Asia · Move Kit
🇻🇳 The Vietnam Move Kit
Two real visa routes, five cities costed to the dong, and the 30-day order of operations.
Vietnam has no digital nomad visa and no retirement visa — this kit says so on page one and then shows you what people actually use: the 90-day e-visa at 25 USD, processed in 3-5 business days, and the DH student visa, good for up to 1 year and renewable. You get every city on file costed line by line (Da Lat at $970/mo through Ho Chi Minh City at $1150/mo, with student figures for each), a document checklist built from what each route actually asks for, a first-30-days sequence that shows what blocks what, and every official link so you can check us.
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What's inside
Which route is yours
The 90-day e-visa and the DH student visa, who each is for, and the two routes that do not exist here.
Where to live on your budget
All five cities in one table, with the trade-off each one makes and the student figure where we have it.
The money, broken down
Rent, food, transport and coworking split out so you can see which line you can actually move.
What you have to produce
The document checklist, including what proof of onward travel really means in practice.
The first 30 days
Ordered by dependency: bank, SIM, lease, bike, coworking — and what blocks what.
Tax and healthcare
What we have verified, what we have not, and exactly which authority to ask instead of guessing.
Verify it yourself
Every official URL, verbatim, so you can confirm each figure before you spend money.
Read before you buy
Free chapter: The first 30 days
The complete chapter, exactly as it appears in the Vietnam Move Kit. Open it on its own page
Ordered by dependency. Some of these block others, and doing them out of sequence is how people lose a fortnight.
Before you board (day -14 to -1). E-visa applied for and approved — 3-5 business days plus buffer. Onward ticket booked and saved offline. Insurance active from your arrival date, not your landing day plus one. NordVPN installed and tested before you fly, not after: setting up a VPN is easier on a connection you trust, and you will want it for banking and for anything work-related on cafe wifi. Airport transfer pre-booked if you are landing at night — Welcome Pickups is the low-drama option, and the alternative at 1am in a new country is negotiating in a language you do not speak.
Days 1-3: sleep, SIM, cash. Book a hotel or short-stay flat for the first two weeks and no longer. Do not sign a lease from abroad. Get a local SIM at the airport or a phone shop — everything downstream, from viewing flats to ordering food, runs through a local number. Draw cash. Use Wise to move money at a rate you can defend rather than hitting an airport bureau. If you arrive before a long-stay place is sorted and are carrying too much, Bounce and LuggageHero both solve the bag problem for a day.
Days 3-10: walk the neighbourhoods, then lease. This is the step people skip and regret. Spend a week in the area you think you want before committing money to it. In Da Nang that might mean deciding between the beach side and the city side; in Ho Chi Minh City it is a genuinely different life district by district. The local SIM blocks this — most listings are arranged by phone or messaging app. Then negotiate. Deposits and terms vary; get whatever you agree written down in both languages if you can. If you want a second opinion on a contract before you sign, Rocket Lawyer is a cheaper first stop than a local firm.
Days 7-14: workspace and routine. Try the coworking spaces before you buy a month. The budget lines are $80 in Da Lat and Hoi An, $90 in Da Nang and Hanoi, $110 in Ho Chi Minh City. Run a day in each on a day pass. If your home connection is ~90 Mbps and your work is solo writing or code, you may not need a desk at all. If your work is calls, you almost certainly do.
Days 10-20: transport. Rent a motorbike monthly before you consider buying one. Most people who buy in month one sell at a loss in month four. $40/mo is the transport figure on file across all five cities, and renting fits inside it comfortably. Get a proper helmet — not the plastic thing that comes with the rental.
Days 20-30: the exit decision, which is the whole point. Your 90-day block has a hard edge and it does not move because you are busy. By day 30 you should know: am I extending or leaving, am I looking at the DH student route for a renewable year, and what date does my onward ticket say. If a flight you booked for this gets delayed or cancelled, AirHelp is worth a claim — but the real lesson is to build in a few days of slack rather than planning to leave on the last legal day.
What blocks what, in one line: e-visa blocks boarding, SIM blocks flat-hunting, flat blocks routine, routine blocks knowing whether you actually want a second block here.
That's one of 7 chapters — get the full Move Kit.
Get the full kit — $49Still deciding? The free Vietnam guide covers every visa route, living costs by city and safety.
Visa rules change often and official sources can conflict. This is AI-assembled research, not legal or immigration advice — always verify with the official link before you act. Full disclaimer
The full Vietnam plan is locked
Unlock the visa playbook, taxes, healthcare, city picks, the first-30-days checklist and the templates.
Get set up for Vietnam
The tools we use for every move — insurance, money, connectivity and more.
Bounce — luggage storage
Drop your bags at 15,000+ spots worldwide between check-out and your next move.
Solis (SIMO) Go Hotspot
Global 4G/5G pocket Wi‑Fi with pay‑as‑you‑go data in 140+ countries — the flagship "always connected" device.
Nomad travel gear
Passport holders, packing cubes, and the carry-on jacket that swallows a wardrobe.
SafetyWing — nomad insurance
Health + travel cover built for people who live abroad. Monthly, cancel anytime.
Insubuy
Compare travel-medical and expat health plans, including the long-stay policies visa applications ask you to prove. Useful before you file, not just before you fly.
AirHelp — delayed or cancelled flight?
Claims compensation for delayed, cancelled or overbooked flights. No win, no fee. Worth knowing when you fly as often as nomads do.
Travelex — trip insurance
Trip cancellation, interruption and baggage cover for the moving-day flights, where a missed connection costs real money.
Welcome Pickups — airport transfer
A local driver meets you at arrivals with your name on a sign, at a fixed price. The single easiest thing to get right on day one in a new country.
LuggageHero — luggage storage
Store bags by the hour or day in shops and cafes across Europe and North America — for the gap between one lease ending and the next starting.
Aviasales — flight search
Searches hundreds of airlines and agencies at once, including the budget carriers the big sites miss. Good for one-way and open-jaw routes.
Trip.com — flights & hotels
Particularly strong across Asia, where the Western booking sites are often more expensive or miss carriers entirely.
Travala — stays, pay your way
Hotels and apartments worldwide, with crypto accepted alongside cards — handy when your money lives in more than one place.
Travel Freely — track your points
Free tool that tracks credit-card sign-up bonuses and annual-fee dates across every card you hold, so points fund the flights.
Allianz Travel Insurance — trip protection
Trip cancellation, travel medical and baggage cover from Allianz, bought through a licensed travel agency's storefront. Check each plan's terms — plans are sold to US residents.
Medjet (medical evacuation)
Air‑medical transport + evacuation membership — if you're hospitalized 150+ mi from home, get moved to the hospital of YOUR choice. Not travel‑medical insurance; it pairs with it.
NEXT Insurance — business insurance for freelancers
Online small-business insurance — general and professional liability, errors & omissions, equipment — for US-based freelancers and one-person LLCs who keep working while they travel. Quotes in minutes; US businesses only.
NordVPN — stay secure
Public-wifi safety, and reach your home services from anywhere.
TravelFun.Biz — earn 25% sharing travel
Travel creators on TikTok, Instagram or a blog earn 25% on every sale they refer to the TravelFun host travel agency and agent training. Free to join, 365-day cookie, paid within 30 days of the sale. Earnings aren't guaranteed.
GetYourGuide
Tours, day trips and skip-the-line tickets in your new city.
Viator
Large tour and activity marketplace, useful for the first weeks of exploring.
Tours By Locals — private local guides
Private guides who actually live there — good for orientation in a city you have just moved to.
Tiqets — museums & attractions
Instant mobile tickets for museums and attractions.
EconomyBookings — car hire
Car rental comparison, for the stretch before you sort local transport.
BikesBooking — scooter & bike rental
Scooter and motorbike rental, the default way to get around much of Southeast Asia.
Busbud — intercity buses
Intercity bus tickets across 80+ countries — usually the cheapest way between nearby cities.
Project Expedition — tours & excursions
Curated tours and excursions worldwide.
Rocket Lawyer
On‑demand legal documents, business formation (LLC), and attorney Q&A — useful for nomads setting up a base or a business.
Booking.com
Hotels + apartments worldwide; the default lodging affiliate.
Some links are affiliate links — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We only list tools we'd use ourselves.
Questions
Is there a digital nomad visa for Vietnam?
No. There is no dedicated digital nomad visa on file, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. What nomads actually use is the 90-Day E-Visa — 25 USD, processed in 3-5 business days, valid for up to 90 days, single or multiple entry — while working remotely for a foreign employer. That route does not permit local work of any kind.
Is there a retirement visa?
Not on file. Vietnam has no retirement visa in our records, which means early retirees are using the same 90-day e-visa as everyone else, or looking at the DH student visa for a renewable year of up to 1 year. If you want a longer horizon than 90 days at a time and you are willing to actually study, the student route is the one most people never consider and it is worth a serious look.
Can I work while I am there?
Neither route on file permits local work. On the 90-Day E-Visa and on the DH Student Visa alike, you cannot take a Vietnamese job, take Vietnamese clients or be paid locally. Remote work for a foreign employer on the tourist e-visa is what nomads do in practice. If you need local income, neither of these routes is your answer and you need a different category entirely — ask at the official portal.
How much do I actually need per month?
Between $970 and $1150 depending on the city: Da Lat $970, Hoi An $990, Da Nang $1000, Hanoi $1050, Ho Chi Minh City $1150. Students run lower — about $650 in Da Lat up to $780 in Ho Chi Minh City — mostly because shared housing replaces a private flat. Those figures do not include flights, the 25 USD visa fee, insurance or a rental deposit, so budget those separately.
Which city should I pick if I have never been?
Da Nang at $1000, almost every time. It has the joint-highest nomad score at 9/10, ~90 Mbps internet, beaches and the largest ready-made remote-work community, so your first month is spent living rather than solving. Choose Hoi An at $990 if you want the fastest connection on the list (~100 Mbps) in a smaller place, Da Lat at $970 if cost and cool weather matter most and you can tolerate the thinnest community, Hanoi at $1050 for culture and a real winter, and Ho Chi Minh City at $1150 if you want the most options and will pay $180/mo more than Da Lat for them.
What does 'proof of onward travel' actually mean in practice?
A real booking with your name and a reference number, for a flight, bus or train leaving Vietnam on a date inside your permitted stay. A screenshot of a flight search is not proof. Book the ticket, save the PDF to your phone and your email, and assume you will need to show it at a moment when your mobile data is not working.
How far ahead should I apply for the e-visa?
Processing on file is 3-5 business days, so apply at least two weeks out. Business days exclude weekends and public holidays in both countries, and the most common cause of delay is not policy but data entry — a name that does not match the passport exactly, or an unreadable photo upload. Applying early costs nothing and removes the entire category of panic.
Instant access · lifetime updates · yours to keep.
Moving somewhere else too? The All-Access Vault unlocks every country kit.
Research & planning only — not legal, immigration or tax advice. Verify every step at its official source. All sales final.