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Hello Panda 7:
Yes, you can go to almost any travel agency and they can get an extension for you.  Right now it is a little confusing.  If your original visa was after November 2011, you can get a three month extension.  If it was before that date, you can only get a one month extension but you can get it three times.  The travel agency can tell you exactly.  A one month extension is usually around $30 and a three month is around $90.

I too am interested in Nha Trang as a location to acquire a visa extension. It seems no matter where you are in VN, the rules differ from place to place. I usually visit Cam Ranh/Nha Trang and am looking to make an extended visit over 3 - 6 months. I find that a 90 vias seems the best option and then getting a 3 month extension. My last visit was 2008 so rules change frequently.

Vern

great thanks

People in Nha Trang can pop in at:

#10 Nguyễn Thiện Thuật str.
or call: 0919 655 367 and 0933 455 367 for Visa help

thanks, just another question. After I renew a 3 month visa for another 3 months how many times are you allowed to keep extending your visa ? is is just a matter of money or do you have to physically leave the country to reset things ? and if you do leave the country how long does it have to be for ?

Cheers

For Info: I have a USA ex-pat friend who lives in Ban Me Thuot. He has been there for about 3 yrs and is able to get a 90 day extension repeatedly, so indeed there is a way to continue getting 3 month extensions. He did experience a recent setback from the police (Cong An as they are called). He got a visit from the police who said he had to move into a hotel. He has been living at a home with a Viet family he has known for decades. Why he sudduenly is told to move into a hotel is mysterious. They told him he would be "safer" in a hotel which is odd. I havent been able to figure that statement out yet. My Viet wife (who is a naturalized US citizen) and I intend to move to VN for retirement and we would live with her sister & family. VN seems so mysterious as to how rules are applied locally. So far many ex-pats are able to work the system tho for these 90 day extensions. Anyone care to comment?

Maybe they have a "Vietnam exemption certificate" Best thing since cold beer.

ok thanks

The rules changed on the visas on January 1st.  Before then you could renew your 90 day visa with no problems and many had done it for a number of years.  BUT with the change, it is not so easy.  Again, most travel agencies can help you and if they have the right contacts can get you a 3 month extension many times. Hopefully the rule change is not an indication of things to come.  One of the many nice things about here is the ease of getting a visa to stay. Good luck and welcome to Nha Trang.  Also see my post on English Corner if you are interested in getting involved here.

You guys keep taliking about changes in the visa reg's but nobody has said what they are. Please quote a decree that addresses the changes.

I think the real problem is that each local gov actually decides what the rules are and how they would be applied rather than from the central gov. Odd I think for a communist government?

Thanks for all the information.  I visit my fiance in Nha Trang while we try to get a visa for her to come to the US.  When I retire in a number of years we plan to live part of the year in Nha Trang so this info is of great interest to me.  I'll be visiting there in a few months so I will try to look you up, Garyww.

Fellas,

Why he sudduenly is told to move into a hotel is mysterious

When you go to get your visa extension, the head of the household that you are living in, must sponsor you.  Your friend must have had the hotel owner sponsored him on his other extensions or the head of the household that he was living in wasn't there during that particular extension or had refused to sponsor him.  Therefore, they instructed him to go to a hotel.

Legally, to be able to stay here for more than 9 months, I think they had just extended that to a year, you are going to need assistance from at least one local; and that person must be one that knows his or her ways around your area and be willing to go to war and back with you.  Other than that, there is no way.

But, whether you decide to travel back and forth or enlist that Vietnamese assistance, it will cost you about the same in the beginning.  The earlier to decide, the less the initial cost to you will be. 

In the long run, depending on how sharp and loyal that assistant of yours is, the later option returns you your money and more.  But, it will require some level of commitment from you.

So think about it really good, guys:  Pay the visa renewal fee every 3 months and air fare every 9 months or so, for how however long that you want to stay here, along with all the motorbike and automobile license renewal fees; or invest a little cash, be a little prudent, commit a little more personally and professionally, and experience a real Vietnamese way of life?  It is your call.

I chose the later.  But, I am different than most of you; I am a Vietnamese-American.  I get a little leeway here, in term of getting that needed help because of my Vietnamese language and culture understandings.

Best of luck,
Howie

so are you saying you can get extensions up to 9 months then you have to leave country and come back in to reset for another 9 months ?

dongbathin wrote:

For Info: I have a USA ex-pat friend who lives in Ban Me Thuot. He has been there for about 3 yrs and is able to get a 90 day extension repeatedly, so indeed there is a way to continue getting 3 month extensions. He did experience a recent setback from the police (Cong An as they are called). He got a visit from the police who said he had to move into a hotel. He has been living at a home with a Viet family he has known for decades. Why he sudduenly is told to move into a hotel is mysterious. They told him he would be "safer" in a hotel which is odd. I havent been able to figure that statement out yet. My Viet wife (who is a naturalized US citizen) and I intend to move to VN for retirement and we would live with her sister & family. VN seems so mysterious as to how rules are applied locally. So far many ex-pats are able to work the system tho for these 90 day extensions. Anyone care to comment?

The hotel is maybe owned by the family of the police or - police gets comission for new customers   

panda7 wrote:

so are you saying you can get extensions up to 9 months then you have to leave country and come back in to reset for another 9 months ?

That is the official rule since almost 2 1/2  years. However, for some (possible financial reason) this was not really enforced.
Many laws do exist already often many years, before getting enforced:

- wearing a helmet, is now since almost 4 enforced, but the law apparently existed already 10 years
- no more than 2 people on bikes, exists apparently many years, but only in Saigon enforced

It always depends on who you are and who you have to deal with. Regional differences apply for sure.

It always depends on who you are and who you have to deal with. Regional differences apply for sure.

That is just the way things work here, unfortunately.  Like one of the "Funnymen" had mentioned in another post, you are going to have to "roll with the punches". 

I don't know about you guys but, to me, that is what makes it fun about Vietnam:  Play along...

Howie

It makes sense then if a local Viet head of household sponsors you that you can then stay with that person/family otherwise police make you move to a hotel. I suspect the Viet friend of this ex-pat did not sponsor him as usual. From info I have, I suspect the scoundrel Viet put the cops onto my ex-pat friend and that is what I told him. He still has lived with this same Viet man/family for over 3 yrs now but suddenly the guy tells my friend the top local cops in that town retired recently and since the top officials dont know this Viet they are enforcing new regs. I think the so-called VN friend of his is a scoundrel and wants him out of his house but too cowardly to confront my buddy so stuck the cops on him instead. What say? The Viet guy is a whimp too who fears his own wife and daughter in the household. I tried to tell my ex-pat friend to move off and stop paying rent, food bill, etc. From what amt he had told me, the family was soaking him for cash anyway. The large amt of money he has been paying the family is ridiculous each month and I told him so. He is in his 70's tho and not wanting to move away and a bit stubborn too maybe.

Hi Dongbathin,

You can't really fault your friend; he is older and really need that local assistance.  Gee!  I am in my prime and speak fluent Vietnamese; yet I still need my local friends to show up every time I needed to get something official done.

When I first started here, I relied on the hotel staffs for all dealings that involved local authorities.  It remained that way until I was certain that my local friends could handle such duties before I went off and got a place of my own. 

I think you hit it right on the nose in regard to your friend's situation.  But, even with the good people, I don't ever advice foreigners to move in and live with the locals for extended periods, regardless of how good those locals may be.  I have families (my very own uncles) that live just a few blocks from where I am living.  I could have lived there rent-freed, but I never... 

The way we live our daily lives and the way the locals live are very different.  When such opposing forces collide, especially over a long period of time, friction is bound to follow.  Therefore, if you happen to run into some really good local, join they, but only for brief periods.  Money can be made here with ease; but good friendships are hard to earn.

As for a friendly official stepping aside and the new one wants to be an ass about the most basic thing...  That happens all the time here.  Friendship here is earned over an extended period of time and lasts a life time.  I have seen bustling businesses close their doors because the owners had little connections to the new officials.  Why do you think marriages of convenient still take place here?

Howie

My thoughts were the guy was either running out of money or was wiseing up to the situation, and the cash flow to the leaches was not the same as when he first started staying with them.

            "No Money, No Honey"

Yes, the diffference in how we conduct our personal lives may well rub against what a local may wish. i have tried to get my ex-pat friend to move out from that family in Ban Me Thuot as the length of his stay has prob worn out his welcome no matter what he has done to help that family. There always seems to be someone holding their hand out for cash help from him constantly. I told him to move on and even move in with our Viet relatives for a while on the coast. A change of scenery never hurts and if that family in BMT misses him they can figure out how they screwed a good relationship up and lost some good money by becoming jerks and disrespectful.