Latest news on visas

@cougarcar20 Here's hoping the changes are implement quickly.

English, here (link)

A key point in the Vietnamese version (the English version appears to be a summary):

According to current regulations, tourist visas are valid for no more than 3 months and temporary stay is not more than 30 days. At the end of this period, tourists who want to continue to stay can extend the temporary stay period.

I've made this point before: that the current law passed in December 2019 and implemented on July 1, 2020 has never been overturned, but has rather been restricted.

So it would seem that the easiest quick fix "might" be to simply lift the 30 day evisa limit and allow 90-day visas with 30 days of "permission to remain" that could be extended/repeated x2 in country with a visit to immigration and a payment of a $10 USD fee.

That wouldn't require a new law to be passed, just the lifting of current restrictions.

90 days in country with 2 monthly visits to local immigration would be great for a lot of people, especially if the 90 day visa could also be extended or renewed in county.

Even if they didn't go that far, a visa run once every 3 months would probably bring back a lot of folks who were limited to that pre-covid.

A key point in the Vietnamese version (the English version appears to be a summary):
According to current regulations, tourist visas are valid for no more than 3 months and temporary stay is not more than 30 days. At the end of this period, tourists who want to continue to stay can extend the temporary stay period.


I've made this point before: that the current law passed in December 2019 and implemented on July 1, 2020 has never been overturned, but has rather been restricted.

So it would seem that the easiest quick fix "might" be to simply lift the 30 day evisa limit and allow 90-day visas with 30 days of "permission to remain" that could be extended/repeated x2 in country with a visit to immigration and a payment of a $10 USD fee.

That wouldn't require a new law to be passed, just the lifting of current restrictions.

90 days in country with 2 monthly visits to local immigration would be great for a lot of people, especially if the 90 day visa could also be extended or renewed in county.

Even if they didn't go that far, a visa run once every 3 months would probably bring back a lot of folks who were limited to that pre-covid.
-@OceanBeach92107

personally......................well I really hope they stick to the e visa & make it up to 90 days now that would be a bonus & not VOA otherwise its going to be a bloody nightmare at TSN.

Quick Link to Google Translate (Google Dịch) English, statement from Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính, 15/03/2023.

(hat-tip to expat.com member cougarcar20)

Quick Link to Google Translate (Google Dịch) English, statement from Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính, 15/03/2023.
(hat-tip to expat.com member cougarcar20)
-@Aidan in HCMC

Not working for me.

It opens Google Translate app which says "cannot translate. Maximum characters exceeded.

Maybe just share the link?

Besides, a lot of forum members may not have Google Translate loaded

Quick Link to Google Translate (Google Dịch) English, statement from Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính, 15/03/2023.
(hat-tip to expat.com member cougarcar20)
-@Aidan in HCMC

Not working for me.

It opens Google Translate app which says "cannot translate. Maximum characters exceeded.

Maybe just share the link?

Besides, a lot of forum members may not have Google Translate loaded
-@OceanBeach92107

Hmmmm, showing 4,251 words, maximum 5000 (4,251/5000)

Are you getting that error on a phone? The URL link is to a web page, so no need for Google Translate to be installed if on a PC. I have no idea whether it can be done on a phone though.

The true URL would be much too long. Does this work for you? https://tinyurl.com/yv35svh5

@Aidan in HCMC

Worked for me, but I am using a desktop.

Quick Link to Google Translate (Google Dịch) English, statement from Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính, 15/03/2023.
(hat-tip to expat.com member cougarcar20)
-@Aidan in HCMC

Not working for me.

It opens Google Translate app which says "cannot translate. Maximum characters exceeded.

Maybe just share the link?

Besides, a lot of forum members may not have Google Translate loaded
-@OceanBeach92107

Hmmmm, showing 4,251 words, maximum 5000 (4,251/5000)

Are you getting that error on a phone? The URL link is to a web page, so no need for Google Translate to be installed if on a PC. I have no idea whether it can be done on a phone though.

I meant to share the link to the speech source, but if you've already translated it, why not just share the full translated text you have?

(I probably wouldn't do that because it's way too much information related to commerce and not visa information).

So far, even the original link shared by the OP is not the speech but a report about it.

The English language link is a summary of that article.

So is this that you are sharing something new; the complete text of the speech?

Anyway, 92.3% of internet users access the internet using a mobile phone (including me) so I always post thinking that most people will be accessing by mobile device.

The true URL would be much too long. Does this work for you? https://tinyurl.com/yv35svh5
-@Aidan in HCMC

Not from an android phone.

Since I have the Google Translate app installed, it opens by default.

@OceanBeach92107

No, not of the speech. Just a quick link to the English translation of cougarcar20's post.

@OceanBeach92107
No, not of the speech. Just a quick link to the English translation of cougarcar20's post.
-@Aidan in HCMC

Those of us using the Chrome browser on an android phone get an automatic translation of the article into English, if we want it (which is how I was able to quickly comment on what seemed to be a key paragraph)

@Aidan in HCMC
Worked for me, but I am using a desktop.
-@cougarcar20

same here with laptop

Update? Or, just more "proposals"

Update? Or, just more "proposals"
-@Aidan in HCMC

I appreciated admin granting my request to make this a sticky thread for actual updates.

That doesn't seem like one to me.

Update? Or, just more "proposals"
-@Aidan in HCMC

I appreciated admin granting my request to make this a sticky thread for actual updates.

That doesn't seem like one to me.
-@OceanBeach92107

Right then. I'll put you down as voting, "just a proposal".

The sticky is titled "Latest news on visas", so I figured VN Express Int'l was authoritative enough, and would qualify.

Update? Or, just more "proposals"
-@Aidan in HCMC

I appreciated admin granting my request to make this a sticky thread for actual updates.

That doesn't seem like one to me.
-@OceanBeach92107

Right then. I'll put you down as voting, "just a proposal"
-@Aidan in HCMC

I'm assuming this is the significant paragraph, buried in the article that's almost totally foreigners complaining?

In a response to the prime minister’s order, the Ministry of Public Security proposed Friday to prolong the duration of e-visas granted to foreigners entering Vietnam from the current 30 days to a maximum of three months to boost tourism.

A quote of that would have helped...

Update? Or, just more "proposals"
-@Aidan in HCMC

I appreciated admin granting my request to make this a sticky thread for actual updates.

That doesn't seem like one to me.
-@OceanBeach92107

Right then. I'll put you down as voting, "just a proposal".

The sticky is titled "Latest news on visas", so I figured VN Express Int'l was authoritative enough, and would qualify.
-@Aidan in HCMC

I'm not questioning the source.

I'm saying that the one paragraph (hidden in the article) that actually IS news is what people really need to KNOW.

Making people click on the link without any direction is akin to click bait, which many people will stop reading when they see it appears to simply be interviews of foreigners.

People come to sticky threads such as this to get answers, not to play games.

@cougarcar20 Okay, someone here must know the best way to do a visa run. It seems I've tried everything except flying out which I don't want to do or spend $300 on a flight to where I don't know.

I cant find a bus that goes to any border and I tried hiring a company in Ho Chi Minh i***.com who stole my money! I also can't order the evisa online because Vietcombank (my bank) will not give me a debit card until I'm here for 12 months and this country does not do pre paid cards. I'm about to give up and just stay here illegally. HELP!!!

@cougarcar20
Okay, someone here must know the best way to do a visa run. It seems I've tried everything except flying out which I don't want to do or spend $300 on a flight to where I don't know.



I cant find a bus that goes to any border and I tried hiring a company in Ho Chi Minh [link under review] who stole my money!



I also can't order the evisa online because Vietcombank (my bank) will not give me a debit card until I'm here for 12 months and this country does not do pre paid cards.



I'm about to give up and just stay here illegally.



HELP!!!
-@anewdirectioninvt

Try the local bus or there are numerous companies do border runs.

Take a blue public bus No.703 at Bus station in Park 23/9 (at the corner of Pham Ngu Lao and Cong Quynh street, opposite to Thai Binh Market). If you want to depart and come back to Saigon on the same day, you should start your border-run early in the day, preferably before 9am, as the last bus leaves Moc Bai around 4 or 5pm. The journey takes about 3 hours.

Frequency: Departs every 30 minutes. And just go to Moc Bai Border

Price: 40.000 VND/person (around 2 USD/person/1 way).

@cougarcar20
Okay, someone here must know the best way to do a visa run. It seems I've tried everything except flying out which I don't want to do or spend $300 on a flight to where I don't know.



I cant find a bus that goes to any border and I tried hiring a company in Ho Chi Minh [link under review] who stole my money!



I also can't order the evisa online because Vietcombank (my bank) will not give me a debit card until I'm here for 12 months and this country does not do pre paid cards.



I'm about to give up and just stay here illegally.



HELP!!!
-@anewdirectioninvt
Try the local bus or there are numerous companies do border runs.

Take a blue public bus No.703 at Bus station in Park 23/9 (at the corner of Pham Ngu Lao and Cong Quynh street, opposite to Thai Binh Market). If you want to depart and come back to Saigon on the same day, you should start your border-run early in the day, preferably before 9am, as the last bus leaves Moc Bai around 4 or 5pm. The journey takes about 3 hours.

Frequency: Departs every 30 minutes. And just go to Moc Bai Border

Price: 40.000 VND/person (around 2 USD/person/1 way).
-@colinoscapee

Also consider taking a taxi, it was about the same price when shared w tow others, including their wives. We bought lunch on the way down, quite leisurely. He waited and also drove us back to HCMC.

MAc   

MAc

@cougarcar20
Okay, someone here must know the best way to do a visa run. It seems I've tried everything except flying out which I don't want to do or spend $300 on a flight to where I don't know.



I cant find a bus that goes to any border and I tried hiring a company in Ho Chi Minh [link under review] who stole my money!



I also can't order the evisa online because Vietcombank (my bank) will not give me a debit card until I'm here for 12 months and this country does not do pre paid cards.



I'm about to give up and just stay here illegally.



HELP!!!
-@anewdirectioninvt
Try the local bus or there are numerous companies do border runs.

Take a blue public bus No.703 at Bus station in Park 23/9 (at the corner of Pham Ngu Lao and Cong Quynh street, opposite to Thai Binh Market). If you want to depart and come back to Saigon on the same day, you should start your border-run early in the day, preferably before 9am, as the last bus leaves Moc Bai around 4 or 5pm. The journey takes about 3 hours.

Frequency: Departs every 30 minutes. And just go to Moc Bai Border

Price: 40.000 VND/person (around 2 USD/person/1 way).
-@colinoscapee

Also consider taking a taxi, it was about the same price when shared w tow others, including their wives. We bought lunch on the way down, quite leisurely. He waited and also drove us back to HCMC.

MAc 
MAc
-@Mac68

Are you saying you caught a taxi with two others to Moc Bai for 40k vnd per person?

@cougarcar20
Okay, someone here must know the best way to do a visa run. It seems I've tried everything except flying out which I don't want to do or spend $300 on a flight to where I don't know.



I cant find a bus that goes to any border and I tried hiring a company in Ho Chi Minh [link under review] who stole my money!



I also can't order the evisa online because Vietcombank (my bank) will not give me a debit card until I'm here for 12 months and this country does not do pre paid cards.



I'm about to give up and just stay here illegally.



HELP!!!
-@anewdirectioninvt

You need to say where you are first but.......

So now you are talking to someone who has actually done 5 e visa border runs & 1 visa free entry/exit (visa exempt)

Thailand visa run using Vietjet to BKK................120 usd return ticket, 1,000,000 +- vnd total for long standing & trusted agent to do all the e visa stuff & get it for you, no visa requirement to have visa for Thailand. You can fly out in the morning & back last flight at night or have a night out in BKK. You need to plan ahead to get best price flights on this one.

Moc Bai visa run using long standing & trusted agent.........did it last Saturday................150 usd total including e visa Vietnam & e visa Cambodia, breakfast, limo bus, rep on the bus all the way & back, she took care of everything at the border, TOTALLY hassle free, left D2 at 7am & back D2 at 1.30 pm, & money well spent

I have used this agent for more than 10 years & never had a problem. All the 5 e visas she had got for me have been back & issued within 4days max but most 3 days.

It's looking as if the government may finally be ready to lift the 30-day limit on eVisas.

Following a recent encouraging speech by the Prime Minister, this news was announced:

The Ministry of Public Security has proposed prolonging the duration of e-visas granted to foreigners entering Vietnam from 30 days to a maximum of three months to help tourism recover (LINK to story).

We are now following this development in a new sticky thread (link)

About that recent development (news from last Friday):

The Ministry of Public Security has proposed prolonging the duration of e-visas granted to foreigners entering Vietnam from 30 days to a maximum of three months to help tourism recover.

vnexpress.net/news/news/vietnam-considers-extending-e-visas-to-three-months

@OceanBeach92107

Yes, I saw this also, but I did read another article but cannot find it at the moment. It said they will submit the proposal at the next meeting and then discuss it at the last meeting in December.

December 2023?

@cougarcar20
Okay, someone here must know the best way to do a visa run. It seems I've tried everything except flying out which I don't want to do or spend $300 on a flight to where I don't know.



I cant find a bus that goes to any border and I tried hiring a company in Ho Chi Minh [link under review] who stole my money!



I also can't order the evisa online because Vietcombank (my bank) will not give me a debit card until I'm here for 12 months and this country does not do pre paid cards.



I'm about to give up and just stay here illegally.



HELP!!!
-@anewdirectioninvt
Try the local bus or there are numerous companies do border runs.

Take a blue public bus No.703 at Bus station in Park 23/9 (at the corner of Pham Ngu Lao and Cong Quynh street, opposite to Thai Binh Market). If you want to depart and come back to Saigon on the same day, you should start your border-run early in the day, preferably before 9am, as the last bus leaves Moc Bai around 4 or 5pm. The journey takes about 3 hours.

Frequency: Departs every 30 minutes. And just go to Moc Bai Border

Price: 40.000 VND/person (around 2 USD/person/1 way).
-@colinoscapee

Also consider taking a taxi, it was about the same price when shared w tow others, including their wives. We bought lunch on the way down, quite leisurely. He waited and also drove us back to HCMC.

MAc
MAc
-@Mac68
Are you saying you caught a taxi with two others to Moc Bai for 40k vnd per person?
-@colinoscapee

Geez, no, ....it was about 70-80 usd round trip. We all split the payment to the driver. Bought him lunch too, and I think some gas.

MAc

Hello everyone,

Please note that posts 25 - 26- 27 have been added to this thread since the other thread on visa will be closed.

All the best

Bhavna

@OceanBeach92107
Yes, I saw this also, but I did read another article but cannot find it at the moment. It said they will submit the proposal at the next meeting and then discuss it at the last meeting in December.
-@cougarcar20

As I mentioned earlier in this thread...

...the current law passed in December 2019 and implemented on July 1, 2020 has never been overturned, but has rather been restricted.

So it would seem that the easiest quick fix "might" be to simply lift the 30 day evisa limit and allow 90-day visas with 30 days of "permission to remain" that could be extended/repeated x2 in country with a visit to immigration and a payment of a $10 USD fee.

That wouldn't require a new law to be passed, just the lifting of current restrictions. -@OceanBeach92107

So I personally highly doubt this needs to be sent for review again (and such a long delay).

You've got the PM going very public with this proposal and now the minister being very specific about a plan that would basically lift the current restrictions on the December 2019 law and allow the changes that were due to go into effect on July 1, 2020 to become current.

I've been wrong before, but with summer approaching, I'd be very surprised to see this put off much longer.

https://vnexpress.net/de-xuat-keo-dai-t … 82545.html

last part of the message

It is expected that the bill will be submitted to the National Assembly to be added to the agenda of the 5th session (opening in May); for comments at the sixth meeting at the end of 2023.

hope this helps, I'm just going by the latest news.

@anewdirectioninvt

@anewdirectioninvt

Contact me.

@colinoscapee that bus doesn't run anymore.

@colinoscapee that bus doesn't run anymore.
-@fuselimo1

Apparently it does, though it isn't bus 703, it is bus 70-3.

See here for times/route. (link) Other times/buses are also available.

"Trung tâm Quản Lý Giao Thông Công Cộng xin thông báo các tuyến xe buýt đã được khôi phục lại hoạt động sau thời gian tạm ngừng do phòng, chống dịch Covid-19." - buyttphcm.com.vn Effective from 1/3/23, 12:00 AM to 4/30/23, 12:00 AM

(translation: "Public Transport Management Center would like to announce that bus routes have been restored to operation after a period of suspension due to the prevention and control of the Covid-19 epidemic." - buyttphcm.com.vn Effective from 1/3/23, 12:00AM to 4/30/23, 12:00AM) ᵈᵃᵗᵉ ᶠᵒʳᵐᵃᵗ ᵐᵐ/ᵈᵈ/ʸʸʸʸ

More info on public bus service can be found at Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transportation (link)

fuselimo1, are you requesting anewdirectioninvt contact you by PM to offer advice, or are you selling a service?

If advice, we'd all appreciate hearing directly from you on the forum.

Welcome to expat.com

@colinoscapee that bus doesn't run anymore.
-@fuselimo1

With the word "limo" in your username I have a feeling of what your motive is.

@colinoscapee that bus doesn't run anymore.
-@fuselimo1
With the word "limo" in your username I have a feeling of what your motive is.
-@colinoscapee

Just gotta love internet sleuths.

MAc

Hello everyone,

Please note that some off-topic posts have been put aside from this thread.

All the best

Bhavna

***

Significant points about the proposed Visa law changes (a part of this official government release) include a phrase that translates as evisas for all nations, so it appears from that reading that the list of eligible countries for evisas will no longer be limited to 80.

(link)

Also the translation I get from Google indicates that both single entry and multiple entry visas will be available.

Definitely a 90-day maximum limit on those tourist visas (edited)

Remember as I make these comments that translations from Vietnamese language to English are very often fraught with slight errors which can cause major misunderstanding, so I'm not claiming to have absolute knowledge of any of this, only the impression I get from reading it through a Google translation

Obviously the actual policy that formulates from these changes will not be set in stone until there is an official letter with a red stamp on it and Visa agents obtain official instructions from the government.

The National Assembly's next meeting is in May, so it would appear that's when everything will be submitted to them.

The word immediate is included in the translation regarding the action they are supposed to take, and I understood that to mean that it will be presented to them for immediate approval.

That seems to contradict some of the readings of previous news reports and rumors that approval would have to wait until December.