Visa extension and Exit stamp

goodolboy wrote:

So as of 1st July the new 1 month stamp requirement on tourist visa's came into effect (I think)......so what about visa extensions, I have a 3 months tourist visa extension runs out 8th Aug, but am I supposed to get an exit (or what ever its called) stamp 1st Aug & has it been resolved if these 1 month stamps can be done in Country as was being discussed weeks back?
Any info much appreciated.
Have been in contact with my long standing agent but they seem pretty much in the dark.

No

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

goodolboy wrote:

So as of 1st July the new 1 month stamp requirement on tourist visa's came into effect (I think)......so what about visa extensions, I have a 3 months tourist visa extension runs out 8th Aug, but am I supposed to get an exit (or what ever its called) stamp 1st Aug & has it been resolved if these 1 month stamps can be done in Country as was being discussed weeks back?
Any info much appreciated.
Have been in contact with my long standing agent but they seem pretty much in the dark.

No

Thanks for the reply.......but

No to the stamp needed 1st Aug or

No to the stamp being done in country being resolved?

goodolboy wrote:

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

goodolboy wrote:

So as of 1st July the new 1 month stamp requirement on tourist visa's came into effect (I think)......so what about visa extensions, I have a 3 months tourist visa extension runs out 8th Aug, but am I supposed to get an exit (or what ever its called) stamp 1st Aug & has it been resolved if these 1 month stamps can be done in Country as was being discussed weeks back?
Any info much appreciated.
Have been in contact with my long standing agent but they seem pretty much in the dark.

No

Thanks for the reply.......but

No to the stamp needed 1st Aug or

No to the stamp being done in country being resolved?

No to the stamp needed August 1st.

Your next required action is based on the latest stamp in your passport that reads...

"permitted to remain until __ __ ____" ("Được phép tạm trú đến")

...AND your intent.

1. If you intend to remain here, you will need a new visa extension by August 8th.

Under the new rules in effect on July 1st, you are "supposed" to be able to get a 1 month extension of your "permitted to remain" status by going to immigration and paying $10 USD.

However, it's not clear if you can also get an extension of the actual visa that way.

More than 1 person has posted that immigration told them to "come back later" without changing their visa OR giving them a new stamp.

It seems that those immigration officers/clerks are interpreting the automatic visa extensions (currently good until July 31st for people attempting to leave the country) as applying to ALL foreigners, whether or not they are intending to remain in country.

That is causing confusion for visa agents (according to my agent) because it's their (the agent's) understanding that people intending to remain in Vietnam need to have an actual visa extension (30, 60 or 90 days) with a new "permitted to remain until" stamp covering 30 days.

The agents are (of course) willing to do a Visa extension, and only they can get an extension of the visa for longer than 30 days.

But they aren't wanting to contradict what a foreigner has been told by an immigration officer.

2. If you are currently making plans to leave the country, you are good on your visa until July 31st. No action required.

If I were in your situation and wanting to remain in Vietnam, I would buy a new 90 day extension to my visa through my agent and receive a new 30 day "permitted to remain until" stamp in my passport.

Please update when you have any new info, as it's clear none of us has 100% certain answers for you.

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

goodolboy wrote:

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

No

Thanks for the reply.......but

No to the stamp needed 1st Aug or

No to the stamp being done in country being resolved?

No to the stamp needed August 1st.

Your next required action is based on the latest stamp in your passport that reads...

"permitted to remain until __ __ ____" ("Được phép tạm trú đến")

...AND your intent.

1. If you intend to remain here, you will need a new visa extension by August 8th.

Under the new rules in effect on July 1st, you are "supposed" to be able to get a 1 month extension of your "permitted to remain" status by going to immigration and paying $10 USD.

However, it's not clear if you can also get an extension of the actual visa that way.

More than 1 person has posted that immigration told them to "come back later" without changing their visa OR giving them a new stamp.

It seems that those immigration officers/clerks are interpreting the automatic visa extensions (currently good until July 31st for people attempting to leave the country) as applying to ALL foreigners, whether or not they are intending to remain in country.

That is causing confusion for visa agents (according to my agent) because it's their (the agent's) understanding that people intending to remain in Vietnam need to have an actual visa extension (30, 60 or 90 days) with a new "permitted to remain until" stamp covering 30 days.

The agents are (of course) willing to do a Visa extension, and only they can get an extension of the visa for longer than 30 days.

But they aren't wanting to contradict what a foreigner has been told by an immigration officer.

2. If you are currently making plans to leave the country, you are good on your visa until July 31st. No action required.

If I were in your situation and wanting to remain in Vietnam, I would buy a new 90 day extension to my visa through my agent and receive a new 30 day "permitted to remain until" stamp in my passport.

Please update when you have any new info, as it's clear none of us has 100% certain answers for you.

Thanks very much Oceanboy,
that pretty much clarifies it for me & its down my Visa Agent office hopefully for a second 90 days extension & before we all get into the Visa Agent cost debate, in my case ( as per my Vietnamese GF, ex wife & friends & I quote...."Alan has been lucky in life") so I am more than happy & able to pay someone do the leg work, hassle & stress to get my extension.
I do also understand & sympathize how someone in a similar Visa situation to me might go down the DIY rout but its just not for me.

Hello everyone,

@goodolboy Please note that I have created a new topic with your question and the ensuing posts of your conversation with OceanBeach92107. 

@OceanBeach92107 thank you for your contribution and support. This information will also be very useful for other members too.

Have a nice day,

Cheryl
Expat.com team

i am having a tourist visa, i went to the immigration they told me nothing is needed to be done isit true ? according to the officer it will last till further notice for covid sitiuation any advice i went there for 2 days both officer give same respond. should i make any action or just take their advise and stay till further notice

IvanSng wrote:

i am having a tourist visa, i went to the immigration they told me nothing is needed to be done isit true ? according to the officer it will last till further notice for covid sitiuation any advice i went there for 2 days both officer give same respond. should i make any action or just take their advise and stay till further notice

Think it depends on when you entered the country on your tourist visa. I entered before March 1st & definitely needed extension stamp & register my place of residency!

Hi thanks for your respond, yes i have the stamp after march 1st thats why the officer keep telling me if i have that stamp i do not need any extension till further notice. Appreciate your reply .

Has anybody experience with becoming eligible for the automatic extension "program" with an entrance date prior March 1.?

I entered in February and have been extending through agents so far.
It's probably pretty hard to get clients now so they are trying to pull all kinds of tricks to explode costs.

For the last 1 month extension I've been squeezed into paying 170USD and they are very clever to do their shenanigans in the last moment, so it's impossible to change the agent. 

I have no problem to pay a fair amount for the efforts, but the way it goes is really tearing my nerves. 

My embassy is in passive mode, so unless I show up with all the documents ready and push them they will not do a thing.

The problem is I have no idea which kind of documents would be needed and I see I would need a Vietnamese translation as well.

Has anybody gone through this process and can give some guidance? I'm neither in Hanoi nor in HCMC so I would like to understand what's necessary before I make the journey.

flothus wrote:

Has anybody experience with becoming eligible for the automatic extension "program" with an entrance date prior March 1.?

I entered in February and have been extending through agents so far.
It's probably pretty hard to get clients now so they are trying to pull all kinds of tricks to explode costs.

For the last 1 month extension I've been squeezed into paying 170USD and they are very clever to do their shenanigans in the last moment, so it's impossible to change the agent. 

I have no problem to pay a fair amount for the efforts, but the way it goes is really tearing my nerves. 

My embassy is in passive mode, so unless I show up with all the documents ready and push them they will not do a thing.

The problem is I have no idea which kind of documents would be needed and I see I would need a Vietnamese translation as well.

Has anybody gone through this process and can give some guidance? I'm neither in Hanoi nor in HCMC so I would like to understand what's necessary before I make the journey.

You don't say if you are trying to leave the country. If you're trying to stay in the country  none of those automatic extensions will help you. They're only good for you when you're exiting at the airport.

That's what happens when you get the approval for having entered the country before March 1st. It's just an approval to leave the country without penalty

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

flothus wrote:

Has anybody experience with becoming eligible for the automatic extension "program" with an entrance date prior March 1.?

I entered in February and have been extending through agents so far.
It's probably pretty hard to get clients now so they are trying to pull all kinds of tricks to explode costs.

For the last 1 month extension I've been squeezed into paying 170USD and they are very clever to do their shenanigans in the last moment, so it's impossible to change the agent. 

I have no problem to pay a fair amount for the efforts, but the way it goes is really tearing my nerves. 

My embassy is in passive mode, so unless I show up with all the documents ready and push them they will not do a thing.

The problem is I have no idea which kind of documents would be needed and I see I would need a Vietnamese translation as well.

Has anybody gone through this process and can give some guidance? I'm neither in Hanoi nor in HCMC so I would like to understand what's necessary before I make the journey.

You don't say if you are trying to leave the country. If you're trying to stay in the country  none of those automatic extensions will help you. They're only good for you when you're exiting at the airport.

That's what happens when you get the approval for having entered the country before March 1st. It's just an approval to leave the country without penalty

The longterm goal is to leave but at the moment it resulted in this sitting-out stalemate between pushing my airline to offer a replacement ticket or waiting for the corona situation to clear and continue traveling.
It's still a hassle with the airline. At the moment it takes them 2-3 weeks to respond to an email.

And we ran into a second lockdown in Da Nang. That slowed down planing again.
So I guess it's a bit of a tricky case.

I'm not sure what is the best way. If I really had to leave I'm sure I could find a way, now that we can leave Da Nang and I wouldn't have to go into 2 weeks quarantine in Hanoi anymore . But I guess that applies to everybody, who is currently staying on ongoing exemptions.

If I present a flight in January, I'm not sure if I'll get a pass until exemptions stop.
So I guess the additional question becomes, what happens after they do stop?
Do people have to be out by then or do they start to apply for visa extensions again, is that now decided? 

Right now I'm not sure what the stance is about those of us without financial problems and a critical reason to leave but being inclined to wait out the situation.

I can work from everywhere, so there is no urgency to leave, here it's still safe.
And I have the feeling this won't change until a vaccine brings relief next year and borders reopen.