Verifying a Paypal account in Vietnam (Urgent)

I signed up just to answer your question. But it seems the law has changed since I was in the same predicament. I was able to get a credit card through hsbc vietnam just before they became so strict with labor contracts. I think the best chance is to shop around with a nice deposit, I got a credit card with a 10 million VND deposit and now my paypal account is verified. There are other alternatives, but they are much more costly. I am in the process of creating a ghost corporation in the usa with full mail and phone forwarding from Delaware. It will run about 5-600 usd, but if you are planning on doing any decent business while in asia, it will pay for itself in only a few months. Good luck!

Grateful for your post. Valuable insight. Thanks.

Thanks for the reply, much appreciated. If anyone else is trying to get a verified PayPal account I found out that you can link and verify with an ACB VISA DEBIT card.

All the best

I dont understand what your trying to do. If you have a HSBC bank in another country (US or UK) you can easily withdrawal from HSBC atms here without any fee and exchange rate is as good as anyother bank here. If you have a PayPal account you can have the funds transferred to this HSBC account.

Exim bank card and ACB card can be used for Paypal
I still don't understand why HSBC cann't do anything to activate Paypal in this country. And even HSBC ATM card is not easy to withdraw money in small town like Nhatrang.

Hi There,
If you use Paypal acc in VN to withdraw money, it is not good for u because Paypal will charge u. Moreover,the exchange rate in Paypal is always lower than in real ( For example, in Paypal, 1usd = 18.000 vnd, in market 1 usd=19.000).
You can open an acc at bank ( ACB, HSBC, etc) then withdraw in USD, they should exchange from USD to VND in market. Don't exchange in bank because the rate at bank is less than in market.

Hope you can see what I mean because my english is not good. You can contact me for this via Yahoo/ email [email protected] if want to clear my idea.

As you said your working through the internet, why you don't open account at bank. You can easily withdraw USD or VND as you want.

Hi, i am trying to set up a vietnam paypal account so i can process payments on the website i am building to sell stuff overseas (mainly usa, australia , canada). How do i do this? what is the link? i went to paypal.com.vn and it went to another page. then do i go open an account at ACB and get a debit card.  i got an account at the ANZ bank in ho chi minh. thanks. phong

Hello Phong

Here is the link to the Vietnamese Paypal homepage:

https://www.paypal.com/vn/home

I don't know anything about ANZ bank.

But I do know for sure that a Visa Debit card from ACB bank will work just fine for verifying Paypal.

I have 3 verified Paypal accounts here in Vietnam.

If you're having any issues or not sure about something just let me know and I'll help you sort it.

The HSBC is not the greatest bank - I have several accounts in different countries, as does my employer. They don't act like a 'local bank' - they screw you on Forex, doing a double conversion on payments in to VN.

HSBC Main Branch employs stunned people. I get better service from a smaller branch. Some imperious female V-P made a statement in response to a question from me, but when I checked it out she was wrong! At least smaller banks get the right answers, although a little slower.

TECHCOMBANK is owned by HSBC and you can use their ATM's no extra charge.

A few other things.
1. All HSBC accounts are held in computers in the USA, and I mean ALL (do a traceroute). This means Uncle Sam can get any and all information without a warrant.

Since the HSBC Mexican Laundry was closed, and they were fined big money, they have become 'very accommodating' with the US gov;

2. HSBC ATM 'days' (when the daily limit is reset) is determined by your home bank;

3. If you have to use one of those pain-in-the-a*se Code Generators with your HSBC bank account, note you can reset your PIN by entering a WRONG PIN three times which clears the unit and you can start all over again as with a new unit.

BTW the algorithm used in the Code Keys has been cracked and you can run a copy on your smartphone (it has password protection);

I like AGRIBANK [ agribank(dot)com(dot)vn ], has many free services others charge for. Great for use in VietNam (you can get authorisation to use a CC overseas). And ATM's all over rural areas.

If you are a US citizen you can avoid the IRS reporting mechanism by a foreign bank (i.e. not a US bank) by selecting one that has no office in the USA. Check if they are signed up to this latest US information gathering system.

Jaitch wrote:

I like AGRIBANK [ agribank(dot)com(dot)vn ], has many free services others charge for. Great for use in VietNam (you can get authorisation to use a CC overseas). And ATM's all over rural areas.

Do they support SWIFT?  i.e., can you wire money to them from a US account?

If you are a US citizen you can avoid the IRS reporting mechanism by a foreign bank (i.e. not a US bank) by selecting one that has no office in the USA. Check if they are signed up to this latest US information gathering system.

I'd read somewhere recently that any US citizen opening an account in a foreign bank is subect to reporting to the IRS, and for that reason, some banks will not allow US citizens to open accounts.  Supposedly this is new and doesn't affect existing accounts.  I did a quick search, but unfortunately I can't find the article.

I went into a large HSBC Bank here in HCMC and a woman in some position of "authority" did not even know what PayPal was...this was about 2 years ago. Vietcom Bank accepted payments through PayPal from stateside, during the same time....go figure.

No wonder 
Vietnamese 'Bank Officers' ( or blank)  even don't know their own bank formalities!
MOE with Vietcombank 

vnescape wrote:

I went into a large HSBC Bank here in HCMC and a woman in some position of authority did not even know what PayPal was....

DanFromSF wrote:

Do they support SWIFT?  i.e., can you wire money to them from a US account? Most every bank can use SWIFT ( Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication ) and usually their 'numbers' are on their web site or readily available from their branches.

Check out:
[https://en.wikipedia(dot)org/wiki/Society_for_Worldwide_Interbank_Financial_Telecommunication]
[http://www.swift(dot)com/index.page?lang=en]

Basically it is a secure e-mail system using ISO formats. One of my students worked for a small bank here in VN and her employer was not a member.

As you might expect, the US has an unending interest in this traffic - Freedom Fighters sending money - and it allegedly hacked the system before it was granted official access. SWIFT has computers in Europe and the USA.

If you are a US citizen you can avoid the IRS reporting mechanism by a foreign bank ...

I'd read somewhere recently that any US citizen opening an account in a foreign bank is subect (sic) to reporting to the IRS, and for that reason, some banks will not allow US citizens to open accounts.  ...

It must be 'heart-warming' to know that your government cares so much about you it tracks you, until they get a verified Death Certificate or have attained the age on 100 years.

For some reason Congress feels you have to donate to the US of A so long as you are a citizen and have income. Apparently, last year was a bumper year for renouncing citizenship - all such events have to be published as the public record.

Why I have to pay a tithe to Uncle Sam on income earned, and spent, AND taxed solely in another country beats me.

To 'encourage' US citizens to file returns, etc., it requires foreign banks with offices in the USA to file information about all Americans doing business with them. Obviously, for some banks, this paperwork burden exceeds the value of having Americans do business with them.

The HSBC has closed many accounts of Muslims, and Muslim organisations, for this very reason and the burden of handling security inquiries.

Small banks, however, can't afford to maintain offices in the USA so they use larger institutions to handle their needs ... for a fee, of course.

So there's the choices. Bank with a small bank or 'fess up and pay the tithe. Or use the wife's name to open a joint account.

I have more than just a US passport, so I never travel on it, after all, when you renew it, the government gets all your  travel 'itineraries'. It also collects airline manifests from around the world. All flights leaving Bangkok, even regional ones, are copied to the US, for example. And where are three of the largest reservation systems based?

Of course, if you are an Apple or a Dell or an Amazon you can afford to hire smart lawyers and accountants to use the 'Double Irish With A Dutch Sandwich' - the tax avoidance technique employed by corporations, involving the use of a combination of Irish and Dutch subsidiary companies to shift profits to low or no tax jurisdictions. The double Irish with a Dutch sandwich technique involves sending profits first through one Irish company, then to a Dutch company and finally to a second Irish company head-quartered in a tax haven.

Ain't maths wonderful.

Hi,

I need to use PayPal to transfer money to Indian Paypal Account Holder. When I click the send button, it is said PayPal cannot transfer the money to Indian Holders at this time. I asked my friends to transfer, and they have the same problems.

Is anyone having the same problem? How to fix?

Thanks.