Exit visas temporarily suspended in Vietnam
Nobody really knows what is going on right now in Vietnam as far as visas are concerned. This country has been a real attraction for digital nomads over the past 5 years or so and a lot of people migrated here for precisely that. Although there is no "digital nomad visa" in this country it was well understood by the government that those of us that were here on tourist visas and living in condos were working online and spending our money here: For a developing country like Vietnam it really wouldn't make any sense why they ever would have a problem with that. It's not like we were taking jobs away from locals, quite the opposite actually; we were creating jobs for locals by bringing money into the country from jobs that are based overseas.
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Now I have no idea if this is true, but these "exit visas" are referred to as "XC" visas and I have been told that stands for "Xin Chow" or "goodbye" but since I don't speak Vietnamese I can't confirm or deny that. It doesn't matter anyway but basically when you get an XC visa it basically indicates that you will not receive any more of them and need to make arrangements to GTFO.
Last month all of us expats here got word that all of us were no longer welcome here and that we needed to make arrangements to get out. A lot of people went ahead and did so but then things started getting a bit "wonky."
You see, the government periodically closes down certain provinces under something ominously called "Directive 16" (is that from Star Wars?) and when this happens, you are not allowed to leave the province you are in outside of very special circumstances. Guess what doesn't qualify as special enough to leave your province? If you guessed catching an international flight at another city then ding ding ding! You are a winner!
So the standpoint is still that the government wants all of the people who are here on tourist visas to make plans to get out of the country yet unless you happen to live in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, you can't actually get to those places in order to get your flight.
Today, I received my passport back from my visa agent and was informed that they are back to extending visas but they can't tell me exactly what the details about this are. Basically, from what I have been told by an agent that didn't seem terribly confident in what she was telling me was that in order to get another extension you have to show a flight ticket out and also receipt for having paid for said ticket.
The reason behind the receipt of payment is because well, everyone knows that you can just print an itinerary online or even go to websites that will create a fake air ticket for you for exactly this purpose.
The problem here is that what is going to happen to us if they decide again that the airports are all closed? It's not like the airlines are super-flexible on you changing your dates of your flights or anything.
Urgh! I really just want to get a clear answer from someone anyone in the government about what is going to be done but this back and forth of "get out!, no you have to stay, now get out, oh wait a minute we've closed the airports but you still have to get out" bullcrap is just maddening.
I don't know what it is like in your country right now, but for us that are stuck in Vietnam each day that passes comes with new rules and no one anywhere is on the same page as far as what those rules actually are.
I don't want to be nasty towards the country that has been quite kind to me over the past 3.5 years or so , but someone out there needs to get their shit together, seriously.
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In the meantime I guess you could say that I am a bit happy that they have pre-approved me for another month of visa of I need it. I am extremely hopeful that this will not be the case.