Hi everyone,
I'm an English teacher from South Africa living in Hanoi. I have to do a visa run soon, as my current tourist visa is going to expire in like 2 weeks.
I've been working for a company that did not want to get me a TRC or business visa and all that. I've been with them for only a month and I didn't think too much about it because it was just a quick fix for money while I got settled in Hanoi.
One of my coworkers is offering to help me get a business visa through one of his "contacts'" companies, so that I can finally open a bank account here and not worry about only being paid in cash, paying for services in cash etc. (It's been a bit of an inconvenience).
My coworker is a very nice guy and super chill, but I've only known him for this one month, and I'm still super green to living in Vietnam. (I've been here since October, only moved to Hanoi in the new year from the country-side).
Another friend, someone I also have only known for very little time says to be careful and not go through with his offer, because I could get blacklisted and deported if the authorities find out. She's been living in Vietnam for many years now, so I am considering her opinion heavily despite not knowing her well.
I tried to ask my older brother for advice, since he's also been living and working here for 5 years but his opinion is mostly 'you might get burnt for doing this, you may not, the risk is up to you'. So it's not really.. much help, just stating the obvious.
I've ran into quite a bit of trouble moving here to begin with. My first employer made me work under her contract without paying me, and when I wanted to leave it was a whole battle of threatening to get me blacklisted. I've posted about it on here previously.
So I'm pretty exhausted from fighting these type of battles.
My coworker has been living here a long time with his Vietnamese wife and claims to own many businesses. When I asked him further about the visa, he said 'they won't ask questions, you just show them the business visa and they'll let you in. I've done this for many people.' Of course, I want to believe he is a good man, but I can't really put myself at unnecessary risk anymore.
I guess as I'm typing this, I'm coming to the conclusion that I should probably just do another tourist visa run, and get a bank account once I'm with a new company who can sponsor a TRC or something that will let me get a bank account.
And before anyone starts on the 'you can open a bank account with a tourist visa' thing, I've tried with multiple banks that local friends have recommended - Vietcombank, AB Bank, Bid V.
Vietcombank was a huge pain and said I can only open a savings account where the money can't be moved at all, not even for online banking.
AB Bank said I will need a 6 month visa (what type, they didn't specify), to open any bank account at all.
And I still haven't tried Bid V - my friend said they won't issue a card but they will let me do online banking and transactions, but I'm not sure.
I'm just really tired of being locked out of society in these ways. Maybe I should just bear with being cash only for a while.
Thanks for reading, I'd love to hear thoughts.