Job Discussion Forums

norski · Joined: 25 Mar 2004 Posts: 2 Location: US

Hello,

I am planning on going to Hanoi at the beginning of June to teach, and am in the process of working out how to get there. I want to teach for at least 6 months. I am planning on arriving with a tourist visa, and then securing a business visa one I have a job. For those of you who are in Vietnam teaching, how did you get to the country? The best scenario would be to fly to Hanoi on a one way ticket (because I don't know how long I will be there), but I know this isn't possible without some sort of return flight out of the country. I am looking into a couple of options including:

- Buying an open return ticket
- flying on a one way ticket to Bangkok, then buying a round trip to Hanoi and just not getting on the flight back.
- flying one way to Hanoi with a prepurchased flight out of the country (say to Pnom Pehn), and also just not getting on the plane or trying to get a refund.
Any information would be most helpful.

thanks,
norski

tiggerpoo · Joined: 19 Jan 2004 Posts: 18 Location: Vietnam

I say buy an open return ticket.

hanisay · Joined: 23 Feb 2003 Posts: 31 Location: HCMC

Or buy a one way ticket. Do they really check if you have an ongoing ticket? People seem to travel to Vietnam via air all the time and then leave via overland to cambodia or laos without a problem.

Micro67 · Joined: 29 May 2003 Posts: 297 Location: HCMC, Vietnam

Air Philippines has a ticket from Los Angeles to HCMC at a decent price and you can schedule a long layover in Manila.

beenthere96-2005 · Joined: 01 Aug 2010 Posts: 79 Location: St Louis

Staying in Manila for awhile would be nice.

LettersAthruZ · Joined: 25 Apr 2010 Posts: 466 Location: North Viet Nam

Three-plus years.....several trips to Tayland and back....ALWAYS on the back-end of a return or on a one-way ticket......

.....never a hassle even once!!

snollygoster · Joined: 04 Jun 2009 Posts: 478

http://www.vietnam-visa.com/

One way visas on arrival

Jbhughes · Joined: 01 Jul 2010 Posts: 254

Wasn't there a thread about this recently and the problem wasn't Vietnam or immigration but was the airline wanting proof of onward travel or something like that? My memory is vague.

My experience with long-distance flights to/from Vietnam tells me that purchasing a ticket directly to Vietnam seems to be more expensive than purchasing a ticket to one of the main hubs in the area (BKK/KL/) and getting a cheaper ticket for the final leg of the journey into HCMC/HN.
This may well have changed since I last researched it and my research didn't cover the US.

Anyway, airline problems/prices aside, I've entered Vietnam twice by plane at HCMC and HN respectively. Each time I used a company to arrange a visa on arrival and each time I had no onward travel ticket (the first time - 2008 - I planned to leave overland to Cambodia the second time - 2009 - I was re-entering the country to work). At neither juncture did I get asked anything about onward travel.

I'm not sure about listing company details on here, so pm for details for the visa company (very reliable) and a brief list of the local cheaper airlines.

deadlift · Joined: 08 Jun 2010 Posts: 267

Guys, this is a six year old thread bumped by a spammer.

Jbhughes · Joined: 01 Jul 2010 Posts: 254

Gah, yeah. I really should have a coffee before attempting to engage with the outside world!

Still, maybe someone out there might find a bit of anecdotal drivel useful.

em oi! ca phe den da! ngay!