Phnom Penh visa transactions, 2012 Feb 13

I went to a PP agent last January. I was surprised that she told me I could get a 6 or 12 month Visa. I was suspicious and asked for 6 months. I got it and was wondering for next time if I should get the 12 month. I think I will not bother now.

How ironic!  I have a friend that just got back from there and he got his 1 year visa extended without a problem.  I guess it just depends on who you know.

WideAwake wrote:

How ironic!  I have a friend that just got back from there ...

I also know someone who got a one year visa. All I know is that I personally witnessed these transactions going down, in a single office on one day. I also witnessed to duration reduction 'discussion'. A single day does not a trend make.

The new regulations are in effect so time will tell what interpretations Ha Noi and HCM Immigration make. These two offices have a certain amount of flexibility compared to all other Immigration offices other than Da Nang.

It is also possible to enter VietNam, from any country, without obtaining a visa prior to entering. Certain conditions apply. (Not NGO, invited/sponsored visitors - just regular Joe's)

Yep gotta admit the rules as always change like a river meandering. My wife's cousin just had hers renewed without leaving the country and got a 2 year visa! First time I've heard of that long. It was expensive though.

Sorry I was wrong she did leave the country.

@laidbackfreak, you’ve been around long enough to know the difference between a visa and a temp resident permit so I won’t question/dwell on that. What class of visa did he get that’s for two years?

Good question Budman, I'll ask her next time I speak to her. She's been here a while and recently just had a baby so didn't want the hassle of doing any visa runs during or just after the baby was born.
I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be a temp residency card.

Surprise.. surprise guess what it is a residency card... for two years... next time I'll get teh facts from the horses mouth and not listen to the wife lol

There are no new regulations. They are the same regulations that have been in place since 2004.

There are no official agents for visas.

Agents are self-appointed helpers with the ability to act informed. Their information has no weight, it's gauged to suit.

I was approached by an agent in a supermarket many years back and he offered to help me with my shopping.
I managed well enough by myself and I've managed to overcome every obstacle I've encountered since in Vietnam by doing everything myself.

You shouldn't need a visa if you are working here, you should have a WP and consequently a residents permit.

Can't you people see you are fuelling a market that shouldn't exist in the first place.

Halfway wrote:

There are no new regulations. They are the same regulations that have been in place since 2004.

There are no official agents for visas.

Agents are self-appointed helpers with the ability to act informed. Their information has no weight, it's gauged to suit.

I was approached by an agent in a supermarket many years back and he offered to help me with my shopping.

I managed well enough by myself and I've managed to overcome every obstacle I've encountered since in Vietnam by doing everything myself.

You shouldn't need a visa if you are working here, you should have a WP and consequently a residents permit.

Can't you people see you are fuelling a market that shouldn't exist in the first place.

A: Strange, these new regs have been working their way through the National Assembly since around 2011 April and were voted on and affirmed during 2011 Nov/Dec and became effective 2012 JAN 01.

B: Most of us know that about agents;

C: Most of that know this about agents, too, just like those 'guides' outside Uncle Ho's mausoleum;

D: Never known anyone to need help shopping in supermarkets. Maybe the guy thought you needed help;;

E:  I've ordered complex electrical and mechanical devices and have never needed assistance;

G I have an Internal Visa that lets me enter some Restricted areas in VN. (You can also get 'deported' from these areas, too);

H: Most Immigration offices will refuse to deal with Foreigners, even if they have people speaking fluent English, such as Hue. They refer you to one of two travel agents in town.

The reason is that the Internal Security Ministry issued a memo stating that officers should not solicit bribes from Foreigners. Being creative, they use agents (not applicants) which were not covered by the letter and the agents collect the donations through their 'service charges'.

Foreigners never "fueled the market", as you put it.

Can you please cite the official regulations please, e.g Decree 46 implemented 1st August 2011 updated Decree 34 from March 2008.

I'd like to read where you get some of your information.

Tell us more about your internal visa please. It sounds about as possible as the POV camera that you wear constantly (allegedly)

Can you clarify please who you work for, you are obviously not an expat and looking at your English I would say you are most likely a Vietnamese "agent"

"Complex electrical and mechanical devices"...... you've got to be joking mate!

Halfway said;
Can you please cite the official regulations please, e.g Decree 46 implemented 1st August 2011 updated Decree 34 from march 2008.

I'd like to read where you get some of your information.
Read the newspapers and look at the VN legislative calendar, I haven't located a clean English translation yet.

Tell us more about your internal visa please. It sounds about as possible as the POV camera that you wear constantly (allegedly)
The border area, generally 2-5 kilometres is  closed to non-VN citizens and patrolled by the border protection police. There also 'closed' ares in certain provinces including where my home is (indigenous) or in [b]Ha Giang or Cao Bang provinces - border. Why don't you read: < vietnamhagiang.com/ha-giang-permit-travel/ > (it has a picture of a temporary permit), < vietnamdiscovery.com/destination/cao-bang/hightlight/ban-gioc-waterfall/ >.[/b]

This web site doesn't have good picture insert facilities for posts. So if you PM me your e-mail address I will send you one of a cop accepting a bribe, or one where a drunken SaiGon Tourist taxi driver goes all over the road or a VinaSun taxi hitting me head-on.

Can you clarify please who you work for, you are obviously not an expat and looking at your English I would say you are most likely a Vietnamese "agent"
Never been called an 'agent' before, been accused of going native (as in marrying a VN citizen like several other people here). If you define an "ex-pat" as in < en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatriate > I fall well within the definition.

Why would a VN "agent" have good English?

My employment is really none of your business but it is not governmental.

"Complex electrical and mechanical devices"...... you've got to be joking mate!
How would you describe 10-layer printed circuit boards populated with processors (manufactured in Binh Duong)? Or a machine that is powered by hydraulics that are sequenced by a programmable controller (built in TP HCM).


Next you'll be telling me that VinaSun, of taxi fame, doesn't make noodles or that bullet-proof vests aren't made in Q8, or that millions of nuts, screws and bolts aren't manufactured in Q5. Or even that Mai Linh - taxis - doesn't have a spa or a training school!

Get real.

Cite a directive or decree updating the 2004 regulations.

Official sources only please.

I think you're just a blether and would like people to think you're informed. You've got a bit of knowledge mingled with a lot of gossip.

(Moderated)

Halfway wrote:

...You shouldn't need a visa if you are working here, you should have a WP and consequently a residents permit.

Can't you people see you are fuelling a market that shouldn't exist in the first place.

Actually, a one year visa is an option, with a work permit.  I've heard of schools sending couriers with a bags full of passports to get one-year visas in Cambodia, for their teachers that had the permits.

Who's actually fueling the market?  If the w/p process were streamlined, AND if it were transferable to different schools/companies, more people might consider spending the hefty sum that it takes to get all of the documents in order. 

Additionally, there's obviously nothing illegal about going there to get one.  Otherwise, I know about 30 people who would be in jail now.  How many days have you been here?

How about the schools who say "You're only part-time, so we won't assist you."  Most of the ones I've dealt with are completely clueless about the process.  I actually had a director asking me questions about how to successfully obtain one during an interview!

I help people with the WP process. I have also been asked by school directors about these processes. I found out myself by going to various government departments and asking questions. I've always had great co-operation and help from officials.

The same goes for visas.

If you hang around with agents you keep them employed (as it were) Agents along with (some) dubious officials will continue to lead you by the nose.

I don't believe for a minute that schools with teachers who have permits do as you say, particularly as the process for getting a Temporary Residence Card is so mind-numbingly simple quick and cheap!

Wake up people and start thinking and acting for yourselves.

You help people with the process?  How much does that cost?

I do it as a matter of course for friends and people who have been referred to me. I don't take any money whatsoever.

It's straightforward.

That being said I've spent many hours going to wrong departments with incomplete paperwork. I was also overcharged by a dodgy lawyer in my early days here. It worked in my favor as I just reversed his processes and worked back the way until I knew his every move.

I gained all my knowledge by myself and on the odd occasion I'd meet other expats going through the same processes so we would do things together.

The people who post here claiming knowledge of "regulations" etc are not the people who I've met doing things for themselves (and I've met hundreds at various offices)

Seriously, get out there and start visiting offices: Nguyen Trai, Nguyen Du etc. Get a feel for the places. Witness all the dodgy agents winking at the desk clerks and bidding for your business.
Go up to the various desks and ask questions, write down the answers........ go for it!

Halfway wrote:

I do it as a matter of course for friends and people who have been referred to me. I don't take any money whatsoever.

It's straightforward.

That being said I've spent many hours going to wrong departments with incomplete paperwork. I was also overcharged by a dodgy lawyer in my early days here. It worked in my favor as I just reversed his processes and worked back the way until I knew his every move.

I gained all my knowledge by myself and on the odd occasion I'd meet other expats going through the same processes so we would do things together.

The people who post here claiming knowledge of "regulations" etc are not the people who I've met doing things for themselves (and I've met hundreds at various offices)

Seriously, get out there and start visiting offices: Nguyen Trai, Nguyen Du etc. Get a feel for the places. Witness all the dodgy agents winking at the desk clerks and bidding for your business.
Go up to the various desks and ask questions, write down the answers........ go for it!

I've been here quite a while sport.

Whatever tickles your fancy is fine by me!  I prefer spending as much time as I can away from those offices.

My Aussie friend says:

Whatever tickles your fancy is fine by me!  I prefer spending as much time as I can away from those offices.

Who wouldn't.

I have been asked to edit this posting so here goes.
I recently applied with the Online Visa Company that I have been dealing with for the last 3 years to apply for a new 3 mth Multi Visa only to be informed they are no longer available. My problem is my current visa expires on the 26th June and I fly back into Vietnam from Australia on the 19th June giving me only 7 days left to stay in Vietnam. Damn! I am in a predicament as I am doing a side trip to Thailand for 7 days on the 5th July so any visa I get needs to be a multi entry visa. I went to immigration office in Saigon only to be told they would only give me 1 mth extension and only single entry. Damn again. Then a friend told me about a different online visa company that was offering 3 mth multi entry visas so I applied and got my visa. I then flew into Saigon using my current visa then on the 26th took a Mekong Express Bus to Phnom Penh. I checked into my hotel then took a tuk tuk to the Vietnamese Embassy and dressed appropriately and with a big smile on my face handed over all the paper work with photo. The clerks were more interested in my long Santa Claus beard and were very friendly. Asked me to take a seat and 15mins later handed me my passport with new visa in it.
Just back from Cambodia with my new 3 mth multi entry visa, costs, $31 processing fee with online visa service, $110 at Embassy, took less than 15mins and was accepted at the border crossing. The reason I wrote accepted at the border crossing is because there has been mention on this forum of them being rejected or reduced in length and so I put it in, sorry if this has confused Jaitch, but I thought it was pretty obvious I had been to the Embassy in PP. If I had known it was going to be that quick I would've come straight back but the visa was dated for the next day as I expected it to take a couple of days. Besides all that coach travel needs a break in between. Hope this clarifies any misunderstanding. There is no way one could travel down to the border and try and have a letter from immigration recognised as they all clearly state that it has to be a fly in process unless of course you arrange to have it sent to the Embassy like I did..

[Moderated]