Hey, Thinking of moving to Vietnam any advise?!?!?

richiemateo00 wrote:

Hello, my name is Richie, i'm 31 and currently in living in New York.
I am a US veteran and want some advise on moving to Vietnam, i would like to start by going for 3-6 months first, just to see how it goes, and then make a more permanent decision. just looking for a little info.. like cost of living, and best cities to live in... any information would be greatly appreciated..
     THANK YOU...

The 'advice' and most of the info you are seeking is already posted here in countless forum threads.

First, familiarize yourself with the layout of the site.

Learn how to change between the 'Vietnam' view to a city view, such as Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) which is sometimes called by its old name 'Saigon'.

For some reason this website has individual forums for both names, so if you are researching that area, consider searching both forums.

Use keyword searches for the entire Vietnam forum, or navigate to a specific city area and an interest such as "everyday living".

If you are the kind of person who hates to read the FAQ's on a site and instead skips them in order to hear a live, native-English speaking customer service rep on the phone, then you will likely ignore my advice and simply create new threads every time you have a question.

I'm actually describing myself in that last paragraph... 

Also, when replying to a post, please learn to use the quote function.

You mention being a veteran.

Do you have a disability compensation rating from the VA, or are you medically retired from the service?

I ask because, if you fit one of those categories, you'll be restricting your access to full healthcare benefits by relocating to Vietnam.

johnross23 wrote:

...people with special needs and desires can end up spending plenty on housing, food, transportation, travel, etc. As with most places, the more you can live like the locals, the lower your expenditures.

As usual, you write a more compassionate response than mine, John 

I'd just add that I see too many expats of various nationalities prioritizing their desires over their needs, to the point that they ultimately increase their need for such things as emergency health care and legal problems.

chew jason wrote:

Hi there,
My brother in-law had resigned from a well-known company IBM in Singapore and has been trying very hard to get a job in VN. At this present moment he is still jobless and already 8 months.

Beside the culture and language as barrier to finding job, i think the expectation also the key factor.

Think twice !

The big problem many expats face is a LEGAL barrier.

You can't get hired here LEGALLY unless your employer can show that a Vietnamese citizen cannot do the job.

The immigration website talks about "expert" status, which is generally what you must be able to document in order to be hired as a teacher, etc.

So jobs for general laborers are virtually nonexistent for expats.

Roy888 wrote:

if you have  a lot  of money to blow  you may like it here....  I am taking my gf and child back to Europe, where life  is so much cheaper.

We live in a very nice apartment in a very nice and quiet full-serviced building where the rent is higher than 90% of all the buildings in the city. 

We cook at home using quality seafood almost daily.  We consume 2kg of organic fruits daily (delivered to our home directly from the farms.)

I have a professional facial twice a month, a whole body treatment every other month (the spa tech comes to my home to provide the 3-hr service), a haircut and treatment every 3 months.

We go to Saigon every 3 months so my husband can see his doctor and I can have my haircut.  We stay one night at the hotel, pay the VIP van both ways, pay doctor’s fee and prescription meds in cash.

As we don’t own a motorbike, we take taxi when we cannot walk the distance.

Our TOTAL monthly expense only reaches 20M every 3rd month.  The other two months, it’s less.  That’s about 750 Euro.  Please advice me where in Europe two people can live within that budget.  We lived in Italy up until 11.5 years ago and that was our budget back then even without the rent or mortgage (we owned our house), and without most of the beauty indulgences I treat myself now.