Visa
exemption agreements between Vietnam, France,
Chile to come into force soon
Agreements on visa exemptions
for diplomatic passport holders Viet Nam has
signed with France will come into effect on
July 1st. A similar agreement, which will begin
on June 25th, also includes official passport
holders in the beneficiary list. The Foreign
Ministry announced the information on June 1st.
Under the agreement signed by Viet Nam and France
on October 6th, 2004, Vietnamese citizens holding
valid diplomatic passports are exempt from visa
requirements when visiting France and are allowed
to stay for up 3 months at one time or on several
visits within six months since their first immigration
dates.
French citizens holding
valid diplomatic passports also enjoy similar
privileges. Under the agreement signed by Viet
Nam and Chile on October 22nd, 2003, citizens
holding valid diplomatic or official passports
from one of the two countries are exempt from
needing entry, exit and transit visas in the
other's territory and are allowed to stay for
up 60 days on each visit.
(Source:
Vietnam News Agency)
Citizens
from four European countries given visa exemption
Swedish, Norwegian, Danish,
and Finnish citizens will be exempted from requiring
visas as of May 1 when they enter, exit or stay
in Viet Nam for less than 15 days.
Decision No. 808/2005/QD-BNG issued by the Vietnamese
Foreign Ministry on April 13 stipulates that
these countries' citizens must have valid passports
for at least three months since they enter Viet
Nam, return tickets or tickets for a third country.
This does not apply to those who have been banned
from entering or have not been allowed to enter
Viet Nam under Vietnamese laws.
After entering Viet Nam,
if they want to stay more than 15 days, and
have a valid reason as laid out by Vietnamese
agencies, organizations and individuals for
the Ministry of Public Security and the Foreign
Ministry, they will be required to have a visa.
(Source:
Vietnam News Agency)
Viet
Nam-Japan visa exemption to take effect
Vietnamese Foreign Minister
Nguyen Dy Nien and his Japanese counterpart
Nobutaka Machimura exchanged diplomatic notes
to this effect in Tokyo, on March 8th.Vietnamese
and Japanese diplomatic and official passport
holders will be exempted from visa requirements
as of May 1st.
1. Vietnamese and Japanese citizens
who hold valid diplomatic or official passports
entering Japan and Vietnam to implement diplomatic,
consular missions or the Government’s
official tasks and their family members living
with them in the same household and also holding
diplomatic or official passports are exempted
from entry visa with no concern about their
period of stay.
2. Vietnamese and Japanese citizens
who hold valid diplomatic or official passports
entering Japan and Vietnam for the purposes
different from that mentioned in Article 1 are
exempted from entry visa and permitted to stay
within 90 days.
3. The entry visa exemption
mentioned in Article 2 does not apply for those
who enter the country to look for a job, ask
for permanent residence, do professional work
or other jobs, and participate in money-making
public entertainment activities (including sports).
4. The exemption will
take effect on May 1, 2005.
Entry
and Customs procedure
You are required to fulfill
entry and customs form when entering Vietnam.
A new form (CHY2000) is currently used for entry
and exit procedure. In cases of re-entry or
re-exit without any must-be-declared items,
you simply submit the copy of your entry and
customs form (yellow paper) or make a new one.
Cross (x) and fill the first up to the sixteenth
boxes in the form. You must submit this form
to customs and immigration officers.
To save your time, in the entry
and customs form, you should clearly note down:
Camera, recorder and other electric
equipment not for personal use;
Jewelry (especially gold) and precious stones
not for personal use;
Foreign currency (cash, coin and tourist cheques):
over US$ 3,000 or other foreign currency of
the same value, or over VND 5 million in cash;
Video-tapes will be checked and returned in
several days;
Gold (over 300 g): If more than 3,000 g, you
are required to deposit and re-export the surplus;
Other commodities out of duty-free luggage.
When entering Vietnam: Visitors are permitted
to bring in a duty-free allowance of 200 cigarettes,
50 cigars or 150 g of tobacco; 1.5l of liquor;
and other items (not forbidden goods) of the
total value beneath US$ 300. Items that you
cannot bring into Vietnam include weapons, munitions,
explosives and inflammables, firecracker of
all kinds, opium and drugs, toxic chemicals,
and cultural materials unsuitable to Vietnamese
society (pornographic seditious publications,
films and photos), harmful child toys. Breaking
these rules, you will be punished by Vietnamese
laws.
When leaving Vietnam: A quantity
over 300g of gold must be declared and be permitted
by the State Bank. You are not allowed to bring
out weapons, munitions, explosives, drugs, antiques,
live wild animals, rare plants, and documents
relating to the national security. Breaking
these rules, you will be punished by Vietnamese
laws.
