Surrendering your passport to a stranger in a foreign country is an uneasy feeling. But, if you choose to extend your stay in Vietnam legally, there is little choice in the matter.
Coming into Vietnam, there aren’t options for tourist Visas for greater than 30 days. Even that process was suspect. Go to a foreign, semi-official looking website, enter all of your personal details, give them your credit card information and check back on occasion to learn if the process was a success. The cost was ~$26USD per person. There are Visa services on entry, but it seems a VERY bad idea to wait until arrival to get a Visa because nobody plans to visit to a country without leaving the airport.
Our Visa situation was complicated by the fact that Evalynn had obtained her Visa before we decided to renew her passport (tip: your passport should be valid for 2 years past the date of your anticipated return to your home country). And although we did renew her Visa online, having two Visa applications was a red flag that caused the Vietnam authorities to question us about our explanation and intentions.
After listening to authorities explain to a girl from the US that her options were to quarantine for 14 days in hospital or catch a return flight, we were free to go based on the fact that we had been in Australia for the previous 2.5 months.
As COVID picked up steam in March, it quickly became apparent that our travel plans were going to be altered as flights began to be cancelled. First casualty was our flight to Osaka, Japan. We decided upon discussion to extend our Visa and stay in Vietnam.
A cursory search online indicated that there were local services that handled these things for visiting non-residents. We found Lynn Visa in Da Nang, just a few miles from our hotel. I made a horrible decision to make the long, hot, dirty walk through traffic and over sidewalks that served very little pedestrian purpose. We arrived looking disheveled.
Lynn Visa is almost palatial compared to most of the storefronts you visit in Da Nang. There was always somebody leaving when we arrived and always somebody showing up when we left. It’s strange how these two things really put our minds to rest. She also had really good reviews online.
10 business days later, we had our Visas extended for 60 days and our passports returned to us. Cost was ~$300 each, for a total of $600USD. We had hoped to be in Tbilisi, Georgia before the 60 days was over.
After lockdown in April and following the cancellation of flights to Georgia, Thailand and Germany being cancelled, we realized we needed to renew our Visas for another 2 months at the same price. Lynn Visa was excellent once again. Thankfully the exceptionally reasonable cost of living in Da Nang was offsetting these Visa extensions.
After renewing the Visas through September, we decided it was time for a change of scenery and found ourselves in Dalat mostly for the cooler climate. About a month into our stay, we realized that we needed to have a solid exit strategy or begin making preparations to extend our Visa again. COVID numbers in Vietnam compared to countries that would allow us to visit and our intention to stay out of the US for 2 years convinced us that we needed to extend.
We looked up Visa extension in Dalat, but visiting a tour company and the immigration office to inquire, we were told that Dalat had stopped those services and we needed to go to Saigon or Hanoi to extend our visa. Saigon was closer, so that’s where we went.
Visiting the immigration office in Saigon, we were told that only tour companies could extend our visa. Again, based on reviews we found online, we chose Vietnam Tour Group. I won’t link to them and you’ll soon understand why.
We took our passports to this company, handed them over. Like a dumb tourist, when they asked how much I’d paid previously for an extension, I told them $300USD. Fortunately, I didn’t tell them it was for a 60-day visa. They charged us $307 for a 90-day visa.
They told us to come back after 10 business days. When we did they told us that the passports weren’t back yet and to come back on Monday. When we returned on Monday, their offices were closed… permanently. We called, texted, threatened to contact the police about our stolen passports. They finally responded, gave us a new address and told us they’d have our passport on Friday. While we were looking for their marquee in a sketchy alley on Friday, they recognized us and called us into an unbranded hotel lobby and offered us tea while they went back to typing on their computer and not acknowledging us at all. I told them it was obvious they didn’t have our passports, to tell us what to expect. They said they would deliver our passports to our hotel by the end of the day. And hallelujah, they did!
That night, we booked our travel to and hotel in Ha Long. We’re really hoping to find our way to another country by years end, but if not, we’re really getting comfortable here.
Tips (it’s difficult to know how much applies during not-COVID):
- The ability to adapt has become a key tool for us as travelers.
- Opposite of how we were: Book hotels or travel at the last minute when you have the most confidence that they won’t be cancelled and everything is in order (like your visa won’t be delivered on time).
- In Vietnam, because it’s so inexpensive, we always keep a reservation until the day AFTER we’re scheduled to leave. It’s inconvenient to have to check out at 11am and walk around with your bags until your scheduled flight/bus/train and if you miss the departure or it gets cancelled, you have a place to go.