How much cash allowed out and into Vietnam

A better tip is to do everything possible to avoid bringing large amounts of cash through a country where corruption/bribery is high throughout the ranks of the gov't.  What can you realistically do if they still ask you to pay a bribe?  They have all the leverage.

What i'm hoping to hear is professional advice as this only happened to me last week and still hoping ill  get advice on how to get my money back ! Or at least those that took it will be brought to justice

I was carrying £20,000 in GBP on me after a business settlement in China .

I wonder if you will attract alot of ladies   
Its quite a bit of money to be travelling with.. please be careful in future.
Was it not possible to get it wired to your account? 

did you get the names of the people that took your money? Can go to their supervisor or someone higher up at the airport to report them.

All countries have a limit of what can be taken out. Do you have the names and numbers of the officers involved, if not you wont be able to do a thing about it.

Anyone bring in amount of money of more than USD5,000 equivalent into Vietnam without declaring it upon arrival on it purpose is really invite the trouble themselves when they try to exit the country. If declaration had been made with the purpose of temporary brought in and exit later with valid reason upon arrival such incident can be avoided when exit the country.

Luck of the Irish mate...

Your profile states you've been travelling for years, so I'd put that down to another learning experience.   It's fairly common knowledge among regular business travellers the limits on carrying cash, gold , expensive shiny things etc.

Just a hint.  Always produce a smart phone and activate voice recorder. It's legal here to do that.   Just tell "anyone" that wears a uniform that prior to entering any discussion you HAVE to  sight & record the details of their IDs.  Thats the law in any country.      Tell them that your lawyers will want to know whom they are to contact to sort it out.

If they refuse.....just sit back and pretend to make a call.  Just say I'm sitting here talking to Law enforcement people who want a bribe and won't provide ID?        Then sit back , fold your arms and just smile & wait.     It's surprising how often that "bluff" works.   

Customs have numbers to ring that deal with corrupt incidents at airports here.
Try these.    988315858.     &  925267777
Hope their still current.

I've got them in my phone , but never had to use them.

I could have got it wired to my account but my contact in China refused to do so in case the transaction went wrong and in his opinion  often happens in China. So that was why i decided best to carry the cash on my person. My mistake i did not read up on the laws in Vietnam  carrying cash into the country ?

Sadly i did not get their names as i  was late for my flight ?

sadly i did not get their names ?

Thanks for your advice on this matter and certainly will try this if there will be a next time ! But as you say it's my first experience of this and yes i agree a costly learning experience which i've took on board  for the foreseeable future.

You know for sure, here is not the Western World and therefore the law games do not apply. Get to Cambodia with two separate bags as your luggage.Hide safely the bulk money in one of the bags and lock it with a padlock. Put it into luggage cabin of the bus and carry with a hand luggage and a show money of about $3000 with you. Don't tell them about your other bag. You should stay in Cambodia for about a week and nearly everyday you send the maximum amount to your country by Western Union in bits.That is to say, divide the money into about 6 portions and send them daily. Cross check from your country if the money has arrived to the person or receiver before leaving Cambodia.Avoid bad situations because it is a closed system.
.
Good luck

Good tip, BUT....
If your country  has a FATCA law like in the USA, they can track your deposits, because all banks and financial institution (like Western Union, or any Money Transfer services) must report to the US gov. for any suspicion transactions (multiple small amount transactions) to a same address/person. In fact, a former US Rep. get caught, by paying $9,999 (under $10K to avoid bank report) regularly to a man he abused decades ago. This caught the attention of IRS, and now in jail for it. Best is NOT bring too much cash, AND Gold too, or just fill out the form to declare the money/gold you bring in, then you can bring out whatever remained. I known a person, who bring in 10 tales of 24k gold in order to buy house in VN, but didn't find any good deal so he carried it to the airport. The lesson has cost him "only" 2 tales of gold  as "penalty".

What an expensive lesson. I am glad they did not confiscate all the funds and put you into jail.
live and learn.

Each individual, upon entry or exit through Vietnamese international border gates by valid passports, can carry cash up to USD5,000 (or other equivalent foreign currency) or VND5 million without the need to declare to the immigration office or customs office. The previous limits were USD7,000 and VND15 million.

It is a must for the individual to declare to the immigration office or customs office if the cash amount exceeds USD5,000 or VND5 million.

SimCityAT wrote:

It is a must for the individual to declare to the immigration office or customs office if the cash amount exceeds USD5,000 or VND5 million.

I assume your numbers are correct but that is a huge discrepancy.  VND5 million is only about $US220.    The $5000 is set by international treaty but maybe it is a maximum and countries like Vietnam are allowed to set lower limits to protect their currency.  I can't imagine any scenarios where one would need VND outside of VN but a quick trip to the gold shop to get $$ would certainly be in order before leaving.

What a loss! Can't blame all on the police although the reputation is not good.

I don't believe there is any legal financial solution.  You will not get your money back.  Just accept it.  A lot of people suffer much bigger losses.  I've heard of stories of returning Vietnamese losing their entire life savings to the corrupt police.

I wonder what rule is for carrying out valuable gems or jewelry of that value.  You should read up on how Blue Nile got started.  They brought in large sums of cash and exited with large amounts of pearls on their person.  That was in China.

SimCityAT wrote:

Each individual, upon entry or exit through Vietnamese international border gates by valid passports, can carry cash up to USD5,000 (or other equivalent foreign currency) or VND5 million without the need to declare to the immigration office or customs office. The previous limits were USD7,000 and VND15 million.

It is a must for the individual to declare to the immigration office or customs office if the cash amount exceeds USD5,000 or VND5 million.

Curious where you have this information from?

I need to leave Vietnam earlier than planned and have a little too much VND cash on my hands. Planning to take it with me and bring it back on entry next year.
All the information from 2017 I have been able to find says there is no need to declare below 15 million Dong on entry and and Exit.

Found this article from 2016 where the interviewer refer to a recent 5 million VND public opinion in the first question:
http://customsnews.vn/unlimit-the-amoun … t-593.html
The answer from the officer clearly states 15 million VND

Markdk wrote:

Found this article from 2016 where the interviewer refer to a recent 5 million VND public opinion in the first question:
http://customsnews.vn/unlimit-the-amoun … t-593.html
The answer from the officer clearly states 15 million VND

I am confused 
Look at the 2nd answer on your link.
If 15 mill vnd is the limit, why is there a fine of "from 1,000,000 vnd to 5,000,000 vnd" if the value (of undeclared cash) is "from 10,000,000 vnd to below 30,000,000 vnd."??
Am I missing something here?

Yes, the article is not well written.
Maybe they only start imposing fines at 10 million in excess of the allowed 15 million VND.

I submitted the link only because it touches on the confusion about a possible 5 million VND limit.

Never heard of it being 5 million vnd, 5000 usd, yes.

SimCityAt's info comes from this news published on LinkedIn by CBS Legal, LLC, a Hanoi-based VN Law Firm, on 31 July 2016.

Thank you very much.

Then I think the limit is most likely 15 million VND.

Was able to find this news article also. Think it looks a bit dodgy and unprofessional. There is no source or reference to any kind of legal decision.

Seems the relevant document is: "Circular No. 15/2011/TT-NHNN of August 12, 2011, providing the carrying of foreign-currency and Vietnam-dong cash by persons on entry or exit".
It can be found on page 3 of this list: https://www.customs.gov.vn/Lists/Englis … uage=en-US

Doesnt look like there are any recent changes.

Wouldn't it make more sense to transfer the 15 million VND to USD because that way you will definitely be under the ($5,000) threshold.

All seems very smoke and mirrors.

Thank you.

Think one should try to avoid letting misinformation on the internet affect ones actions.

Would need to buy the 15 million VND back in a few months when I am likely to return to Vietnam.
Changing is no big deal of course. But it will cost a few percent of 15 million VND for no reason.

The reason why I generally carry cash when travelling is that it gives me peace of mind to know that I am using the cheapest option. And most important, not being a passive milking cow for the banks, Visa, Mastercard, etc.

I can confirm, at the time of writing this, that the maximum amount of undeclared cash you can carry through Customs/Immigration in Vietnam is 5,000 USD, whether you are entering or leaving the country (Source: Vietnam Customs and Immigration).

The problem is compounded by the fact that the Vietnamese legislature does tend to change it's laws fairly frequently so information found on Google with a 'posted by' date of even six months ago, could well be incorrect.

Provided it is declared and you can prove how the money came into your possession (to satisfy their anti-money laundering laws) there is usually no problem.

If you are fined, they will issue a receipt (a friend travelling to Aus was fined for not declaring 6,000 USD 4 months ago). No receipt means it was not officially a fine but rather a payment to 'expedite' matters, which you have no hope of getting back.

It seems you are not familiar with the bank fees and expenses applying to money transfer from bank to bank....

The question was about how much cash you can carry through customs so not sure banking processes has any significance?

It's why these people invest (pay bribes) to work at the airport. For opportunities like this. That white declarations form is a trap, so they can pick you out easier next time instead of a random spot check. Even if you declare it, they'd find a way to extort it form you. It's why they're there, paying... to work.

You need to think carefully about what you have done ...

1. You have broken the Vietnam customs law which clearly says that you have to declare anything over US$5,000
(sorry, ignorance of the law is never a legally valid excuse and such laws are commonplace nowadays -- e.g., the UK customs law requires you to declare more than EUR10,000 in cash, for China it is $5,000, so you probably broke the law in all three places).

2. The official said you would have to pay a fine of GBP4,000

3. You negotiated with the official with the result that:
- you gave him GBP2,000 personally (no official receipt, so no official transaction)
- he agreed to overlook the offence
I think this is legally defined as a bribe.

4. Before you complain too publicly about how much it cost you, you might want to check whether you have committed an offence under the UK Bribery Act 2010.

None of this is to exonerate the behaviour of the Vietnamese official, but just to clarify what you have actually done.

I've been reading this thread. It talks about limits of USD 5000 and VND 15 million (or 5 million).
I knew about the USD 5000 and assumed that this limit also applies to VND (converted).

So I'm on my way to Bangkok with about 20 million Dong.
At Saigon airport, the security check officer asks me how much VND there is in my wallet. I told him it was 20 million and asked him if he wanted it recounted. But he said no and let me go.

So I wonder where the numbers of 5 million or 15 million here in the thread come from.

By switching twice (VND-USD, USD-THB) I think I'm paying more exchange fees compared with the 200 or 220 Baht ATM fees.
So I want to find out what really is the maximum amount of VND cash you can bring out of Vietnam.
But for that I would need reliable figures.

Exit amounts