My vietnamese girlfriend cannot stay at my house in vietnam overnight

Weird ! They just want your money !

They are lying to you. Tell them that they can not get in your house unless they have an official warrant, according to the law. Also, in Vietnam, every citizen has the right to monitor public affairs, so bring a camera along and let them know before recording.

When you rent a house, you have all the right written in the contract, including the right to control who can entering your house, i think.

Don't worry !

My girlfriend have paid tea money to him already,Amazing Vietnam

so far i know by law you cant live together with a girl before marriage, normally you can get away with it but as expats you get away with a small fee annually or get married they enforce mainly to us as we are the extra pocket money for the local police, I was living not even 2 days with my wife in new house few month ago and had the local police already knocking on the door. Pity for them, no money as we are married.

lol

Weird, warrant and camera???  Where do you think you are living???

This is the People Republic of Vietnam!  And that (unmarried men and women can NOT share a room) is the law.  It is called population control.   

For real, in Vietnam, when you have people other than those already registered on your household book (So Ho Khau) staying over, you are required to notify the ward police and get them documented.  Fight it?  That is like asking to get thrown out of Vietnam.

I was thinking the same thing Howie.  The cops here love foreigners telling them what to do; cramming a camera in their face all the while.

The cops in the States aren't fond of cameras, and they have to work within the frameworks of the American Bill of Rights.  The cops in Vietnam work for themselves, their agency and Party.  They just aren't trained "to stir the pot."  But get on the wrong side of a younger one, with connection in high places, and he can make your days in Vietnam miserable.

Cops in the States can only collect your properties, pending court approvals.  Cops in Vietnam can confiscate them, in the name of the People's Party...

Ohhh.. Sucks.. and the weird law also.. I believe that the police is trying to pick out some money from you pocket. This is Vietnam..

enigma1981 wrote:

My girlfriend have paid tea money to him already,Amazing Vietnam

She paid the asking price?

no we paid 500000vnd at the cafe near the police station

No different from Laos.

People...There is NO law that prohibits two people from living together that are NOT married!!! This all relates back to old law in 1986 which has been changed in 2000. Police enforce it  still the way they want even though the law has changed.

You can live with whoever the hell you want. Just make sure all people living together are registered in the house book. If not registered then YES you can get in trouble for that.

Will the police give you trouble, ask for a bribe for not being married.....sure probably, they want that tea money!! Do you have to PAY?? NOOO!!! A person who is smart enough to look up the law and confront them or if need be consult a lawyer you will not have to pay the police for this. Will they still give you a hard time and harass you. Who knows...probably but it is NOT illegal.

http://family.jrank.org/pages/1744/Viet … -2000.html

"On June 9, 2000, the Vietnamese National Assembly adopted the Marriage and Family Law of 2000. Consisting of thirteen chapters and 110 articles, the law revised the marriage and family code of 1986. Striving to preserve traditional values within progressive reforms, the new law recognized that a woman could have a child without a husband, forbade marriage between a foreigner and Vietnamese for mercenary reasons, and declared wife-beating and child abuse illegal. Prior to 2000, the law on these categories was either nonexistent or vague.

Article II addressed the emerging phenomenon of cohabitation. Under the 1986 statue, such living arrangements were illegal. However, the 2000 reforms stipulated that although cohabitation between unmarried couples was no longer considered a criminal act, neither would such arrangements be recognized as equal to marriage between a husband and wife. Other provisions of Article II clarify divorce procedures, encourage gender equity within marriage (including treatment of sons and daughters), and emphasize the equal treatment of children born within and out of wedlock."


So for those of you that say there is a law against it..... show me this law. I would like to see it.

Jayhawk,

Vietnamese law prohibits people, men and women, from living together.  When you go to register a guest (man or woman) to your household, you will be asked about your relationships.  If you are unrelated, and your household is a residential, the cops will give you flakes.  At best, your dwelling is commercial (like a hotel), the length of stay will be limited.  That is just among Vietnamese.

You throw a foreigner, of the opposite sex, in there and things get a lot dicier.  They have a different room, complete with higher ranking officers, for such cases.

I will add this... Vietnamese officials don't care one iota about a man and a woman living together unmarried if they're BOTH foreigners. I can vouch for this, because my wife and I lived together for over 5 years in Vietnam before getting married. Add to that the fact that my wife even passes as Vietnamese because she's Chinese. No one has ever said a word to us.

Well I have to disagree with you. I have been registered with my then girlfriend at the same house hold. She is Vietnamese and I am an American. We lived together before marriage. We are now married. Like I said it is NOT against the law. Show me where it says it's against the law.

Oh, Don't worry about the policeman. In Vietnam, some policemen do that, they are very bad, always want money. But if you not do any badthing, they can't check your house. You should to ask them about paper for check, then you can take photo. Because economical and politic, the goverment of Vietnamese have to protec foreign people. So don't worry!

Good luck to you!

there is no law to prohibit unmarried man and woman living together in a house ( many unmarried vietnemase couples do this).

though there is a law saying if you stay in a hostel/hotel, if woman and man want to stay in the same room, they need to show the marriage certificate. Some hotels will ask this, some don't. I guess it depends on how they "take care" the local ward police.

Also under law, if anyone stays at another one's place, the house resident has to register and that's all it. And yes the policement has right to check your house.

There is no law to prohibit to unmarried couples to stay together. There is also no law to require couples to prove that they are married to be able stay in the same room in hotels. It is just misunderstanding of the law.

Link in Vietnamese.
luatphamdanh.net/modules.php?name=News&op=viewst&sid=222

Having said that, it is the standard practice of hotels to do so since it is a common misunderstanding. It does not hinder though the proliferation of "by-the-hour" hotels in big cities

Hi all!
The Policeman did right not wrong.!
You have to understand that ... in Viet Nam when you move and staying at any where in Viet Nam but out side of your house (House that meant the address in your ID card) you must registering to local police! even locals when they check in the hotel ... must give the ID card for hotel ... and what do you know they need it for what? For do register to police department,,, if not ... the police come at night and the hotel will have troubles.
For Ladies and Gentlemen stay and sleep together ... no problem if they are +18yds and had registered to local police where they stay.
In case ladies just come and visit Gentlemen for a night ... must registering also ... if not, the police come and penalty both you..
Cheers and good luck!

Seems some posters on here are not up with the current situation that exists here. The cops are after money, thats all and its not against the law as some posters who dont reside here will try and tell you.

Anatta,

Read this:
http://www.moj.gov.vn/hoidappl/Lists/Da … emID=14839

Not only that it is still in effect, but they are deferring things now.  Vietnamese Immigration never had anything to do with this process?

Howie

The article you are quoting is not in conflict with what I am saying and quoting.
They all say that unmarried couple can stay in the same household.
What your article is saying in addition is the place to register the "Đăng ký tạm trú" (registration of temporary residence) for the foreign boyfriend is at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, not the local police ward.

See link for the English version of the relevant regulation, article 15.

http://moj.gov.vn/vbpq/en/Lists/Vn%20bn … ItemID=411

It just seems to me that the author of your article is getting technical  about the terms "Đăng ký tạm trú" (and confused about the original question). Of course, you need to go to Ministry for Foreign Affairs to get the temporary/permanent permit, but you also need to register at the local police ward as well.

As the article points out (as mentioned by several comments earlier on this thread), it has nothing to do with the fact that the couple is not married.

As for the rest of you,

Saigonmonkey,

Man, you live in a reservation, OK? 

The locals refer to your area as an "exclusion zone."  A lot of the things that go on in there are not tolerated elsewhere, in Vietnam.

Jayhawk,

You married a good Vietnamese; she is the type that knows how to go about things in Vietnam.  All you have to do is ask your wife what she did to get you registered.

Wild_1 wrote:

Anatta,

Do you read Vietnamese at all, man???  Go read it again.  The link you provided was an interpretation by a Vietnamese attorney; and we all know how good those guys are.  The link I gave you was straight from the MOJ.  Hey, don't tell me you went and read their English translation? 

Howie
I provide the English link for the readers who cannot read Vietnamese.
The link you gave me only has a Q&A session and further reference to the real law in yet another link (in Vietnamese).

Anatta,

The English version of the link I gave you is entirely different than the one in Vietnamese, isn't it?

Anyway, English or Vietnamese, married or unmarried, the main purpose is to get us "accounted for."  They can cut it or circle it however they want.

Hello!

Some off topics posts have been removed from the thread.

Please could we get back to the initial topic: My vietnamese girlfriend cannot stay at my house in vietnam overnight.

Thank you for your comprehension.

Regards

Karen
Expat.com Team.

cool bro
where u staying now?
in hcmc or DN?

:)hi nga.
u in hcmc?
me in q7.
lets have cafe when free ya.

I have used this as an excuse for the lady to leave and it works.  It is either a law or a common belief.

Anytime there is a young, attractive Vietnamese female checking into a hotel with an older foreign man, there is an assumption, like it or not, that it is a pay for play situation, especially if both parties are living in or near the area. (If you already live in HCMC, and your "girlfriend" already lives in HCMC, why do you need to stay in a HCMC hotel together?) The local authorities make an issue of it to curb prostitution. "Honest" couples need not worry so much about it. So if you're living in one VN city and you and your lady travel to another VN city for a holiday, there likely will be no problem with the hotel.

Safer to have a copy of your marriage certificate where ever in Vietnam.
The charge is human trafficking. If your wife happens to amongst others hauled up, she will be treated as one of them until you can prove otherwise.
Worse, she will have a police record, though the charges are dropped!

The only places I have heard of people having problems is in what they consider high prostitution areas and in hotels with a large % of business clients and those usually try to get you to hire an extra room for your guest. There are a few hotels in Vung Tau that do this.

I just had to conclude ,welcome to Vietnam.... where conflicting instructions/laws are a way of life and nobody really knows what is what... you just have to live with this.

That is correct. For all practical purposes the law is what the person enforcing the law thinks it is, especially if you are an expat. I wouldn't advise anyone to argue to much with the local police and if it something serious enough you should consider hiring some legal council.
The same applies for getting the official red stamp on your documents at the government offices, the rules or laws are what the person sitting at the counter think they are. When my wife and I got married there were times when we would stand in line to get documents stamped only to be told that we either didn't have everything complete or we did something wrong. We just got back in line for another clerk and had no problems.
Vietnam is a country of ever changing laws and it is very hard for the workers to keep up with the regulations. I think if more things were computerized this problem could be eliminated.

Tried to follow this thread but something is missing.  If this hasn't been resolved yet you might want to investigate whether or not you as a foreigner can legally sub-let a room in your house to your gf. If you have more than one bedroom this could work but if they're determined to collect some money from you ... well you might as well pay up. For what it's worth I had a similar situation to yours in HCM and the local police officer visited my apartment several times to check our registration book and there were no problems.

In regards to living unmarried with a Vietnamese girlfriend.  I've lived in HCMC for over 5 years, late 2007 to mid 2013.  Nearly all were located in 2 apartments in two different districts with a girlfriend.  I was single, she was single.  I signed the rental agreements, we gave copies of my passport visa/temp resident card and her copy of ID.  We were both placed on the first apartments 'house book'.  We did not pay anything to any local police and were never bothered by such. 
In the second apartment, the same was done when moving in.  We had to go to the local police ourselves and register with them (district 12); no problem.  Once, at around 1 AM, the door was knocked on...all I had to do was say, "our paperwork is in the office downstairs", "you want to enter, enter at a reasonable time or I will see you after 0800".  I shut the door and never heard from them again.  Lived there for 3 years with no problems at all!
I recently moved to DaNang...major problems...temp resident card was not reconized by their offices due to no longer working in HCMC...difficult to find a 'foreign house' to rent and many still believe in the old 'law' and ways about living 'together' and not being married.  Immigrations in DaNang are very cooperative and reasonable to work with.  Many of the 'departments' are great in directing you to another department only to be directed to another with nothing but time being wasted.  I'm just glad I don't "have" to work.  If I did, I'd have returned back to HCMC where things were much easier and more direct.  I've found by keeping a copy of the law handy, stamped with their 'red' seal and in Vietnamese helps a great deal!  You shove it in their face and let them know you know the law...

Hey, i'm living in danang. It is my hometown. I can tell you that is really nonsense. I think u  should remember his name or the others want your money, then u go to police station which is the nearest and tell them. U 'd rather go with your girlfriend. Not only you are in that situation, my friends- native vietnamese are ,too. But it's just happened with young police. If you remember his name and tell the police station, he will be judged or fined. Because not at all of policemen in danang are bad. I drove pass the red light, but they let me go and not fine me. One time, my motorbike was broken and i let it in police station.they are kind. My foreign friends say that as well.
Well i hope u will enjoy my danang and good luck.
P/s: my english is not well. I' m trying to improve it . So  please don't laugh at me.
Merci