i just had my 3 month visa extended. I traveled from Buon ma thuot and visited a number of places for the service. I used Cong Ty golden time travel 230 De Tham st. I drop my PP off at 9 am on 22-11 and was given a receipt that indicated pickup on 29-11 at 6pm. This was a 1 week service for 80 usd. I made arrangements to return to BMT on 30-11 at 4am. well i showed up at 6pm for PP and visa and was told to come back at 10pm. again at 10 pm no PP, told to come back in the morning at 8am. That wasn't going to work because of my departure at 4am. Told to check back at 10:30pm. again no PP. I visited the police station on bui vien st and has no success from these people. They were watching TV, after 5 mins an old man finally ask what was wrong, i ask that he come to the travel office and ask for my passport. he said said he was busy.
they all where to busy watching tv. I finally went back to the travel office and found out the girl had gone home. the night shift man was helpful, he made some phone calls and the PP with Extension came at 11:30pm. So if you are not on a schedule then for 80 usd it is ok, but don't use them if you have plans. The police on bui vien are a joke
Visa extension experience in HCMC
Sorry to hear about your ordeal. I've learned that any time "deadline" is just a guide for you to check back. It makes hard for planning journeys though considering you came all the way from BMT.
the main problem was their I don't care attitude, I could have possibly changed my 4am departure time for a extra fee.
danwalker014 wrote:the main problem was their I don't care attitude, I could have possibly changed my 4am departure time for a extra fee.
I think a lot of the problem comes from people being too hesitant to say "I don't know" because that would imply incompetence. It's easier to blame other parties when the Passport doesn't come in on time and you can still sound like you know what you are doing.
I read in the news a few days ago that up to 90% of the travel agencies in HCMC are operating illegally anyway. That may be 1 reason why the police don't get involved. They don't want the hassle and extra work involved.
danwalker014 wrote:the main problem was their I don't care attitude, I could have possibly changed my 4am departure time for a extra fee.
Get used to it.
danwalker014 wrote:The police on bui vien are a joke
As my VNese coworker said when we were talking about the police office on BV: "Oh, that? That's only for decoration." 
Yeah, they know well how to decorate their pockets with bills 
ssuprnova wrote:"Oh, that? That's only for decoration."
danwalker014 wrote:the main problem was their I don't care attitude, I could have possibly changed my 4am departure time for a extra fee.
danwalker014 -
last time I ever had to worry about a visa, enjoying life too much and forgot about it until only having 3 days left 
- after original and 2 more 3 month extensions already, my VN wife took my passport to a travel agent : -
'SAPACO TOURIST' 325 PHAM NGU LAO. District 1. Sai Gon.
This is a Vietnamese tourist travel business set up for the Vietnamese tourists mainly into Kampuchea.(?) My wife arranged all the details at the front counter in Vietnamese.
She booked the two of us on a tour into Kampuchea to spend 4 days and 3 nights, Ankor Wat and Phnom Phen. 
She never let my passport out of her sight, bookings, 3 month multiple re-entry visa and a 'letter of invitation' to return to Viet Nam all done in the one morning.
4,500,0000 VND each for everything, 4 days and 3 nights, plus 1.1 million VND for the visa and letter inviting return to Viet Nam.
Tour guides, one VN and one Khmer, spoke great VN, Khmer and English - took care of every detail for the whole trip.
REALLY GREAT - But next time, trying to talk her into extending a trip back there again for at least a full week.
Thanks, that sounds awesome totally forgot about the Ankor Wat. I think this will be one site my mom and family from Canada is going to love. Going to see if I can book it after my wedding.
I too had need for the old Visa Extension service, and went to this Golden Time Travel place, I think it must have popped up on a Google search. For various reasons my extension was a bit more than the usual tourist visa 1/3 month extension. In any case they quoted me $100, which seemed a bit steep, so I went down the street and dropped into a random Travel agent, being SagoTour at 219/2 Pham Ngu Lao. They quoted $75 for the same service, and a return date of Friday 6pm (29/11 same day as our friend above) having dropped it off on the previous Sunday. At 7am on the Friday they called me to say it was ready and I picked it up with no hassles. Good service and prompt. Although a bit strange that they called me 7am, which means it must have been ready the day prior but they didn't call.
As with everything, it pays to shop around as prices and rules vary (two other places I went to told me it couldn't be done without leaving Vietnam). I think it really depends on who their connections are at the Visa Office.
Also this being Vietnam, don't be surprised if it's not ready on the date quoted, so don't arrange travel based on any dates given.
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