Verifying Identity in Vietnam for Banks, Government Portals?

mtgmike Contributor

149POSTS

Yesterday

I'm a U.S. Citizen. for more than a decade I've had no trouble verifying my ID and getting into my accounts and portals for government things like the IRS or my bank. Now with AI, I don't know how to do it anymore.

I tried using ID Me today to get into my IRS account. Everything wants a U.S. phone now. I don't have one. I've lived in Vietnam with my wife for 13 years, I haven't been to the US since before covid. More and more things want a US phone with my name on the bill, I haven't got a clue how to make it happen. I have a Vietnamese phone, with my name and passport registered with the Vietnamese government, that's it.

ID Me also asked for a photo of my social security card, or other documents I don't have and have no way of getting. I don't have my card, it was a ratty 30 year old paper thing probably sitting in a filing cabinet in America somewhere. So I went to the SSA to try to get a new card, and they want me to use ID Me to get a new card.

I don't have a drivers license anymore. I stopped renewing that because I was getting constant letters from the State telling me I have jury duty, and year after year I had to contact them and explain I have not lived there for 13 years, and they are making that harder to get anyway as someone that hasn't lived in a state there for 13 years.

I've spent hours on all of these things. I can never speak to a human or video chat with anyone. Every combination of links leads to dead ends and requests for documents I do not have and do not know how to get here in Vietnam.

I also tried getting a Google Voice phone because I heard that works, although I doubt for long. But Google will not let me get one because it sees I've been living in Vietnam, even when I try to use paid VPNS linking to US IPs.

How are we supposed to do to verify our identity with these US and government portals we need to use as expats? How can I get these documents they request? They all seem to be stuff I would have if I lived in the USA, but I don't live in the USA, so I have nothing except my passport and my documents from living in Vietnam such as my TRC.

Maybe I'm too old to figure it out anymore, any advice would be appreciated.

See also

Opening a bank account in Vietnam - Guide
International Banks in Vietnam - 6 Replies
Living In Vietnam #1 - My Fears Of The Vietnamese Government Not True - 13 Replies
do all banks in Vietnam charge to use their ATMs? - 7 Replies
Verifying a Paypal account in Vietnam (Urgent) - 16 Replies
Cashing Checks from US Banks in Vietnam - 21 Replies
ATMs/Debit Cards/Banks/Cash in Vietnam - 4 Replies

OceanBeach92107 VIP Member

7591POSTS

Yesterday

How are we supposed to do to verify our identity with these US and government portals we need to use as expats? - @mtgmike

I've been here 8 years. Here's how I've done it:

1. Maintained a domicile address in the USA by paying a small "rental" fee to a needy friend in California. I've also maintained a PO BOX there which my friend checks regularly.

2. Maintained a T-Mobile phone number in the US.

3. Brought all of my important papers & identification cards (including Social Security card) with me in sealed ziplock bags AFTER scanning everything and saving the copies to a thumb drive AND Google Drive.

4. Maintained voter registration with my US address and phone number.

Although my driver's license expired, my passport and passport ID card fulfill the need for identification.

Just the way I've been doing it.

mtgmike Contributor

149POSTS

Yesterday

Thanks Ocean Beach. Does your US T-Mobile work here in Vietnam? They send codes direct to the phone for a lot of stuff now. Today when I did my-ID to get into the IRS it wanted me to send photos of my documents and take a selfie direct from a smartphone, with only options for US based phones, not upload via my PC.

I've heard people mention something called Tello. I figured the US carriers don't function here. Google Voice denies me as being based in Vietnam.

drutter Serial expat

332POSTS

Yesterday

@mtgmike

Hello Mike. Yup I’ve been here 10 years and never had a problem. Now all the sudden I haven’t been able to get into mysocialsecurity for the last two months. I can’t even manage to confirm who I am with idme. If you figure it out please let me know and I’ll do the same. Good luck!

OceanBeach92107 VIP Member

7591POSTS

20 hours ago

Thanks Ocean Beach. Does your US T-Mobile work here in Vietnam? They send codes direct to the phone for a lot of stuff now. Today when I did my-ID to get into the IRS it wanted me to send photos of my documents and take a selfie direct from a smartphone, with only options for US based phones, not upload via my PC.I've heard people mention something called Tello. I figured the US carriers don't function here. Google Voice denies me as being based in Vietnam. - @mtgmike

Short answer: Yes my T-Mobile phone works here, with free texting and free limited data. Normal phone calls cost .20¢ a minute. However if I am using a VPN on my phone (I use NordVPN) redirecting my data through a USA ISP, I'm able to use the free Wi-Fi calling feature on my account.

Fortunately I opened my Google Voice account when I was in the United States. It's true that if I want to use it here I need to be doing it with a VPN service masking my location.

Anybody who's reading this and considering coming here to Vietnam should Do this if you want to be able to use Google voice:

Make sure that your USA phone number has been accepted by everyone, including banks and Social Security and the veterans administration, etc. That means having successfully set the number up that's on your smartphone as your alert phone and made sure that you could successfully get all of your alerts at that phone number.

Once you get your mobile phone set up that way on all of your accounts, then you can port the number over to Google voice while you are still in the United States, and that number will work for all of your accounts. In order to use it from Vietnam you'll just have to make sure that you are hooked up to a VPN ISP in the United States. Otherwise it will receive all of your alert codes, etc.

Unfortunately a lot of people attempt to make the change before their number has been established with all of those entities, So that when they port their number to Google voice and attempt to register the number with banks etc it will be rejected as being a VOIP (voice over internet protocol) number.