Bringing home Gifts

[BinhJerome 14]

There's a big difference between Vietnam and US in how customs laws are interpreted and adjudicated, and how infractions are resolved.

In the US, if you try to bring in something that isn't allowed for import (but not explicitly a crime, like drugs) then they'll seize the disallowed property. If you try to bring in something that is subject to duties, like too many cartons of cigarettes, then they'll make you pay the duties or abandon the property. What they WON'T let you do is slip some coffee money into your passport to get past customs.

In Vietnam, the customs officer determines what is or is not a likely infraction, and he decides how much coffee money it's going to take to get him to look the other way. They can claim something is subject to duties, even if it clearly is not. Instead of making you pay the duty or abandon the property, they can force you to pay many times what the duty would have been or threaten you with arrest. This is bribery and corruption. There's no other way to describe it. This has nothing to do with the sovereign laws of Vietnam, which they certainly have the right to impose. It has everything to do with the financial gain of petty government officials, and a system that accepts corruption as one of the perks of being granted authority.

Yes it is coffee money, and as I said the US does have laws while Vietnam is much more wishy washy on what is or is not allowed, but the point is how to overcome what and how they act, knowing that you might have to pay coffee money, there are ways to try and make it easier or cheaper, or to even bypass them with a few tricks. This is really what my post is for. Not to discuss what is corruption and what is not, we know what goes on, so we need to try and make the affects of this less, or if possible make them non existant, and the way to do this is when a person brings multiple things in, to divide them up in the bags, dont keep 20 bottles or boxes of something in the same bag, if you have multiple cell phones put them in pockets on your body or in multiple bags, make sure you have at least two $50 bills, this way if you can not avoid the coffee money, then maybe you can get off with half of what they normally want, maybe even five $20 bills, or 10 $10 bills, just something so that you can start counting them out on your way up to $100 why start with a $100 bill, maybe that is what they will want, maybe not, but start low then work high, this is Vietnam, yes it is a bit corrupt, but hey why not try to bargin a bit if they single you out, that is all I am saying. Jerome

[luckytxn 2,264]

I am very lucky they never checked me out or my bags. I was a regular pharmacy.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

I am very lucky they never checked me out or my bags. I was a regular pharmacy.

My bags were searched every single time. They even opened my Christmas presents in December of '08, though they were careful not to tear the paper so I could re-wrap them. Nobody's ever asked me for coffee money, though.

My wife's uncle told me about the possibility that I would be asked to to provide a little payola on my first trip. He didn't tell me about this until we were already on the flight over, and I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it. In the US, we're conditioned to think that you NEVER offer a government official or law enforcement officer a bribe. For example, in the mind of a typical American, offering a customs officer a little cash to overlook something in your bags would be comparable to offering to share your crack pipe with him. It's just unthinkable to potentially add a serious crime to what would otherwise be a minor infraction.

After seeing it done a few times in VN, I finally warmed up to the idea that this is just how things are done there. If it weren't for the potential income from bribes, nobody would take a government job, and the system would collapse. This isn't an indictment of the communist system of government (there are plenty of good reasons to condemn communism). The supposedly democratic government in the south before the end of the war was equally corrupt. I think it's just inherent in trying to maintain a working government in a country where poverty is so widespread, and government revenues are so low. A working government requires people to work for it, and people need to be paid. It just sucks that they can't find a way to do this that lends a little more legitimacy to the system, like charging everyone a customs fee, a portion of which is a commission for the customs officer. When bribery is an inherent part of the system, then the system is not trustworthy.

[luckytxn 2,264]

Strange. When I went with my then finance's Uncle he told me on the flight over that usually he puts some coffee money in his passport when he goes through but wouldn't this time as he was with me. We both sailed through. I will admit that the officer didn't seem too thrilled with us.

[ScottThuy 140]

Strange. When I went with my then finance's Uncle he told me on the flight over that usually he puts some coffee money in his passport when he goes through but wouldn't this time as he was with me. We both sailed through. I will admit that the officer didn't seem too thrilled with us.

Never been stopped once.... It could be what I was wearing each time as I usually wear a suit coat when I travel... It could be that they may think that I am not the one to try to extort a few bucks out of... who knows... I know that if I were to put even 1 dollar in my passport, I would be asking for trouble... if they see that the USC has put money in the passport, they can try to get more as there appears to be some level of fear/intimidation present...

Don't get me wrong, I will play the game when I have to and always keep money stashed just in case.. but I also am really good at negotiating and have noproblem hanging out there and slowing things down to wear him down...

If time is an issue and its not a big deal, I have no problem throwing them some $...

I did have a problem with imigration 1 time however... The immigration form that we fill out on the plane must be one for each person.. and when I took my son last year , I included him in the spot on the form that asked about children accompanying... they immigration guy didnt want that.. he wanted another form... 20 bucks and he forgot about it fast.. but then when we went to leave for Singapore, we ran into the same problem on the backside.. where is the paper for the boy? How did he get in the country without it? 20 bucks and the issue was gone... always have immigration forms for each individual to avoid that scam...