What Expats need to watch out in September:
You've just arrived. Now comes the part
nobody briefed you on.
A note from the desk
September in Vietnam means two things simultaneously: the tail of typhoon season, and the simultaneous restart of schools, fiscal years, and lease renewals.
After three decades of handling claims in this region, I can tell you with quiet confidence that the weeks between mid-August and mid-October generate more first-time liability claims — from families, employers, and landlords alike — than any other window in the calendar.
This month we dig into the one category most expat clients are genuinely under-covered for: personal, home, and employer liability. It is not the most glamorous insurance topic. But it is the one that catches people off-guard, sometimes expensively, and usually at the worst possible moment.
You've just arrived.
Now comes the part
nobody briefed you on.
New office. New apartment. New school. New staff. And a whole layer of legal responsibilities that didn't exist in the orientation pack your HR sent from head office. A fellow expat's honest guide to getting covered before you need to be.
A note from the desk
Every September, we get a wave of enquiries from expats who've just relocated — or who just realised that the insurance policies their company arranged are not quite what they assumed. The HR pack said "you're covered." And you are. For some things. But not for others. And the gap between the two is where most of the expensive surprises live.
I've been advising international clients across Vietnam and ASEAN since the mid-nineties. The single most consistent finding: the risks that catch expats out are not the dramatic ones — not typhoons or motorcycle accidents. They're the quiet, everyday liabilities. A tenant whose upstairs water heater floods the apartment below. An employer whose domestic helper slips in the kitchen. A parent whose child damages school equipment. Things that would be handled automatically back home by a policy you barely remember signing.
"In most developed countries, these protections are compulsory and invisible. You never think about them because you never need to. In Vietnam and across ASEAN, they are voluntary — and in most cases, expats simply aren't protected."
— Senior Advisor, InsuranceinAsia · Ho Chi Minh City · 30 years in ASEANThis issue is for the newly arrived, for those who've been here a while but never quite finished sorting out their cover, and for managers who need to think about their team's protection as well as their own. Read the sections that apply to you — and share it with anyone who's just touched down.
Your head office sent a benefits package. Read the footnotes.Awareness
When a company posts an expat to Vietnam, the standard package covers the big-ticket items: international health insurance, return flights, housing allowance. What it rarely spells out is where the corporate cover ends and where your personal exposure begins — or what Vietnamese law requires on top of what your employer provides.
Social security (SHUI)
Vietnam's mandatory SI/HI/UI contributions apply to all locally-contracted employees and many expats. Rates changed in 2025 — confirm your contribution basis with your HR or payroll provider.
Work permit & visa alignment
Insurance obligations sometimes shift depending on your permit category. Labour contracts under a DN/NN visa carry different SHUI obligations than seconded employees — verify annually.
Employee Benefits (EB) gap
Statutory benefits attract and retain people — but the gap above the minimum is where "best place to work" status is won or lost. Group health top-ups, life cover, and income protection are the most requested EB additions in Vietnam right now.
Employer & public liability
Beyond SHUI: if a client, contractor, or visitor is injured on your premises, statutory cover won't respond. Commercial general liability and employer's liability policies are where the real protection sits.
We audit your current EB structure against statutory minimums and market benchmarks, then design a package that fits your headcount, budget, and retention goals. Particularly valuable for companies hiring their first local Vietnamese team or expanding headcount in Q4.
If you are responsible for an expat team, September is the natural window to audit your EB structure before Q4 budget cycles close. The most common gap we find: no employer's liability top-up above SHUI, and no group life cover for Vietnamese employees. Both are easy and inexpensive to add.
Your landlord's insurance? It doesn't cover you. Interest
This is the one I repeat most often to newly arrived expats: the building insurance your Vietnamese landlord holds covers the structure. It does not cover your personal belongings. And it almost certainly does not cover your civil liability as a tenant for damage you cause to other units, common areas, or the property itself.
In a high-rise apartment block — which is where most international expats in HCMC and Hanoi now live — a single incident (a burst pipe, a cooking fire, a balcony planter falling four floors) can trigger liability claims from multiple units simultaneously. The amounts can run to tens of thousands of dollars.
| What happened | Landlord policy | Tenant policy |
|---|---|---|
| Structural fire damage to building | ✓ Covered | ✗ Not needed |
| Your contents destroyed in fire | ✗ Not covered | ✓ Covered |
| You flood the apartment below | ✗ Not covered | ✓ Covered |
| Visitor injured in your apartment | ✗ Not covered | ✓ Covered |
| Your dog bites a neighbour's child | ✗ Not covered | ✓ Covered |
| Accidental damage to landlord's fixtures | ✗ Not covered | ✓ Covered |
The majority of expat apartment leases in HCMC renew in August–September. If you just moved in — even last week — take 15 minutes now to arrange tenant cover. The window between lease signing and policy activation is when most incidents occur, simply because you're still unpacking and setting up appliances.
One policy, two coverages: replacement cost for your contents, plus civil liability up to USD 200,000 for damage or injury you cause as a tenant. Arranged in 24 hours with most major Vietnamese insurers. Bilingual policy schedule available.
The school said they're insured. But are you? Interest
International schools in HCMC, Hanoi, and across ASEAN carry institutional insurance for their premises and operations. What they do not carry — and cannot carry — is cover for your child's personal liability for incidents they cause. And they rarely cover activities that happen off-campus: field trips, sports tournaments, school camps, or the bike ride to school.
For families with children studying abroad — in the UK, Australia, or Singapore — the gap is even wider. Student visa requirements vary, and most parents don't realise that their existing family health policy often has an age or geography clause that terminates at 18 or at departure.
- Check your family liability policy covers children's actions — damage to school property, injury to a classmate, sports liability.
- Confirm off-campus cover for field trips and extracurricular activities. Ask the school for their insurance certificate and read the exclusions section.
- Children studying abroad: verify your health policy's territorial limit and whether it extends to a child at university in another country. Many do not.
- New academic year = new insurance review. School year contracts and insurance cover should be reviewed simultaneously every August–September.
Student abroad insurance review
If you have a child studying outside Vietnam this September, we'll check your existing cover against the host country's requirements in under 20 minutes. Free for existing clients; USD 0 advisory fee for new enquiries this month.
Your company gives you a driver. Who's responsible if he's injured?Awareness
This is one of the most common blind spots I encounter. A company provides a car with a driver as part of an expat package. HR handles the payroll. But who holds the employer's liability for that driver? In Vietnam, the answer is often ambiguous — and ambiguity, when someone gets hurt, resolves in court.
The same applies to domestic helpers, cooks, and gardeners hired personally. Under Vietnamese civil law, you are considered the employer. That brings with it obligations for workplace accident liability that most expats have never considered — because back home, agencies and staffing companies handle it automatically.
It is very easy — and very human — to treat domestic staff arrangements as informal. They're not. Under Vietnamese law (Labour Code 2019, Article 3), household domestic workers are employees. A serious injury to your cook or driver could expose you to personal liability running into hundreds of millions of Vietnamese dong — with no policy to respond.
Company car & driver
Confirm with your HR whether the driver is on your personal employment contract or the company's. The distinction determines who holds employer's liability — and who gets sued.
Cook or domestic helper
If hired independently (not through a licensed agency), you are legally the employer. A personal liability policy with domestic employer coverage is the appropriate protection — and it's inexpensive.
An endorsement to your home or personal liability policy that covers accidental injury to domestic staff employed at your residence. Covers medical costs, temporary disability payments, and civil liability. Typically arranged in 48 hours alongside a tenant or home policy.
Vietnam is writing its safety laws in real time. Keep up. Awareness
One of the things that surprises new arrivals — and sometimes frustrates them — is how quickly Vietnam's regulatory environment moves. The country is not a legal vacuum. It is a rapidly developing legal system catching up with the pace of its own economic growth. As a resident, you are expected to comply with new regulations whether or not they were in your orientation pack.
Law on Fire Prevention, Fighting, and Rescue — Law No. 55/2024/QH15
Vietnam's landmark fire safety law came into force on 1 July 2025. It significantly raises compliance obligations for residential buildings, commercial premises, and offices — including mandatory fire safety assessments, escape route requirements, and — critically — expanded civil liability for owners and tenants in the event of fire damage spreading to third parties.
In practical terms: if a fire starts in your apartment and spreads to neighbouring units, you now face a much clearer legal liability for damages — regardless of whether the fire was accidental. A standard tenant liability policy, if it includes fire as a covered peril, responds to exactly this scenario.
If your tenant or home policy was arranged before July 2025, it's worth asking your insurer or broker whether the fire liability section has been updated to align with the new law. Some policies issued before the new law may have narrower fire liability definitions that no longer reflect the current standard of care required of residents.
More broadly: the pattern of Vietnam and ASEAN is clear. Rights and responsibilities that are assumed or invisible in Western countries are being formalised here, one law at a time. This is good news for society. It means expats who stay ahead of the curve — who get advice from a local broker who reads these laws when they pass, not when claims happen — protect themselves and their families far more effectively than those who rely on what worked in London or Sydney.
The same principles, different specifics
The six things to do this monthAction
- New arrival? Arrange a tenant contents + liability policy before the end of this month. One call, 24-hour activation, one year's peace of mind.
- HR or office manager? Run a SHUI compliance and EB gap check before Q4. It costs nothing and prevents significant exposure.
- Children at school? Confirm your family liability policy covers off-campus activities and children's personal liability. 15 minutes with your policy schedule tells you what you need to know.
- Child studying abroad? Book the free student cover review before their term starts and your window for adjustment closes.
- Have a driver, cook, or domestic helper? Check with HR whether their employer's liability sits with your company or with you personally. Act accordingly.
- Existing InsuranceinAsia client? Book your annual review call — confirm your address, headcount, and beneficiary details are current, and ask about the fire law update.
Tell us your situation in 2 minutes.
New arrival, established expat, HR manager, or curious prospect — take our quick cover assessment and we'll tell you exactly what you're missing and what it would cost to fix it. No sales call unless you want one.
Existing client? Loyal
Your account manager will run a 20-minute annual review — checking address, covered locations, beneficiary names, and flagging any fire-law-related updates to your existing tenant or home policy. Book a slot before October 15th.
September & October 2026
Know someone who just arrived? Ambassador
This letter was written to be shared. If a colleague, a new arrival at your company, or a friend who's just relocated to Vietnam or ASEAN would benefit from it — forward it directly, or send them the subscribe link below. When they become a client, you both benefit through our referral programme.
