Vietnam has done away with arrival/departure cards!

[MAN Flyer]

I have to say I wouldn't have thought they would have done this but I went in and out of Saigon last week without filling any forms in!.

[Singapore_Air]

First the token USD10 bribes in the passport have gone and now this. Excellent albeit slow progress.

[FN-GM]

Hopefully Australia will take note

[sabian]

If you intend to bring in foreign currency for depositing in a bank located in VN, do ask for the declaration form. (even if the amount is below USD7k).

The forms are still available, only if you need to make a declaration. Without the form, banks will not entertain physical cash deposits that have been brought in.

[Pinkfloyd]

I have to say I wouldn't have thought they would have done this but I went in and out of Saigon last week without filling any forms in!.

Now if they would only get rid of the visa thing altogether...

Hopefully Australia will take note

You have them in the UK as well.

[FN-GM]

You have them in the UK as well.

Oh yer, i forgot. But if you have an EU passport you dont need to fill them in. Australia everyone has to fill them in.

[9V-JKL]

Now if they would only get rid of the visa thing altogether...

SIN citizens don't need a visa

[MAN Flyer]

Now if they would only get rid of the visa thing altogether...

Absolutely.

Not only that, but they did away with the 6 month multiple entry visas a while ago so the most you can get now is 3 months, meaning if I wanted a valid visa all year round I would need to pay £ 400 !!!.

Sod that. It's a great place, but I'm not paying £ 400 a year to allow me to get in there to give them more money. They have shocking 'returning tourist' numbers but can't see that the visa nonsense is one of the main reasons for it, even though everyone keeps telling them.

[Fryderyk HPH]

When exactly did they stop issuing those thingys out?

Coz I flew into HAN on the 1st of March on SQ, and cabin crew explicitly mentioned that there were new rules on blah blah blah blah blah and they wouldn't be handing the cards out unless you brought in a certain amount of money or something like that.

As I'm going to stay in Vietnam till the 30th of March, barely cutting it clean on the one month social visit pass that I'm entitled to, I kindly requested for a form just to be safe. What I didn't expect, was being given a huge dressing-down by the crew for asking for it even after announcements were being made.

I was like, isn't it not mandatory? So at least just give one out if a pax requests for it luh, giving one out won't kill you what... Oddly enough, the same crew member gave one card to a Japanese man in a business suit who didn't even ask for it. How did I know that? Coz he was seated directly opp me. Hmmmm.

Besides that and the fact that two different overhead bins kept coming apart in the rear Y section during T-O and landing, it was pretty much an uneventful ride.

Oh and before anyone asks, I'm not going to complain to SQ about the crew or what. That's just not my type.

[Fryderyk HPH]

If you intend to bring in foreign currency for depositing in a bank located in VN, do ask for the declaration form. (even if the amount is below USD7k).

The forms are still available, only if you need to make a declaration. Without the form, banks will not entertain physical cash deposits that have been brought in.

Yup.
And I heard from my Vietnamese colleagues that the VN gahmen just restricted the Open *ahem* black *ahem* market and imposed gold and currency controls of some sort.

Which effectively meant that the US$30 which I have in one-dollar bills is effectively worthless in Vietnam. And this I mean even in banks. Gah.

[Kyo]

Yes, Vietnam has tightened its currency controls especially with regards to USDs, rumours I heard from one of my buddies in a government organisation since Jan stem from reasons such as they are running low on USD due to corruption or something of that sort. Very murky and I'd be mostly speculating if I said more. Anyway I'm certain it's still possible to change money at various exchanges with the right identification into VND. Changing FROM VND back to foreign currencies, however, seems more of the problem I'm told... bit of a one-way street.

Anyway, to swing back on-topic, they didn't give me any form to fill out back in January either. So, it's been awhile now and I quite like not having to fill up that annoying thing...

[sabian]

Yup.
And I heard from my Vietnamese colleagues that the VN gahmen just restricted the Open *ahem* black *ahem* market and imposed gold and currency controls of some sort.

Which effectively meant that the US$30 which I have in one-dollar bills is effectively worthless in Vietnam. And this I mean even in banks. Gah.

When the government resorts to such capital restrictions (on gold and currency exchange) and the currency just sags to lower end of the exchange trading ban each time they devalue, it's pretty obvious they do not know what they are doing.

2005: 1SGD: 10000VND
2011: 1SGD: 16500VND

And the black market rate IS the market rate. This can be verified by doing a cross rate with any 3rd currency. The official rate is always behind the curve.

Some say the state bank is in Ben Thanh, ie: the tail is wagging the dog.

[sabian]

Yes, Vietnam has tightened its currency controls especially with regards to USDs, rumours I heard from one of my buddies in a government organisation since Jan stem from reasons such as they are running low on USD due to corruption or something of that sort. Very murky and I'd be mostly speculating if I said more. Anyway I'm certain it's still possible to change money at various exchanges with the right identification into VND. Changing FROM VND back to foreign currencies, however, seems more of the problem I'm told... bit of a one-way street.

Anyway, to swing back on-topic, they didn't give me any form to fill out back in January either. So, it's been awhile now and I quite like not having to fill up that annoying thing...

There are no fundamentals to support the rate the authorities want to impose.

Gone are the days when they can issue an edict and will the masses to accept the official exchange rate just because they said so. Doi moi and WTO membership means the old ways do not work anymore.

Yes, they are running low in USD and the market knows. If they continue to stump up USD to support the rate, it will be Thailand '97: The Sequel.

As long they continue to throw caution to the wind and chase growth (not necessarily the right kind, lots of property and stock speculation) and refuse to trade off by being more disciplined with the fiscal and monetary policies. The VND is a one way street.

Here, as much as they do not love China, they will just mimic China's policies. The capital control structure here is a carbon copy of China's. (ditto: facebook restrictions)

The only problem is they do not have a 1600 pound Godzilla of a state treasury sitting in that corner of the room giving everyone an evil eye. What they have got here is a clone of Paris Hilton's Tinkerbell shivering in the corner.

They stopped the mandatory form filling since last October.

[Fryderyk HPH]

When the government resorts to such capital restrictions (on gold and currency exchange) and the currency just sags to lower end of the exchange trading ban each time they devalue, it's pretty obvious they do not know what they are doing.

2005: 1SGD: 10000VND
2011: 1SGD: 16500VND

And the black market rate IS the market rate. This can be verified by doing a cross rate with any 3rd currency. The official rate is always behind the curve.

Some say the state bank is in Ben Thanh, ie: the tail is wagging the dog.

1SGD is 16,500VND? What?! I changed 1SGD for 13k+ in SIN only. Argh.


I think the Vietnamese government is knowing what it is doing now. Because, alongside the capital controls on gold and forex, there are controls on jewellery and gems now. Am in Hanoi and one of our clients is in the gems/jewellery (commercial) side. Having huge problems now.

Seems like after VN did away with departure cards, they imposed other control measures. An analogy would be like giving you 50¢ and taking back a dollar. Pfft.

[Fryderyk HPH]

There are no fundamentals to support the rate the authorities want to impose.

Gone are the days when they can issue an edict and will the masses to accept the official exchange rate just because they said so. Doi moi and WTO membership means the old ways do not work anymore.

Yes, they are running low in USD and the market knows. If they continue to stump up USD to support the rate, it will be Thailand '97: The Sequel.

As long they continue to throw caution to the wind and chase growth (not necessarily the right kind, lots of property and stock speculation) and refuse to trade off by being more disciplined with the fiscal and monetary policies. The VND is a one way street.

Here, as much as they do not love China, they will just mimic China's policies. The capital control structure here is a carbon copy of China's. (ditto: facebook restrictions)

The only problem is they do not have a 1600 pound Godzilla of a state treasury sitting in that corner of the room giving everyone an evil eye. What they have got here is a clone of Paris Hilton's Tinkerbell shivering in the corner.

They stopped the mandatory form filling since last October.

I just passed the bank along hoan kiem lake the anz one, and found the sgd sell was in the range of 12/13k vnd per $, and the buy was 16k vnd per $. wth? Such a huge diff?

First time in Hanoi, and I am just shell shocked by the number of place I go to that ask me to pay in euro/usd/even sgd(!) and not in VND. Is the VND that condemned?

Oh yah, and FB's a P.I.T.A. here. Absolutely no way to access ala PRC. Gosh, 30days in VN w/o FB is murder for us Sg-eans...


Okok sorry for deviating too much.