Thailand VS Vietnam? Which one will be better in 5yrs?

[Roy Baht 1,153]

https://vietnamnet.vn/en/society/police-profile-foreign-criminals-entering-vietnam-601182.html

[Roy Baht 1,153]

On 7/31/2019 at 9:45 PM, madmen said:

And this loose visa policy will get tight soon enough don't worry about that,

You were right about that. New rules go into effect 20 July 2020:

"Accordingly, the amended law stipulates that a foreigner will be allowed to remain for only 30 days in Vietnam when granted a 30-day or longer tourist visa"

https://vietnamnet.vn/en/society/police-profile-foreign-criminals-entering-vietnam-601182.html

[Kaoboi Bebobp 1,743]

On 1/16/2020 at 7:11 AM, Roy Baht said:

You were right about that. New rules go into effect 20 July 2020:

"Accordingly, the amended law stipulates that a foreigner will be allowed to remain for only 30 days in Vietnam when granted a 30-day or longer tourist visa"

https://vietnamnet.vn/en/society/police-profile-foreign-criminals-entering-vietnam-601182.html

 

Very worrying. If the law is enforced as conveyed today, then thousands of expats will be forced to leave Vietnam and look elsewhere. And I will have to trash my plans to return to VN to live. Granted, there are some new investor visas but it appears all the old methods are dead and buried. 

 

Some legal firms in VN are saying they are waiting for further "guidance" and "clarifications" before July. But there appears to be a strong government move to clean out all the foreigners working without a proper visa or permit. In fact, I think the 30-day-and-out rule is meant to discourage people (oh, just for example, maybe teachers and Chinese) from even entering.   

 

 

[Roy Baht 1,153]

This just in:

 

 

[james173 0]

Thanks to everyone who's been participating in this thread, which I've found very helpful on a number of occasions. As I write we're in the middle of the UK coronavirus lockdown but I'm casting my mind forward to future adventures in Southeast Asia 

I just saw the video shared by Roy Baht above (The Vietnam Visapocalypse) from January 2020, so I checked the youtube channel it came from to see if there's been an update. Turns out there was an update in March 2020, here you go:

 

 

Summary:

Back in January it looked like people might need to do a visa run every 30 days, even if they had a longer duration visa, due to a new rule coming into force this July.

 

But this video from March seems to clarify that won't be necessary. Instead a stamp from the immigration office is what will be required every 30 days, costing approx $10 USD. Once your visa expires you'll need to do another visa run, as always.

 

(The author speculates it might be possible to pay a middleman to do that every-30-day run to the immigration office for you.)

 

Cheers

Edited July 5, 2020 by james173

[drbeach 1,555]

On 7/6/2020 at 5:39 AM, james173 said:

Thanks to everyone who's been participating in this thread, which I've found very helpful on a number of occasions. As I write we're in the middle of the UK coronavirus lockdown but I'm casting my mind forward to future adventures in Southeast Asia 

I just saw the video shared by Roy Baht above (The Vietnam Visapocalypse) from January 2020, so I checked the youtube channel it came from to see if there's been an update. Turns out there was an update in March 2020, here you go:

 

 

Summary:

Back in January it looked like people might need to do a visa run every 30 days, even if they had a longer duration visa, due to a new rule coming into force this July.

 

But this video from March seems to clarify that won't be necessary. Instead a stamp from the immigration office is what will be required every 30 days, costing approx $10 USD. Once your visa expires you'll need to do another visa run, as always.

 

(The author speculates it might be possible to pay a middleman to do that every-30-day run to the immigration office for you.)

 

Cheers

Let's wait and see what Vietnam actually ends up doing. People speculating isn't going to help, especially when those videos were made before the corona related lockdowns started.

[Kaoboi Bebobp 1,743]

^^^ The July 1 Tourist visa changes and Business visa expansions came and went without a peep from the VN government. I imagine there won't be anything further to say until they announce the resumption of general visa sales.

 

Wish I could be more optimistic but, well, I figure I'm going to have to stay another 3 months in Thailand, waiting for either Cambodia or VN to panic and re-open their borders.

Edited July 9, 2020 by Kaoboi Bebobp
Edit

[drbeach 1,555]

On 7/9/2020 at 4:02 PM, Kaoboi Bebobp said:

^^^ The July 1 Tourist visa changes and Business visa expansions came and went without a peep from the VN government. I imagine there won't be anything further to say until they announce the resumption of general visa sales.

 

Wish I could be more optimistic but, well, I figure I'm going to have to stay another 3 months in Thailand, waiting for either Cambodia or VN to panic and re-open their borders.

More than likely countries in the region will more or less open on a similar time scale. Vietnam originally announced a possible July 1 re-opening, but that has now been tentatively moved to September, which is similar to when Thailand plans to possibly re-open for tourism bubbles.

[Kaoboi Bebobp 1,743]

3 hours ago, drbeach said:

More than likely countries in the region will more or less open on a similar time scale. Vietnam originally announced a possible July 1 re-opening, but that has now been tentatively moved to September, which is similar to when Thailand plans to possibly re-open for tourism bubbles.

 

Yes, I was thinking the same thing just recently, they will all open at a similar pace and time. Competition for the tourist dollar is a beautiful thing. And the high season, such as it might be, is beckoning.

Edited July 10, 2020 by Kaoboi Bebobp

[Thaiaddict01 1]

On 7/31/2019 at 7:41 PM, jessebkk1 said:

 

 

   Visa wise, those married to locals either real or arranged, get a 5 year visa. Which we all have to agree is fxcking impressive, while their counterparts in Thailand get 11 months and 2 weeks before they start running helter skelter for another 11month 2 weeks visa.

 

Arranged? Can you elaborate on that please?