Vietnam To Overhaul Its Visa, Immigration Laws This Summer

The Vietnamese government plans to radically overhaul its immigration and visa policies in order to attract more tourists and prevent the entry of criminals and illegal immigrants.

“Starting July 1, visitors entering Vietnam will be granted a temporary residence stamp upon arrival with the duration of stay matching their visas,” said Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Minh of the Department of Immigration.

This measure will ease the burden of foreigners who hold visas that are valid for more than 12 months. Under current laws, such visitors are required to apply for a permit extension even though their visas remain valid.

However, travelers on a tourist visa will have to provide more paperwork if they wish to stay longer than 30 days.

“For tourist visas which are valid for more than 30 days, tourists are only given a 30-day temporary residence stamp,” Minh said.

Foreign tourists can still receive three-month visas, however they will have to get their passports stamped every 30 days, at a cost of $10 each time they do.

“Tourists can apply for an extension once or multiple times, but the maximum stay is 90 days. After this period, they must leave the country and if they want to return to Vietnam, they will have to apply for a visa again,” Minh said.

Minh explained the new rules are designed to deter criminals and undocumented immigrants.

“There are foreigners who have taken advantage of the three-month tourist visa to engage in activities that violate Vietnamese laws, such as high-tech crime and working illegally,” Minh added.

The new laws also lessen the burdens on citizens from 13 countries under Vietnam's unilateral visa waiver program, including South Koreans and Japanese. “A regulation requiring people from these countries entering Vietnam without a visa to wait for at least 30 days to be able to come back will be removed. They will be able to come back anytime,” Minh said.

(The 13 countries comprise Belarus, Denmark, Japan, Norway, Italy, Finland, France, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Germany and U.K.)

In addition, eligible foreigners will now for the first time be permitted to change their visa status while remaining in the country. “They include foreign investors or representatives of foreign organizations that invest in Vietnam and their families, and foreign workers who receive job offers in Vietnam or enter the country on [electronic visas] as long as they have a work permit or confirmation they are exempt from a work permit,” Minh said.

The new laws will also specify that foreign investors with capital of less than $130,000 can only receive a one-year visa, while those who invest at least $4.3 million can obtain a 10-year temporary permit. Under current laws, all certified foreign investors can obtain a five-year visa regardless of the size of their investment.

For the nine-month period ended Sept. 30, 2019, Vietnam received 12.87 million foreign visitors, a 10.8% increase over the same period in the prior year. The majority of those arrivals – about 10.16 million – came from other Asian nations, led by China (3.98 million) and South Korea (3.14 million).

For now, as the coronavirus outbreak worsens, Vietnam has taken steps to ban the entry of people from certain affected countries.

On Monday, Vietnam temporarily suspended visa-free travel for Italians due to the rising number of infections in that country. At least 34 people in Italy have died from the virus.

On Friday, Vietnam passed a similar ban on people from South Korea, where hundreds have been infected.

Vietnam officials claimed they have not recorded any new coronavirus infections since Feb. 13 and that all confirmed cases in the country recovered and released from hospitals.

As of Friday, another 79 people suspected to have contracted coronavirus were in quarantine.

Vietnam banned all air flights to and from mainland China in early February.