Temporary Stay Registration

[Tuanv 2]

Did you guys register with the Vietnamese police while you stay in Vietnam with your wife or girlfriend? It is essential to have this document during the interview?

Edited November 14, 2010 by Tuanv

[luckytxn 2,264]

Never registered and her family would never even try. I did go to the U.S. Consulate and signed in there that I was in country and where I was and a number to reach me if needed.

[joenlemy 2]

never registered. never had any problems because I didn't register.

[BinhJerome 14]

Did you guys register with the Vietnamese police while you stay in Vietnam with your wife or girlfriend? It is essential to have this document during the interview?

I never signed in either where I stayed, and this was never an issue at our interview, and I have not heard of anyone getting denied because of it, so dont sweat it you are golden. Jerome

[Tuanv 2]

Cool!!

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

If you stay in a hotel then you are registering with the police.

I never stayed overnight at my wife's house. She was concerned that a particular family in her neighborhood would report her if she didn't register my stay, and foreigners are specifically not allowed to stay in family homes in the district where her house is. She suggested that I stay in her home a few times without registering, but I declined. I didn't want either of us to get into any trouble. Frankly, I also found the hotel to be a lot more comfortable than her home. Since visiting Vietnam was also a vacation for me, I wanted to be pampered.

The hotel was a little reluctant to allow her to stay overnight in my room, and they questioned her about it a couple of times on my first visit. On my second trip they just sort of looked the other way, but they did put her name on the hotel receipt. After our engagement ceremony on my third trip they sent champagne and flowers to our room. From that day on, they treated us both like royalty.

[BinhJerome 14]

If you stay in a hotel then you are registering with the police.

I never stayed overnight at my wife's house. She was concerned that a particular family in her neighborhood would report her if she didn't register my stay, and foreigners are specifically not allowed to stay in family homes in the district where her house is. She suggested that I stay in her home a few times without registering, but I declined. I didn't want either of us to get into any trouble. Frankly, I also found the hotel to be a lot more comfortable than her home. Since visiting Vietnam was also a vacation for me, I wanted to be pampered.

The hotel was a little reluctant to allow her to stay overnight in my room, and they questioned her about it a couple of times on my first visit. On my second trip they just sort of looked the other way, but they did put her name on the hotel receipt. After our engagement ceremony on my third trip they sent champagne and flowers to our room. From that day on, they treated us both like royalty.

This is not always true. Maybe at the fancy hotels, but most hotels do not actually register you with the police, they simply have your passport and IF the police show up they can show who is there.

BTW is that the same certain relative that thinks 10k will do it when you return??

Jerome

Edited November 14, 2010 by jeromebinh

[dtc 1]

it help to register with the police and get a copy of that , after all according to vietnammese law one must do so . and those temporary registrations will help show hcmc that the petitioner did spend time with the beneficiary. when i was in vietnam visitting my wife she have to take me to the town police station to fill out the temporary stay registration even though the town police chief is a close family friend.

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

This is not always true. Maybe at the fancy hotels, but most hotels do not actually register you with the police, they simply have your passport and IF the police show up they can show who is there.

BTW is that the same certain relative that thinks 10k will do it when you return??

Jerome

Granted. I've seen it go both ways. The 4 star I stay at in Hue prints out a list of guests every morning, and a cop comes to pick it up. Phuong's cousin owns a small hotel in Tan Phu district in Saigon, and he says the cops only come by occasionally for his guest list.

If the hotel knows you as a prior guest then they often won't keep your passport. They mainly keep it to ensure you won't skip out on the hotel bill.

The family she was worried about isn't related to her. They're just the neighborhood busybodies who get their noses into everyone elses business.

[BinhJerome 14]

Granted. I've seen it go both ways. The 4 star I stay at in Hue prints out a list of guests every morning, and a cop comes to pick it up. Phuong's cousin owns a small hotel in Tan Phu district in Saigon, and he says the cops only come by occasionally for his guest list.

If the hotel knows you as a prior guest then they often won't keep your passport. They mainly keep it to ensure you won't skip out on the hotel bill.

The family she was worried about isn't related to her. They're just the neighborhood busybodies who get their noses into everyone elses business.

That sucks, if it WAS family and not neighborhood busybodies, then you could have chipped a little of that 10k gift when you come back

Strange how different it is from hotel to hotel and city to city, sometimes cops never come by, and then other times they are there every day. With where I am living now, they refused to let a foreigner live there right before us, but they allowed me, go figure. I think it had something to do with the 98 year old woman across the street, when we were looking at the house the cops came up as I was siting beside her and she was talking in Vietnamese to me, and I understood what she was saying so I replied in Viet. The cop looked at me, asked the woman a question, and told my wife we could stay there.

They even missed my visa extension by a month, we figured once I was registered I was registered, but if you are staying or get a visa renewal I guess you are togive them your passport each time so they know you are not overstaying.

Jerome

[lindal24 1]

My family (mom & dad) have a house there that we stay at when we go back and have always registered with the local police. The 1st and 2nd time I registered with the police in the giao xu our home is located. After I got married and came back to visit on the 3rd and 4th trips my husband took me to register with the district police.

The whole reasoning for registering with the local police is so that they are aware that there is a "non-local" in the neighborhood during the specified time. My mom told me that it was also to protect people from unjustly claiming property that wasn't theirs (i.e. saying that a house was theirs and that they've lived in it for this amount of time, etc.) by registering with the police you're telling them that you "home" for the time being and while you're "away" for them to watch over the property for people trying to steal property.

If your viet kieu and you stay with family, they'll want to register you, it's not a big deal really. You can go out there w/ them if you're not too nervous with police authority...