Phuquoc Island lures tourists with visa exemptions

The Prime Minister has issued a decision on entry and exit procedures for foreign visitor to Phuquoc Island in southern Kiengiang Province on September 16th.
Accordingly, foreigners and Vietnamese nationals bearing foreign passports who want to enter and stay in Phuquoc Island for less than 15 days will be exempt from visa application. Those who enter Vietnam through an international border gate and then travel to Phuquoc Island will also be exempt from visa application. Passports must be valid for at least 45 days.
After arriving in Phuquoc Island, if visitors want to travel other localities or stay in the island for more than 15 days, the immigration department will be responsible for issuing visas right on the spot.

Phuquoc is not only a beautiful island but also one of the most interesting places to visit in Vietnam. With a new regulation granted by the Prime Minister exempting visa requirements for international tourists, Phuquoc is opening up to welcome international cruise ships to the picturesque island.
From mid-January onwards, international tourists visiting Phuquoc no longer need to pass through Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport. The Saigon-Phuquoc Resort could receive international travellers by sea and the Coco-Explore cruise ship with some 150 international visitors from Thailand and Cambodia now anchors at Phuquoc Island every Tuesday.
This is because of the new regulation simplifying the entry/exit procedures. Under them, visitors coming to Phuquoc by sea only go through entry procedures at the border gate. Visitors have to present passports that are valid for at least 45 days. By air, they have to complete the procedure at the international airport and take another plane to Phuquoc.
To get a place on the cruise ship, travellers have to make reservations a month or two in advance through C&C Travel Co. in Denmark, owner of Coco-Explore.
Phung Xuan Mai, the Saigon-Phuquoc Resort’s Director, said the resort has signed a long-term agreement with cruise ship owners on accommodation and other services such as one-day tours to explore the island and activities such as fishing, scuba diving and cooking.
The most popular activities so far have been exploring the desert island, scuba diving to see euphorbia, sea sports and cooking classes by Vietnamese chefs.
For the cooking classes, the chefs will take visitors to the market, showing how to choose foods and spices. The cooking will start later and afterwards, the visitors can enjoy the meal they just cooked.
In the coming days, the Saigon-Phuquoc Resort will make tours to Phuquoc available for international tourists who come to Vietnam through the international airports in Hanoi, Saigon and Danang.

Vietnam officially joins APEC Business Travel Card

Businesspeople from a number of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies will be granted easier access to enter Vietnam as the country has officially joined the APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) programme.
A document to this effect was signed by Bui Dinh Dinh, Head of the Consular Department under the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry in Gyeongju, the Republic of Korea, on September 9, 2005.
Under the programme, ABTC holders will be able to be exempted from visa and resident registration procedures. They can use express immigration lanes at airports, come in and out of ABTC members and stay for at least 60 days each visit.
Using ATBC, Vietnamese businesses can make business journeys to other ABTC participating economies and vice versa, businesses from ABTC members will be provided with favorable conditions when entering and staying in Vietnam.
The Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam is to grant ABTC to business people in 2006 as the country will play the host of the 2006 APEC.
The ABTC was initiated by Australia in 1996 and has been applied in three founding member countries - namely Australia, the RoK and the Philippines - since 1997. So far, 17 APEC member economies have joined the ABTC programme, including Australia, Brunei, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, the RoK, Malaysia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

Citizens from four European countries given visa exemption

Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Finnish citizens will be exempted from requiring visas as of May 1 when they enter, exit or stay in Viet Nam for less than 15 days.
Decision No. 808/2005/QD-BNG issued by the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry on April 13 stipulates that these countries' citizens must have valid passports for at least three months since they enter Viet Nam, return tickets or tickets for a third country. This does not apply to those who have been banned from entering or have not been allowed to enter Viet Nam under Vietnamese laws.
After entering Viet Nam, if they want to stay more than 15 days, and have a valid reason as laid out by Vietnamese agencies, organizations and individuals for the Ministry of Public Security and the Foreign Ministry, they will be required to have a visa.

Vietnam-Japan visa exemption to take effect

Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien and his Japanese counterpart Nobutaka Machimura exchanged diplomatic notes to this effect in Tokyo, on March 8th.Vietnamese and Japanese diplomatic and official passport holders will be exempted from visa requirements as of May 1st.
1. Vietnamese and Japanese citizens who hold valid diplomatic or official passports entering Japan and Vietnam to implement diplomatic, consular missions or the Government’s official tasks and their family members living with them in the same household and also holding diplomatic or official passports are exempted from entry visa with no concern about their period of stay.
2. Vietnamese and Japanese citizens who hold valid diplomatic or official passports entering Japan and Vietnam for the purposes different from that mentioned in Article 1 are exempted from entry visa and permitted to stay within 90 days.
3. The entry visa exemption mentioned in Article 2 does not apply for those who enter the country to look for a job, ask for permanent residence, do professional work or other jobs, and participate in money-making public entertainment activities (including sports).
4. The exemption will take effect on May 1, 2005.
 

Visa exemption agreements between Vietnam, France, Chile to come into force soon

Agreements on visa exemptions for diplomatic passport holders Vietnam has signed with France will come into effect on July 1st. A similar agreement, which will begin on June 25th, also includes official passport holders in the beneficiary list. The Foreign Ministry announced the information on June 1st.
Under the agreement signed by Vietnam and France on October 6th, 2004, Vietnamese citizens holding valid diplomatic passports are exempt from visa requirements when visiting France and are allowed to stay for up 3 months at one time or on several visits within six months since their first immigration dates.
French citizens holding valid diplomatic passports also enjoy similar privileges. Under the agreement signed by Vietnam and Chile on October 22nd, 2003, citizens holding valid diplomatic or official passports from one of the two countries are exempt from needing entry, exit and transit visas in the other's territory and are allowed to stay for up 60 days on each visit.