Retirement location recce

@Kbinnz

Well, although I’m somewhat reluctant to recommend it, I’ll mention Vũng Tàu (VT) because it is a Southern beach town located on a peninsula and has an established expat community, many of whom are Australians. It’s not touristy in terms of international tourists but usually gets swamped with heaps of local tourists from HCMC and the nearby provinces on weekends and holidays. 

With all the expats living there, a fairly wide variety of western food (Italian, French, English breakfasts, Sunday roasts, Aussie Beef Rissoles, burgers and steaks, etc.) is available as well as some Japanese, Indian, Thai, and Russian restaurants and of course, Vietnamese and a couple of supermarkets and shops selling imported food items. The proximity to Ho Chi Minh City is another advantage as it’s only about 2 and a half hours away by road or ferryboat. Also, they’re building another international airport east of HCMC, which will be located about 1.5 hours from VT, and may be completed within your 3 to 4-year timeframe. Also, VT doesn’t get hit by as many tropical storms and typhoons as central Vietnam or have the poor air quality of the larger cities. In addition to the beaches, there are also three mountains that you can walk up and a coastal highway that you can bike along. Both beaches on either side of the peninsula (east or west) have landscaped green areas.

The major disadvantage of VT is that, similar to many urban areas in VN, it’s getting excessively overbuilt with a lot of high-rise buildings, which will at least provide a wide range of accommodation options but progressively destroy the views. Also, the town has a somewhat seedy reputation, which personally, seems a bit exaggerated, as someone who used to live in Bangkok.

These days, you can find recently made videos of most any place in the world posted by expats and digital nomads on the Internet’s most popular video hosting website. Watching some of these videos might help you narrow down your list.

Hi my husband and I are planning a trip at the end of the year to scout locations for retirement from australia in about 3-4 years. Vietnam isn't the only location we are considering, but definitely in the top 3! Would appreciate recommendations on towns to look at. Prefer close to beaches, but not as touristy as nga trang as an example. Established expat community would also be great. At this stage dt3 visa is most likely options for us. Would love any advice. - @Kbinnz

The visa is (as you seem to already know) the #1 consideration when considering "retirement" in Việt Nam.

The ĐT3 visa for investors currently requires a capital contribution to a GOVERNMENT APPROVED investment

Minimum amount required: ₫3 billion VNĐ  (currently equivalent to $117,716.30 USD or $189,116.17 AUD).

Investment in residential property does NOT qualify for the Visa.

Once you have established an approved ĐT3 visa, you can then apply for up to a 3 year Temporary Resident Card.

It's certainly best that you connect with a trustworthy Vietnamese attorney to help you do the investment properly.

If you are considering starting your own business to qualify, you'll still need to have the ₫3 billion capital contribution properly escrowed.

Anyone can start a business here for a couple thousand dollars, but that doesn't confer any special visa qualifications unless they also make a capital contribution of ₫6 hundred million VNĐ.

Then they qualify for a 1 year ĐT4 business visa which is good for 1 year temporary residency.

I highly recommend that you exhaustively investigate these options before seriously planning anything else.

There's always a trade-off when you choose a location that isn't really part of an established expat bubble or tourist center.

I'd personally recommend checking out Quy Nhơn at the southern edge of Central Vietnam or Phú Quốc Island off the southern coast of Vietnam.

However, if you are at all interested in being connected to an Aussie expat community, then Nha Trang or Vūng Tàu or Hội An are some of your best options.

Good luck with your search.

O.B.

Đà Nẵng/Hội An/Huế region