This should make an interesting thread
What experience , ( good or bad ) have you had with Immigration Officers?
Obviously there are no IQ tests for these positions , ( or a second language requirement, as most Govt employees are supposed to have? )
I've just returned from another wasted trip to Immigration, I renewed my VEC last week, it said I had to return to their office on 23/10, last time I returned on the EXACT date, I was told to come back the next day, so I wasn't in a hurry to do it this time, I go into the office, there was 3 people seated, and one at the other unattended counter, writing on a piece of paper, I handed my paper to the midlde aged officer, ( who is usually very friendly when my wife is with me ), he looked at the date, then handed it back to me, pointing at the date, I thought , ok, and did the coughing , pointing to my chest, “ hey , I was sick” impersonation, but he just put his head down and started writing , so after standing there for a few minutes, looking at the calendar on the wall, and controlling my rage, ( while several other VNs pushed in front of me ), I decided to leave, to return another day, the people who run the bike parking/security outside are doing very well out of me, 5 – 6 trips in the last 2 weeks, with my Work Permit bullshit, ( still not sorted, I must be the only person in VN who has a VEC AND a Work Permit, for over a month now ), most times I am with a VN, so I pay for them as well.
Dealings with Immigration Officers
I do my VEC renewal for the 90 days. Last time I went to do it my wife didn't attend with me. They gave me a hard time. With my wife by my side it was a smooth process. I pointed out that I had numerous 3 month stamps in my passport. I absolutely refuse to hand any more money than neccessary.
Experience is the best teacher 
Seems they scare Vietnamese lady? 
charmavietnam wrote:Experience is the best teacher
Seems they scare Vietnamese lady?
So they should be of my wife, sometimes she scares even me. ( she's been teaching for 25 yrs, so has plenty of experience of putting the fear into students, ).
In fact, they are scared. They're afraid of speaking English with you since you're on your own without Vietnamese accompanies. When they are scared, they close their mouths & pretend to be normal but it's certainly when you're intense by work & by some deep worry inside, you can't easily smile, your face becomes to frown. Another frustrated thing is it's gonna be hard to ask for your money.
However, believe me or not, it's not all because of money. Next time, try to speak some Vietnamese to them, they will be happier. It's always nice & cute to listen to some Vietnamese in foreigner's ascent. Surely they'll be happiest if they get money, too.
Scarletvn wrote:In fact, they are scared. They're afraid of speaking English with you since you're on your own without Vietnamese accompanies. When they are scared, they close their mouths & pretend to be normal but it's certainly when you're intense by work & by some deep worry inside, you can't easily smile, your face becomes to frown. Another frustrated thing is it's gonna be hard to ask for your money.
However, believe me or not, it's not all because of money. Next time, try to speak some Vietnamese to them, they will be happier. It's always nice & cute to listen to some Vietnamese in foreigner's ascent. Surely they'll be happiest if they get money, too.
You mean so they can rudely laugh at our terrible attempts at your language. ( that's why I don't bother anymore ).
A green uniform seems to give them a superiority illusion, over anyone not wearing one.
Partly agree with you dear but second para shows your inexperience with these "Kings" 
Scarletvn wrote:In fact, they are scared. They're afraid of speaking English with you since you're on your own without Vietnamese accompanies. When they are scared, they close their mouths & pretend to be normal but it's certainly when you're intense by work & by some deep worry inside, you can't easily smile, your face becomes to frown. Another frustrated thing is it's gonna be hard to ask for your money.
However, believe me or not, it's not all because of money. Next time, try to speak some Vietnamese to them, they will be happier. It's always nice & cute to listen to some Vietnamese in foreigner's ascent. Surely they'll be happiest if they get money, too.
bluenz wrote:Scarletvn wrote:In fact, they are scared. They're afraid of speaking English with you since you're on your own without Vietnamese accompanies. When they are scared, they close their mouths & pretend to be normal but it's certainly when you're intense by work & by some deep worry inside, you can't easily smile, your face becomes to frown. Another frustrated thing is it's gonna be hard to ask for your money.
However, believe me or not, it's not all because of money. Next time, try to speak some Vietnamese to them, they will be happier. It's always nice & cute to listen to some Vietnamese in foreigner's ascent. Surely they'll be happiest if they get money, too.
You mean so they can rudely laugh at our terrible attempts at your language. ( that's why I don't bother anymore ).
A green uniform seems to give them a superiority illusion, over anyone not wearing one.
They won't make such impolite noise in office. You're still angry? Common!
Yes, you're right about the superiority illusion, but it applies to Vietnamese people, too. Sadly to say "it's so Vietnam".
Just returned AGAIN, from a visit to Immigration, this time to my surprise , the usual, nasty woman officer was very cordial, she even ASKED me to sit down, PLEASE, after taking my paperwork. ( maybe that pointing upstairs, and saying No1, had some effect after all from last week? She had a shocked look on her face.).
But the wife won't be happy, I only applied for a 30 day extension of my VEC, so the idiots at my school could finally finish sorting out my TRC, ( they have taken 6 weeks to do it so far, in which time they made me 6 days late renewing my VEC, which in actual fact is obsolete, once you have a Work Permit ). they told her last week, there would be no charge, I said then, that I should make it 90 days, for 2 reasons, 1, at the rate it's taking them to process my TRC, it might actually take that long, 2 , I had a feeling there would be a 1 off charge, no matter how much time you ask for.
My wife can be quite gullible with her Govt, but at least she has given up asking about the PR " dream ".
Scarletvn wrote:Next time, try to speak some Vietnamese to them, they will be happier. It's always nice & cute to listen to some Vietnamese in foreigner's ascent. Surely they'll be happiest if they get money, too.
I have learned to avoid speaking Vietnamese to them (or the police), it is not the same as if you're speaking to locals. With locals you certainly open doors but speaking descent Vietnamese with some of the officials can cause more trouble than solve.
My core rules are to be patient, polite and always say Okay, thank you.
Many Vietnamese officials are 'scared'/wary of dealing with Foreigners since we don't accept what they say at face value but we start questioning the 'logic' behind certain commands.
We are the WHY people!
They also understand that we don't hesitate to move up the chain of command if we don't coherent answers.
The Cong An also resent the attitude of many youth. They don't accept instructions with a tug of the forelock as their parents might do. Older Cong An also recognise the problem often starts in the behaviour of their younger members.
Why do people who accept bribes to do their job get respect?
charmavietnam wrote:Partly agree with you dear but second para shows your inexperience with these "Kings"
Scarletvn wrote:In fact, they are scared. They're afraid of speaking English with you since you're on your own without Vietnamese accompanies. When they are scared, they close their mouths & pretend to be normal but it's certainly when you're intense by work & by some deep worry inside, you can't easily smile, your face becomes to frown. Another frustrated thing is it's gonna be hard to ask for your money.
However, believe me or not, it's not all because of money. Next time, try to speak some Vietnamese to them, they will be happier. It's always nice & cute to listen to some Vietnamese in foreigner's ascent. Surely they'll be happiest if they get money, too.
I don't often work with them but due to my working environment, I have to deal with Govt. officers quite often. Most of the time I'm there to see my partners who are responsible for legal process work with them but there're cases I have to work directly with them.
In a country like Vietnam, sometimes even a person who guard parking lot of a Govt. office can be a very useful people, much more than a come-out-of-no-where lawyer.
snake77 wrote:Scarletvn wrote:Next time, try to speak some Vietnamese to them, they will be happier. It's always nice & cute to listen to some Vietnamese in foreigner's ascent. Surely they'll be happiest if they get money, too.
I have learned to avoid speaking Vietnamese to them (or the police), it is not the same as if you're speaking to locals. With locals you certainly open doors but speaking descent Vietnamese with some of the officials can cause more trouble than solve.
My core rules are to be patient, polite and always say Okay, thank you.
It's different. You don't speak Vietnamese to avoid communication with people like police is one way to get you away from trouble. With the officer, you have no way but talking to her or communicating with her in whatever way to get your stuff done.
Jaitch wrote:Many Vietnamese officials are 'scared'/wary of dealing with Foreigners since we don't accept what they say at face value but we start questioning the 'logic' behind certain commands.
We are the WHY people!
They also understand that we don't hesitate to move up the chain of command if we don't coherent answers.
The Cong An also resent the attitude of many youth. They don't accept instructions with a tug of the forelock as their parents might do. Older Cong An also recognise the problem often starts in the behaviour of their younger members.
Why do people who accept bribes to do their job get respect?
I don't ask you to respect anyone. I'm offering you an easier way to get what you want. Smiling, being polite to someone does not mean you respect them. But it's definitely a sign that you are willing to cooperate with them.
If they see that you understand the rule, which somehow indicated by the fact that you speak some Vietnamese, they will be more comfortable cause you are an easier cake than other newbie foreigners who tend to complain about Vietnamese whatever stuffs at the first times.
Finally, all we want is to get what we need to be done done. In these cases, we can't be the change we want to see in the world.
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