What's drawing expats to Vietnam? Landing a teacher job tops the list

By Minh Nga September 25, 2025 | 08:46 pm PT

A foreign teacher teaches at Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Photo courtesy of EMG

Vietnam has climbed to 5th best place for expats worldwide, and the single most common reason people move to the country is to apply for or find a job on the ground — with much of that opportunity in education.

According to the InterNations' Expat Insider 2025 survey, 22% of expats say they moved to Vietnam because they have been "applied for or found a job" in the country, more than any other stated reason (adventure/challenge ranks next at 13%, with recruited internationally and sent by employer accounting for 7% each).

Once in the country, education is the largest employment sector for expats, accounting for 42%, dwarfing transportation & logistics, coaching & consulting, and media (each at 10%).

The education boom dovetails with Vietnam's broader expat story this year. The country ranks 5th out of 46 destinations overall, powered by world-leading results on personal finances: Vietnam places 1st for the fifth consecutive year, with almost nine in ten expats satisfied with the cost of living and 87% saying their disposable income is enough or more than enough to live comfortably.

Those budget realities make the country fertile ground for mid-career teachers, language instructors, and school administrators who can secure work quickly and stretch their pay further than in many rival hubs.

Vietnam places 11th in the Working Abroad Index, signaling respectable scores across career prospects, salary and job security, work and leisure, and work culture and satisfaction. While not the top worldwide, these results suggest a supportive backdrop for classroom and training roles.

InterNations' Expat Insider is one of the world's largest annual surveys of life and work abroad. The Expat Insider 2025 survey was conducted by InterNations through February 2025. The online questionnaire was promoted through the InterNations community as well as the company newsletter and social media profiles, but responses were not limited to InterNations members.

The target audience included all kinds of expats, from foreign assignees (i.e., employees sent on a corporate assignment abroad) and international retirees to self-made expats who looked for work abroad and others who moved for a variety of reasons. A total of 10,085 expats participated in the survey, representing 172 nationalities living in countries or territories worldwide.

Vietnam sits behind Panama, Colombia, Mexico, and Thailand in the global top five.

Rounding out the top 10 are China in sixth place, followed by the UAE, Indonesia, Spain, and Malaysia.