Alternatives to a visa if I'm married to a Vietnamese

There is a 5-year spousal visa that permits visits for 90-days each time without getting anything else.

This assumes the wife is living here. Perhaps your wife and daughter could 'reside' with her parents whilst you applied for this visa. They have to register as living at her parents house.

Here's a link that might give you the option your looking for:

http://www.myvietnamvisa.com/who-are-el … ption.html

Shouldn't run you more than 100 bucks total.

Hi xinmpg

Anyone married to a VN citizen, regardless where you reside, is eligible and can get a “Visa Exemption Certificate” issued at any VN embassy.

All you need to do is fill out the online form of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), print it and send all the documents with passport, etc. (or go and bring them= fastest way) to the VN embassy in Singapore.
Here's the link:  http://mienthithucvk.mofa.gov.vn/Home/t … fault.aspx

Hi Xinmpg,

Yup, the Visa Exemption Certificate is the way to go; and you definitely qualify. 

I got mine through my Vietnamese travel agent.  You might want to check with them.  Back in '09, it cost me $80 USDs, but saved me the hasstles of dealing with Vietnamese bureaucrats.

Good luck,
Howie

Thanks everyone.

Xinmpg,

I picked and chose a good travel agent in southern California.  She took care of all my travels in Asia and their documentations.  All I had to give her was a copy of my US passport and my Vietnamese birth certificate (Note: for your case, you will have to provide a bit more.)

I recently went to Thailand and had a good chat with the travel agent, with whom my friend booked our tours.  He was very similar to the one I had back in California, he could do all of the above.

Once you get the VEC, you will have to check in with the ward police and local immigration every 90 days.  But, you don't have to leave Vietnam.  Budman1 can tell you that.

Beyond the VEC, and below the full-fledged Vietnamese citizenship, there is that Temporary Residence Card.  Technically, you will have to work for a Vietnamese firm or start your own here.  But, there are ways around that.  It all depends on where you guys will be living at and how well you and, especially your wife or her family, know the local authorities or the real movers-and-shakers in your locale.

Get to know the right people and life is a cake-walk.  It is the one thing that I love so much about Vietnam.

Best wishes,
Howie

Hi xinmpg,
I think you should obtain a visa extemption, as you said you travel to Vietnam quite often.
A visa extemption is a kind of "long-term visa" that lasts mostly 5 years to 10 years. You don't need to have your visa extension anymore but you only can stay in VN continuously for 3 months. After 3 months, you need to travel to another country and back to Vietnam again, so you can stay there for 3 more months.
(In short, you can stay in VN for 3 months each time you enter Vietnam)
Since you said that you did travel to Vietnam quite often, so I think this is not a problem for you.

Sewawny,

The document you are referring to is called the Visa Exemption Certificate.  It is only given to those who were borned in Vietnam or their immidiate family members.  It is good for 5 years.

As for leaving the country every 90 days...  No!  With sponsorship, no one has to go anywhere for at least 9 months; and that is with a single-entry, 3 months tourist visa. 

I have heard of people extending their visa beyond that.  But, I have never tried that myself; I only went as high as 9 months (2 extensions).

Hi Wild_1,
Thank you for telling me the wrong link I posted, I'll correct it right then.

And what 'sponsorship' did you mean? I don't really get it.

As for leaving the country every 90 days...  No!  With sponsorship, no one has to go anywhere for at least 9 months; and that is with a single-entry, 3 months tourist visa.

As I remember, the Visa Extemption Certificate always have this statement "Duration of stay does not exceed 90 days for each entry". Of course, except that when your Visa is still effective.

So please explain more for me, this info might be helpful for my sister - she's an overseas vietnamese.

Thanks a lot.

I used to be an oversea Vietnamese too, or a Viet Kieu, if you will.  I tried and tasted "all of the above".

I never paid much attention to what the document says.  All I knew, and really cared about, was that it did not effect me.

It is why, even with the VEC, one must check in with the ward police and local immigration every 90 days.  Please don't ask me why, it is not my policy.

It is just the way things work here.  Live with it, learn to like it...  So far, I am loving it!  I just hope that everybody will feel the same???