Entering Vietnam On Your Own - Easy

DavidFL

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Wow. This blows me away..


Just rock up with visa, bike rego & certified translation of the book & you can be stamped in for a month???
Vdo from 9 December 2019.

Will it work for everyone, or only Thai / ASEAN nationals?
How many Vietnam border crossings will this work at?
How easy will it be to simple ride out the same?

More questions than you can poke a stick at...
 
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Dodraugen

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Extremely interesting! Especially that they have thai language at the vietnamese side of that particular border - which should mean a thai plated bike is allowed to cross into Vietnam at that border.
 

canthai

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If non-Thai citizens can do this, good news !
On my way - as soon as more info received.
 

Dodraugen

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E-visa for Vietnam is valid at several landborder crossings, also the one she mentiones -
Nam Phao-Cau Treo. Vietnam E-visa is available for citizens of 80 different countries.
An Official Guide to E-Visas in Vietnam
622F2D07-6CCB-4257-B5A3-4A923A01A1DF.png
So not even neccesary to get a visa at a embassy/consulate in advance.
 

Berm

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I too will be watching this thread closely. Visa issues aside since I am of ASEAN nationality is this the norm rather than the exception all these while? I have always been under the impression that foreign bikes always needed a guide + permit. Now I am just wondering if we have blindsided all these while with mis-information. Scratching my head for some relevant department to call for some clarity.
 

DavidFL

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I'm curious whether she had actually arranged her entry beforehand & then just rocked up with the paperwork?

I see that she is now out & commenting on the "extra fees" you have to pay to officials on the border.

 

Dodraugen

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I am far from fluent in thai so I got some help to translate what she says in that clip.
Basically she warns about scams at bordercrossings.
She was approached at bordercrossings into Vietnam by some «helpers» that offered her help to get a visa stamp for Vietnam in her passport at a cost of 20 or more USD. And the point is that a 30 day visa for Vietnam is free for thai passport holders. So no need to pay a «helper/fixer» those money.
Secondly she warns about money exchangers at bordercrossings that will offer you extremely low rates for exchanging money. Good advise but everybody who has been through a few bordercrossings know that you need to now the current exchange rate and thus what you can expect to get. On a sideline I can mention when on my RTW trip crossed from China to Laos. There were quite a lot of people on the chinese side of the border that eagerly offered money exchange from chinese Yuan to Lao Kip. The tiny little trap was that they had moved the exchange rate down a desimal. So instead of offering 127 000 kip for 100 yuans they offered 12 700 (sic) kip. Bloody cheaters, but luckily for me and the rest of the group I crossed with we noticed and actually got an exchange rate that was 100 % to the midrates of the XE.com site.
 
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There is no such thing as "permit" given to the lady in the video, it was "Form of temporary import for motorcycle". Permit is another paper which allows her bike to ride within the country. I have no idea why those staffs at the boder were giving her the permission to pass. But it was good to her, well done! The bordercrossing itself lines on one of few main trading/transportation routes between Vietnam & Thailand, by so they have signs with Thai language. It does not mean it welcomes Thai's bike :)
I was later coming from Laos and had to go through the same checkpoints, and those boys were hard on us, note that we rode Vietnamese bikes, and we just went home. With my experience, this is not officially ok for all the bikes and bikers to cross Vietnam, just yet.
Btw, now visa stamps is available at most of overland checkpoints in Vietnam, as long as you have letter approval in hand.