Americans Living in Vietnam

[b_weeks 6]

We are planning on eventually moving to Vietnam. I would love to hear fom the others in the forum who currently live there. ( MR SAIGON - RALPH&HANH - JEROMEBINH and others I haven't heard about)

I would like to know what your experiences have been regarding:

• Visa Renewals - What type of visa do you have? Do you have to leave the country every 90 days
  
• Vietnamese Resident Card - How do you get it? How long do you have to live in VN before you are eligible
  
• Working - For another company? Started your own business?
  
• Home Ownership - Property in Vietnamese spouse name?
  
• more stuff I haven't thought of yet
  

[ricochet 2]

We are planning on eventually moving to Vietnam. I would love to hear fom the others in the forum who currently live there. ( MR SAIGON - RALPH&HANH - JEROMEBINH and others I haven't heard about)

I would like to know what your experiences have been regarding:

• Visa Renewals - What type of visa do you have? Do you have to leave the country every 90 days
  
• Vietnamese Resident Card - How do you get it? How long do you have to live in VN before you are eligible
  
• Working - For another company? Started your own business?
  
• Home Ownership - Property in Vietnamese spouse name?
  
• more stuff I haven't thought of yet
  

[ricochet 2]

I stayed in Vietnam for a little over 2 years. Any travel agency can renew your visa for 6 months. (make sure it's a multiple entry visa so you can travel out of VN without having to get another visa). I believe you can go to the So Tu Phap (Service of Justice) and for a certain fee become a Vietnamese citizen. Last time I checked it cost 2 million vietnamese dong. I knew alot of ex-pats that teaches if you have a college degree. There are companies that are always hiring you just need to do a job search. USC can not own any property in VN at the moment but if you have someone you trust you can always put it in their name but make sure you write an affidavit that you have some kind of ownership in the property and get it notarized. I've seen alot of people from the states that gave money to their relatives to buy houses and land and have the people they trusted take everything from them. Just make sure you have everything written, signed, and notarized. Vietnamese people loves drinking coffee, getting drunk and eating (especially western food). That is why fried chicken and pizza are so popular over there (even though it doesn't taste anything like the states). Sometimes I wonder why there isn't a McDonald's. So if you're interested in opening your own business that is the way to go. Another thing, women's underwear and children's toys, cloths, etc etc would also be bestsellers.

[NODINK 0]

There are a bunch of expat bloggers in SG you might wanna touch base with. IE SaigonNezumi, Vietnam720 (ok, he's Singaporean)& many Aussies.

[BinhJerome 14]

I stayed in Vietnam for a little over 2 years. Any travel agency can renew your visa for 6 months. (make sure it's a multiple entry visa so you can travel out of VN without having to get another visa). I believe you can go to the So Tu Phap (Service of Justice) and for a certain fee become a Vietnamese citizen. Last time I checked it cost 2 million vietnamese dong. I knew alot of ex-pats that teaches if you have a college degree. There are companies that are always hiring you just need to do a job search. USC can not own any property in VN at the moment but if you have someone you trust you can always put it in their name but make sure you write an affidavit that you have some kind of ownership in the property and get it notarized. I've seen alot of people from the states that gave money to their relatives to buy houses and land and have the people they trusted take everything from them. Just make sure you have everything written, signed, and notarized. Vietnamese people loves drinking coffee, getting drunk and eating (especially western food). That is why fried chicken and pizza are so popular over there (even though it doesn't taste anything like the states). Sometimes I wonder why there isn't a McDonald's. So if you're interested in opening your own business that is the way to go. Another thing, women's underwear and children's toys, cloths, etc etc would also be bestsellers.

Wrong Wrong Wrong, A USC CAN own an apartment not a house, it is easier to put the house or apartment into your wifes name, but you can own 1 apartment.

They are no longer issuing 6 month multiple entry visas, only 3 month now, but.... if you know someone who owns a business they can get it done sometimes, but with you being marriec to a VIetnamese get the visa exemption, just make sure your passport has at least 5 years left on it actually about 5 1/2 this way you can take full advantage of the visa exemption, with this every 90 days you must either leave the country OR pay $10 fill out a form and have the local police sign off that you have not been in any trouble. With the visa exemption you can come and go as you please for 5 years, just remember to get your passport stamped or leave the country every 90 days.

Last I heard it is 9 years and you must speak decent Vietnamese to gain citizenship, but there is a new law that states if the president signs off you can gain it with not speaking Vietnamese, and not even living here very long, simply a few months, there are requirements that must be met before he would sign off on such a thing, such as being married to a Vietnamese person, having a Vietnamese child, during times of war if you pick up a gun and help Vietnam, if you can be a benefit to VIetnam, and I think a few others as well but these are the ones that stick out. Yes it has also been done, the first person was a couple of years ago he was a French man, it is just that it is rare so many people dont realize this law.

As far as working in Vietnam, there are business ventures you can go into like running your own business, but you must have a Vietnamese partner (your wife) but the tax would be higher since you are a co-owner, the best job for an expat is clearly teaching for this you will need a college degree if you want to get a work permit, it must be a 4 year degree and then have it authenticated before you come from the states. This authentication is done by having your degree copied and notorized in the state where it was issued, then taking it to the state and having them verify that the notary was/is a notary, then from there it goes to the US Department of State and Hillary will sign it stating that the state seal is also real, then it goes to the Vietnamese embassy in Washington and they authenticate HIllarys signature. Now if you do not have a degree, you can take a CELTA or TESOL and still get a job, just do NOT take the online courses for this certification because they do NOT have a teaching practum which almost all schools want. With just a TESOL or CELTA you can get a job but it pays less, if your 4 year degree is not in teaching dont worry, all they care about is if it is a 4 year degree.

Hope this info helps Jerome

[b_weeks 6]

Not going to tech, and not planning on becoming a VN citizen. Just wanted to know about owning / running abusiness and Vietnam Permanent Resident Card (not citizenship).

I already have the 5 yr visa exemption. But I am wondering how and where to get it stamped so I don't have to leave every 90 days.

The house will be in my wifes name.

[BinhJerome 14]

Not going to tech, and not planning on becoming a VN citizen. Just wanted to know about owning / running abusiness and Vietnam Permanent Resident Card (not citizenship).

I already have the 5 yr visa exemption. But I am wondering how and where to get it stamped so I don't have to leave every 90 days.

The house will be in my wifes name.

I have NEVER heard of a permanent resident card, only a temporary resident card, and this is achieved by getting a work permit and it is only good for 3 years. Permanent would be citizenship, and you can keep your US citizenship because the US and Vietnam recognize dual citizenship but as I said my wife and I have never heard of a permanent residence card, only the temporary and the citizenship.

The immigration office in district 1 near galaxyy Cinema close to Ben Thanh market is where you take the form that the police stamp to get it renewed without leaving the country and it costs $10 each time. You will need to be registered in a book before the police will sign the paperwork though.

As far as running your own business prepare to pay a high tax since you are an owner, and also prepare to be tied down to it. This is what Ralph and Hanh always talked about when they had their pizza place, and this is why I think they sold it. I also know others that have had businesses and tried to get businesses. Chad a friend of mine wanted to open up a sports bar with all sorts of games playing on different tv's college basketball/football nfl. nba, mlb and so on. When he went to get his business liscence his tax was outrageous, then shortly after the local police started to shake him down, he closed up shop and that was the end of it. Then about 2 years later he tried it again, this time it was only in his wifes name the tax was half as bad, and the cops rarely visit wanting coffee money. Their shop is now closed because they couldnt get good help to run it and they were tied to it all the time. He is now teaching and loving it so much better. My brother in law opened a coffee shop and it was doing okay, but all his help quit after TET (they were brought in from the countryside as friends of his wife) because they did not get home enough to see their family, and his wifes brother got a job as a chef in a different place so they just sold their coffee shop since they both did not want to be tied down to a business. It is possible to run a business, just be prepared to be tied to it all the time, unless you have huge amounts of funding or have a product that you dont actually sell from a shop and offer more of a service or an online type of product, at least for the first year or two until you build it big enough that you can hire good people to run it. Jerome and Binh

[Ban Hammer 13,669]

one post removed for tos violation.

[b_weeks 6]

I have NEVER heard of a permanent resident card, only a temporary resident card, and this is achieved by getting a work permit and it is only good for 3 years. Permanent would be citizenship, and you can keep your US citizenship because the US and Vietnam recognize dual citizenship but as I said my wife and I have never heard of a permanent residence card, only the temporary and the citizenship.

The immigration office in district 1 near galaxyy Cinema close to Ben Thanh market is where you take the form that the police stamp to get it renewed without leaving the country and it costs $10 each time. You will need to be registered in a book before the police will sign the paperwork though.

As far as running your own business prepare to pay a high tax since you are an owner, and also prepare to be tied down to it. This is what Ralph and Hanh always talked about when they had their pizza place, and this is why I think they sold it. I also know others that have had businesses and tried to get businesses. Chad a friend of mine wanted to open up a sports bar with all sorts of games playing on different tv's college basketball/football nfl. nba, mlb and so on. When he went to get his business liscence his tax was outrageous, then shortly after the local police started to shake him down, he closed up shop and that was the end of it. Then about 2 years later he tried it again, this time it was only in his wifes name the tax was half as bad, and the cops rarely visit wanting coffee money. Their shop is now closed because they couldnt get good help to run it and they were tied to it all the time. He is now teaching and loving it so much better. My brother in law opened a coffee shop and it was doing okay, but all his help quit after TET (they were brought in from the countryside as friends of his wife) because they did not get home enough to see their family, and his wifes brother got a job as a chef in a different place so they just sold their coffee shop since they both did not want to be tied down to a business. It is possible to run a business, just be prepared to be tied to it all the time, unless you have huge amounts of funding or have a product that you dont actually sell from a shop and offer more of a service or an online type of product, at least for the first year or two until you build it big enough that you can hire good people to run it. Jerome and Binh

Well, it is a service oriented business. No product other then a finished CD. I will be opening a recording studio. Lot's of bands and singers in the area where my wife is from, and closest studios are in HCMC, which is about 6 hours away. So I will be providing a service for musicians in Rach Gia, Can Tho, Ha Tien, Long Xuyrn, Chau Doc, and many others.

I already have many business contacts in the VN music industry, so Im involved with the right people.

[BinhJerome 14]

Well, it is a service oriented business. No product other then a finished CD. I will be opening a recording studio. Lot's of bands and singers in the area where my wife is from, and closest studios are in HCMC, which is about 6 hours away. So I will be providing a service for musicians in Rach Gia, Can Tho, Ha Tien, Long Xuyrn, Chau Doc, and many others.

I already have many business contacts in the VN music industry, so Im involved with the right people.

I would say that you will be fine, let it appear that this is your "Wifes" business, and that you simply work there and use your contacts, this would just help all around, also if you dont buy a house right away and rent, let your wife sign the contract, this will allow for a cheaper price because the landlord will not have to pay a foreigner tax because you signed the lease. little things like this will make opening up a business easier and less confusing about coffee money. Good luck with it, I dont see any real problems with any foreigner opening up a business that really wants to do it, even in the states it is hard to start a business with all the different regulations and time you have to put into it. Jerome and Binh

[b_weeks 6]

Since we are going to live in Vietnam, is there any need to get a Vietnamese Marriage License even though we are legally married in the US?

[BinhJerome 14]

Since we are going to live in Vietnam, is there any need to get a Vietnamese Marriage License even though we are legally married in the US?

No if you have your US marriage papers that will suffice here in Vietnam