursuant to Clause 2, Article 120 of Decree No. 125/2024/ND-CP.
• Exemption from re-licensing for operational schools: General education institutions established and permitted for educational operations before the effective date of Decree No. 125/2024/ND-CP do not need to reapply for operational approval, pursuant to Clause 1, Article 120 of Decree No. 125/2024/ND-CP.

For foreign-invested educational institutions or educational linkage programs approved before the effective date of Decree No. 86/2018/ND-CP, Foreign Investors are exempt from re-approval or re-licensing of operations. This is governed by Clauses 2 and 3, Article 66 of Decree No. 86/2018/ND-CP.

Therefore, prior to receiving transfers or injecting additional capital into a multi-level school, Clients must audit the license status, corporate structure, and dossier submission dates. Errors during this phase can severely devalue the transaction or trigger unforeseen restructuring obligations.

>> See more: Conditions and procedures for establishing a private preschool newest

Consulting and Execution Services fof the Multi-Level School License Vietnam Process at Long Phan Consulting Company

Multi-level school projects demand rigorous synchronization across land use, investment, construction, fire safety, finance, and specialized educational conditions. Navigating this local legal complexity is critical to preventing costly delays. Long Phan Consulting Company empowers Foreign Investors by translating complex regulatory barriers into a streamlined licensing roadmap, distinct appraisal milestones, and actionable compliance solutions.

Legal Due Diligence on Land Funds and Project Risk Assessment

Before injecting capital or signing leases, Clients must verify land suitability for educational purposes. Zoning or PCCC discrepancies will stall the entire licensing plan.

• Reviewing land titles, lease agreements, lease terms, and the legal land use rights of the target site to ensure long-term stability.
• Assessing the feasibility of converting land use purposes to educational land while evaluating construction density, evacuation routes, and statutory safety risks.
• Conducting comprehensive legal due diligence on school projects prior to executing M&A transactions, capital contributions, or joint ventures.

Drafting the School Establishment Scheme and Financial Structure

The School establishment scheme is the central document proving necessity, financial capacity, and operational viability. Weak dossiers routinely face multiple supplementary requests from appraisal authorities.

• Drafting the comprehensive School establishment scheme tailored to each educational level and standardizing the institution’s organizational and operational regulations.
• Structuring and optimizing financial models to definitively prove investment capital capacity, funding sources, and long-term institutional development plans.
• Auditing the professional profiles of principals, teaching staff, medical personnel, accountants, and supporting administrators for strict statutory compliance.

Representation and Specialized Explanation to Interdisciplinary Committees

The appraisal process generates inquiries from multiple state agencies beyond the education sector. Proactive explanation strategies prevent delays in securing the Decision on educational operation approval.

• Serving as the authorized representative to directly interface and resolve inquiries with the Department of Education and Training (DOET).
• Coordinating cross-agency explanations with Departments of Construction, Finance, Land Management, and the Fire Prevention, Fighting and Rescue Police Agency.
• Continuously tracking the dossier’s progression until both the Decision on establishment approval and the Decision on educational operation approval are successfully issued.

Clients, CEOs, or Chief Legal Officers are invited to send project dossiers via Email (info@longphanpmt.com) or Zalo/WhatsApp (+84 906 735 386) for a preliminary evaluation by Long Phan Consulting Company.

Frequently Asked Questions about the Multi-Level School License Vietnam Process for Investors:

The following issues often determine the progress of obtaining a license for a multi-level school, especially when the project involves FDI capital, long-term land leases, or early enrollment preparations. Investors need to address each question as a risk control point before budgeting, signing lease agreements, or announcing operational plans.

Conclusion

Securing a multi-level school license in Vietnam must be strategically planned as a multi-tiered legal project. It is inextricably linked to the Decision on establishment approval and the Decision on educational operation approval for the multi-level general education institution. Foreign Investors must proactively control the corporate model, land funds, fire safety compliance, capital, curricula, and personnel. This strict governance prevents delayed openings, inflated facility leasing costs, and the severe risks of premature enrollment. To construct a secure licensing roadmap, CEOs, Foreign Investors, and legal departments should contact Hotline  1900636389. Long Phan Consulting Company is prepared to support your dossier structuring and provide expert appraisal representation.