Surprise! (Or Not): Vietnam’s Broad Reopening

Throughout the pandemic, Vietnam has been both hailed as a success story (in 2020) and then held up as a cautionary tale (in 2021) in its handling of COVID-19. In many ways, Vietnam can be seen as a microcosm for the region, where many countries imposed strict travel and entry restrictions early on, only to see that success overtaken by subsequent COVID-19 variants. In that vein, it would perhaps be surprising to see the country announce a full reopening on March 15, 2022, without (for the most part) post-arrival testing and quarantine requirements, despite the country still logging a record number of daily COVID-19 cases. 

 

Background

Like the trajectory of the pandemic itself, Vietnam’s immigration landscape has remained unpredictable throughout the COVID-19 era. Indeed, even just half a year into the pandemic, Vietnam was one of the few countries that was already talking about opening travel bubbles with other countries. Those discussions turned out to be premature as, one year in, the country would contend with its first major outbreak just before the Tet holidays in 2021. 

Since the early days of the pandemic, from the immigration perspective, Vietnam had imposed and enforced a strict travel and entry ban. Due to those restrictive measures, the government also implemented a complex, multi-step process for entrants to apply for special entry approvals to enter the country as a potential exception to the entry ban.  This process proved lengthy, inconsistent (as each province in Vietnam could and did impose their own requirements) and unevenly applied. 

The authorities also continued to develop and enact new work permit rules during the pandemic era. While the foundation for the new work permit rules was set in place prior to the pandemic, COVID-19 also became an impetus for the government to continue with their overhaul of the work permit system and to move in a more protectionist direction. Several months later, after the business community gave its strident feedback, the government passed a new resolution that removed some of the most onerous aspects of the new rules.

 

New hope in the new year?

As 2022 began, it did not appear at first that Vietnam would reopen soon, given the relatively high numbers of COVID-19 cases in the country and the relatively low vaccination rates. However, the vaccination rates in Vietnam since then have improved considerably, with Vietnam now having one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. 

In early February, news reports were already indicating the government’s intent to reopen in mid-March, although those stories also indicated that it was more likely that the reopening plans could be pushed to the end of April. Given the surge in COVID-19 cases, it seemed prudent to assume that a later reopening would take place, and that there would remain differentiated treatment of vaccinated travellers. (Vietnam had just recently implemented a “vaccine passport” scheme that allowed fully vaccinated entrants to reduce their quarantine period.) It was also assumed that other post-arrival requirements would also remain, including the post-arrival PCR test.

 

The new rules

Interestingly, despite the above, it does seem that Vietnam has decided upon a “big bang” reopening, rather than the gradual or incremental approach that other countries in the region have taken. As such, the new requirements seem to be less onerous than previously anticipated and include the following:

• • • From March 15, 2022, anyone entering Vietnam by air must only have a negative COVID-19 test result, issued within 72 hours before departure if obtained via RT-PCR or RT-LAMP method or issued within 24 hours if using the rapid antigen test method. The test results should be certified by the competent authorities in the country of issuance.
    • Those entering Vietnam through other modes of transport must meet the same testing requirements as above. However, if they are unable to provide a negative test upon entry, they must complete a COVID-19 test within the first 24 hours after arrival (via RT-PCR, RT-LAMP, or rapid antigen test). If the test result is negative, they may leave the designated accommodation. If positive, they must immediately report to the local health authorities for further instructions.
    • A medical declaration must be submitted upon entry and travellers should download and use the relevant medical declaration application (PC-COVID) on their smartphones during their stay.

There are no further post-arrival quarantine requirements, although travellers are expected to self-monitor their health and any COVID-19 related symptoms for at least 10 days from their date of entry. They should also adhere to any prevailing health measures.

What is also glaringly omitted are any vaccine passport requirements, which, as mentioned above, were assumed would be included in the reopening plans. In essence, aside from the pre-departure testing requirements, Vietnam has largely reverted back to their pre-pandemic entry and exit regulations.

 

Conclusion

While the new rules represent an undoing of the COVID-19-era entry rules in Vietnam, it remains to be seen whether the local provinces and cities will revert back to all of the pre-pandemic rules as quickly as the central government would like. However, these developments do show that the Vietnamese government remained open to feedback from the business community, which was quite vocal about the restrictive entry bans and special entry rules. Given the drastic reversal of most of the pandemic-era rules, it is unlikely that Vietnam will move to significantly close off again, but it remains to be seen what tweaks may be made in the future should the COVID-19 situation worsen or evolve.

 

Need to Know More?

For further information and advice on this topic, please contact Kenneth Lau at [email protected] or your Fragomen immigration professional. This blog was published on 23 March 2022, and due to the circumstances, there are frequent changes. To keep up to date with all the latest updates on global immigration, please visit our dedicated COVID-19 site, subscribe to our alerts and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.