Foreign tourists who choose Phu Quoc island, Kien Giang province, as their only destination in Vietnam may stay in the island for at most 30 days without having to apply for a visa to enter the country.
Such regulation is included in the second draft of the Law revising the Law on Foreigners’ Entry into, Exit from, Transit through and Residence in Vietnam, prepared by the Ministry of Public Security.
As for foreigners eligible for visa exemption under Vietnam’s unilateral visa waiver scheme, the ministry proposes abolishing the currently required interval of 30 days between the entry date and the previous exit date.
Under the draft, not only agencies, organizations and individuals but also business households and contractors may invite and grant guarantee for foreigners to enter the country.
To promote tourism and facilitate international cooperation, the draft adds a new provision on issuance of collective visas to sea passengers who transit the country and wish to take sightseeing tours on the mainland and crew members of foreign military ships entering Vietnam who have official working agendas in localities other than the provinces or centrally run cities where their ships are anchored.
In order to ensure consistency with the Law on Investment and the Law on Enterprises, the draft says that the validity period of visas and temporary residence cards granted to investors would be decided based on the value of their capital contribution. Accordingly, investors who contribute a small amount of investment capital would be granted a visa valid for at most 12 months, while those who invest a large amount of capital would receive a temporary residence card with the validity duration of up to 10 years.
For the sake of convenience, the draft stipulates that the validity period of the temporary residence certificate granted to a foreigner would equal that of his visa.
Regarding visa status, while the current law does not permit change of visa status in any case, the draft allows some exceptions, e.g., those who have papers proving that they are making investment in Vietnam and those who have entered the country on e-visas and are latter granted a work permit or a written certification of eligibility for exemption from work permit.- (VLLF)
