Hi everyone!
Today I've encountered a tricky situation. I am now hosting some couchsurfers at my place and all of a sudden, a local police showed up at my place (I checked and he is truly a police). He accused me of allowing foreigners to stay illegally because following to the Vietnamese law, foreigners are forced to stay at a hotel or any other places that have a business licence. It means your friends cannot stay at your place except you get a business licence for the place (but I do not want to set up a hotel or something). I am so confused now :( Does anyone have experiences about this case before? Greatly appreciate if you can give me advice...
Mình mới phát hiện ra luật VN có một quy định rất là độc đáo @_@ không cho phép người nước ngoài lưu trú tại nhà riêng (trừ khi có quan hệ hôn phối). Trong trường hợp muốn cho lưu lại thì cần giấy phép đăng ký kinh doanh và v..v.. Hoặc người nước ngoài đó buộc phải ra khách sạn ở?!?!
Vậy xin hỏi, muốn host bạn bè nước ngoài (không có kinh doanh gì ở đây nhé) để giúp họ đỡ cái budget với có cơ hội trải nghiệm thêm về local culture... thì phải làm thế *** nào bây giờ? Chả lẽ ép người ta ra khách sạn?!?!!!!
Today I've encountered a tricky situation. I am now hosting some couchsurfers at my place and all of a sudden, a local police showed up at my place (I checked and he is truly a police). He accused me of allowing foreigners to stay illegally because following to the Vietnamese law, foreigners are forced to stay at a hotel or any other places that have a business licence. It means your friends cannot stay at your place except you get a business licence for the place (but I do not want to set up a hotel or something). I am so confused now :( Does anyone have experiences about this case before? Greatly appreciate if you can give me advice...
Mình mới phát hiện ra luật VN có một quy định rất là độc đáo @_@ không cho phép người nước ngoài lưu trú tại nhà riêng (trừ khi có quan hệ hôn phối). Trong trường hợp muốn cho lưu lại thì cần giấy phép đăng ký kinh doanh và v..v.. Hoặc người nước ngoài đó buộc phải ra khách sạn ở?!?!
Vậy xin hỏi, muốn host bạn bè nước ngoài (không có kinh doanh gì ở đây nhé) để giúp họ đỡ cái budget với có cơ hội trải nghiệm thêm về local culture... thì phải làm thế *** nào bây giờ? Chả lẽ ép người ta ra khách sạn?!?!!!!
đúng là có cái luật này ở VN bạn ạ. đó là lý do tại sao mình ko dám host ai hết vì công an khu mình thường xuyên đi kiểm tra nhà
Me too, no choice my friend.
Giờ mới biết có cái luật này,
mình cũng muốn host một số bạn thì phải làm sao? Có bạn nào biết cách
gì không? Có thể ra phường đăng ký tạm trú cho họ vài ngày được không?
so that means all Vietnamese
couchsurfers and I seemed to violate THE LAW??? So what is the meaning
of this forum in Vietnam while we cannot host foreigners/ help people on
low budget/ surf local people's places... What the fuck is going on
here with VNMese law?
I have been living with a
Vietnamese family since May 2013, in their house in district Binh Thanh
of HCM. I rent a room in their house for around two million VND each
month.
I photo-copied a few pages from my passport book. Inside my passport is my multiple-entry 3-months-long tourist visa. It also has 2 extension stamps, which makes my visa last longer, and it has a Hanoi border stamp, since that is where my plane landed. I am from the United States, born and raised.
I went to a place to have my photo taken. They made a few copies for 30.000 VND. The pictures are around 2x5 in size, or so, which can fit in your wallet.
I gave the pictures and photocopies of my passport to my land-lord (the home-owners).
They filled out an application and handed it all to the police. All I know is what they tell me. I do not think these people have a license or a permit or anything special that hotels and apartments would have.
I am not related to these Vietnamese people. I am the only non-member living in their house. I am the only foreigner living in their house. There are 3 rooms and I live in one of them. The Vietnamese people consist of the father, mother, and 12 year old son who speaks English.
When my extension ended, I got a new extension, and we filled out the paperwork for the police a second time. At the end of August, we may do this again.
I do not live in a hotel. I do not live in an apartment. In a way, I am sort of like Couch Surfing, but I am also giving them money each month on top of that.
I do not think that I am breaking any rules. I do not think the owners of my house are violating Vietnamese laws either. I will keep my eyes open. We will see what happens.
But as far as I know, other people can do what I do. You can register guests with the police. I say that it is up to the police to do what they want.
If you register with the police, and the police approves of the guests, then I really hope the police do not come back the next day with a change of heart to say, "Oh, I was just kidding, your guests cannot stay here any longer because of this, or because of that."
I would be like, "But officer, yesterday you told me that my guests could stay a little longer." The cop replies, "Oh, did I say that? Well, tough luck. Life is not fair. Live with it."
I photo-copied a few pages from my passport book. Inside my passport is my multiple-entry 3-months-long tourist visa. It also has 2 extension stamps, which makes my visa last longer, and it has a Hanoi border stamp, since that is where my plane landed. I am from the United States, born and raised.
I went to a place to have my photo taken. They made a few copies for 30.000 VND. The pictures are around 2x5 in size, or so, which can fit in your wallet.
I gave the pictures and photocopies of my passport to my land-lord (the home-owners).
They filled out an application and handed it all to the police. All I know is what they tell me. I do not think these people have a license or a permit or anything special that hotels and apartments would have.
I am not related to these Vietnamese people. I am the only non-member living in their house. I am the only foreigner living in their house. There are 3 rooms and I live in one of them. The Vietnamese people consist of the father, mother, and 12 year old son who speaks English.
When my extension ended, I got a new extension, and we filled out the paperwork for the police a second time. At the end of August, we may do this again.
I do not live in a hotel. I do not live in an apartment. In a way, I am sort of like Couch Surfing, but I am also giving them money each month on top of that.
I do not think that I am breaking any rules. I do not think the owners of my house are violating Vietnamese laws either. I will keep my eyes open. We will see what happens.
But as far as I know, other people can do what I do. You can register guests with the police. I say that it is up to the police to do what they want.
If you register with the police, and the police approves of the guests, then I really hope the police do not come back the next day with a change of heart to say, "Oh, I was just kidding, your guests cannot stay here any longer because of this, or because of that."
I would be like, "But officer, yesterday you told me that my guests could stay a little longer." The cop replies, "Oh, did I say that? Well, tough luck. Life is not fair. Live with it."
