One of the things that you can always count on being on the minds and mouths of any expat living anywhere in the world is how they obtain their visas and how they keep it. Longer-term visas are not readily available in Vietnam and there is no such thing as a retirement visa so for the most part when you run into people living here long term, they are doing visa runs every 45-90 days.
I've been here for a while now, so about 2021 I started investigating how to get a visa long term, like the kind where you never have to leave the country and there was one kind of visa that was definitely available and that is the Investment Visa.
Back when I first started looking at this there was a shady, cheating visa that was available and it was offered to me. For reasons I didn't understand at the time, that visa fell through before I could hand over the investment money and it is a good thing it did, because 2 of the people that were involved in that visa ended up getting blacklisted and banned from the country for over a year.
I was just lucky in that case I guess, because that would have been a huge pain in the butt for me and my doggie friend.
It would be a while later, but I was talking to some dude somewhere - a Vietnamese guy - who I learned to respect because he was intelligent and was doing business ventures that weren't just the usual crap that everyone else does. One day, him not knowing I actually do have a bit of money, I expressed interest in a spa he was opening that was focusing on having a nice quiet environment and focusing one being a VIP sort of place rather than the usual rectangle building in the middle of town that harasses tourists as they are trying to walk down the street (more on that later), and the conversation lead to me offering to help out, if he could help me to get an investment visa.
Well as it turned out, this guy already had 2 foreign investors in his company and he wasn't trying to sell me on the idea, so I went through the motions and even go my own lawyer involved to check everything over indicating to the guy "no offense, but I have to protect myself in situations like this" and he took no offense and was completely willing to have me check to make sure everything was legitimate.
Fast-forward a few months and I ended up having 1-year investment visas while almost everyone else I knew was on a maximum 90-days-in-a-row and I admit, I felt a sense of superiority because of this. This made me very happy, and of course it put my mind at ease because no longer was I jumping on a plane feeling ill-at-ease wondering if they were ever going to tell me "no" at the airport, while my fluffy was back at home wondering where I am.
I'd imagine she would just stare out the window for days, wondering where that guy is that has magical access to the food.
Well anyway, we have already renewed the visa once with no issues and this year, despite the fact that the company I am involved in did a full audit of the company (don't worry, this is a standard process in Vietnam) and it was determined by them, that everything about the company, including the 30% foreign investment aspect of it, is fully legitimate.
You know why they came to that conclusion: It's simply really. They gave their stamp of approval on the legitimacy of the company because the company is 100% legitimate. There are locations, they do trade, they are open every day, they are profitable, people work there and depend on it thriving for income.
So my section of the documentation and my seat on the board was never brought into question. I will not have to do an interview or get grilled over "why are you doing this, what is your involvement, how long are you going to stay here, where do you live, why you here so long" sort of questions that would definitely have happened in Thailand.
And this, my good friends, is how you get and maintain a long term visa in Vietnam. It's not hard, it is a bit expensive though. The secret is simple: Don't try to gain the system.
Vietnam has a reputation for being very laid back, especially for a Communist country but they have one simple rule: Don't eff around.
Vietnam also has a reputation of taking a while to catch you if you are manipulating the system and they take great offense and punish you harshly if you find out that you were manipulating them. This is the reason why my two friends that were on bogus investment visas in the past got deported and blacklisted: one of them still to this day has not been granted access back into the country.
Maybe it is because I am older now but I don't feel like attempting to pull the wool over the eyes of the most powerful entity in this country just so I can have an easier way into a system. Knowing that they eventually will discover what you have done is threat enough to keep me from walking the wild-side path.
The moral of the story is that there are a few things in life that you have to do the legitimate process with and one of those, I strongly believe, is to comply with immigration law. They are very willing to work with you if you just go through the process. I've done that, and now in theory I have a visa that will never end as long as the company I am involved with remains profitable.
Seeing as how the guy I met that day has been doing business for over a decade before he even met me, I believe that will continue..If you are currently gaming the system and feeling so proud of yourself for having "gotten away with it" I believe that you are going to get a harsh wake up call at some point in the near future. Good luck!
