5 months of overstay - 2 passports - SO MANY QUESTIONS!! ^_^

-jag- · 2014-05-13T11:54:00+02:00

Hello. I am in quite a sticky situation and was wondering if anyone here could answer my questions... My tourist visa expired about 5 months ago. At that time, I was supposed to exit and re-enter the country when renewing it, but I didn't have any money whatsoever to do so. Shortly after, I was kicked out of the room I was renting, and as a guarantee that I would come back to reimburse her, my landlady kept my US passport. (She even refused to give it back to me for a day, so I could have my visa renewed!) And I only just now, finally managed to pay off my debt to her, and get my passport back (YAY!) NOW, I have 5 months of overstay to pay, and from what I've heard that it will cost me $10 for each day of overstay, which makes quite a prickly sum. And I am just getting back onto my feet after such a financial mayhem and I am far from having such an amount right this moment. How could I find the money? Any ideas? Here is some of the information that I have managed to collect, asking around a bit. And I would like to know if these are true or not??? o.O First of all, someone told me that if I walk into any travel agency and expose my situation to them, they will, for sure, immediately summon the cops or immigration, (or whoever it is that represents authority in this sort of situation), and they will take me to jail. Secondly, I also heard that if I try to leave the country with my visa as is, I will be asked to pay the total amount (if not more!) on the spot, at the border. And if ever I cannot pay, I will be taken to prison. Thirdly, someone else told me that I will be asked to leave the country while my visa renewal is being processed... but HOW could I possibly leave the country without my passport? And if this is the case, do I "need" to come back? And LASTLY, I have a dual citizenship, so I have two passports (my 2nd passport recently expired so would need renewing, if ever I needed to use it). But several people told me that I should declare my passport as stolen or lost, and then begin putting my new visas in the 2nd passport. But I have trouble believing that the government has no trace whatsoever of my prior visas in the 1st passport. In any case, I am an honest person, and don't think that even considering this option is a good idea... but seeing as quite a few people have suggested this, now I am curious as to why? Thanks for taking the time to read this, and hopefully someone out there will be capable of enlightening me. Regards, -jag-

Last activity 09 August 2014 by Jaitch

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JaitchGuest09 August 2014 02:54:05

#81

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pilotadamp wrote:
The only quick solution I can think of, is to get out of Vietnam through one of the unofficial border crossings into say Cambodia or China. Apply online for visa on arrival using your second passport. that way you can get back in.....

There is a 2 kilometre exclusion zone for Foreigners around all of the border, except for gateway areas authorised for use by Foreigners and one or two tourist sites.

This area is patrolled by armed (loaded) border patrol types.

There are many "footpaths" and 'tracks" across the border which are available legally ONLY to people living in defined areas (and shown on their ID cards).

The Mekong river is a high traffic illegal crossing area but you need a contact to use it. I have friends with a farm on the Cambodian border and I have to get a Permit each time I visit them - it has a curfew time (no sleep overs). The border police infest the place at night, and they check him often.

But then you have the hassle of explaining how you got to Cambodia (boat sank?)

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