Any way to get a visa renewal processed within a day or two?

If you wait some more time you can pay long stay fine in the immigration office.

How much is that? Are you offering that as a solution or having some fun at my expense?

I will go back to the place I went last time first thing tomorrow morning unless somebody knows of some place in D1 that can process in a day or two. I think getting it renewed will be no problem like last time (tomorrow is the 17th the visa expires on the 19th) but it will probably take about a week for me to get my passport with the stamp back and the new landlord is saying there could be a huge fine if he can't do the paperwork on time. That is why I am worried.

You might find that its the last time you can extend it. Next time you may need to do a visa run. The police thing about millions of VND fine, I doubt that very much, seeing as an overstay is just 100,000vnd per day.

Immigration police are always looking for a buck, as with the local greeenies who do the rental control. I had the immigration police ask me to pay a 100usd fine because I didnt have a visa for three years, due to my residence card. So what they are saying is, do the right thing, get a residnce card and work permit, but we will fine you when its finished. Thats why immigration police are very wealthy.

I think that the only way to get your visa renewed within a day is to do a border run. I just did mine and it cost me 24usd. Just take it as a day of sightseeing.

Here's the process without a travel agency involved to get a travel extension. Have your landlord go to the police department with your passport and get it signed by the police chief or the person who process this stuff; you can go to if you want and do it yourself. Then go to Nguyen Du street (corner of CMT8) at the Nha Hang Visa aka Visa building, grab the ticket in the correct waiting room, then speak to the official there to get your visa. They'll ask you why you are here blah blah blah. They can speak English but not so well. Then if approved you will get your Visa stamped in 4 to 5 business days. All done within 3 hours or less.

Btw, an extension costs like $10. How much do you pay to the travel agency?

Thank you all for your replies.

I went to the travel agency this morning and told the lady my landlord was PO'ed that I waited until the last minute to renew my visa and asked if they could put a rush on it. She said "do you want to pay for 2 day expedited service?" and I asked how much and she said "$55" by which I was afraid she meant $55 in addition to the renewal fee but I asked "$55 all together?" and she said "yes because you have to pay and extra $20 for 2 day service and it's $35 for the extension (she already asked if I wanted single entry and I said yes because I don't plan on going anywhere)".

The funny thing about that is when I went to the exact same place this time last month I was told the visa renewal is $25 for 1 month and $75 for three months (single entry). I remember because I thought 'well there is no discount for 3 months and I don't have a lot of cash anyways so I might as well pay you for 1 month, see how you do and if all goes well renew for 3 next time'.

So I guess the price depends on who you ask lol. I should probably get this lady's card or smth if she is there when I return for my passport on Wednesday so I can get her again next time.

Thats half the problem in Vietnam even with business and government, no uniformity. You get a different answer in different places, even when its dealing with legal matters.

colinoscapee wrote:

You might find that its the last time you can extend it. Next time you may need to do a visa run. The police thing about millions of VND fine, I doubt that very much, seeing as an overstay is just 100,000vnd per day....I had the immigration police ask me to pay a 100usd fine because I didnt have a visa for three years, due to my residence card.

Yes I have heard about the visa runs and since things didn't work out as planned when I arrived (I had an approval letter  - or rather approval printout - that said I was approved for a 3 month stay but for some reason they refused to give me a visa over 30 days at the airport, there is a thread here on the subject) I'm always wondering if I will have to do that...

I asked her about that. Told her I had heard you could only renew twice. She said if I pay them an extra $15 next time (she clarified $50 total, $35 + $15 assuming I wouldn't need the expedited service again) they can do it for me without my leaving the country hmmm...I wonder if it's true?

Are the multiple entry visas good for air travel? I mean could you fly to your home country or somewhere else in the world and then come back during a 3 month multiple entry visa (without the approval letter)?

Oh I doubt the millions VND fine story too. My friend told the landlord (he doesn't speak English so we use my friend as an intermediary) I will be getting the visa Wednesday and he seemed satisfied with that though.

Did you really stay here for 3 years with no visa or legal status btw or are you saying you did have your residence card and they were just fleecing you so to speak? Just curious...