Remote work in VN

Why not set yourself in in your own company? The most biz oriented city is Ho Chi Minh - I always set up there, then migrate the company to it's intended operating base.

Ha Noi has always seemed a little agnostic towards biz (everything). A very political town, cold in the winter, flooding any time.

There are three InterNet gateways in VN, HCM, Da Nang and Ha Noi. These affect network speed. All use the common cable shared by several countries around here and terminates in the USA.

Taxes here are 'light', you can confuse the tax guys buy sending your money in before they have even blown the dust off your file. As a Foreigner, with your own company, you are expected to contribute but billing from Europe means you can keep your money on a high interest area and bring it back to VN when your require it.

A couple of small constraints. You must have a VNese 'partner'. My partner in mist ventures is my wife; a friend uses hookers - and pays them a couple of hundred dollars each year - they are interested in interfering with the business.

The other catch is that Foreigners can't use their home address as a place of business - must be separate. I rent a 'table' in a friends workshop in HCM for biz setups. Making yourself a 'consultant' is vague enough for you to say anything about your work.

Paying tax money is key to a happy co-existence with government here. Employing VNese (such as your maid, etc) 'on the books' also makes government feel happy about you.

Enter VN as a tourist; locate a lawyer and apply for company registration and Work Permit. Cost around USD$600. Then you are set to go.

Thank you Jaitch for your extensive answer.

Could you explain "billing from Europe", is it not the other way around? I have no experience yet in starting a business, so forgive my stupid questions.

baguettefromage wrote:

Could you explain "billing from Europe", is it not the other way around? I have no experience yet in starting a business, so forgive my stupid questions.

If you bill from VN in VND,payments, except from US dollar sources, go through a double conversion process (Org. currency >> US Dollar >> VND).

VN is like a black hole, easy to get Forex in, damn hard to get out.

So we have bank accounts in the UK, Europe, Canada, Australia and USA. We also have accommodation addresses in those countries which we use on our invoices. Customers settle in their currency, we bank it in their currency.

We leave the money there and we draw on it when we need it. Better to keep funds in a hard currency rather than one where the government artificially sets the exchange rate.

The US is a nosy country, but setting up a dummy office it seems to satisfy their curiosity. It wants to know the source of all income. You can hold USD$ in a Canadian bank but the interest is lousy and it can't be insured.