Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are talking about Vietnamese Visas. Occasionally I do a little bit of a, not very in-depth but I just like to kind of check in on other countries around the region with respect to Immigration Policy because many people that travel here to Thailand, especially long term tourists or even short-term tourists, they like to hop around the region: Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, in the old days Myanmar, not so much Myanmar at the minute, Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia is becoming increasingly popular I've noticed, so people kind of jump around. So occasionally I like to do just kind of a check in. 

I was reading a recent article from VNExpress, that is e.vnexpress.net, the article is titled: Southeast Asian countries race to attract wealthy foreign tourists for longer stays. There is a lot of information in there and kind of comparative about sort of different immigration options for different destinations out here but I thought this was interesting, a small excerpt. I urge those who are watching this video go read that in detail but the excerpt, quoting directly: "While Southeast Asian neighbours are vying for wealthy foreigners by launching 'golden visas' with maximum stays of up to 20 years, Vietnam still makes no headway with its one-month Visa policy." 

Yeah that is my understanding. Presently, except in limited contexts like a business context it is my understanding, Vietnam doesn't really have any thing quite akin to for example Thailand's Non-immigrant Visa categories, even their one year visas. It is also my understanding there is no Retirement Visa in Vietnam. So again, retirees, I know a lot of folks that rather enjoy spending time over in Vietnam but I have been told many times, dealing with visas is kind of an ongoing issue. It is my understanding it is not necessarily a headache depending on where you are but dealing with long-term status is something that kind of has to be constantly maintained. 

Again, contrast that, here in Thailand we have got a Retirement Visa category, either the O or the O-A can get you a one year Visa renewable on a 1 yearly basis. Meanwhile, we have also got these new Long-Term Residency visas; kind of a misnomer, it doesn't really provide residence, 10 years of lawful status and then you have got things like the Thailand Elite program where you can literally just buy up to 20 years in status here in the Kingdom.

So the thing to take away from this video is I hear a lot of grumbling from time to time. I do get it, I before I naturalized to Thai citizenship, I dealt with Immigration. It is a grumble, it is just something that is kind of a hassle, something you have got to deal with, but for all the grumbles we have here in Thailand, understand, there are other jurisdictions in this region that don't have near the options with respect to Immigration status that Thailand has.