Moving next Spring to Vietnam

@callaway4000

Hi

How are you moving to Vietnam?  ie What type of VISA will you have?  The visa will determine some of your banking options.  You can't open a bank account in Vietnam on a tourist visa as far as I am aware.  If you have Temp Residency Card you can.

The wise card is a good option especially as you intend travelling to countries with differing currencies.

I think in the end you will not attempt new bank accounts in a variety of countries,  or you will spend all your holidays in queues at bank info desks.

If it was me, and I do something similar, I transfer my Australian funds into wise each month then spend from there.  Some bigger shops accept the Wise card and ATMs throw out cash for a fee.  As I have access to a bank account here in VN I also transfer VH dong from Wise into the bank account.

Cheers

K

PS Don't stay in the biggest cities, the pollution will shorten your life span

What visa will you have?  No bank account without some form of residency, tourist visa does not cut it.  Get a Wise card and use ATMs.

@callaway4000, I can't tell you what the best thing to do is; I can only tell you what I do and that it's working for me.

I have all my income direct-deposited into a Schwab account in the USA. I transfer money as I need it to a WISE account for which I have an ATM card. Thus I pay for a lot of things in cash, Vietnam Dong.

I'm sometimes shocked by the ATM fees in the range of 400K VND when I withdraw 25 million VND. Well, that's < 2%. Ugh.

I also have a Capital One card which I use as much as possible (for the points, naturally!). Landlord, electricity, etc., won't accept that card.

Why do I do all this? Because Schwab (for which I also have an ATM card) doesn't like me to have a US account (last I heard, maybe they've changed their minds) and so I use WISE. WISE won't issue an ATM card for a Vietnam-origin card, so I have a US account at a US address.

Planning to move to Asia next year(Link, 31 August 2025)

Hi, I am the new kid on the block here. I am a Canadian and I have been to Thailand twice each for a 3 week vacation. Moving to Vietnam or East Asia in General is new. Never been to Vietnam yet.
My questions are the situation with my banking. I'm going to keep my Canadaian bank Account. I also know about WISE but never used it yet. I want to understand the best top Vietnamese banks to set up my account and is it rather easy with all my documents? I also need to understand I will be using my pension plus using some TFSA savings. I need to understand how to get my money sent to my bank account and do I get a debt card to use with a Vietnam bank? The big questioni is at the start I want to travel to other Countries also and need to set up bank accounts there as well.. I know Thailand is a problem at the moment. What is the best option for my situation? I would need to tell the bank and my Pension department to keep changing my deposits depending on the Country? Can I have them send the money into my WISE account? is this a good idea? thanks - @callaway4000

I don't want to sound offensive, but you are making the same mistake that myriad other foreigners have made before you:

You have a complicated scenario in your mind that you want to accomplish and it would be much better for you to simply ask us, how does the banking system work in Vietnam for foreigners?

Because we would start by saying that everything is based upon your visa, and if the only visa that you have is a tourist visa then you're going to be very limited in what you can do and you may want to consider simply keeping your money in Canada and withdrawing it from ATMs when you need it.

In Vietnam, The answer to virtually every situation question you can imagine will first be determined by the visa you have

Hi, I am the new kid on the block here. I am a Canadian and I have been to Thailand twice each for a 3 week vacation. Moving to Vietnam or East Asia in General is new. Never been to Vietnam yet.
My questions are the situation with my banking. I'm going to keep my Canadaian bank Account. I also know about WISE but never used it yet. I want to understand the best top Vietnamese banks to set up my account and is it rather easy with all my documents? I also need to understand I will be using my pension plus using some TFSA savings. I need to understand how to get my money sent to my bank account and do I get a debt card to use with a Vietnam bank? The big questioni is at the start I want to travel to other Countries also and need to set up bank accounts there as well.. I know Thailand is a problem at the moment. What is the best option for my situation? I would need to tell the bank and my Pension department to keep changing my deposits depending on the Country? Can I have them send the money into my WISE account? is this a good idea? thanks - @callaway4000

Well since 2016 we travelled to Vietnam (5 times), Cambodia (once), Thailand (3 times), India (twice) and never had to open a bank account in any of these countries, most hotels and supermarkets will gladly accept your Visa or Mastercard credit card. For restaurants we pay cash but brought enough Australian dollars to change into VND or THB or INR to pay the little daily expenses.

For taxis we used Grab or Uber and never had to pay any other way than with Mastercard.

So if like us you plan to move from country to country on tourist visa you do NOT need to open any bank account anywhere and just keep the one you have in your home country !!!

PS: do not forget to get a good travel insurance (Mastercard Ultimate Rewards card offers up to one full year of FREE travel insurance, used it every time since 2016 and never had any trouble with them)

@Lennerd

Thanks for the information. I am Canadian and will be retired. So I will look into the Visa for my situation but I think Vietnam will be for most of the year and you suggest to have my pension sent to my Canadian Bank then transfer it to my wise card each month and whenever I need more money? this is correct? I need to look at the transfer fees for that with Wise. Then I take out the money from Wise at a bank or an ATM? I heard the ATM is expensive, so this is why I need to understand the whole process.. Like in Thailand I wonder if Vietnam needs a specific amount in your bank Account at all times to keep a bank account and retirement visa? thanks

I will talk with my bank in Canada and also look into the best options with using my credit cards in Asia. I know it's best to have two for security. I will look more closer at the visa options cause I will travel around Asia at the start and that's why I wanted the banking options with the best solutions being Canadian to save on the service or commission fees to use ATM's or credit cards each time. thanks

...Like in Thailand I wonder if Vietnam needs a specific amount in your bank Account at all times to keep a bank account...

In this, Vietnam is very much not like Thailand. As I understand it, when/if one qualifies to open a bank account in Vietnam, the minimum amount which must be maintained in that account is 100,000 VND (~$5.25 CDN). In any event, visitors to Vietnam who enter under a DL Visa (Tourist Visa) do not qualify to open a bank account.

...and retirement visa? thanks - @callaway4000

Unfortunately, Vietnam does not have (nor has it ever had) a retirement visa. A DL Visa has a maximum validity of 90 days, at which point one must exit the country by land, air, or sea. Overstays on a DL Visa will result in an overstay fine, and the exit from the country must then be by air.

Once immigration has confirmation of the person having exited Vietnam, a new eVisa DL application may then be submitted/approved, allowing for an additional 90 day stay. Reports are that this can be done in perpetuity (for now, anyway). There is no minimum amount of time required for the visitor to be out of the country before they are permitted to reenter with their new visa, making what is colloquially known as "border runs" possible.

If you ask your bank for advice they will advise you on what works best for them.

Get a Wise card.  It will work in most countries in the world and their fees are more competitive than most banks by quite a margin.

Yes, you will pay ATM fees but research ATMs for most competitive rates. 

It is also not a bad idea to bring some cash, you can exchange at reasonable rates with money changers in larger cities.  Helps keep ATM fees down for a while. You are also able to transfer from VN Dong account on Wise to people like landlords bank account etc.  This also reduces ATM fees.

@KKK36

Hi, Thanks for all the the great information. What is the VN Dong account. I thought I can't open a bank account in Vietnam? could you explain that more clearly please? I also need to understand WISE a little more. If I plan to do some time in Vietnam then Cambodian and Thailand, when I transfer my Canadian money from my Canadian bank to Wise, can I do certain amounts on the Wise card in different currencies and it holds that currency on the wise card? ex. I send $1000 CDN to wise for Viet Dong, and $1000 CDN to wise in USD or Thai Baht, can the wise card separate the currency for when I travel to that Country? I need to call for that info if your not sure. thanks

Go to the Wise website and read their info. There are good  explanations.

The card/account allows sub accounts in different currencies, which you can convert amongst when the rates suit.

You don't have a lot of good choices.  I have an Australian bank credit card and a Wise card and this is effective for me.