Long-term temporary residence card instead of Visa?

Visa and WP depending each other and a WP is depending on the job you have/do. If you are investor/business owner, you can get around the WP.
The first residence card will be granted to a max of 3 years, a renewal to max 5 years. More common are 1 year extensions as well as first time residencies.
As a rule of thumb: If paid taxes are higher, the residency is longer, lower paid taxes = shorter periods


You do not get residency according to your plans. Commonly the employer will/should initiate the process. As for a lone foreigner, it is virtually impossible

What I am saying is can I get a residence card even before I go?  It would be better than to keep trying to update a visa ever 3 months.

Minnesota wrote:

What I am saying is can I get a residence card even before I go?  It would be better than to keep trying to update a visa ever 3 months.

Not possible.

Are you sure?  People move all the time.  What if a person that is retired wanted to move to Vietnam?  You can get a residence card to live in the U.S.

This ain't the US.

Plan on being here by way of visa for the forseeable future. And you'll probably have to go to Cambodia (or anywhere else you're interested in visiting outside of VN) more than once to get it renewed.

First thing you've got to do is get a job. Next will be the work permit. After that, you can get a temporary residence card, the duration of which depends on how long the business liscence of the company where you are employed is valid. However, once you have the residence card, it continues to be valid even if you change jobs. The assumption in that is you are paying the appropriate taxes to the Vietnamese authorities.

The only people I've seen get residence cards soon after they arrive are those who were recruited to come here by Vietnamese-owned companies. And most Vietnamese-owned companies only recruit foreigners if they absolutely cannot find any citizen who is qualified to do the job. I previously worked for a US-owned company and was transferred here by that company. I moved here at the first of August and it took them until the middle of November to get work permit and residence card sorted. I'm now in the process of renewing my third 3-year temporary residence card.

Minnesota wrote:

What if a person that is retired wanted to move to Vietnam?  You can get a residence card to live in the U.S.

The US is different, as expected. They start from the premise that most would be travellers are trouble. Certain countries have visa waivers but those countries also share criminal records with the US.

Dodgy countries, such as Africa, etc., have a long 'vetting' process, especially after the Detroit Pants-on-Fire incident. They pre-qualify you.

You travel here then start the document chase, in the case of VN.

Only if you are sponsored by a VN based outfit, where they handle the process for you, and things are cleared ... again, only as far as the visa is concerned.

A fully qualified teacher (having a degree), I know, was sponsored and she came over, on a visa, but then she still had to complete the Work Permit stuff after her arrival.

Just get that tourist visa, jump on a plane and everything will, hopefully, work out OK. Don't even mention work when you apply for the visa, it complicates things.

For residence you can apply only from inside Vietnam, best you can do, is getting your pile of papers done at your home and make initial contacts. As virtually all is running on cash prior, you have no choice, but try inside Vietnam.

Great information.  I guess that I will just start with the 3 month tourist visa and go from there.  Hopefully I will get a teaching position and get the work permit with it.

I guess, that is the ONLY chance.

saigonmonkey wrote:

This ain't the US.

I agree.  Forget virtually everything you know about how things are done "back home".

However, once you have the residence card, it continues to be valid even if you change jobs. The assumption in that is you are paying the appropriate taxes to the Vietnamese authorities.

I disagree, unless they've changed the law. It really depends on the employer who's sponsoring you and whether or not they want to make life difficult for you, should you no longer work for them.

I will try to find a good employer to sponsor me.  Does put a lot of pressure on me.

Minnesota wrote:

I will try to find a good employer to sponsor me.  Does put a lot of pressure on me.

First things first.  Concentrate on the CELTA.  The rest will work itself out.

Teacher Mark wrote:

saigonmonkey wrote:

This ain't the US.

I agree.  Forget virtually everything you know about how things are done "back home".

However, once you have the residence card, it continues to be valid even if you change jobs. The assumption in that is you are paying the appropriate taxes to the Vietnamese authorities.

I disagree, unless they've changed the law. It really depends on the employer who's sponsoring you and whether or not they want to make life difficult for you, should you no longer work for them.

Please use that with care. There have been foreigners already expelled, which did not have the matching couple or only the residence card. The residence card is actually carrying information to the company. Therefore consider that in best case as temporarily "ignorance".
Sure, the residence card does not expire on the day, you stop working for the old employer, but it is still related and depending to the work permit. So within reasonable time, you should be able to have a new employer.

l3ully wrote:

Teacher Mark wrote:

saigonmonkey wrote:

This ain't the US.

I agree.  Forget virtually everything you know about how things are done "back home".

However, once you have the residence card, it continues to be valid even if you change jobs. The assumption in that is you are paying the appropriate taxes to the Vietnamese authorities.

I disagree, unless they've changed the law. It really depends on the employer who's sponsoring you and whether or not they want to make life difficult for you, should you no longer work for them.

Please use that with care. There have been foreigners already expelled, which did not have the matching couple or only the residence card. The residence card is actually carrying information to the company. Therefore consider that in best case as temporarily "ignorance".
Sure, the residence card does not expire on the day, you stop working for the old employer, but it is still related and depending to the work permit. So within reasonable time, you should be able to have a new employer.

Sorry to disappoint you Bully, but I'm not reffering to my present situatuion.  I did have to surrender my card a few years ago, however, based on the fact that I was not with the employer whose name was on the card.

I wouldn't call offering me a 30 day visa a reasonable amount of time, but I don't make the rules.

you see, there is than only a limited "ignorance", which will last for a uncertain time (I am not sure if that is 3 or 6  month or any other time). if you change the job, which is possible, you have to change/renew/amend your residence card. I know, that this is not only for English teachers and theoretically for all foreigners

I personally still have a WP and will (have) to renew it soon, despite, I normally not need. Normally - I sit in my office, but I need a work permit in one of my other offices or work on clients sites.
Therefore, I renew and hope, the coming time is for 5 years, as 3 years are now almost over and prior 2 years on B3, 2x6m and 1 x 12m.
My residence is bound to the corporation.

l3ully wrote:

... Normally - I sit in my office, but I need a work permit in one of my other offices or work on clients sites...

If your legal employer has an address, and you are employed there, and you have to work at different VN locations, there is no need to change anything.

If, however, you change employers, your documentation has to be updated.

According to the filed documents I live a four addresses, every night, in VietNam, and they have never said anything.

l3ully wrote:

... My residence is bound to the corporation.

So? You live in the office? I have four registered companies, so I guess I have four 'bindings'.

I do my own paperwork and have no hassles other than a Cong An station chief, in Q7, who made me re-write forms he can't read easily. I now print them on my computer and he smiles.

Jaitch wrote:

l3ully wrote:

... Normally - I sit in my office, but I need a work permit in one of my other offices or work on clients sites...

If your legal employer has an address, and you are employed there, and you have to work at different VN locations, there is no need to change anything.

If, however, you change employers, your documentation has to be updated.

According to the filed documents I live a four addresses, every night, in VietNam, and they have never said anything.

l3ully wrote:

... My residence is bound to the corporation.

So? You live in the office? I have four registered companies, so I guess I have four 'bindings'.

I do my own paperwork and have no hassles other than a Cong An station chief, in Q7, who made me re-write forms he can't read easily. I now print them on my computer and he smiles.

Nope, my office is attached to my house and I am my own employer. We have offices at/within other businesses as well as we work again in other companies (sub-contracting) is well - therefore, I need the work permit. No work permit would would be needed, if only directing from my office, which is covered by sufficient investments.


"I guess I have four 'bindings'." it depends, on what is staying in your papers. I assume, that my ones and you ones are very different

l3ully wrote:

Nope, my office is attached to my house and I am my own employer. We have offices at/within other businesses as well as we work again in other companies (sub-contracting) is well - therefore, I need the work permit. No work permit would would be needed, if only directing from my office, which is covered by sufficient investments.

My  situation is very similar. Still, if you use an agent to do your paperwork, at least he is making money ... unlike some NT taxi drivers.

If your source of income remains the same, you don't require a document change. If you get direct salary/wages from another company you do.

Business owners don't need WP.

Jaitch wrote:

l3ully wrote:

Nope, my office is attached to my house and I am my own employer. We have offices at/within other businesses as well as we work again in other companies (sub-contracting) is well - therefore, I need the work permit. No work permit would would be needed, if only directing from my office, which is covered by sufficient investments.

My  situation is very similar. Still, if you use an agent to do your paperwork, at least he is making money ... unlike some NT taxi drivers.

If your source of income remains the same, you don't require a document change. If you get direct salary/wages from another company you do.

Business owners don't need WP.

And now, read again, what I was writing. For MY core, I do not need, but for the others I need

saigonmonkey wrote:

However, once you have the residence card, it continues to be valid even if you change jobs.

Guys,

I apologize for the misleading comment. Most of the information I post on here is based on my experience, and not any intimate knowledge I have (or don't have) of Vietnamese regulations.

With regard to the first residence card I had 6 years ago, my company's name was indeed noted on that card. However, I only worked for that company one year. When I changed jobs, I kept living here on the same card. Now, technically, that probably goes against regulations. But because my original employer probably did not report to the authorities that I no longer worked for them, I was never "caught".

Furthermore, it is highly unlikely, given the bureaucracy and inefficiency of said authorities, that even if my employment change was reported, that the information would have been passed along to the immigration authority, so that I would have been detained for an improper residence card upon a re-entry into Vietnam. (I exited and re-entered VN no less than 6 times over the next 2 years using that card.)

But those events occurred over 3 years ago. The process has probably been refined and improved since then, and I'm sure the tax reporting and payment is more strictly enforced now. As long as you have a valid work permit, it should not be a major issue to transfer a residence card sponsorship to another company, and I should have done that, but was allowed to get away with not doing it.

In all of the times each of us with residence cards have gone through VN immigration at the airport, has anyone ever been asked, "are you still currently employed by this company listed on your residence card?".

Never been asked, if I still work or where by immigration, but my travels cross boarder are very limited and rare occasions (3 times in 5 years). Actually, never been ask a thing apart from the smile for the cam.