Options for long-term residency

Hi everyone,

My name's Nelson and I'm a Portuguese in my mid-fifties, planning to retire abroad around 2036 with my wife.

Vietnam is one of our main candidates. We've been there for a couple of times and planing to visit some other regions in 2027, namely Nha Trang and Vung Tau.

We have about 10 years before our retirement and we know that many things change in that amount of time, but nonetheless I'd like to understand the residence side from people who are actually living it, not from agency websites.

Here's what I think I've understood so far, and I'd be glad to be corrected:

- The permanent residence card is effectively closed to us. The eligible categories are state decorations, experts nominated by a ministry, family sponsorship by a Vietnamese citizen, and long-term stateless residents. None applies.

- There's no retirement visa and no residence route based on pension income.

- So the realistic path is a chain of renewable temporary residence cards, either through employment or through a company.

My questions:

1. Is anyone here over 60 still renewing a TRC through a work permit? I'm a university lecturer with a PhD title and over two decades of teaching, so teaching would be my natural route. Does age become a practical obstacle at renewal, even if the law doesn't say so?

2. How have renewals actually changed over the last five years, and has Decree 59/2026 made any difference in practice?

3. Does anyone hold long-term residence without either a job or a company? Is there a route I'm not seeing?

4. For those on a dependent (TT) card: what happens if the sponsoring spouse dies or stops working? Is there any grace period, or do you have to leave and start again?

5. Does provincial practice vary much? I keep reading that Khánh Hòa and HCMC handle these files quite differently, and I'd like to know how much that matters when choosing where to settle.

Any first-hand experience is welcome, including the discouraging kind. I'd rather hear it now than in ten years.

Thanks a lot.