Weird Experience With Vietnam Immigration

[PhilipL]

First time in Vietnam. Arrived in Cam Ranh Airport (Nha Trang) from DMK Bangkok last Friday. 

 

Somehow I ended up being the very last person in the queue at the Vietnamese immigration. 

 

It was my turn and I walked up to the counter and handed over my passport (Denmark) . All the other counters were closing around me. I was the very last passenger in there.

 

The immigration officer started asking me how long I would stay, why I am here and where I will be staying. Fair enough since this was my first time in Vietnam and he want to check.

 

I answered the guy and showed him hotel booking, airplane tickets and so on. 

 

From then and on the guy carefully went through each and every page of my passport, again and again and again for 3 minutes with me standing there looking. Then he asked me what this country is, and I replied I am from Denmark. He kept going through each page again and again looking for anything that could be a sign of a faked passport. He carefully studied the thread that binds the pages together as well as other things... 

 

Finally after around 4 minutes the IO plugged in a machine and put the passport in some light in there that showed the ultra violet watermarks in my passport. He opened a computer system and found Denmark by looking at how it was spelled on my passport. He did not seem to know that Denmark even exists.

 

Then, with the help of the machine with my passport inside, he compared everything to images showing how a Danish passport looks like in the database system. 

 

Of course there was nothing wrong with my passport and he finally stamped me in, but the way he had me there like I was some kind of criminal who had faked my passport from "fantasy land" with plenty and plenty of stamps from Thailand was a rather annoying first time experience.

 

Also the fact that someone who have a job as an immigration officer doesn't seem to know the name of some countries around the world kind of surprised me.

 

Have anyone had similar or other  experiences like this one with the Vietnam immigration before? 

 

P.S. I was also rather surprised that there were no taking pictures or demanding fingerprints from passengers! 

Edited December 2, 2019 by PhilipL

[Matzzon]

What is more probable is that togheter with poor knowledge the immigration officer also got a notice that told him to look for fake danish passports. How many people from Denmark was there?

[Puchaiyank]

Thanks for sharing...made me laugh!

[torturedsole]

2 hours ago, PhilipL said:

Somehow I ended up being the very last person in the queue at the Vietnamese immigration. 

You need to walk faster. 

[PhilipL]

3 hours ago, Matzzon said:

What is more probable is that togheter with poor knowledge the immigration officer also got a notice that told him to look for fake danish passports. How many people from Denmark was there?

Yeah, only me among a bunch of Thai and Chinese ????

Edited December 2, 2019 by PhilipL

[AlexRich]

What did the Dane’s every do for us?

[Eindhoven]

I used to get ushered through side entrances and other times the security staff would ask me to not go through, but to spend time with them. Perhaps they thought that I was someone famous. ????

As to on the aircraft....there were some friendly stewardesses.

 

The only issue I had a Vietnam was the IO asking me to turn the brightness up on my phone, as my mobile boarding pass wouldn't scan unless I did so.

No undue scrutiny.

[CNXexpat]

Perhaps it´s a trick of people with fake passports to be the last in a queue because they think the officer will look not so good because he wants to go home quick. But - unfortunately for you - the officers know the trick. 

Ok, and Denmark is not sooooo large and has not a sooooo large population that everybody knows that it exists. ????

[Destiny1990]

Maybe they are still following you?

[gk10002000]

I have from several fellow employees that are Vietnamese and that go back to Vietnam every other year or so on vacation and also from some other Viet natives that are dealers in the local poker room (Ocean's 11) that they get hassled and slowed down quite a bit in immigration unless they slip some money into their arrival documents.  So a "slow down" may be due to the immigration person waiting for some monetary incentive.  My co worker said she and her husband and two kids were skipped over and literally were not being processed until they put up some money.  The officials know or assume the travelers have money and can afford it.  One poker dealer went over and was mugged off his motorbike right after he rented it.  Again, he says they assume since he is from the USA he has money so the smart phones, and local thugs are out preying and looking for victims

[Ron jeremy]

Perhaps a new employee , just checking things out. And never heard of Denmark. 

[Lee4Life]

I'm not all that surprised, sorry it made you feel that way...it's no fun to feel like you are singled out. On the other hand, what happened to you may help things go more smoothly for your fellow country men who may happen to encounter the same officer. (considering that he remembers that Denmark is a country)

[Tayaout]

I had the same experience in Germany with a brand new passport. They are simply doing their job. 

[Bangkok Barry]

1 hour ago, gk10002000 said:

I have from several fellow employees that are Vietnamese and that go back to Vietnam every other year or so on vacation and also from some other Viet natives that are dealers in the local poker room (Ocean's 11) that they get hassled and slowed down quite a bit in immigration unless they slip some money into their arrival documents.  So a "slow down" may be due to the immigration person waiting for some monetary incentive.  My co worker said she and her husband and two kids were skipped over and literally were not being processed until they put up some money.  The officials know or assume the travelers have money and can afford it.  One poker dealer went over and was mugged off his motorbike right after he rented it.  Again, he says they assume since he is from the USA he has money so the smart phones, and local thugs are out preying and looking for victims

 

I think you're right in thinking he was seeking an incentive to speed things up. It's very common in many SE Asian countries. I quite often use the Lao border post at Savannakhet and my wife and others hand over 50 baht automatically with their passport or ID (it used to be 20, but even corruption fees are subject to inflation). I don't and have never been asked for a donation.

 

I used to go to Bali every year for an event, and the organisers put a stop to everyone being asked for 10 or 20 $ (I don't remember which) by arranging for each arrival to be taken through the VIP channel. Of course, these scum are the ones who have the legal right to deny entry if they want, the all-encompassing 'discretion of the IO' thing.

 

[TPI]

16 hours ago, AlexRich said:

What did the Dane’s every do for us?

Apart from roads, the law, medicine...?

[Caine]

As Nigel Farage once quoted Denmark strange country that it is. He must have watched it on YouTube. ????????????

[Caldera]

Denmark, Danmark, he probably thought he caught you getting the spelling wrong when faking your passport. Hilarious.

[Chongalulu]

17 hours ago, AlexRich said:

What did the Dane’s every do for us?

Brought home the bacon!

[NanLaew]

4 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

I have from several fellow employees that are Vietnamese and that go back to Vietnam every other year or so on vacation and also from some other Viet natives that are dealers in the local poker room (Ocean's 11) that they get hassled and slowed down quite a bit in immigration unless they slip some money into their arrival documents.  So a "slow down" may be due to the immigration person waiting for some monetary incentive.  My co worker said she and her husband and two kids were skipped over and literally were not being processed until they put up some money.  The officials know or assume the travelers have money and can afford it.  One poker dealer went over and was mugged off his motorbike right after he rented it.  Again, he says they assume since he is from the USA he has money so the smart phones, and local thugs are out preying and looking for victims

The OP is Danish and not one of these Vietnamese "dealers in the local poker room."

 

I have gone in and out of Saigon, Hanoi and Cam Ranh airports as well as Vung Tau, Nha Trang and Haiphong ports up to 6 times a year for the last 15 years or so. Most times I had the mandatory visa but more recently it hasn't been required. All dealings with Vietnamese Immigration officers have been trouble free except one time I forgot to bring my shore pass with me when I went 'ashore' in Vung Tau for some lemonades.

 

I am neither Danish or Vietnamese.

 

I reckon the IO knew well enough where DEN EUROPÆISKE UNION DANMARK was and was probably just responding to an alert on his system about possibly fake Danish passports being offered by people arriving from Bangkok. The take away from this is to not dawdle around and be the last passenger lurking.

 

PS. Motorbike theft including theft by mugging is very high in Vietnam and not reserved for 'poker dealers' either.

[Happy Grumpy]

He saw the Carlsberg advert with the teddy bears and diamonds. 

[Thian]

4 hours ago, Ron jeremy said:

Perhaps a new employee , just checking things out. And never heard of Denmark. 

I know it sounds funny but it really helps if your country is good in soccer....then they all know the teamplayers and sure the country name.

 

Thinking of it i also have never met anybody from Denmark in Asia...Swedes, Norway, Finns but no Danes.

[geisha]

Vietnamese people always had to give a tip to immigration officers before. And my mother in law who was Vietnamese ,  used to put money in her passport at the Vietnamese embassy in Paris in the days they needed a laisser passée to go to vietnam on holidays. 

I was  ripped off twice years back in Bali, had to tip, and once I was  taken into the IO office. Everyone on the flight stared as I was carted off, he’d seen a bottle of’perfume I’d bought at Singapore duty free and wanted it. I managed to fob him off with Singapore $ s, which was cheaper than my perfume. He led me back in front of all the other waiting passengers so eventually saved my face ..

[White Christmas13]

19 hours ago, AlexRich said:

What did the Dane’s every do for us?

They make some good cheese

[EricTh]

18 hours ago, CNXexpat said:

Perhaps it´s a trick of people with fake passports to be the last in a queue because they think the officer will look not so good because he wants to go home quick. But - unfortunately for you - the officers know the trick. 

Ok, and Denmark is not sooooo large and has not a sooooo large population that everybody knows that it exists. ????

 

There are many people in America and Europe who don't know most if not all of the smaller countries in Asia.

 

The only ones they know are China, Japan . LOL

 

 

So this is not surprising.

 

 

Edited December 3, 2019 by EricTh

[torturedsole]

1 hour ago, White Christmas13 said:

They make some good cheese

Just not as good as English cheese.  Even my Thai wife agrees that English is the best cheese on the planet.  Just saying.  

[thecyclist]

As a regular in Vietnam constantly going in and out, I can tell you that IOs here, especially at the smaller international airports take a long time and seem to be stumped by what they are doing.Their computers look pretty outdated too:Recently on the way out I had one staring at the computer screen for 5 minutes. Also their English is even worse than that of their Thai counterparts. So what happened to you is pretty much par for the course. 

[CGW]

21 hours ago, AlexRich said:

What did the Dane’s every do for us?

Butter, Bacon & shipping ???? 

[Aforek]

Don't laugh of Denmark ( I am not Scandinavian )

Scandinavian countries are well advanced in many fields, especially for all  that is social,

much more than southern european countries 

[luckyluke]

45 minutes ago, torturedsole said:

Just not as good as English cheese.  Even my Thai wife agrees that English is the best cheese on the planet.  Just saying.  

The problem is that English cheese is practically impossible to buy in other countries. 

 

I am Belgian, in my country 

French, Dutch, Italian... cheese is very easy to find in every superstore, but except Cheddar no other English cheese is available, except than in specialised shops. 

 

Quite surprissing to read that a Thai is a cheese connoisseur. 

[torturedsole]

3 minutes ago, luckyluke said:

Quite surprissing to read that a Thai is a cheese connoisseur. 

That's because she's also a British citizen of many years and also been to many European countries and made her comparisons accordingly.  ????