What do I need to know: Moving from Thailand to Vietnam?

[Roberto Ayala]

I am bored with the recent changes in Thailand, and with the pollution becoming pretty intense I wish to relocate. I would like to pack my bags and move to Vietnam if possible. I have a standard tourist visa; but nothing else. What do I need to do? Do I need to arrange for any documents, am I ok bringing my large amount of personal belongings by plane without issue? Is it reasonable to rent a place for a month, drop my gear off, and then go find a long term rental? Where can I find places to stay online? How does banking get handled there? I asked a lot, but the lack of information out there is frustrating, and any advice would go a long way.

[thaitero]

Check Eli the Bike Guy youtube channel. 

He lives in Vietnam and talks about his life, visas etc in there..????

 

 

[blackcab]

Moved to the Vietnam Forum.

[Destiny1990]

Keep us informed of ur progress there. What VN cities are you considering?

[Poet]

I spent a month or two in a smaller Vietnamese city at the start of this year and was very impressed. Obviously, there are big differences between the two countries but, for me, it has some of the sparkle that evaporated in Thailand years ago.

If you intend to live there, and want to avoid pollution, probably best to avoid Hanoi and HCMC.

The only problem is that, before Covid, plans were in place to greatly tighten up the visa system, making it far harder to live there on Tourist or Business visas. I would, however, be more hopeful that, post-Covid, the Viets will smarter than the Thais in removing barriers to their tourism industry recovering. I'm crossing my fingers that they will introduce a straightforward six month or one year Tourist visa, prompting the Thais to follow their lead once the realization sinks in that their usual visa bullsh*t won't fly in the new reality.

https://youtu.be/nJwBvjXY3cw

 

Edited September 14, 2020 by Poet

[scubascuba3]

People always threatening to leave Thailand and go to Vietnam instead, few do though

[Mike Teavee]

Most of the online hotel booking sites (e.g. Booking.com) will let you book accommodation for up to 1 month or you could try AirBnB or do a search for Serviced Apartments in whichever city you like (I agree with the above comment that HCMC is busy/noisy/polluted but didn't find Hanoi to be).  

 

When are you planning the move? I'm pretty sure that Vietnam is still closed to visitors so you're going to struggle to go there anytime soon... 

 

List of countries open to tourists https://www.traveloffpath.com/countries-reopening-their-borders-for-tourism-the-complete-list/ 

 

 

Edited September 14, 2020 by Mike Teavee

[KhunHeineken]

As others have said, would need to know what city you are planning on staying in.  

[scammed]

what stopped me from doing it is the visa runs i would have to do in vietnam since i am not american.

i am now over 50 so i wont have to do it in thailand any longer

[GeKoSc]

2 hours ago, scammed said:

what stopped me from doing it is the visa runs i would have to do in vietnam since i am not american.

i am now over 50 so i wont have to do it in thailand any longer

At this moment you cannot do visa runs in Vietnam but you can buy a 3 months visa extension through the agents without moving anywhere.

 

[scammed]

9 minutes ago, GeKoSc said:

At this moment you cannot do visa runs in Vietnam but you can buy a 3 months visa extension through the agents without moving anywhere.

 

they would have to promise that that will be the dependable future

before i would even contemplate moving there

[nickmondo]

you have a lot of questions.

have you tried to find out any of this stuff yourself via Google?

or do you just want to lie back and have your tummy tickled?

[Kurtf]

The sooner the better for you. And Hooray.

[Nout]

Vietnam is not receiving visitors. Dream on.

[worgeordie]

I thought they had changed the visa rules,so you had to leave Vietnam

every month ?or did that not occur.?

regards worgeordie

 

[sungod]

25 minutes ago, nickmondo said:

you have a lot of questions.

have you tried to find out any of this stuff yourself via Google?

or do you just want to lie back and have your tummy tickled?

He has 2 posts, these 'newbies' keep popping up now and then, helps keep the forum going........... ????

 

BTW, getting back on track, I'd advise you to take a respirator with you. Its more polluted than Thailand.

[Bogbrush]

Vietnam changed its visa structure wef 1st July - only 30 day, non extendable. Not an issue now, of course, as the place is shut.

[Mansell]

I would suggest Hue or Danang to live....but lots of places in between. Went there on vacation last year and the biggest issue was ATMs as they only gave around one or two thousand baht a day. I had a family of four so needed more money than that each day. There is a supposedly a pretty cool place in the mountains to live, but then you are stuck there, but much cooler.

personally I liked Hanoi, very French and civilized, and good food.

it is a long country like this one, so you either need to fly or the train. The trains are pretty modern these days. The ride from DaNang to Hue is a feast for the eyes, mountains and jungle on the one side, and the South China Sea on the either. Sometimes the train is doing only 15 kph, very nice.
there is NaTrang in the south, but I found it had lots of hookers on the beach.

good luck.

[khunjeff]

As others have noted, it is not currently possible to enter Vietnam as a foreigner unless you are an expert or high-level executive invited and sponsored by a company there, so forget about any move for the near future. Also, VN doesn't currently have any retirement visa scheme, so you either have to arrange some kind of business visa or leave every month on a tourist visa. I recommend that you do a lot more research before you start packing your bags.

[Caldera]

That's the kind of decision that's best revisited once the coronavirus restrictions have been lifted. Who knows how the visa landscape in both Thailand and Vietnam will look like afterwards!

 

And since tourists now cannot travel to Vietnam anyway, there's really no rush.

[thecyclist]

I moved to Vietnam three years ago after 3 decades in Thailand. Lots of things better here, lots of things better in Thailand. 

Anyway, I don't think Vietman is going to open up the country any time soon, baring a cure or a very effective vaccine for the virus. They were one of the first to close the borders, and the will be one of the last to reopen, especially after the second wave due to mysterious outbreak of new local transmissions breaking 100 day lull of infections. 

[cardinalblue]

Just do your homework on line - it’s so much easier now than 20 years ago...

[Jack Mountain]

27 minutes ago, cardinalblue said:

Just do your homework on line - it’s so much easier now than 20 years ago...

Isn't that what he's doing? Crowdinfo!

[scammed]

5 hours ago, Bogbrush said:

Vietnam changed its visa structure wef 1st July - only 30 day, non extendable. Not an issue now, of course, as the place is shut.

thats the way to do it if you dont want retirees in the country ????

[George FmplesdaCosteedback]

The Covid-19 situation means even a visit is off for now...

 

I have thought about doing this many times in the last 6 years none more than after I have been to VN for a few days holiday.

It is a few years since I last went but I met several local expats who said it is pretty easy. Get a tourist visa stay of 30 days and visit an agent who will "fix things much cheaper than in Thailand" was what I was told.

I have looked for long stay information online before but there doesn't seem to be much. I expect the OP had the same problem only more recently, so in Covid times I doubt anything will be up to date.

 

With the new Thai regulations I might be forced into leaving Thailand anyway next year so I will follow this thread with interest.

 

Edited September 14, 2020 by George FmplesdaCosteedback

[thecyclist]

7 hours ago, Bogbrush said:

Vietnam changed its visa structure wef 1st July - only 30 day, non extendable. Not an issue now, of course, as the place is shut.

That is incorrect :true you can only get a 1 month tourist since July, but you can extend it twice for 10 $ for 30 days. So you can still stay up to 90 days. The additional 20 bucks to do that is Insignificant, but the hassle of more paperwork is not, especially because in the past only the immigration offices in Hanoi, Saigon and Danang had the authority to extend visas. If that doesn't change it would be a major hassle for anyone living in the countryside far from the above-mentioned cities. We will see how this works out once the borders reopen. Hopefully all regional immigration offices, just like in Thailand, will be able to extend TV. 

Edited September 14, 2020 by thecyclist
Error

[Max69xl]

On 9/14/2020 at 6:55 AM, Poet said:

I spent a month or two in a smaller Vietnamese city at the start of this year and was very impressed. Obviously, there are big differences between the two countries but, for me, it has some of the sparkle that evaporated in Thailand years ago.

If you intend to live there, and want to avoid pollution, probably best to avoid Hanoi and HCMC.

The only problem is that, before Covid, plans were in place to greatly tighten up the visa system, making it far harder to live there on Tourist or Business visas. I would, however, be more hopeful that, post-Covid, the Viets will smarter than the Thais in removing barriers to their tourism industry recovering. I'm crossing my fingers that they will introduce a straightforward six month or one year Tourist visa, prompting the Thais to follow their lead once the realization sinks in that their usual visa bullsh*t won't fly in the new reality.

https://youtu.be/nJwBvjXY3cw

 

Vietnam did some major Visa changes starting July 1 this year. As I understand it the 3 months extensions without leaving the country up to 1 year is gone. I think only US citizens still can do it because of a bilateral agreement. I don't know how the changes works in combination with the existing Covid-19 restrictions. 

[Max69xl]

10 hours ago, thecyclist said:

That is incorrect :true you can only get a 1 month tourist since July, but you can extend it twice for 10 $ for 30 days. So you can still stay up to 90 days. The additional 20 bucks to do that is Insignificant, but the hassle of more paperwork is not, especially because in the past only the immigration offices in Hanoi, Saigon and Danang had the authority to extend visas. If that doesn't change it would be a major hassle for anyone living in the countryside far from the above-mentioned cities. We will see how this works out once the borders reopen. Hopefully all regional immigration offices, just like in Thailand, will be able to extend TV. 

I remember the thread about leaving Thailand for Vietnam about a year ago. That thread totally died when the whiners realized that they couldn't stay up to 1 year in Vietnam without leaving the country. If the maximum time now is 90 days as a tourist incl 2 extensions, why do people complain about the system in Thailand? 

[Poet]

42 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

As I understand it the 3 months extensions without leaving the country up to 1 year is gone. I think only US citizens still can do it because of a bilateral agreement.

This is somewhat annoying for those of us from countries that didn't carpet bomb Vietnam fifty years ago.

 

Edited September 15, 2020 by Poet

[CorpusChristie]

29 minutes ago, Max69xl said:

I remember the thread about leaving Thailand for Vietnam about a year ago. That thread totally died when the whiners realized that they couldn't stay up to 1 year in Vietnam without leaving the country. If the maximum time now is 90 days as a tourist incl 2 extensions, why do people complain about the system in Thailand? 

The grass is much greener in Vietnam