Is Prostitution Legal in Vietnam?

Vietnam's Ordinance on Prostitution Prevention and Combat (No. 10/2003/PL-UBTVQH11), in force since 1 July 2003, lists buying sex, selling sex, harbouring, organising, brokering and protecting prostitution, and using a business as cover for it, as prohibited acts (Article 4).

For adults, buying and selling sex are administrative offences handled with fines. The current fines decree, Decree 282/2025/ND-CP, replaced Decree 144/2021 on 15 December 2025. It sets a fine of VND 1 to 2 million for buying sex, VND 2 to 5 million for buying from two or more people at once, and a warning or VND 300,000 to 500,000 for selling (Articles 32 and 33; Can Tho legal information portal). Harbouring prostitution carries one to five years in prison and brokering it six months to three years (Penal Code, Articles 327 and 328).

Bars, karaoke lounges, clubs and massage spas are legal businesses that need the right licences. What the law targets is using a service business for prostitution (Ordinance, Article 4). A manager whose venue lets paid sex or sexual stimulation services happen faces a VND 20 to 30 million fine, rising to VND 30 to 40 million where sex is the business model, plus suspension of the venue's security certificate for three to six months (Decree 282/2025, Article 35). Paying for sexual stimulation services, the so-called happy ending, is an offence of its own: a warning or a VND 300,000 to 500,000 fine (Decree 282/2025, Article 34; LuatVietnam).

Foreigners are fined the same way as locals. Decree 282/2025 allows expulsion of foreigners who sell sex (Article 33) or run venues where it happens (Article 35); for buying sex it sets a fine and confiscation of evidence, with no expulsion listed (Article 32). Anything involving under-18s is a criminal case with prison time (Penal Code, Article 329). Vietnam's revised Law on Human Trafficking Prevention and Combat took effect on 1 July 2025.

The age of consent is 16. An adult who has sex with someone aged 13 to under 16 faces one to five years in prison even with consent, and sex with anyone under 13 is treated as rape (Penal Code, Articles 142 and 145). Paying anyone under 18 for sex is a crime: one to five years in prison, three to seven if the person is 13 to under 16, up to 15 years in aggravated cases, plus a VND 10 to 50 million fine (Penal Code, Article 329).

Call 111. Since 19 September 2025 it has been Vietnam's national anti-trafficking hotline as well as its child-protection line, and it is free and runs 24/7. The US State Department reports that the government's 24-hour victim hotline, now run by the Ministry of Health, has English-speaking translators (2025 Trafficking in Persons report). In an emergency, police are on 113.