Increasing the visa validity period to 1 year: What opportunities are there for US investors?

Resolution on ratifying the Note of Agreement on visa issuance between the Government of Vietnam and the US Government was officially passed by the National Assembly on April 9, 2016. Immediately, this move received consensus and appreciation from the business and investor community. "This is a positive move that will help Vietnam attract investment and tourists from the United States," commented Ms. Nguyen Viet Ha, CEO of BowerGroupAsia Inc..

Many years of experience as an investment consultant, Ms. Ha said, one of the major barriers to the movement of investment capital from the United States to Vietnam is visas. This barrier has become even greater since the Vietnam Immigration Law took effect, stipulating that US citizens can only be granted 3-month visas and cannot extend their stay.

“Such regulations cause investors to fly back and forth and it takes a lot of time to get an entry visa.Vietnam. Businesses that are in the investment promotion stage will feel dissatisfied with this regulation," Ms. Ha said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sesto Vecchi, representative of Russin Vecchi Law Firm, did not hide his joy when he said that this is a "valuable signal" for US businessmen. "Thus, Vietnam is ready to remove administrative barriers for US citizens and this is also a clear manifestation of the strong cooperative relationship between the two countries. Increasing the visa duration for US citizens to 1 year will promote tourist attraction, as well as investment flow from the US," Mr. Sesto Vecchi said.

Similarly, Mr. Ta Dinh Duc, Sales Director of Intel Security, said that this policy is "good news" for US investors, because they will have more favorable conditions when entering Vietnam.

In fact, these are also the expectations of National Assembly delegates when pressing the button to approve the Note. Last week, when President Tran Dai Quang presented a Proposal requesting the National Assembly to approve the Note and stated that in recent years, the US side had repeatedly raised the issue of Vietnam's visa policy making it difficult for US citizens to apply for visas to enter Vietnam. National Assembly delegates all agreed that increasing the visa issuance deadline for US citizens is consistent with reality and beneficial for Vietnamese citizens, and will contribute to promoting economic cooperation - trade and investment with the United States.

Currently, among the 11 countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) with the United States, only Vietnam grants short-term 3-month visas to US citizens. Other countries offer visa exemption under bilateral agreements under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), or unilateral exemption for US citizens with a stay of 90 or 180 days.

Therefore, the US side believes that Vietnam's current 3-month visa policy for the US is not compatible with the US policy for Vietnam and is not compatible with the relationship between the two countries.

Ms. Sherry Boger, President of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam (Amcham) at recent Vietnam Business Forums (VBF), especially after the Vietnam Immigration Law was passed in 2014, also spoke up many times about this issue.

According to Ms. Sherry Boger, the fact that Vietnam only grants visas to US citizens for a period of 3 months, with one entry, is a significant "step backward". "This causes significant obstacles for two-way business and leisure tourism activities," said Ms. Sherry Boger, who said that since the beginning of 2015 until now (when the Vietnam Immigration Law took effect), she and the US business and investor community have been waiting for the Vietnamese Government to allow US citizens to be granted 1-year, multiple-entry visas.

Now all expectations are about to come true. Congress passed it. The remaining work is for the Government, relevant agencies and organizations within the scope of their duties and powers to complete foreign affairs procedures for ratification and implementation after the Note of Agreement on visa issuance between the Government of Vietnam and the US Government takes effect.

Currently the United States is one of Vietnam's leading trade and investment partners. In 2015, the United States became Vietnam's largest export market with a turnover of 33.48 billion USD. Meanwhile, in terms of investment, US businesses have invested over 11 billion USD in Vietnam, ranking in the top 10 largest investors in Vietnam today.

Although investment from the United States into Vietnam is not currently as expected, many comments say that Vietnam has a great opportunity to attract investment from the United States, in which TPP is an extremely important boost.

"I believe in the statements from the United States, that they will become the number 1 investor", Professor-Dr. Nguyen Mai, Chairman of the Association of Foreign Investment Enterprises said and said that, based on the recent moves of Intel and Micsosoft moving their production factories to Vietnam, Harvard and Fulbright building universities in Vietnam, or Apple wanting to jump in, then the country's leaders themselves "promote investment". investment" in the United States and the fact that Vietnam has increased the visa issuance period for US citizens to 1 year, the story of the United States becoming the number 1 investor in Vietnam will soon become a reality.