I can get a VEC or TRC based on either either my marriage or because of the company that I own in Vietnam. I have a work permit exemption from the VN government that is valid for two years as a business investor, not worker which allows me to take an income from this company.
Is there any downside to the VEC other than the requirement to leave every 180 days? That isn't really an issue for me as I go back to the US every 2 months.
Benefits for the VEC appear to be 5 years instead of 3 and lower total cost, not that it affects the decision much.
I understand that either would be limited to 6 months shy of the expiration of my passport which won't affect me this time. Will either the VEC or TRC be limited by the two year work permit exemption? Similar to my drivers license, it was limited to both the expiration of my current visa and current driver's license, whichever was sooner.
This also begs the question - would my new replacement driver's license be extended to the term of the TRC or VEC, two, three or five years, depending on which I get?
I'm going to be here for another 12-18 months and then move back to the US with my wife and her daughter for four years until she graduates from high school in the US. At that time I will retire and we will spend around 6 months in Vietnam in the winter and 6 in the US somewhere for the summer.
When we move back to the US I'll be traveling much more sporadically to Vietnam. I won't have a residence here for that four years unless we keep the house that my wife owns here and I could transfer my residence address to that house and register with the police. Would that have any impact on having a TRC since I wouldn't actually be living in Vietnam? I assumed this made the VEC a more desirable choice.
What say those of you who are knowledgeable about these things?