-Do you have to make appoiontments well in advance?

Business meetings should be scheduled in advance and should avoid major holidays,
such as Tet, which is the Vietnamese New Year celebration. It’s best to have an agenda
before the meeting so the business partners can acquaint themselves with what will be
discussed. It is also helpful to have all documents translated in Vietnamese and English.

-What are the usual business hour?

A normal working day in Vietnam starts from 7am to 8.30am and finish between 4pm
to 6pm, from Monday to Friday and until noon on Saturday, leave the afternoon (most)
and Sunday off.
Normal work hours are limited by labour law to not more than eight hours a day and
48 hours a week. Workers of less than 18 years of age and women who are over seven
months pregnant or with a child of less than one year in age are granted an extra hour
off a day and are not permitted to work overtime.

-What is the usual time for a business lunch? How long does it last?
In Vietnam, lunch time is taken very seriously. Everything shuts down between noon
and 1.30pm. Government workers tend to take longer breaks, so figure on getting
nothing done between 11.30am and 2pm.