Where to get the B-Visa? Overseas or in Vietnam?

A potential employer's staff told me they could change a T-Visa for about $ 50 in Vietnam.

Heard of changes and that it's a new law to apply in one's home country... No more B-3 Visa on arrival (I checked).

Am worried as I'd hate the cost of unpaid leave and returning to Europe... And working on a Tourist Visa is illegal anywhere in the world! (Or could one do the change before starting to work?)

For 50$, I doubt very much. Anyway, to get a business visa, you need a work contract in Vietnamese, then a work permit, and then you get the business visa ! Takes a long time, with a bundle of red tape ; I even had to pass a medical check up which cost me 200$ at SOS International ; no work contract, no business visa !

Thanks for the answer - but are you 100% sure that the WP comes before the B-Visa??!? How can anyone legally work without a B-Visa?

With a B-Visa, the employer can apply for a WP. The other way round?  :/  This is impossible for Thailand for example. Yes, one needs a contract, but no WP to get a B-Visa. With ASEAN coming, I would have thought these things were getting harmonized...

Your employer gives you a work contract, thanks to which you can get a work permit valid for 3 years (with a lot of red tape to be signed by both you and the employer-and stamps every where possible), which establishes that you have the right to work here ; then you apply for the busness B-visa valid for one year (mow can you get a B-visa if you can prove that you have a job secured ?; you may try for a 3-year resident card but it is basically up to Immigration ; to get my B-Visa, even with everything else in order, I had to pay more and more every year in backschich though it was my employer who was taking care of everything. Welcome to Vietnam !

@Larsey - cheers, mate! My bad. I was afraid of joining a company with a T-Visa. But maybe there will be a way to sort this out in a legal manner before my first hour of work? I'd hate to break the law and face - what? penalties, deportation and blacklisting?!

Some people work without permit etc; , on a 3-month tourist visa which they renewed regularly but, since 1 January, you have either to pay 200$ and more in Hanoi (less in Saigon) to renew it on the spot, or go out of the country. Not a solution !