Retirement for U.S. nationalin Vietnam?

[IMA_FARANG]

Just want information from those in the know.

I am a retired American currently living in Thailand (Bangkok).

I lived for some time in Vietnam in the 1970s, and have a lot of experience there.

In 2012 I did a preliminary survey about the possibility of moving to Vietnam and retiring there.

At that time there were problems I found, including a problem of getting my U.S. Social Security monthly pension benefits to Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh area).

Things have changed in the last 3 years in many ways.

I have made 4 trips to Vietnam since then and it still would be a place I might want to retire to.

So I would like to get information, particularly from American expatriates on getting a long term visa to live in Vietnam and especially on how hard (or easy)is it to transfer funds such as a monthly Social Security pension to Vietnam.

Could I open a bank account there, and transfer funds monthly from the U.S to a bank account in Ho Chi Minh?

And now, is it possible to get a long term visa to live in Vietnam for a U.S. national over 60 years old to retire there?

Would like to exchange email with any U.S. expats living there now about the possibilities of retiring there on a long time living (as a retiree) basis there.

[WaywardWind]

I lived for several years in Ha Noi - but I was working for an NGO and that covered the visa requirements. As far as I know, Vietnam does not currently have a retirement visa or anything equivalent. They recently loosened their tourist visa options, so perhaps they are moving in the right direction.

As far as banking, one option is to open a Bangkok Bank account, and have your Social Security ACH transferred to the BB in NYC. It will show up in your account in Thailand a couple of days later, and you could then access it through ATMs in Vietnam, or the BB office in HCMC: http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/InternationalNetwork/InternationalBranches/Asia/Pages/BranchesinVietnam.aspx

[lopburi3]

As I suspect you know people live here in Thailand without bank accounts - just using there US bank cards to withdraw funds as they need from ATM's. If you open account with right banks this can be a very inexpensive means to transfer funds. So do not believe funding your stay would be much of an issue (just be sure to have several bank accounts available, or family, in case of card loss/failure).

[IMA_FARANG]

I lived for several years in Ha Noi - but I was working for an NGO and that covered the visa requirements. As far as I know, Vietnam does not currently have a retirement visa or anything equivalent. They recently loosened their tourist visa options, so perhaps they are moving in the right direction.

As far as banking, one option is to open a Bangkok Bank account, and have your Social Security ACH transferred to the BB in NYC. It will show up in your account in Thailand a couple of days later, and you could then access it through ATMs in Vietnam, or the BB office in HCMC: http://www.bangkokbank.com/BangkokBank/InternationalNetwork/InternationalBranches/Asia/Pages/BranchesinVietnam.aspx

--------------------------

I should have mentioned I have my social security now direct deposited to my Bangkok Bank account in Thailand..... but I seriously doubt that would be possible in Vietnam. I don't expect that is possible yet.

Still to early to expect such a thing yet.

Edited September 10, 2015 by IMA_FARANG

[phuketrichard]

Open a Charles Schwab account in the states as they reimburse you all atm's fees.

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

I am not American but it seems you're not getting much response. Unfortunately too, there's no good public forum for Viet expats. There is one you could search on though. But because of the bloody stupid rule here of not being able to link to blogs, type in Google "expats blog vietnam". You will be able to search for banks. I tested it and there's quite a lot of info.

I lived in Veitnam and wired money to Asia Commercial Bank (ACB). Worked well. But I keep my pension money in Canada and do regular wire transfers. You might consider that.

[Too]

Hello,

I met one American and one Briton in VN last year, both of whom entered VN on

a 3-month visa first and had a local travel agency extend their stay every 3 months,

enabling them to stay in VN for a total of 1 year without even leaving the country.

I don't know how much they had to pay for the extension.

However, the immigration rules changed last January, so I don't know if you can

still do this now.

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

Hello,

I met one American and one Briton in VN last year, both of whom entered VN on

a 3-month visa first and had a local travel agency extend their stay every 3 months,

enabling them to stay in VN for a total of 1 year without even leaving the country.

I don't know how much they had to pay for the extension.

However, the immigration rules changed last January, so I don't know if you can

still do this now.

Yes, it seems almost impossible now to get anything more than the VN 3-month one. Certainly true among Phnom Penh's travel shop services. From a little bit of reading recently, it seems the VN visa extensions have gone from the front to the back door.

[Too]

Hello,

I've just remembered that the Englishman I met in VN last year opened an account

in AGRIBANK but exchanged his quid for VN dong first, which he deposited in the

account. He didn't transfer his funds to the account from the UK.