The living cost in Ho chi minh City

OMG are you kidding. No dear you are not going to find much for that other tan a con phung hole. You might want to consider your worth to that firm. To me I would take that as an insult. However, I do not know your entire situation. Good luck

G'day Hasna,
Yep....$250 a MONTH would be the going rate.

Not bad if your Vietnamese and living under one roof with your extended family. They do well as a family unit.  BUT.....your "one out" .   $250 would barely cover food, unless your on steamed rice & fish sauce day in , day out. 

Accommodation & utilities in a one room guest house will set you back $400 +\- at least.

Then you've got to have a "buffer" to cover medical, trips home, unexpected incidentals,  Visa & work permit fees, etc etc etc.     And then you've got to pray the job lasts😳

It ain't easy coming to a place where the average income is only $1750 per YEAR. 

Unless your on a secondment with a Multi National who cover a lot of your expences it's a very tough place to cut it.

Who suggested this idea to you??

I was going to suggest you get use to a lot of rice. I would not put anything on it though as it will bust your budget. Yogi is right. I was assuming this was just a housing allowance. Even at that you are going to be very disappointed. I do hope they will pay your return flight after you quit. If not you are taking a huge gamble. Yes, a local can live in a SPOT in one of their type of minimal home. You might be able to get several others to bunk up with you as well. But alone.....!

That's $8/day for accommodation, utilities, food, transportation, health care, and incidentals (not counting personal entertainment). "Live decently"? You cannot even live minimally on that amount. *Some* Vietnamese people could, but only because they live rent-free with their parents, share grocery expense with the whole family, own their motorbikes, and are not bothered with health insurance (or already covered by their employment contract.)

BTW, that's more or less the salary I made 45 years ago as a full time high school teacher in Pleiku and then in Saigon (the average standard of living in Saigon pre-1975 was much higher than it is now.)

Dear Hasnaa Rhazlaoui

You need to consider you present situation... You are pursuing an internship because you  still gathering knowledge and experience...  Just by having the opportunity to learn by hands on the job is a great compensation. Consider that if you apply for a job with your limited experience and  knowledge you may not be too fortunate in landing on a reputable company.

Is very rare that a company will pay you a basic fee for teaching you or allowing you to know internal activities without a contract or NDA. But there are some companies that will if they feel you are a potential candidate. However to be staff in a company abroad includes other factors such as Visas and working permits. Well the cost of living depends on your life style, if you are an explorer  who is ready to live like a soldier, then it will be a learning adventure and mile stone. But if you are a person trying to adopt a middle class above life style then 1k will not be sufficient.

There are many NGOs who are offering internships program but  interns candidates  only get a small fee for housing  (rent) but not a 5 star condominium.  So i suggest that you should not be too concern with what you will get pay, rater focus on the experience that can create value 10x over. check this website: AIESEC

http://home.aiesec.vn/

An internship is a temporary position with an emphasis on on-the-job training rather than merely employment, and it can be paid or unpaid. If you want to go into publishing, you might have to take an internship before you are qualified for an actual job.

good luck ... but then LUCK means

Labor Under Controlled Knowledge

I think the OP was asking about if the amount she is to receive would cover her exspenses. Still not clear what that is to cover.
  Not sure was seeking a dissertation on the value of an internship or it's meaning. But what caught my attention initially was why anyone would want to intern with a Vietnamese company. There are few companies that do not need to bring people from outside the country to do this type of work.
  To intern here and have that resume I would think would hold little value to accompany in the developed world.
  Most degrees conferred from a university here do not translate to a job in the developed world. Indeed , my neighbor is an architect that has moved to the USA hoping he could work in the same field there. I told him no, before he left. No he is in training to become a manicurist.

@Salespro: It's true that the cost of living depends on the lifestyle, but I wouldn't say $250/m is a salary that affords a middle class lifestyle. Living "like a soldier" is well and good when one's aim is the military where one's accommodation, food, transportation, and health care are provided for, and one's salary is used for incidentals only. It doesn't work when one lives in a large city where one has to pay for everything one needs for everyday living.

I wouldn't even say it's "very rare that a company will pay you a basic fee for teaching you or allowing you to know internal activities without a contract or NDA."

First off, internships in all companies in all sectors have to sign both a contract and an NDA, that's the universal requirement AFAIK.

Second, architectural interns in the US earn between $35K and $50K a year. My nephew was paid $36K as an internship in 1998 when he was still in his last year at USC School of Architecture in California. I don't know how much a French architecture firm pays their interns, but I don't think it would be less than 0.1% of the salary from an average American company.

Third, your positive encouragement to the OP is very commendable, but it may do her more harm than good. As Diazo's comment above, "I do hope they will pay your return flight after you quit. If not you are taking a huge gamble", it would be wrong for us to advice her to "should not be too concern with what you will get pay" only to read later that she has to choose between food and rent.

Of course, it could be that the info she received were wrong and the $250/m was only one part of her would be compensations.

@Diazo: I was under the impression that the OP is working with a French company with business in Saigon, until reading your last post, and now I wonder...

I am not sure who she will be interning for or what the money she is to receive represents. Her post does not say a lot and perhaps we are reading a lot into it. But if it is just fro rent in HCM she still has a steep hill to climb. Hopefully it was just to pay for utilities. Then she will do just fine.

Dear young architect,

Sorry for that, but firstly the wage this company offer you, even for an internship, is really too low, they should be shame of it ! Foreigner interns have also to pay for good insurance, and more expensive rent compare to local due to expat prices. In my company we offer 3 times this wage minimum for foreigner interns, in the same field. So if you really want to have a good experience in Vietnam through this internship, you have to come with some extra saving money for sure.

Good luck.

Hasnaa,

As a resident of Saigon for the past 20 years, I think you would find it extremely difficult to exist on the sum mentioned. It seems to me that you are being somewhat exploited. Please think carefully.

I have lived in Vietnam for 4 years. In HCMC you will pay more then 5,000,000vnd for a decent place with 2 bedrooms. If you have a family you will pay a lot more. I hope your a city person. Noise, crowds and traffic unbelieveable. If he is going to pay you about 5 million every week then your in good shape. Everything other then housing is cheap once the market people get to know you and your not a tourist. I only stayed in Saigon ( HCMC ) for the first 6 months I was here. I hate the city. I'm a country boy. I live in Hoi An. But I don't need to work. My retirement pays me 800 miĺlion vnd per year. I have a beautiful home and live like a king. Good luck to you. 5 million doesn't go very far for housing if that's all your going to get for 1 month.

True. Living in the country side certainly has its advantage in terms of costing. If you are into nature then this is the lifestyle that one should seek. In terms of OP question, I think the salary at $250 per month is not sufficient for foreigners to survive in this city. You cannot be renting a small room like a local as the local police will be giving you lots of problem. Try getting spot check at 2am in the morning every week. Not something that you want to experience with. Basically in Vietnam foreigners are expected to be rich and spending to boost the economy.

I suggest that OP negotiate for rental coverage if she is really interested to the job.

Hey guys !

Thank you so so so much for all your comments/advices/good jokes/recommandations !

I finally took the decision to refuse the offer (the 250dollars were just for the two first months and then he said the salary would be 1100dollars gross). But anyway I chosed to accept an other job offer in Shanghai. Not sure it's the best decision but let's figure it out !

Thank you again you've been great!

Hasnaa