How to Retire in Vietnam: Step by Step

Your timeline at a glance

A rough plan, not a rule: most steps can move earlier or later. Each step links to the official source or to our page with the details.

1. About 12 months beforeCheck your budget and Social Security

   Run the calculator with your monthly income to see which cities fit your budget.

   Social Security can pay current benefits to U.S. citizens living in Vietnam. ⁷ Vietnam is on SSA's list of countries where international direct deposit is available. ⁸

   Use SSA's Payments Abroad Screening Tool to check whether your own retirement, disability or survivor payments continue outside the U.S. ⁹

2. 12 to 9 months beforePick a city

   Compare the city guides: Da Nang, Hội An, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Đà Lạt and Vũng Tàu. Each one shows costs, weather, hospitals and safety with sources.

3. 9 to 6 months beforeTake a scouting trip

   A Vietnam e-visa lasts up to 90 days, single or multiple entry, for US$25 or US$50, and e-visa holders enter and leave through 42 designated border gates, including all international airports. ¹⁰

   Use the trip to see neighborhoods, visit a hospital on the U.S. Embassy's list and talk to landlords before you commit.

   Must-see Vietnam

   Fit a few sights into the trip. Each city guide has a Top places list with photos:

   • Da Nang: Dragon Bridge, Marble Mountains, Sơn Trà Peninsula
   • Hoi An: Japanese Bridge, Hội An Old Town, Thu Bồn River
   • Nha Trang: Po Nagar Cham Towers, Long Sơn Pagoda, Christ the King Cathedral
   • Ho Chi Minh City: Independence Palace, Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, Saigon Central Post Office
   • Hanoi: Hoàn Kiếm Lake, Temple of Literature, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum
   • Da Lat: Xuân Hương Lake, Hằng Nga Guesthouse, Đà Lạt Railway Station
   • Vung Tau: Christ the King statue, Thích Ca Phật Đài, Front Beach

4. 6 to 3 months beforeChoose your visa

   Pick your long-stay route on our Visas page: it compares the e-visa, the 5-year visa exemption certificate for overseas Vietnamese and their families, and family and investor residence cards, with a short quiz.

5. 6 to 3 months beforeSort out health insurance

   Medicare usually does not pay for care outside the U.S., and Medicare drug plans don't cover drugs bought abroad. ¹¹

   The State Department strongly recommends international health insurance, and OSAC says to strongly consider medical-evacuation insurance. ¹² Our Healthcare page shows hospitals by city and one insurer's prices by age.

6. 3 months beforePlan banking and money transfers

   Under State Bank of Vietnam Circular 17/2024, a foreigner opens a payment account with a passport and an entry visa (or a valid document in place of a visa, or a visa exemption certificate), or with a level-2 electronic identity. ¹³

   Once your foreign accounts (a Vietnamese bank account counts) together go over $10,000 at any time in a year, you must file an FBAR with FinCEN. ¹⁴

   Before you go, ask your U.S. bank what it charges for foreign card use and international transfers.

7. 3 to 1 months beforeLine up housing

   Read our Housing page for rents by city, lease terms and the rules on foreigners owning homes.

   The U.S. Embassy says all visitors must register their temporary residence with the police where they stay overnight, so ask your landlord or hotel how they do it. ¹⁰

8. 2 to 1 months beforeDecide what to bring or sell

   Bring enough of your own medicines for your stay with a copy of the prescription, and check with Vietnam's Ministry of Health that each one is allowed in. OSAC says pharmacies in most towns sell a wide variety of prescription and non-prescription medicines. ¹²

   Keep your passport and visa papers with you, not in a shipment: the bank and the mobile network both ask for them (steps 6 and 9). ^{13 2}

9. First 90 daysSet up after you arrive

   SIM card: to register a mobile number, a foreigner shows a passport valid in Vietnam under an entry visa or a visa-free stay, or an electronic identity account (Decree 163/2024). ²

   Address: make sure your stay is registered with the local police where you sleep. ¹⁰

   Bank: open your Vietnamese account with your passport and visa. ¹³

   Phone & eSIM

   First days: a travel eSIM

   If your phone supports eSIM, you can add a travel eSIM before you fly instead of buying and swapping a physical SIM card. ¹

   Then: a local SIM or eSIM

   Vietnam's big three networks are Viettel, Vinaphone and Mobifone. By law (Decree 163/2024) a foreigner registers a number with a passport valid in Vietnam under an entry visa or visa-free stay. ² Viettel's own pages ask a short-stay visitor for a valid passport, and its tourist SIM order page asks for a photo of your passport and a portrait photo. ^{3 4}

   Keeping your US number

   Many US banks text sign-in codes to your US number, so think about how you will keep it. One route is to move (port) it to Google Voice: Google charges a $20 port-in fee, says not all mobile numbers can be ported, and says not to cancel your phone plan until it confirms the port is done (your old carrier then cancels the service). ⁵ Another is to keep a low-cost US plan. Ask your bank whether it will send codes to the number you choose.

   Check that your phone is unlocked

   A phone locked to a US carrier will not take a Vietnamese SIM. Carriers publish their own unlock rules; for example, T-Mobile unlocks eligible phones it sold free of charge, and says phones bought elsewhere must be unlocked by whoever sold them. ⁶ Ask your carrier before you leave.

   Getting around: licences, Grab, taxis and airports are on Getting around Vietnam. Language apps, Zalo, schools and work rules are on Daily life in Vietnam.

10. Every yearKeep up with U.S. taxes and voting

    The IRS says the rules for filing returns and paying estimated tax are generally the same whether you are in the U.S. or abroad, and you are taxed on worldwide income. ¹⁵

    The IRS gives an automatic 2-month extension (to June 15) to U.S. citizens living outside the U.S. and Puerto Rico whose main place of business or post of duty is also outside; interest still runs on tax not paid by April 15, and you attach a statement explaining why you qualify. ¹⁶

    To vote from abroad, FVAP recommends the Federal Post Card Application (FPCA), which both registers you and requests an absentee ballot, and encourages overseas voters to send a new one every year and when they move. ¹⁷