Buying and Registering a motorbike

I know there are numberous post about this but I think my situation is weird enough it warrants a new post?
I only have a 5 year visa exemption, NOT the TRC. My wife is a full blooded vietnam citizen. I thought it would be easy enough to just walk in and register the bike in her name but no. Aparently she is required to have the new updated E-ID (no passport does not work) and of course she does not. To get the E-ID we would have to go back to her hometown in Dak Nong and because she was written out of the family book when we got married (not sure why) the entire thing would take over a month. For personal reasons she doesnt want to do all that.

When I went to buy the bike they said there were agents in Thao Dien Saigon for foreigners to buy bikes where they will hold the registration in their name and have a personal contract with you. So basically you dont technically own the bike but they will assist if you sell too etc...

Problem is I have no clue where to find these agents and the dealership doesnt know either. Hoping someone here has gone through this process but I think most people here have a TRC.

Sometimes things in vietnam are very weird. I guess the license plate has to come from Dak Nong because thats where her family lives but we live in Saigon. I thought ok why cant we just put our address here but no of course not lol. I guess she would have to have an agent or close friend register her in the family book or something. I dont understand this family book thing and why its basically required for everything. Sheesh haha.
-@jrharvey 

Not the question you asked but based on the facts of your situation that you shared:

You say she is a "Vietnamese citizen", correct?

So you mean she is physically in Vietnam (as you said) with a Vietnam passport?

My experience with my Vietnamese wife is that your wife is going to need that ID.

It's really irresponsible of her to attempt to be your sponsor in this country without her having the valid ID (even though the VEC can be obtained simply with her passport). 

The VEC gets you into the country but her ID card opens the door for things such as this.

Anything that used to require the family book now requires the updated ID (and sometimes the family book too, such as with a TRC application).

I hate to say it this way, but many Vietnamese women are not really up to speed on the official rules and regulations concerning such things, because in general, they do everything possible to avoid talking to officials of the government.

This is why so many foreigners who are looking to get married get a clueless response from their prospective bride when seeking information regarding the official requirements for documents & filing, etc.

All of that to say that you really must insist that, because your presence in Vietnam is tied to her sponsorship in Vietnam, she needs to do whatever she can to get that ID. 

I rarely ever need to make absolute demands of my wife about anything, but when it came to official tasks such as this, I really needed to put my foot down.

It is possible for a Vietnamese citizen to change their permanent address, but I believe that requires her to own an apartment or property away from her home book address.

A good Vietnamese lawyer could help talk your wife through how to do that and it may or may not require going back to her home province.

I know for a fact it's possibility, because my lawyer is permanently registered in Ho Chi Minh City, even though her home province is up on the northern coast of Vietnam.

In Addition:

I know a significant number of foreigners married to Vietnamese women prefer to have the 5-year VEC, but it's not a residence document.

The 6 months you are in country, your status is the same as a tourist on any visa exemption. 

So I highly recommend, if you are living long-term in Ho Vhi Minh City, that you get your TRC, which will also allow you to have a longer term on your driver's license.

THAT is definitely going to require her to get the ID card.

Good luck!

@OceanBeach92107 Thanks for the response. Very helpful. I will try to unpack some of this one by one.

Yes my wife is a citizen born and raised in vietnam. She moved to America where we met and got married. After visiting vietnam for several years we just stayed longer and longer until we decided to live here half the year or even longer. So to answer the question yes she is a full blooded real citizen but her ID is the old one, not the new updated one because when that whole stuff happened we were spending the majority of our time in the united states.

So yeah again she has an ID but its the old one, not the new E-ID. She also has a valid passport. We have been trying to get this thing for 2 years but its been extremely difficult. What we have found out is her old ID is basically useless. We spent an entire month in her home town and was unable to get anyone to update her ID. From what she found out she can get it done but its a long and drawn out process that basically requires us to move to her hometown physically which could take a month maybe longer. Seems absurd in my opinion.

The family book thing is a big mess too. I dont think she can get the new ID or at least its way more difficult since she has been removed from the family book and is not part of any new one. Im not 100% sure why she was removed but I think it has something to do with the business. They removed her like a week after we got married, maybe assuming she wouldnt need it since we lived in America.

Now it seems to be a big mess. We want to spend like 10 months a year here every year which means I need a TRC and we are also looking to buy a house on real land and that seems to require the new ID and family book from what I have heard. I get it with the TRC but last time I tried I was told that I couldnt get a TRC because the minimum stay in vietnam is 6 months and the best option was the VEC for my situation. At the time I wasnt thinking it was possible to stay longer than 6 months at a time due to work back in the states and family but now its looking like all thats worked out.

The funny thing about changing the address is you cant buy a place without the ID and you cant get the ID without the family book and you cant get the family book without the permenant address lol. Its just a big circle. I dont know how anything gets done.

Anyways I apreciate the response and hope I answered some of those questions that made sense. I may be wrong on some of this but thats my best understanding for now.

The funny thing about changing the address is you cant buy a place without the ID and you cant get the ID without the family book and you cant get the family book without the permenant address lol.
-@jrharvey

Wait...

In February you said:

"I do have a permanent address since we use my wife's parents house..."

expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1019030#5608658

****

@OceanBeach92107 Yes we do. We use my wife's parents address for everything. Whats the problem? I stated earlier my wife's parents live in Dak Nong and we live in Saigon. I also stated earlier that to get the ID she would have to move back to her parents house for at least a month. I never said anything inconsistent. What exactly isn't adding up? That post was about getting my driver's license which I now have. We used my wife's parents house for that. Easy peasy. This ID thing is entirely different.

Have her get the ID, one way or another.  She will need it anyway, let alone if you are living there most of the year.  She will most likely need to do what it takes to get written back in the family book.  Coffee money will cure all things.  I really doubt she will have to physically live there for a month to do it but even if she does, so be it.  It's a one time thing.  My wife got hers and it wasn't that bad but it did take one trip to do the paperwork and then another trip two weeks later to pick up the ID.

Also even if she does buy land and a house she won't be able to get a family book for it until she owns it for two years.  My wife was going to do this but we knew we would be leaving so she just left her name in her parents book.  Your wife's parents screwed up when they took her name out of the family book.  Should have just left it there.

@SteinNebraska Thanks for the response. I never knew something simple like trying to buy a motorbike would turn into such a massive headache. Now the new ID issue has started an argument in the family and my wife's parents are telling her not to get the ID that its too much trouble. They wont write her back into the family book.

So all that being said after my wife arguing with them it sounds like we gotta do this thing on our own because her parents seem to not want to help. Do you have any idea where we even start with this ID thing? We litterally dont even know who to begin to contact about any of this mess. We dont even know where to go to apply for the ID or what we need. The only people we have talked to are saying they can make it happen but its going to cost like 60 million and require us to stay there. This just seems absurd and I feel like we are getting taken advantage of probably. This cant be that difficult. Its an ID thats required by law so there has to be some way to do this without some underground agent bribing a bunch of people. Sheesh.

Why don't you go back to your first option, and try looking for a dealer who will hold the registration for you?  I've bought two motorbikes (used) here and each time the seller has just given me the blue registration card without changing the name or anything on it. From what I've read on this forum, just carrying that and a certificate of insurance saves a lot hassle if you ever get stopped by police.

Why don't you go back to your first option, and try looking for a dealer who will hold the registration for you? I've bought two motorbikes (used) here and each time the seller has just given me the blue registration card without changing the name or anything on it. From what I've read on this forum, just carrying that and a certificate of insurance saves a lot hassle if you ever get stopped by police.
-@Ford Prefect

Thats what I did with 1 bike & had no problems with that rout but as an extra protection I got the deal notorised. When time came to sell, contacted the dealer & he bought the bike at a pretty good price & then we had to go back to the notary with the origonal document, signed off & the dealer paid the notary fee.

@Ford Prefect I tried that already with multiple places and they wouldn't do it. I was trying to buy a new bike, not used. Either way I got the bike thing figured out. We put the bike in someone else's name. Right now at this point I'm more concerned with the whole wife not having an updated ID and not part of any family book based on other posts

@SteinNebraska Thanks for the response. I never knew something simple like trying to buy a motorbike would turn into such a massive headache. Now the new ID issue has started an argument in the family and my wife's parents are telling her not to get the ID that its too much trouble. They wont write her back into the family book.
So all that being said after my wife arguing with them it sounds like we gotta do this thing on our own because her parents seem to not want to help. Do you have any idea where we even start with this ID thing? We litterally dont even know who to begin to contact about any of this mess. We dont even know where to go to apply for the ID or what we need. The only people we have talked to are saying they can make it happen but its going to cost like 60 million and require us to stay there. This just seems absurd and I feel like we are getting taken advantage of probably. This cant be that difficult. Its an ID thats required by law so there has to be some way to do this without some underground agent bribing a bunch of people. Sheesh.
-@jrharvey

I really want to be respectful to you here, but you can't on the one hand describe how this dysfunctional family is screwing around with their blood relative regarding one of the most essential pieces of paperwork in this country, and then on the other hand blame the system for being crazy.

the system is actually pretty understandable once you work with it and although somewhat tedious, everybody can get these things done normally.

and just remember that as much as you love your wife, everything that her family is saying is getting filtered through her.

you simply don't know for sure their story because, as you said earlier, you have no idea why she was written out of the family book.

as for this idea of needing to move there and stay for a month, I highly doubt that's a proper translation of the requirement.

much more likely is that you will be required to travel there and do some sort of a formal registration of your stay, and then be free to travel in Vietnam wherever, including back to where you are staying now, and then at the end of that time you would need to return and finish up your paperwork, having been legally registered there.

It's inconceivable that you would be required to stay there in your house or local town for a month without going anywhere.

so maybe that means renting a place for a month or doing something to show that you were there but not necessarily needing to live there.

you say you have no idea who to contact but I pretty much laid it in your lap before that I know a lawyer who can handle this kind of stuff.

I don't want to promote her here on the group but I can tell you that she's the above board honest kind of person that if she tells you a certain set of actions and a certain price is necessary to get this done then you can pretty much take that to the bank as legitimate.

Vietnam did not create your problem and the government did not create your problem.

your wife and her family created the problem and that's really where you have to focus in order to get this fixed.

you haven't talked too much about the transition between meeting each other and finally becoming married, but it wouldn't surprise me and some other people if perhaps that wasn't handled in a manner that the family felt was respectful to them.

that may mean they want a dowry that you didn't pay.

again, on this part I'm just guessing, but when Vietnamese people are offended they aren't necessarily going to tell you why they are offended, because it's usually something that they believe you (and their daughter) should have known.

you can tell me I'm totally off base but I'm trying to point you back to the Genesis of the problem and see if you can't fix that and thus fix the situation.

if that's at all the problem then you'll probably spend less taking care of the family then you will taking care of legal actions to get this taken care of, and in the long run it will be much better for you and your wife living here in Vietnam, having mended bridges with the family.

but again don't be surprised if you don't know the whole story.

I truly and sincerely hope that you are able to work this out because this is so essential to your long-term life in Vietnam including the next time she wants to have her passport renewed.

but it just seems that there's a good chance that you are being misdirected away from the core issue that needs to be dealt with.

Good luck and best wishes.

@OceanBeach92107 Thank you for the response. I do appreciate it and It was a long one so I will try to go through each thing in more detail below.

but you can't on the one hand describe how this dysfunctional family is screwing around with their blood relative regarding one of the most essential pieces of paperwork in this country, and then on the other hand blame the system for being crazy.

I dont blame vietnam or the system at all. My frustration is not with Vietnam itself, its just the situation we are in and lack of being able to find out any information at all in a clear manner. Even my wife who lived here until 20 and her family who have lived here their whole life dont know anything about what to do. When i try to do the research myself I just cannot find anything about this at all or get information that just doesnt seem right. Theres just a lot that doesnt make sense at all. For example If my wife is written out of the family book you cant get into a new family book until you own property for 2 years? At the same time you cant buy anything without a family book? Just doesnt seem right and has to be a misunderstanding from the info I am getting.

and just remember that as much as you love your wife, everything that her family is saying is getting filtered through her.

Yeah I understand but I truly believe she is doing the best she can its just that nobody seems to know anything.

you simply don't know for sure their story because, as you said earlier, you have no idea why she was written out of the family book.

So after poking around more trying to figure this out I found out the story is that my wifes parents own a business and they rent out property and something about my wife being in the family book required her to be there in person to sign papers when they buy and sell property or something like that. I dont know the details its just something related to that. Since she basically lived in America with me they didnt think she needed a family book and it was too much of a hassle for the business to wait every year for us to visit for her to sign a bunch of papers. I will admit I dont fully understand it but that is kind of the story.

as for this idea of needing to move there and stay for a month, I highly doubt that's a proper translation of the requirement.

You may be 100% correct, thats just what we were being told. On the flipside I have a vietnamese friend here in Saigon that neither him nor his wife have a new ID because of the hassle of having to go back to Hanoi. Seems like a common theme around here.

much more likely is that you will be required to travel there and do some sort of a formal registration of your stay, and then be free to travel in Vietnam wherever, including back to where you are staying now, and then at the end of that time you would need to return and finish up your paperwork, having been legally registered there. It's inconceivable that you would be required to stay there in your house or local town for a month without going anywhere.

Thats what I was thinking and really hoping. I think the worry was that the appointments were random and you had to show up asap. Sometimes thats how things are done in that province. Very weird. I hope thats correct though.

you say you have no idea who to contact but I pretty much laid it in your lap before that I know a lawyer who can handle this kind of stuff. I don't want to promote her here on the group but I can tell you that she's the above board honest kind of person that if she tells you a certain set of actions and a certain price is necessary to get this done then you can pretty much take that to the bank as legitimate.

I would greatly appreciate the contact of your lawyer. I was already trying to reach out to lawyers all morning.

Vietnam did not create your problem and the government did not create your problem. your wife and her family created the problem and that's really where you have to focus in order to get this fixed.

Im not saying vietnam created this problem. Obviously my wifes parents made a huge mistake taking her out of the family book knowing full well how important it is. My biggest problem is that it does not seem right that the ONLY solution I am being told is that some random guy can make it happen for 60 mil and it involves bribing officials. Thats why I am on here in some hopefull attempt to find out what the real solution is. Im trying not to just sit back and 100% rely on my wife or her family to fix this. Maybe what they are saying is right but just makes my spidey senses tingle a little.

you haven't talked too much about the transition between meeting each other and finally becoming married, but it wouldn't surprise me and some other people if perhaps that wasn't handled in a manner that the family felt was respectful to them.

Im not aware of any issues with the family and my wife. Everything has been on great terms. They are a very loving and kind family. THey never asked for a single dime from us. In fact when we visit they insist on taking care of everything even though we are pretty well off. Based on the stories I have heard of families I think we got extremely lucky. In my wifes words they are just way too laid back and just not knowledgeable about the law or really how to function with anything other than their own day to day life. Basically what that means is they just want things to be easy and they didnt feel like adding back to the family book would be easy plus the fact they think it cost way too much money even though it would be our money spent. They just want to chill and relax, not worry about all this government stuff.

but again don't be surprised if you don't know the whole story.

I hear ya. I agree there could be things I dont know but I only know what I know right now.

I truly and sincerely hope that you are able to work this out because this is so essential to your long-term life in Vietnam including the next time she wants to have her passport renewed.

Tell me about it lol. I had all these big plans about living here and wow I had no idea about any of this stuff. Its all just kinda messing with our plan. What a mess is all I can say. I am trying to get it resolved I just didnt know where to start but I am learning more and more the past few days.

Good luck and best wishes.

Thank you.