The Vietnamese put the Russians in a dead end with the abolition of visa extensions

“This is not a provision of immigration rules, but an exclusively voluntary gesture of empathy on the part of the Vietnamese authorities,” answers the question of what a “military extension” is, a Russian-speaking guide from Ho Chi Minh City. – Guests from all countries upon arrival in Vietnam receive a free stamp on arrival to stay in the country for 15 days. And a further extension already requires money, regardless of whether it is an e-visa or a “visaran” – leaving Vietnam in order to enter back and again receive legal 15 days.

And only for Russians, Belarusians and Ukrainians, for a three-month free extension, the phrase “I’m afraid to go home” in the “reason for extension” section of the visa application was enough.

Visa users who arrived in Vietnam on the occasion of “adversity at home” are mostly poor people, so all ways to extend their stay knock them out of their already meager budget.

– E-visa (electronic) costs from $25 to $50 depending on the visa history of the applicant, – shares a relocant from St. Petersburg. “But you can’t just take it and buy it, you need an invitation from those who can act as a guarantor that you will not be homeless and begging in Vietnam. And in order to be invited by those who will be believed, you must again pay. After that, you also have to leave Vietnam and drive back, and this is also money.

– Can’t you just drive to the nearest border, cross it and immediately return back?

– You can, get visa-free for 15 days again. If you have an e-visa with an invitation, they will give you a month. Unrestricted in funds, people can afford a full-fledged “visaran” – for example, by plane to Thailand or Malaysia, hang out there for a week and return. But most of us can only afford a “border run” – an organized group trip to the nearest border in a minibus. But it also costs about $200 per person. Plus meals on the way, the road is at least 10 hours one way.

– And if you take the local public transport on your own?

– The train and the long-distance bus are also an expensive pleasure. Plus, they will not take you directly to the border, only to the extreme Vietnamese settlement. From there you will have to take a taxi, and the taxi drivers there are already trained for visa holders, they keep their corporate price. Plus, it’s Vietnamese New Year. It is customary for locals to visit relatives in other cities, so there are no tickets for trains and buses at all, even with an overpayment.

It turns out that with the seeming cheapness of Vietnamese life (100 thousand Vietnamese dong – about 300 rubles), local prices for most domestic relocators are significantly “biting”. Renting the most budgetary housing in coastal cities starts from $300, prices for groceries in supermarkets are about Moscow, for trips on intercity buses too (for example, a bus from the capital of Hanoi to coastal Nha Trang costs 5 thousand rubles one way).

“We travel only on bikes, although gasoline is more expensive here than in the Russian Federation, about 70 rubles per liter,” says the mother of the relocant family from Moscow. – At first I was afraid to carry children on a bike, they are 3 and 5, but now I’m used to it, you have to carry it on something. The bus is expensive, not to mention taxis.

– A knock-knock?

– This is entertainment for package tourists who come for a week or two. And if you live here, you have no time for entertainment, you have to count every penny. There are not so many remote workers among ours, mostly you have to earn money here. Who sculpts dumplings, who drives moonshine, who shows tricks on the street. Vietnamese cafe owners take Russians as barkers, girls go to go-go dance (dancing at the opening act in a nightclub – Auth). But all this is still a high tourist season, so you can’t spend, only save. Especially those who, like us, have children. Garden, school – all the money. The Russian school is also the income and expenses of the relocant. Some Russians opened it, others got hired there as teachers, others take their children and carry money. Everyone needs to survive somehow.

Russian cards do not work in Vietnam, cash rubles are not exchanged, you can’t bring me much currency, there are ways to transfer money from the Russian Federation, but they are also expensive and complicated, and most importantly, unreliable. And the compatriots who arrived on Vietnamese soil have already spent their money: there are no direct flights from the Russian Federation to Vietnam, and complex logistics hit the pocket. In light of this, it is understandable why the guests of Vietnam, deprived of a military extension, go on pickets to the “migrass” – migration offices – and threaten with a massive Russian revolt – senseless and merciless. And there are a lot of Russians in the country, so the Vietnamese authorities have something to fear.

And the process has already begun: the other day, residents of one of the districts of Phu Quoc (the largest island of Vietnam – Auth.) complained to the authorities that citizens of the Russian Federation were begging on the street with a poster “Give me a chance to continue their vacation.”

“The end of the military extension hit us very hard,” summarizes a young family from Bryansk. – We are already financially hard, and here are extra expenses and an unknown result.

– But after all, it has been discontinued since January 1, why are our people indignant only now ?!

– Many still had a visa. And the first acquaintances who ran out of it were sent to Hanoi from the local migrashka. There, the passports were taken away for a week, and without passports, home only in a local bus. First we drove to our city for 40 hours almost on the floor in an embrace with local peasants, a week later the same way back. And they only fine for a week of overstay (visa delay – Auth.) – and home in Russia.

The Vietnam Tourism Association told us that there would no longer be a military extension for sure, but they hatch the idea of ​​extending the visa-free stay for all tourists without exception up to 45 days. But only the Vietnamese authorities can resolve this issue.