Buying Australian property from Vietnam: FIRB, sending money abroad and the new apostille rules

Where Vietnamese buyers stand under FIRB

The ATO treats you as a foreign person when buying Australian property unless you are an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident or a New Zealand citizen with a special category visa. Treasury's 2026 thresholds table names Vietnam as a free trade partner through the CPTPP, which gives higher thresholds for other kinds of land. Residential land is listed at $0 or more for all investors, so partners are not excused.

Treasury's residential land guidance (version 5, 1 July 2026) says new dwellings are not usually approved with conditions on use, vacant land is generally approved on condition that construction is completed within four years, and established dwellings are generally banned until 30 June 2029 with limited exceptions. The ATO says temporary residents can still apply for new dwellings and vacant land. Treasury defines a temporary resident as someone whose visa lets them stay more than 12 continuous months. See temporary residents, exemption certificates and the fees page.

Sending money out of Vietnam

The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) page on managing foreign exchange activity cites the Law on the State Bank of Vietnam 2010 and Decree 70/2014/ND-CP of 17 July 2014. It says Vietnamese citizens who are residents may buy and send foreign currency abroad under SBV rules for purposes such as:

• study and medical treatment abroad
• business trips, travel and visits abroad
• paying fees and charges to overseas parties
• support for relatives abroad
• inheritance paid to heirs abroad
• transfers on settling abroad

The page does not mention buying real estate or a home abroad. The wording is "such as", so the list is illustrative, and the page does not say whether a property purchase is permitted. A Vietnamese bank, and where needed a Vietnamese lawyer, can say how the current rules apply to a transfer for a purchase and what documents the bank wants to see.

The rule is framed for residents, a term Vietnamese law defines. Whether someone living in Australia on a student or work visa counts as a resident for this purpose is also a question for a Vietnamese bank or lawyer, and it affects which rules apply to money that is already held outside Vietnam.

The Vietnam-Australia tax agreement

Treasury's treaty table lists three instruments for Vietnam:

The International Tax Agreements Act 1953 describes the agreement as done at Hanoi on 13 April 1992 and the 1996 notes as done at Canberra on 22 November 1996. The table also records that the Multilateral Instrument modifies the agreement, with an entry into force date of 1 September 2023, and that a synthesised text exists. The ATO's synthesised text says it is not a source of law, and that the authentic texts of the treaty and the supplementary instruments remain the applicable ones. Read with that caution, it contains three provisions that matter to an owner:

• Article 6: income from real property may be taxed in the country where the property is.
• Article 13(1) and 13(4): income, profits or gains from selling real property may be taxed in the country where it is, and the same goes for gains from shares or comparable interests in a company whose assets consist wholly or principally of real property there.
• Article 23(9): where a resident of Vietnam has income that Australia may tax under the agreement, Vietnam allows a credit against its own tax equal to the tax paid in Australia.

So Australia may tax the rent and any gain, and Vietnam gives a credit under the agreement. How that credit works on a Vietnamese return is a question for a tax adviser who knows both systems. The sister guide on Australian tax on property held from overseas covers the Australian side.

The new apostille rules

The Hague Conference's status table for the Apostille Convention records that Viet Nam deposited its accession on 31 December 2025 and that the Convention entered into force for Viet Nam on 11 September 2026. Three states, Austria, Czechia and Germany, objected to the accession, and Australia is not among the objectors listed. Australia has been a Contracting Party since 16 March 1995.

The Convention's title describes it as abolishing the requirement of legalisation for foreign public documents, so an apostille replaces the longer consular chain between countries the Convention covers. Whether a Vietnamese document needs an apostille for an Australian purchase, for example a power of attorney, is a question for the Australian conveyancer. Because the change is only weeks old as at 7 October 2026, it is also reasonable to ask whether the lender, land registry or law practice receiving the document has updated its procedures.

ID, names and language

The ATO lists a passport among the attachments for a new dwelling application. It treats a spelling correction in a purchaser's name as a simple variation, which costs $4,600 for 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. If your name carries Vietnamese diacritics on some documents and not on others, the spelling on the passport and the contract is the one worth matching before anything is lodged. The ATO form must be completed in one session and times out after 25 minutes of no activity.

The Australian Embassy in Hanoi says its notarial services are strictly by appointment. Its page does not address land-transfer identity checks, so the method a transaction uses is for the conveyancer or lender to set out. The ATO's other languages page lists Vietnamese, and says you can use the Translating and Interpreting Service to speak to the ATO in a language other than English.

Frequently asked questions

firbapproval.com.au is an independent guide. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to the Foreign Investment Review Board, the Australian Treasury or the Australian Taxation Office. We do not lodge or process applications. Applications are made to the ATO. General information only, not legal, tax, migration or financial advice.