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Budman1,

I am still here in the U.S. and will be moving to Vietnam in couple of months.  Thus, my goal is make sure I bring with me what is required by my future employer(s) in Vietnam in order for me to obtain a legal work permit. I've learned different advices from various people and so the paperwork process I got ranges from a simple to a very difficult/time consuming one:

Simple Process:
Bring your notarized college degree, criminal background report, and teaching certificate (if already have one) to Vietnam.  That is it.  One person did not even mention about the public notary part.

Difficult Process:
Have your college degree, criminal background report, and teaching certificate notarized.  Then these documents must to go through the following levels to be authenticated:

1. The Secretary of State (in the State you reside to obtain a Gold State Seal)
and then
2. The Department of State (Federal level, and the only one office is in Washington D.C)
and finally
3. Vietnamese Embassy in the U.S. (which ever closest to where you live)

Very Difficult/Time Consuming Process:
Do everything as mentioned above, plus write a cover letter for each of the department above (3 levels) requesting each of your documents get authenticated, and not the apostille (one that they attach to your document) because Vietnam does not participate in the Hague Treaty, and therefore, will not recognize this.  So you must make sure your documents do not have the apostille as way of authentication.   

I have learned so much, but I am also confused with a wide range of info that I got.  Anyone, please feel free to confirm or comment.  This will serve as a blue print for everyone else (who still lives in their country of origin) to better prepare for the paperwork process with the goal of obtaining a legal work permit in Vietnam.

I am living in Vietnam and am in the process. Some of what was said above is correct. You do not have to get it certified at the federal level, and usually not even the state level. My degree was a certified copy, but my my boyfriend just had a print out of his and the US embassy here still authenticated it. So you take your degree, TEFL (If have), and police check-to US Embassy here. You pay to have them authenticate it. You then take them to the Foreign Affairs office (Off of Le Duan, by the park) and have all the papers certified again by a Vietnamese . You THEN go to another office to have them translated. I can't remember the name of it, but also near or on Le Duan.
After that you give your stuff to your employer and they fill out the paperwork.