Transcript of the above video:

Occasionally we do make videos and I only try to do this in broad strokes regarding Immigration Policy in countries around Thailand. I also try or I prefer if you will to really only discuss those countries where it is most likely you are going to see a so-called Border Run or Visa Run from Thailand. I haven't done one of these in a while because frankly it hasn't been overly pertinent but there have been enough changes in Vietnam Immigration Policy or reported Vietnamese Immigration Policy to warrant I think this video. There have also been some rumours and things on the internet that I think might be of interest to folks watching this video. 

Again, please note this is on Vietnamese Immigration but we are taking it from the standpoint, looking at it tangentially; again folks who may be looking to do Border Runs or Visa Runs in the region, although again that is not going to be something really frequent. Also Vietnam especially going back about a year ago, a lot of expats out here in Thailand were beginning to divide up their time oftentimes between Vietnam and Thailand. Also a lot of folks were talking about making a major change of location and going to Vietnam in place of Thailand. So again I think this is pertinent regionally and I think there are those in our audience which primarily deals with Thailand who may find this stuff of interest just in a broader sense. 

I came upon all of this, a friend and a viewer of our channel sent me a link to a YouTube video actually and it is from the channel Cheap Charlie Live. It says: "Bad news out of Vietnam- Is this an era of Traveler  Xenophobia?" Again that is Cheap Charlie Live. I am not going to really do any clips or anything from that. I urge those who are watching this to go check out that video. In that video the gentleman in the video and I have never seen this channel before so take everything I am saying here with a grain of salt. Do your own research, but basically he was talking about the fact that Vietnam is effectively closed down for all intents and purposes that was the contention he was making closed down for all intents and purposes to tourists as a practical matter. It looks like aside from diplomats etc., mostly the only group of people that are foreign nationals that are going to be able to get in it looks like are those who are work permitted over there. Again, how Work Permits work and everything in Vietnam is way beyond the scope of this video. We are just talking about this in a broad sense. Now it also seems, and I stress seems, again those who are in Vietnam, those who are looking to go to Vietnam, it is probably a good idea to do a lot more research than just this video, again this is just a topical video and we are really going to just scratch the surface here. It also seems like it may not be possible to continue to update Visa status from within the country under certain circumstances. Again it seems that way. That appears from our research to be what is going on although it is hard to say. There is a lot on the internet out there about Thai Immigration that is wildly off base from what is actually going on on the ground here. So again do your own research on this but it seems that it is at least getting more difficult to extend status once in Vietnam or the window for being able to do so is coming to an end. I will get to that in a minute. 

The other thing that has happened and I suspect will have a tremendous impact on folks' desire to go to Vietnam at least in the immediate future, is it does appear  they have increased their quarantine from a 14-day quarantine period up to a 21 day quarantine period. That is a major thing. I came upon some of this information via vietnam-briefing.com and the article is titled: COVID-19 in Vietnam: Travel Updates and Restrictions. This was May 5th 2021 and just quoting directly: "Vietnam has suspended the entry of all foreigners since March 22, 2020 until further notice to limit the spread of COVID-19. The measure will not apply to diplomats, officials, foreign investors, experts and skilled workers." So again, if you reason in the negative, again it doesn't look like it is going to be possible for tourists to enter but foreign investors, experts, skilled workers, that sounds akin to work permit holders. Again folks that are looking at this probably want to do further research for themselves. Quoting further: "Vietnam's Immigration Department announced automatic visa extension until May 30, 2021." So again reasoning by inference and inferring in a negative, presumably after May 30th, 2021 they may not continue automatic visa extension. I don't know. I want to be clear on that. I do not know if that is actually the case and you probably should do your own research especially those watching in Vietnam. You are going to be able to find out far more on the ground over there than you are going to be able to find out directly from this video. But those looking to travel in, it is probably something to be aware of as perhaps in country visa extension may not be so easy at least for the time being. 

Then finally, "Vietnam's Ministry of Health extended the mandatory quarantine period to 21 days from the previous 14-day requirement from May 5th."  So starting May 5th, 2021 which was not too long ago as of the time of this video, it now appears Vietnam has a 3 week quarantine, as opposed to for example here in Thailand we are still dealing with a 14-day quarantine. There doesn't seem to be anything out there that I can see that causes me to believe Thailand is going to go down this route. In fact, quite the opposite. It looks to me like they are trying to open especially in light of things like the Phuket "Sandbox"; they have discussed the Pattaya “Sandbox”; they are rolling out the vaccination program here in June. I personally think Thailand is kind of moving ostensibly at least in another direction. 

I wanted to go ahead and make this video again because I know a lot of people that are here in this region, are oftentimes even looking at Thai Immigration, they are looking at things also in Vietnam kind of comes up when they are doing their analysis of where to stay. Again that other video, "Bad news out of Vietnam- Is this an era of Traveler Xenophobia?". That is Cheap Charlie Live, that is the channel. Interesting video. Again I don't know if everything contained therein is absolutely, factually accurate but I am always interested to see videos both in Thailand and in the region from folks that are on the ground and giving their, even if it is just anecdotal information as to what is going on. I sometimes find it can be useful.