questions about living in vietnam

Best is keep your money in your home country bank, choose one with low fees, and make ATM withdrawals. If you really want to use a local bank (or HSBC, the only international bank) you can Swift wire money in and out, because there is a paper trail. The less you leave in your account, the less risk you take. You cannot deposit cash into your account here. I'm pretty sure you can have both a Euro account and a VND account, and transfer between them, and make some interest in VND. But really, just use ATM (or some internet transfer methods) until you are sure you are going to live here a long time. Simplify your life.

HSBC is actually a Vietnamese version, it has Vietnamese rules and a different account number than in your country. Maybe a little easier to link accounts, expats are split on their opinions of HSBC. Search the forum.

International clinics and hospitals are superior to Vietnamese. However if you get really sick, an International hospital may transfer you to a Vietnamese hospital because they worry about their treatment success statistics.

My personal strategy is to self insure. I go to Intl clinics in Saigon like Family Medical and Victoria Health. If I need a procedure, I'll go to Bangkok for quality at low price. If I ever need a real expensive thing, go back to the states since I am covered 80% by socialized medicine for retired people.

You can't come here right now. Ask again when a vaccination or cure is found. That's maybe a year from now. Things will be quite different then.

Depositing.cash into an account here is possible.. I managed it.
The hard part is opening the account in the first place. You have to have a visa that allows you to be here for 12 months.

gobot thanks for the answers. So i have already decided to move there hopefully for good. And of course want the intrest rate there instead of EU banks which is 0.01%. WHile in VN is around 6% which is quite charming. My real question is is it impossible to tranfer your money if you want to move out?
So international health insurance is the way to go or South asia one that covers Thai and VN? I usually have local ones and trying to figure out if VN or Int is the best choice for cost and coverage.
VietCanada. yes i know. Not in a year but soon enough all borders will open because of tourism and economy. But that is another discussion:)
Just trying to find some info about there because nothing is clear enough.

Be aware to open a bank account you need at least a 12-month visa, or Temporary Resident Card (TRC), or Permanent Resident Card (PRC). In effect, this means only U.S. citizens, foreigners who are working in Vietnam, foreigners investing in Vietnam, foreigners married to a Vietnamese citizen, or foreigners who are overseas Vietnamese can open a bank account.

You can deposit cash if you declared the cash to Customs when you entered Vietnam.

Term deposits cannot exceed the length of your visa.

Once you have an account it's easy to electronically transfer money in from overseas. I've heard it is difficult to transfer money out (but have no personal experience with this).

Get a VISA card from your Vietnamese bank and spend your Vietnamese dong anywhere in the world - this is how I get money out of Vietnam.

cruisemonkey wrote:

Be aware to open a bank account you need at least a 12-month visa, or Temporary Resident Card (TRC), or Permanent Resident Card (PRC). In effect, this means only U.S. citizens, foreigners who are working in Vietnam, foreigners investing in Vietnam, foreigners married to a Vietnamese citizen, or foreigners who are overseas Vietnamese can open a bank account.

You can deposit cash if you declared the cash to Customs when you entered Vietnam.

Term deposits cannot exceed the length of your visa.

Once you have an account it's easy to electronically transfer money in from overseas. I've heard it is difficult to transfer money out (but have no personal experience with this).

Get a VISA card from your Vietnamese bank and spend your Vietnamese dong anywhere in the world - this is how I get money out of Vietnam.

Unless you are transferring six figure amounts to get that 6% interest its probably not worth the trouble and of course six figures would be that much tougher to get out. Take care as you will need a solid paper trail.   And remember that the VND deposit is subject to higher inflation than in the West and possible downward currency adjustments. My advice would be to transfer in only your monthly needs and do it by the debit card method suggested by gobot. 

On the other side, the VISA card idea for moving money out given above looks interesting but it would need to be a debit card.  If you have a true credit card you will need a way to pay it electronically from your regular account.  Also you will need to watch out for your exchange rates. I expect they will be way on the low side.   There also could be a foreign transaction fee.  It needs checking all of the variables.

Remember too that you can leave the country with $5000 US or equivalent without even declaring.  You can exchange VND to USD and I think Euros at gold shops.  If you can't find Euros, exchanging dollars should be easy in your home country.  If you are only bringing in monthly needs, that should be more than enough.

Wasp252 wrote:

Love the country and the food( not the food)

Really, what does this mean?    If you don't like Vietnamese food, I would recommend that you don't expatriate there at all.  Eating an entirely Western diet will be both expensive and difficult.  Food is an essential and integral part of the culture of any country.  Not eating Vietnamese food will really detract from the experience of living in the country.

THIGV wrote:

It needs checking all of the variables.

Yes! Very few of us are in exactly 'the same boat' i.e. different nationalities, visas etc. You'll have do quite a bit of research (and thinking) to figure out what will work best for you.

You guys are really great. Seriously.
I meant the traffic not the food.lol the way they drive i find it so crazy but i guess will adjust.

You mean Debit card from a VN bank? even if you have a debit card they will still be a limit to what you can transfer i suppose.
Finding information is quite challenging. Last time i was there i went to more than 8 banks and all provide different information and to make things worse. i went to same bank to 2 of their offices and they provided different information.
That was the reason i had to ask the experts:)

Wasp252 wrote:

Last time i was there i went to more than 8 banks and all provide different information and to make things worse. i went to same bank to 2 of their offices and they provided different information.

It seems that you have already learned a critical lesson about life in Vietnam.   

Wasp252 wrote:

I meant the traffic not the food.lol the way they drive i find it so crazy but i guess will adjust.

The only rule re: driving in Vietnam, is if you obey the 'rules of the road', you are almost guaranteed to cause an accident.

In relation to sending money out, you can send out what you bring in as long as it either stays in the bank or you have a paper trail showing what you did with it. Vietnam is not user friendly when it comes to expats residing here, they do make things difficult at times.

Can always use PayPal and transferwise, not sure if they have limits on each transaction

I went into vietinbank bank with my girlfriend and made open an account within about half hour
And few day's later recived an atm card

Moon6966 wrote:

I went into vietinbank bank with my girlfriend and made open an account within about half hour
And few day's later recived an atm card

Thats the problem, one bank/branch will do it, others wont. No uniformity with the regulations.

Moon6966 wrote:

I went into vietinbank bank with my girlfriend and made open an account within about half hour
And few day's later recived an atm card

When did you do this? / How long ago?

What type of visa do you have?

How long had you been in Vietnam prior to opening the account?

Do you have Temporary Resident status because of your employment or for another reason?

Do you think anyone could do the same at that bank, or does your girlfriend have special influence there?

This is your very first post here.

Have you read this thread yet?

expat. com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=859279

The new banking rules in Vietnam are less than 1 year old.

To the OP:

If you are still reading this, be very careful about accepting as fact, anecdotal statements about easily opening bank accounts.

From experience.. tourist visa for three months

TIMO = no even after getting my VEC still no
Shihan = no

Last one I go to once I had the VEC was VIB on Pasteur street. Walked in, copied passport and filled out form. Paid 100,000 minimum opening fee. Done.
Following week collected ATM card.

Hi I did it over a month possible 2 month ago in a small town tyh Ninh
Friend I have from Thailand said maybe she gave some garrenti for me
I'm. Not sure
She spoke with 2 desks
1 as cashier a

I wasn't sure what will happen
But eventually was all ok in deposit about 200 us
A recived online banking a atm card
By the way to activate the bank app was so complicated
That when we been to hcm city before I left the country she went again to hcm branch to ask help
Eventually it seems to work

I open the account with 3 month tourist visa

I'm guessing the 200USD deposit might have something to do with it ?

VIB app worked very fast and activated within seconds. No need to visit ATM or anything.
Maybe rules.in smaller towns are more relaxed.

No
Because nobody asked me to deposit that
I changed money before and thought it's better to put it in the bank a leave some cash
I deposited this money when everything was ready and done
I could have put 50 or what even was the minimum
I think having my wife girlfriend with me is most likely what help me
I have an account in Thailand
And it's very hard over there but because I made business there
My cargo agent which seem to have a name have me her card a said tell them Tina send you. A that made it happen
Any way that's in Thailand...
I heard before hand that it's easy to open
An account and that bank was on that list

Let's hope manager of bank doesn't run off with all the customers money

I have the bank app a money is still there no problem
Does it happen in vn that bank take money from foreign people?
Because friend that used to live in Thailand told me that. I personally never had a problem

Mainly just rumours of smaller banks and their owners running off.
No one I know has had it done so no need to worry

I opened also a bank account with just my 3 months tourist visa, almost 4 years ago. Have the visa card but you can only use it in Vietnam. But it's handy, paying all those e-shops with the card it's no problem.

Banking rules changed last year making it harder to open accounts. So four years again would have been a very easy process compared to now.

Surprised you can only use a VISA card here.. the logo is globally accepted

yes, I know. But in Europe, it was a nogo .

Very odd.. never heard that before.

Jlgarbutt wrote:

Banking rules changed last year making it harder to open accounts. So four years again would have been a very easy process compared to now.

Surprised you can only use a VISA card here.. the logo is globally accepted

Maybe you have to get it cleared ahead of time, kind of like a travel alert that is done on most credit cards before traveling?

I opened bank account in UK many years ago
It took me about half hour interview
But eventually I had it. I must say service in UK is very good
Barclay's bank anyway
And in time of trouble they really saved me
Just now I have lost my ticket to Vietnam
A they managed to. Make a claim a got me all the money back only in 1 week a that really was a surprise

Of course i am reading all the commends and trying to figure out what is the rule. Thank god i am from Greece and i can understand there are no rules. Or if you want to put it in different ways there are hard rules and soft rules.
I'll check with HSBC when this virus is over for sure.
Once i have trail that the money came from EU country and moved to vietnam that should cover me right?
HSBC has international accounts ( at least in their website) where they mention vietnam is part of the countries for those int accounts and supposely you can tranfer money in and out( especially if you have account with your name in EU or outside of vietnam). So that i will check and report so people can be aware where i am at. And hopefully we can help future people with this.

So hospitals are not great there? and have to go to another country for a surgery?
What about int or local health insurance? What you guys think about that?

Banking rules are made by countries not banks.

As far as I can tell, deposits have to come from a source the country decides. So, for instance if a bank has a contract on file between you and a Vietnamese employer then you can deposit those funds.

There are limits to how much money you can move in and out of the country by any means.

Maybe someone who knows the limits and allowable sources will post them, if they haven't already.

Jlgarbutt wrote:

Mainly just rumours of smaller banks and their owners running off.
No one I know has had it done so no need to worry

Although he did not capitalize it (maybe because he is using a cell phone) Mr Moon did say in his first post that it was Vietinbank, hardly a small bank.  In fact I think it is state-owned.

Maybe one of those government monitors some people think are reading this site every day read cruisemonkey's suggestion about using a Visa card to move money out of the country and reported it directly to the banking officials in Hanoi.   

More seriously, some people are using the term Visa card and ATM card almost interchangeably which can be confusing.  Actually there are 3 possible forms.  An ATM card will do just that, let you use an ATM, but you can't buy things with it.  A visa debit card can be used both to use an ATM and to make purchases.  With a Visa debit, the money comes directly from your current account.  A Visa credit card can make purchases in stores but these have to be repaid monthly or accrue interest that you pay the bank.  Frankly I never saw a true Visa debit card in Vietnam but that does not mean that they don't exist.  We had ATM cards on our Citibank account and my wife had a credit card (Mastercard) which was secured by a time deposit.  She also had a DongA Bank ATM card where she put my earnings and drew them out for daily needs. 

I also might note that Citibank would not turn her account into a joint account until I had a VEC.  I don't know if that was bank policy or if they were just following the law.  Note that this was 2012, so maybe the rules that are giving people trouble now existed but were just recently modified and enforced.  One thing about Citi is that they are absolutely scrupulous about following regulations, which can be both good and bad.

Jlgarbutt wrote:

Depositing.cash into an account here is possible.. I managed it.
The hard part is opening the account in the first place. You have to have a visa that allows you to be here for 12 months.

I opened an account in dong with HSBC on a 3-month US visa, but that was over three years ago, so I guess things have changed.  I'm able to deposit cash, but I keep the balance low.  I rarely use it, since it's easier to just use a debit card and an ATM -- it's more for emergency.  The debit card I use is from a US account with Capital One, with no fees, and I go to TPBank ATMs, which don't charge me any fee.

VietCanada wrote:

There are limits to how much money you can move in and out of the country by any means.

Maybe someone who knows the limits and allowable sources will post them, if they haven't already.

Under Article 2 of Circular No.15/2011/TT-NHNN dated 12-8-2011 Carrying cash in/out of Vietnam
Re: Cash brought into, or taken out of Vietnam - there is no limit on how much money an individual can bring into, or take out of Vietnam. However, an individual must declare if they bring in, or take out*:
- Foreign currency: in excess of USD 5,000
- Vietnam Dong: in excess of VND 15,000.000

*When an individual exits Vietnam and carries an amount of cash in excess of the amount as prescribed, they must declare to border Customs and present either of the two following documents:
1) Confirmation of carrying foreign currency or Vietnamese dong in cash abroad issued by an authorized credit institution in accordance with the current provision of the laws on foreign exchange control; or,
2) a written approval to carry foreign currency or Vietnamese dong in cash abroad issued by the State Bank of Vietnam.


If you plan on opening a bank account with cash you have brought into Vietnam, you must declare it no matter what the amount. Customs will give you a form you show to the bank.

Yes I did
That is the bank

Good idea about getting a Vietnamese visa card

Get a Charles Schwab account.  You can do this online and access local currency as needed.  CS also reimburses any ATM fees you incur.  Skip the local banks

Ksinger101 wrote:

Get a Charles Schwab account.

Charles Schwab is a brokerage firm thus only available to US residents or US expats who have a US address.  The OP is a Greek expat in Ireland.

There's CS International account for non-US residents but the minimum investment must be $25k.  Most people don't maintain that kind of balance in their current account.