Compensation, support and resettlement upon State land recovery in Viet Nam is governed by Land Law No. 31/2024/QH15 and Decree No. 88/2024/ND-CP. Since mid-2025, the framework has been adjusted by three instruments: Decree No. 226/2025/ND-CP, National Assembly Resolution No. 254/2025/QH15 and Decree No. 49/2026/ND-CP.
Decree 226/2025/ND-CP (issued and effective 15 August 2025)
The decree amends several articles of Decree 88/2024/ND-CP, including:
- Where planning, boundary markers or alignments change after a land recovery decision, the chair of the commune People's Committee may adjust the recovery decision and compensation plan to match actual conditions.
- For multi-harvest perennial crops whose remaining yield cannot be determined, compensation equals the actual damage value of the orchard; provinces may set unit prices even without technical-economic norms.
- Support for vocational training, occupational change and job search is extended to households and individuals eligible for land certificates.
- Households and individuals not eligible for residential land compensation and without other housing in the commune may be allocated residential land with a land-use fee, or buy, lease or lease-purchase housing. Resettlement is arranged first within the commune, then in a comparable commune, then in another favourable location.
Resolution 254/2025/QH15 (passed 11 December 2025, effective 1 January 2026)
The resolution sets out mechanisms to resolve difficulties in implementing the Land Law. Points relevant to land recovery include:
- Notice before a land recovery decision is at least 60 days for agricultural land and 120 days for non-agricultural land; recovery may proceed earlier if land users and asset owners agree.
- The compensation, support and resettlement plan is posted for 10 days at the commune People's Committee office, community meeting points and the commune's web portal.
- Where objections remain, a dialogue is held within 30 days of consultation on the plan.
- Provincial People's Committees regulate resettlement outside the commune where land is recovered.
- Transitional provisions apply to recovery decisions and plans approved before 1 January 2026.
On 31 January 2026, the Government issued Decree No. 49/2026/ND-CP detailing Resolution 254/2025/QH15, including recovery of remaining land in projects where agreement could not be reached and cases in which land is not compensated.
Points for donor-financed projects
These changes shorten and add flexibility to some land recovery steps, but financiers' policies, such as the World Bank's ESS5 and ADB's ESS5, keep their own requirements: compensation at replacement cost, payment and resettlement completed before displacement, livelihood restoration, and assistance to land users without formal title. Project resettlement plans should compare current Vietnamese law with the financier's policy to identify gaps and gap-filling measures, and check transitional provisions and decisions of the provincial People's Committee where the project is located.