Business travel to Vietnam

For what it's worth Homeboy:

https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/simpl … 18902.html

Rick

Budman1 wrote:

For what it's worth Homeboy:

https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/simpl … 18902.html

Rick

Thats great info Rick - I'll copy paste it for everyone to see in its own thread.

Budman1 wrote:

For what it's worth Homeboy:

https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/simpl … 18902.html

Rick

That's some good info that I hadn't seen yet.  Thanks Rick.

The January 20 news is for citizens and people like @SteinNebraska with TRCs.
For tourists, the party is floating April 30.

Irony or Design?     April 30 is Reunification Day.  Reunify Vietnam with World.

https://www.asgam.com/index.php/2022/01 … pril-2022/

Vietnam could fully reopen to international tourists within months after the country’s Minister of Culture, Sport and Tourism, Nguyen Van Hung, said the government was targeting a 30 April end to border restrictions.

Speaking at a conference this week, Nguyen said he was pleased with the results of a pilot scheme allowing some vaccinated travelers to visit dedicated parts of Vietnam, with 7,800 foreign tourists having arrived since the scheme was launched in November. However, he said the tourism sector needed more help to survive.

“We cannot wait so long, and April 30 will be the right time,” he said, according to a VietnamNet report.

“The pilot scheme has achieved initial encouraging results,” said Nguyen, indicating that “visitors are eager to return to Vietnam in safe conditions” and stating that “Vietnam is a safe destination in the region and the world.”

On the proposal to reopen on 30 April, Nguyen added, “This is determination, not idealism.”

Only seven locations – Kien Giang, Khanh Hoa, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ninh, Ho Chi Minh City and Binh Dinh – are currently allowed to welcome international tourists under the government’s pilot scheme.

Integrated resort Hoiana, located near Hoi An in Quang Nam Province, welcomed around 430 tourists from the United States in November while 204 South Korean tourists visited Phu Quoc, part of Kien Giang province and home to Corona Resort & Casino, shortly after.

Furthermore, this is a memo from admin at my wife's work, a British company in Saigon, about the current state of entry. About the same as already known.

Effective 20th January 2022, the Immigration department has issued approval documents concerning entry to Vietnam following the spirit of Dispatch 450 which was issued by the Ministry a couple of days ago.   The new Immigration documents say:

1. People who already hold a valid entry document (Temporary resident card, Permanent Resident Card, Visa, Visa Exemption Certificate) will now be able to enter Vietnam without the need for further permissions;

2. People entering Vietnam for business purposes (working, employment, investment, event attending, studying, family visit…) but do not already valid entry documents still need to be given approval to enter Vietnam by the relevant People's Committee or at Ministry level before a visa can be obtained; and

3. People wanting to enter VN as tourist can still only do so by joining a designated tour package following the guidance of the Ministry of Culture.

We have confirmed with a couple of the major airlines (Emirate, Singapore, Vietnam) that they have also been informed of these changes and they are now implementing them.

As yet, there have been no changes to quarantining regulations – double vaccinated people are required to do 3 day / 4 nights with a PCR test on day 3, while unvaccinated people are required to do 7 days / 8 nights with PCR tests on day 3 and day 7.

Equally, the testing requirements for entry are also unchanged.

Well, we will see how it goes.  Ticket booked to arrive February 18.  Sounds like I need to have a covid test day 1 and day 3 of quarantine.  I assume Day 1 will be at the airport but not sure.  For Day 3 I assume "they" will come to me wherever I quarantine?  I'm not sure where I want to quarantine.  Biggest issue is getting food.  It sounds like I can quarantine pretty much anywhere as they say "a hotel or private residence".

SteinNebraska wrote:

Well, we will see how it goes.  Ticket booked to arrive February 18.  Sounds like I need to have a covid test day 1 and day 3 of quarantine.  I assume Day 1 will be at the airport but not sure.  For Day 3 I assume "they" will come to me wherever I quarantine?  I'm not sure where I want to quarantine.  Biggest issue is getting food.  It sounds like I can quarantine pretty much anywhere as they say "a hotel or private residence".

At one point I was considering traveling from Danang to HCMC, during the time that I would have been required to stay in a quarantine hotel because of the recent lockdowns in Danang (2020).

I got ahold of an official government list of all of the hotels that were approved to act as quarantine facilities.

I discovered that only the very high-end places we're willing to accept foreigners at that time (again this was for in country travel).

I gave up trying to book any of the more reasonably priced places, since about six in a row told me that either foreigners weren't being accepted, or they no longer participated in the program.

Good luck finding a place that doesn't try to bleed you dry.

At least it's only 3 days and not a couple of weeks.

I think it is easier now.  They only state that you need to quarantine in "a private residence or hotel".  I don't think it has to be a government sponsored or approved hotel now.

Have you upload the igovn immigration info yet?

I'm trying to determine exactly what I need to do to comply with this requirement on the government website.  It's pretty vague.

https://en.baochinhphu.vn/no-quarantine … 142970.htm

SteinNebraska wrote:

I'm trying to determine exactly what I need to do to comply with this requirement on the government website.  It's pretty vague.

It's supposed to be.   Then they can catch you either way.   You should know that by now.   

SteinNebraska wrote:

I think it is easier now.  They only state that you need to quarantine in "a private residence or hotel".  I don't think it has to be a government sponsored or approved hotel now.

Maybe PogiWayne or Andy can help find the post where it was explained that even if it's a home or hotel, all of the normal requirements for quarantine still need to be met, including warning signs/tape outside and special colored trash recepticals.

I can't recall if it said that the people helping you need to wear PPE.

I do recall that PogiWayne said that he and his fiancée in Vietnam had decided not to try it at a private residence (if possible for him to enter the country) because it was just too much of a burden.

Anyway they might have loosened the requirements since then.

That was a discussion in December, around the 15th.

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

SteinNebraska wrote:

I think it is easier now.  They only state that you need to quarantine in "a private residence or hotel".  I don't think it has to be a government sponsored or approved hotel now.

Maybe PogiWayne or Andy can help find the post where it was explained that even if it's a home or hotel, all of the normal requirements for quarantine still need to be met, including warning signs/tape outside and special colored trash recepticals.

I can't recall if it said that the people helping you need to wear PPE.

I do recall that PogiWayne said that he and his fiancée in Vietnam had decided not to try it at a private residence (if possible for him to enter the country) because it was just too much of a burden.

Anyway they might have loosened the requirements since then.

That was a discussion in December, around the 15th.

Here is the post:

expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=967221

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

SteinNebraska wrote:

I think it is easier now.  They only state that you need to quarantine in "a private residence or hotel".  I don't think it has to be a government sponsored or approved hotel now.

Maybe PogiWayne or Andy can help find the post where it was explained that even if it's a home or hotel, all of the normal requirements for quarantine still need to be met, including warning signs/tape outside and special colored trash recepticals.

I can't recall if it said that the people helping you need to wear PPE.

I do recall that PogiWayne said that he and his fiancée in Vietnam had decided not to try it at a private residence (if possible for him to enter the country) because it was just too much of a burden.

Anyway they might have loosened the requirements since then.

That was a discussion in December, around the 15th.

Here is the post:

expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=967221

Hi John, They have dropped tests for flights domestic and even level 4 has been relax for TET so by the time you come hopefully it will be more sensible than the info in that thread.
If you are staying around your old place then I'm sure Jigs will pop around with a welfare pack when his missus lets him learn to ride a scooter  If not let me know where you are and I'll pop over and get what you need.

ADVERTISING:

The forum is not aimed at helping you to promote your company and products. If your thread is of a commercial nature, please use the dedicated sections: we invite you to register in theVietnam Business directory or to have a look at our Advertising page.

The forum can’t be used to promote external groups or organizations. Should you want to organize gatherings/activities with the other members, kindly get in touch with us: we would be pleased to help y

SteinNebraska wrote:

I'm trying to determine exactly what I need to do to comply with this requirement on the government website.  It's pretty vague.

Here is Vietnam airlines page.
https://www.vietnamairlines.com/us/en/v … h-Viet-Nam

“ Health declaration
• Passengers of foreign nationality make medical declarations and monitor their health through the IGOVN application.”

Which is Igonvn page immigration. 

https://igovn.immigration.gov.vn/

I will probably fly a different airline but they still want the same.

Andybris2020 wrote:

Hi John, They have dropped tests for flights domestic and even level 4 has been relax for TET so by the time you come hopefully it will be more sensible than the info in that thread.
If you are staying around your old place then I'm sure Jigs will pop around with a welfare pack when his missus lets him learn to ride a scooter  If not let me know where you are and I'll pop over and get what you need.

I may just do a western style hotel for three days in D1 so I can just quarantine and do room service.  After that I'll move to an apartment in Thao DIen to be more convenient for work every day.

Oh, and an aside, flights suck right now.  I've made this round trip a dozen times and it's always between 24-26 hours total time from my home  and never more than $1,700.  Three flights from Omaha, Denver, Tokyo, HCMC.  This time I have to go through San Fransisco so now four flights through South Korea. 43 hours.  And of course more expensive.  I got lucky.  There was one flight for $2,300 RT.  All other flights were $4,500-$7,000.

Welcome back to VN SteinNebraska.  I just got here a week ago from LAX - ICN-HAN.  I feel your pain a layover of 14 hrs in ICN is not fun, thought, more and more stores are opened now inside the airport.   In my situation, the company secured a hotel for my quarantine.  Upon arrival at the airport, you are required to take rapid test (100k dong or $5 USD) then proceed to immigration as usual if the test is negative.  My test was positive that trigger Health service Dept. take me directly to a concentrated quarantine location managed by the military.  This is not an ideal quarantine for foreigners for 10 days according to MoH regulations.  Yes, I had PCR test 3 days straight one per day before my departure and all were negative.  Fast forward, after 24 hrs with a lot of help from my local connection, I was able to transfer out of this facility to the hotel certified for self quarantine approved by Hai Phong local peoples committee.   Be prepared for the worse but expect the best.

SteinNebraska wrote:

Oh, and an aside, flights suck right now.  I've made this round trip a dozen times and it's always between 24-26 hours total time from my home  and never more than $1,700.  Three flights from Omaha, Denver, Tokyo, HCMC.  This time I have to go through San Fransisco so now four flights through South Korea. 43 hours.  And of course more expensive.  I got lucky.  There was one flight for $2,300 RT.  All other flights were $4,500-$7,000.

VNA has direct flights now a few times a week out of SFO, about 16 hours flight time straight into SGN non-stop. Have to go to their website to book it.


https://fly.vietnamairlines.com/dx/VNDX … 3945b8a83b

Rick

Budman1 wrote:

SteinNebraska wrote:

Oh, and an aside, flights suck right now.  I've made this round trip a dozen times and it's always between 24-26 hours total time from my home  and never more than $1,700.  Three flights from Omaha, Denver, Tokyo, HCMC.  This time I have to go through San Fransisco so now four flights through South Korea. 43 hours.  And of course more expensive.  I got lucky.  There was one flight for $2,300 RT.  All other flights were $4,500-$7,000.

VNA has direct flights now a few times a week out of SFO, about 16 hours flight time straight into SGN non-stop. Have to go to their website to book it.


https://fly.vietnamairlines.com/dx/VNDX … 3945b8a83b

Rick

Thx for that expat Bud!   
The Vietnam Airlines website shows they only offer 2 nonstop flights/week, SFO-SGN in 16hrs. Economy one-way available from late Feb $1200 including tax+fees.   Earlier than that, the economy seats are sold out so higher $.

pppham40 wrote:

My test was positive that trigger Health service Dept. take me directly to a concentrated quarantine location managed by the military.  This is not an ideal quarantine for foreigners for 10 days according to MoH regulations.  Yes, I had PCR test 3 days straight one per day before my departure and all were negative.  Fast forward, after 24 hrs with a lot of help from my local connection, I was able to transfer out of this facility to the hotel certified for self quarantine approved by Hai Phong local peoples committee.   Be prepared for the worse but expect the best.

Damn, that would suck.  It's a concern.  Pretty sure I had COVID a few weeks ago - never checked - plus vaxed and boosted.  I would hate to show up positive like you did.  I'm only there for two weeks for work but I can always stretch the trip if needed.  My guy over there is researching hotels for me for quarantine.

Yes, it was horrible since this is my wife first trip back to the country since the locked down of 3/2020.  Can you imagine, a room of 8 patients (including us), my wife is the only female in this room and the room only have 1 bathroom.   I think HCM is very much in synch with MoH with the new regulations issued on 12/28.  To prepare for the worse for those stay more than 14 days, you might need to search for F0 qualified hotels and have the health department ambulance to transport you vs private vehicle from the airport to the hotel.  It will cost more, however, if you don't by law they will take you directly to the concentrated quarantine place (so I been told by the health department at HAN). 

If all well, in your case SteinNebraska, since you entering Vietnam for business purposes for less than 14 days, you will be exempt from quarantine requirements as per the Ministry of Health (MoH), however, you must comply with pandemic prevent measures including staying at separate accommodations per MoH.

pppham40 wrote:

you will be exempt from quarantine requirements as per the Ministry of Health (MoH), however, you must comply with pandemic prevent measures including staying at separate accommodations per MoH.

I hope this is the case and staying at separate accommodations isn't a problem.  It's just me going there.

Things are opening up a bit more.  No more tests upon arrival or departure at the airport..

https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/society/202 … 65481.html

Yes, as of noon 1/28 new regulations!  You are good!  Safe traveling!

PS I am in my last day (10 days) of quarantine..... hopefully, I can get out on new year eve (Chinese New Year).

pppham40 wrote:

...hopefully, I can get out on new year eve (Chinese New Year).

This is the first time I have heard an ethnic Vietnamese refer to the new year as "Chinese."   Besides the animosity factor, the Lunar New Year in Vietnam and China are factually not the same, as on some regular interval the new year falls on different days.   Don't ask me to really explain it, but it has to do with latitude.  It's a long way from Beijing to Hanoi.  In the past, Korea also had disputes with the Ming as the Ming calendar was not suitable for Korea.   In that case the problem was probably the longitudinal difference between Beijing and Seoul (or Sorabol), which made important astronomical events fall on different days.

THIGV wrote:

pppham40 wrote:

...hopefully, I can get out on new year eve (Chinese New Year).

This is the first time I have heard an ethnic Vietnamese refer to the new year as "Chinese."   Besides the animosity factor, the Lunar New Year in Vietnam and China are factually not the same, as on some regular interval the new year falls on different days.   Don't ask me to really explain it, but it has to do with latitude.  It's a long way from Beijing to Hanoi.  In the past, Korea also had disputes with the Ming as the Ming calendar was not suitable for Korea.   In that case the problem was probably the longitudinal difference between Beijing and Seoul (or Sorabol), which made important astronomical events fall on different days.

I wonder if that might be because he is now a US citizen and has lived in the states for about 37 years (was 35 years in 2020).

Depending on where he has been living, and given the pejorative sense of the proper title "Tết" among Americans who have bad memories of The American War in Vietnam, it would be understandable if he's developed a habit of referring to the lunar new year as "Chinese New Year".

THIGV, thanks for the reminder... you are getting too technical with terminology outside the context of what I wrote: ...hopefully, I can get out on new year eve.... most of people in the world don't have the experience that we have i.e. traveling outside of their own country or Asia.   it's just a layman terms THIGV!

@OceanBeach92107, super explanation!  Thank you!

@ SteinNebraske,  for departure i.e. return to the US... A required PCR test within 1 day (NOT 72 hrs)... you might need to check if this requirement still in place.

@ SteinNebraske, I forgot.... to aid with the entry process scan the QR code and continue to on ... follow the link below for medical declaration.   

https://tokhaiyte.vn/

SteinNebraska wrote:

I got lucky.  There was one flight for $2,300 RT.  All other flights were $4,500-$7,000.

Those prices are quite jaw dropping for proles like myself.   Are you travelling first class?   Just last night, a friend dropped by our house and told me that he had bought a round trip in April for $1100.   He is planning to enter with a VEC,  Granted that price is from Hawaii, so a little less jet fuel gets burned, but it i still an order of magnitude less.   China Airlines (Taipei) seems to be the carrier of choice from Hawaii to Vietnam.

THIGV wrote:

SteinNebraska wrote:

I got lucky.  There was one flight for $2,300 RT.  All other flights were $4,500-$7,000.

Those prices are quite jaw dropping for proles like myself.   Are you travelling first class?   Just last night, a friend dropped by our house and told me that he had bought a round trip in April for $1100.   He is planning to enter with a VEC,  Granted that price is from Hawaii, so a little less jet fuel gets burned, but it i still an order of magnitude less.   China Airlines (Taipei) seems to be the carrier of choice from Hawaii to Vietnam.

At 1100 usd it may have many stops or long stopover.

colinoscapee wrote:

At 1100 usd it may have many stops or long stopover.

I have flown with them several times.   They never have more than one stopover.  Because they don't fly into Vietnam themselves, most flights have about a 2-4 hour layover in Taipei and usually finish up with Vietnam Airlines to SGN.  Sometimes on the return there is an overnight in Taipei but hotel, meals, and ground transportation are included in the ticket price.  Fortunately Honolulu to Taipei is only about 10 hours so sitting in sardine class is tough but tolerable.  The layover is actually a good stretch time.

THIGV wrote:

SteinNebraska wrote:

I got lucky.  There was one flight for $2,300 RT.  All other flights were $4,500-$7,000.

Those prices are quite jaw dropping for proles like myself.   Are you travelling first class?   Just last night, a friend dropped by our house and told me that he had bought a round trip in April for $1100.   He is planning to enter with a VEC,  Granted that price is from Hawaii, so a little less jet fuel gets burned, but it i still an order of magnitude less.   China Airlines (Taipei) seems to be the carrier of choice from Hawaii to Vietnam.

Haha THIGV, you are out of touch with today new norm especially since 2/2020.  I am not sure when is the last time you flight international coach vs business vs first class.   The price range Stein provided is the normal price for coach in the past three months (due to the uncertainty), yet, is not a normal price. No, is not Business and boy... definitely is not first class.   You are correct, typical price for RT is  <2k from US to Asia.   But, business range is 4.5 - 9k and first class is 8 - 20k....

I am not sure you are trying to help (with known facts) or just wanted to debate on everything ....
While all of us want cheapest possible flight tickets there are many factors.... airlines have their own strategies and methodology to decide on ticket prices so that they can maximize profits, without losing customers to competition and purely based on SUPPLY AND DEMAND. 

As Colinoscapee pointed out one of price variant (load factor), there are others for the airlines to considers:  promo fares, launch fares, bundled services vs no frills model, own flight vs codeshare, aircraft type, airport fees, oil price, airport capacity, distance, peak season, and flight timing (flexibility).... and on and on.... I can list another thousand reasons (just kidding).

It can be quite frustrating when trying to buy plane tickets. Ticket prices can fluctuate by hundreds of dollars from day to day, and predicting the change can seem virtually impossible.  For the intermediate traveler, I would suggest to use minimum of 4 search engines (Exp, Kay, Goo, and Sky) along with direct search with the airline site to compare the price.

I am not trying to be argumentative.   I am presenting an alternative.   United has several RT flights ORD to HNL for around $850.  Add that to the $1100 HNL-SGN and you have a round trip for $1950 with a layover in Waikiki, which is probably preferable to a night in Denver.   The difficulty is that the $1100 ticket is from a Vietnamese travel agent in Chinatown who purchased bulk tickets at a discount so that price is a lot less than anything you will find online.  It would be tricky but it could be done.

Part of it is coming from Omaha, which sucks.  part of it is the timing.  Had I been able to wait a couple of more weeks it would have been back down in the normal $1,500 range.  The day before and the day after my flight there zero flights.  Two days before it was $7000.  Two days after was $4,500.

I neglected to update this thread.  Arrived Friday afternoon.  The only bad thing about the arrival was typical Vietnamese organization.  Everyone entering immigration first had to go through a line to have your health declaration and negative covid test papers checked before actually going through immigration.  The "line" was a herd of people 6-8 people wide, jostling for position to get to one of the two, yes two people available that had to scan all document QR codes and then print out another QR code with obligitory red chop.  It was a mess and probably took an hour.  After that immigration was a breeze with the immigration lines being fed solely by the previous line.

No covid test at the airport, but that rule was removed before TET.

No mention of further any COVID testing for me.

No checking to see if I had installed the tracking app.

No mention of quarantine or isolation.  Nobody has ever contacted me for a follow up     COVID test.

In all, it has been a bit surprising.