Vietnam interview recording laws: the 2025 Personal Data Protection Law, consent and deleting candidate data

Vietnam now has a full data protection statute with a rule written for recruiters. The Law on Personal Data Protection (Law No. 91/2025/QH15), in force since January 1, 2026, says recruiters may ask only for information that serves recruitment, must have the candidate's consent, and must delete or destroy a rejected candidate's information unless agreed otherwise (article 25). Consent must be informed and recorded in a verifiable form (article 9), and the Criminal Code lists unlawfully recording a conversation as a privacy offense. Ask first, confirm in writing, and delete when the process ends. This is the position as of November 2026.

This page adds Vietnam to our country series alongside Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. It is for recruiters, agency consultants and hiring managers who interview candidates located in Vietnam by video or phone, including from the US. Before the 2025 Law, the main rulebook was Decree No. 13/2023/ND-CP; article 39 lets processing already consented to under that decree continue without new consent and keeps impact assessment dossiers already filed under it.

Vietnam's rules at a glance

Is it legal to record a job interview in Vietnam?

Yes, with the candidate's consent. Article 21 of the 2013 Constitution gives everyone "the right to the secrecy of correspondence, telephone, telegraph and other forms of private information exchange," and says no one may unlawfully open, control or seize them. Article 38(2) of the Civil Code adds that "the collection, storage, use and disclosure of information relating to a person's private life and personal secrets must be consented to by that person," unless a law provides otherwise.

The criminal backstop is article 159 of the 2015 Criminal Code, the offense of infringing the secrecy or safety of other people's mail, telephone, telegraph or other private communications. Among the listed acts is "unlawfully listening to or recording a conversation." As published, it applies to a person who has already been disciplined or fined administratively for the act and does it again, with penalties from a warning or a fine of VND 20 million to 50 million up to non-custodial reform of up to three years, and prison for aggravated cases. A recruiter who records their own interview openly, with consent, is not recording "unlawfully"; secretly recording someone else's call is the risk.

What does the 2025 Personal Data Protection Law say about recruitment?

The Law on Personal Data Protection, passed by the National Assembly on June 26, 2025, has an article on exactly this. Article 25(1) says that an agency, organization or individual recruiting staff:

• "may only request information serving the recruitment purpose" of the recruiter, consistent with the law, and the information "may only be used for the recruitment purpose and other purposes as agreed" (point a);
• must process the information according to law and "must obtain the consent of the candidate" (point b); and
• "must delete or destroy the information provided by the candidate if not recruited, unless otherwise agreed with the candidate" (point c).

The general principles in article 3 point the same way: collect and process personal data only "within the correct scope and for specific, clear purposes," and store it "for a period appropriate to the purpose of processing." An interview recording or transcript is information the candidate provided in recruitment, so it falls squarely under article 25. Keep questions job-related, use the recording only to assess the candidate, and plan to delete it.

How must the candidate's consent be given?

Article 9 sets the conditions. Consent is valid only if it is voluntary and the person knows the type of data and the purpose, who controls it, and their rights and obligations (article 9(2)). It must be "expressed in a clear, specific manner that can be printed or copied in writing, including in electronic form or a verifiable format" (article 9(3)). It must be given for each purpose, cannot be bundled with conditions to accept other purposes, and "silence or no response shall not be considered consent" (article 9(4)). Article 11(1) requires consent "before collection," unless the law provides otherwise, and article 10 lets the candidate withdraw consent by a written or electronic request.

In practice, a spoken yes alone is weak evidence. Send the candidate a short written notice with the invitation and ask them to confirm by reply or a form; then repeat the question at the start of the call, so the yes is also on the record. Ask separately for any second use, such as keeping the recording for future roles or sharing it with a client.

Does the Law apply if you interview from the US?

It can. Article 1(2) applies the Law to Vietnamese agencies, organizations and individuals; to foreign ones "in Vietnam"; and to foreign ones "directly participating in or related to the processing of personal data of Vietnamese citizens." A US employer or agency recording or transcribing a Vietnamese candidate is within that last group. Your own state's law also governs your side of the call; see two-party consent states.

Is a US-hosted recording or note-taking tool a cross-border transfer?

Often, yes. Article 20(1)(c) lists as a cross-border transfer the case where an agency, organization or individual "in Vietnam or abroad uses a platform outside the territory of Vietnam to process personal data collected in Vietnam." Article 20(2) then requires an impact assessment dossier on the cross-border transfer, with one original sent to the specialized personal data protection agency "within 60 days from the first day" of the transfer. Article 20(6)(b) exempts organizations storing their own employees' data on cloud services, which does not by its terms cover candidates. Article 21 separately requires data controllers to prepare a processing impact assessment and file it within 60 days of first processing; article 38 lets small businesses and start-ups opt out of articles 21 and 22 for five years, and exempts household businesses and micro-enterprises, unless they process sensitive data, provide data processing services or handle data on a large number of people.

Can candidates get the recording or the transcript?

Yes. Article 4(1) gives a data subject the right to know about the processing, to consent or refuse and withdraw consent, to view and correct their data, and to request that it be provided, deleted or restricted. Article 15(2)(a) lets the controller provide data to the data subject on request. Article 4(5) requires controllers to act on a request "promptly within the time limit prescribed by law" and leaves the details to the Government, so build a process that can find a candidate's recording, transcript and notes quickly. Our candidate data access requests guide has a workflow.

How long can you keep interview recordings?

For candidates you do not hire, until the process ends: article 25(1)(c) requires deletion or destruction unless you have agreed otherwise with the candidate. Article 14 adds that deletion must use safe methods that prevent the data being recovered. For the person you hire, article 25(2) lets you keep employee data for the period the law or an agreement sets, and requires deletion when the contract ends, unless agreed or required otherwise. Our retention policy template gives the structure.

What if you record or analyze your own recruiters' calls?

Article 25(3) covers employee data collected "by technological or technical measures": employers may use only measures consistent with the law that protect the employee's rights, "on the basis that the employee clearly knows of that measure," and may not use data collected by unlawful technical measures. Tell recruiters in writing before their calls are recorded, transcribed or scored.

Can you use AI note takers or transcription?

Yes, with consent and a transfer check. Article 30 requires personal data processed with artificial intelligence or cloud computing to be used for its purpose and limited to what is necessary, and article 30(4) says processing by AI "must be classified by risk level" so that suitable protection is applied. Article 8 sets maximum administrative fines of VND 3 billion for most violations by an organization and 5% of the previous year's revenue for violating the cross-border transfer rules, with half those maximums for individuals. Interview Signal, for example, captures audio on the interviewer's own computer with no bot joining the call, shows a read-aloud consent line with a one-click pause, and does not retain audio after transcription; the transcript is still personal data under the rules above.

A consent line for interviews with candidates in Vietnam

Trước khi bắt đầu: tôi muốn [ghi âm cuộc trò chuyện của chúng ta /
dùng phần mềm chép lại nội dung cuộc trò chuyện] để ghi chính xác câu
trả lời của anh/chị. [Bản ghi âm / Bản chép lời] chỉ được dùng cho đợt
tuyển dụng này, chỉ [khách hàng / người quản lý tuyển dụng] được xem,
được lưu tại [nhà cung cấp, quốc gia] và sẽ bị xóa sau [thời hạn] nếu
anh/chị không được tuyển, trừ khi anh/chị đồng ý khác. Anh/chị có đồng ý
không? Anh/chị có thể từ chối hoặc yêu cầu dừng ghi bất cứ lúc nào, và
điều đó không ảnh hưởng đến hồ sơ ứng tuyển của anh/chị.

(Before we start: I'd like to [record our conversation / use software
to transcribe it] so I capture your answers accurately. The [recording /
transcript] is used only for this recruitment, seen only by [the client
/ the hiring manager], stored with [vendor, country] and deleted
[period] after the decision if you are not hired, unless you agree
otherwise. Do you agree? You can refuse or ask me to stop recording at
any time, and it will not affect your application.)

Send the same text in writing before the call and keep the candidate's written confirmation. More wording is in the interview recording consent script.

Checklist before you record interviews in Vietnam

• Written notice before the call: what is recorded, why, who controls it, the candidate's rights.
• Consent confirmed in a printable or verifiable form, then repeated on the call; silence never treated as yes.
• Questions and notes limited to what serves recruitment.
• Rejected candidates' recordings, transcripts and notes deleted safely, unless they agreed to longer retention.
• Cross-border transfer and processing impact assessments prepared and filed where required.
• Recruiters told in writing before their own calls are recorded or analyzed.
• AI tools assessed by risk level; a human makes every hiring decision.