Foreigner community in Vietnam request for good solution and reasonable prices for visa extensions.

Dear Prime Minister,

Dear Vietnam National Administration of Tourism,

Dear Vietnam Immigration,

Dear Ministry Of Public Security, 

We are members of the foreigner community who are staying in Vietnam before or/and during the COVID-19 virus pandemic. We write this letter to kindly ask the Prime Minister, Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Vietnam Immigration and Ministry Of Public Security to support us with a reasonable solution to extend our tourist and business visas. 

Vietnam is a beautiful country with a lot of beautiful landscapes and heritages. The Vietnamese people are very kind and friendly and that is one of the many reasons for us to come to travel, live and work in Vietnam. We love Vietnam and we hope to stay. We wish that everybody knows how beautiful this country is. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we choose to stay in Vietnam. Some of us are stuck in Vietnam because of the minimum of outgoing flights, some of us are living and working in Vietnam and made this our home away from home. 

So for the safety of ourselves and the people around us, we want to stay in Vietnam. We feel safe here and want to follow the law and advice of the Vietnamese government so together we can push back the COVID-19 pandemic. The Vietnam government is doing an excellent job in keeping us safe and dealing with the COVID-19 virus.

To stay here legally our visas need to be extended. The extension application at the Immigration website shows us the required documents and a US $10 stamp fee. Unfortunately for most of us it is impossible to get all the required documents.  

Contacting Immigration regarding to this, their advise is to contact agencies to sponsor with the extension of the visa. Several agencies quoted different prices ranging from US$180 for 1 month, up to US$340 for a 3 month tourist visa extension.

We understand that this is a difficult time for everyone, every government and every country. For us, we don’t want or can’t travel to our home country, and want to stay in Vietnam. We still have to pay for housing and daily expenses in Vietnam. The visa extension fee is unreasonably high. Especially if compared to other countries in Southeast Asia and Europe where governments are supporting foreigners and tourists with a free visa extension during the pandemic and make them more welcome.

If the visa extension fee’s stay unreasonably high, it will affect the amount of foreign people coming to Vietnam for business or tourism after the pandemic.   

We kindly request Prime Minister, The Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, Vietnam Immigration department and Ministry Of Public Security to support us with a good solution and reasonable price to extend our visa’s during this COVID-19 virus pandemic. We would appreciate that very much and thank you for your consideration. 

Best regards,

Foreigner community in Vietnam.

Foreigners In Vietnam    Contact the author of the petition