Earlier in 2022 the Vietnamese Immigration department dropped a bomb on all of us that live here and work as digital nomads and it has stung a lot of people to the point where a great many people who work remotely have just left to go to a different country rather than have to jump through hoops every 30 days.
At first I thought that it wouldn't be so bad to be forced to go on a short vacation somewhere...anywhere... it didn't really matter. The only thing that Vietnam was requiring was that people leave Vietnam in order to get a new stamp to come back in. This is something that happens in many countries all around the world although the 30 day limit is a bit much to ask of people particularly when the airport in the city you choose to live in doesn't really go to very many places. It used to, but Covid kind of put a stop to all of that as tourism here has taken a massive hit and doesn't seem likely to recover anytime soon.
The visas prior to Covid were 3-month visas and they could be extended by leaving the country for just an instant and then paying $25 for a new visa. I know people that have been here for years and never had a problem renewing these visas. It did kind of seem like the Vietnamese Immigration were a bit annoyed about the fact that people would have dozens of consecutive visas in their passports and I don't know if this annoyance was because they had to do unnecessary extra work, or annoyance because people were getting visa after visa and nearly no one was ever refused. I've never heard of it happening anyway. Well, that is until earlier this year when the entire visa game got flipped on its head.
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These days the people who have built a life for themselves in Vietnam have the same options as far as staying basically indefinitely, it is just a case of being inconvenienced every 30 days with needing to do a border run. This got particularly bad in March-June when there were many instances of people needing to get something called and E-Visa and this could only be applied for once someone had already exited Vietnam. Therefore, sometimes people would lose their return flights from wherever they were because they had not yet gotten their E-visa and no reason for why this was the case was ever provided. Some suspect it was because Vietnam no longer wants digital nomads living in the country and this was odd seeing as how they spent a lot of time and money advertising this place as a great place for people to do exactly that.
Whatever the reason was, the E-Visa program seems to have improved and now everyone that I know is approved for their E-Visa almost immediately. It could be a complicated computer system or database for all we know but the fact of the matter is that getting this visa is almost always a one or two day thing whereas earlier this year there were instances of it taking a week, which is ridiculous.
I don't know if the government has decided to start playing nice with digital nomads or not but the appearance is that people are not having any difficulty renewing visas at all, at least for now.
I suppose the next step that would make me really happy would be if they were to come up with some sort of REAL digital nomad visa that someone could apply for. If it is money they are after (and what government isn't) they could simply ask for it and I think most of the nomads would probably pony up for it. Every 30 days almost everyone I know is forced to spend hundreds of dollars to go on these visa runs and I am sure that most of them would much rather just give that money to the government for the ease of being simply allowed to stay here.
Time will tell I guess. For the time being it at least appears as though the government is taking a more relaxed approach and approving almost anyone that applies in a rapid manner. I suppose that is about as good of news as we can hope for right now.
Visa re-run will spend a lot of money just to have the stamp cop as i know some of my friend staying digital nomad trying as much money as they can. I hope they can survive on this thing getting more income to cover those expenses.
the visa runs can get expensive and eventually most people will give up and move to a country that has more amicable options available.
very interesting article, congratulations for sharing it
I am thinking of traveling in Vietnam among Asian countries in the future.
I think that you should. These are fantastic and cheap places to travel to for sure.
Many Airports It is usually crowded like this. People prefer to travel by plane.
Lets hope this lasts and is not just to catch everyone up before changing the laws. It does sound positive however as they do need the digital nomads and expats to remain to help boost their won economy.
That is the way I look at it but others have told me that the expat population is a rather miniscule portion of Vietnam's overall GDP and therefore, is kind of a non-issue.
⋆ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ ғᴏʀ sᴏᴜᴛʜᴇᴀsᴛ ᴀsɪᴀɴ ᴄᴏɴᴛᴇɴᴛ ᴏɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ
⋆ sᴜʙsᴄʀɪʙᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ
⋆ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀsᴇᴀɴ ʜɪᴠᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴜɴɪᴛʏ ᴠᴏᴛɪɴɢ ᴛʀᴀɪʟ
⋆ ᴅᴇʟᴇɢᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ʟɪɴᴋs 25 ʜᴘ⇾50 ʜᴘ⇾100 ʜᴘ⇾500 ʜᴘ⇾1,000 ʜᴘ
Brutal, these visa complications were one of the reasons I chose Cambodia as my destination. It seems so stressful to constantly have to travel and do border runs. I do hope one of the countries in this part of the world makes some common sense visa policies soon. Mine expires in February, and technically I work at a hotel in some other part of the country I've never been too, and the visa wasn't easy to get like it has always been in the past.
People tell me that Cambodia is one of those countries that you can buy your way into whatever visa you want. of course these people are not living in Cambodia and they might just be spinning tall-tales in order to have something to talk about. These people also don't have many good things to say about life in Cambodia and didn't live there for very long.
That’s the common thing a lot of country has faced around the world including Cambodia, as an Asian who has been noticed by far that Cambodia used to be in this situation, I think we will find the best solution and everything will become better soon . Good Luck ! !
I certainly hope so. These things do have a way of working themselves out and I am optimistic that this will be the case this time around as well. IT is a shame that there isn't even a long-term stay option available in this country other than getting married or owning property.