Stivi Cooke is an Australian expat living and working in Hoi An Ancient
Town in central Vietnam. The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect
Tuoitrenews’ stance.
Each year, around August, I leave the country to get a
one-year business visa as I’m an educational consultant. However, this year I
got a shock as I discovered that the one-year visa is no longer available.
Is Vietnam serious about being open for business?
I am starting to wonder about that. So are a few
thousand teachers, businessmen, investors, tourists, industry experts and
consultants in more than a hundred specialized fields.
What’s the problem? Visas, working and making business
in Vietnam.
It is right that every country requires documents and
paperwork to be processed and has the right to restrict entry, as it believes
necessary. So the problem is not really paperwork, you get that anywhere, but a
question of cost and most importantly of all, how long you can stay.
This nation seriously needs foreign help, assistance,
training, teaching and investment so how difficult should it be to welcome and
invite foreigners to help lift the nation towards its goals of industrialization,
modernization and prosperity?
Surely the nation cannot say, “We need your help but
you can’t stay long.” What would the world think about that?
Go to any bar or restaurant and meet a foreigner
working here and the subject will always turn to our complaints about the
impossibility of the legal and administrative situations we find ourselves in
while trying to stay here. I can imagine the conversations quite easily. ‘I
can’t get a one-year visa.’ ‘The school doesn’t want to help me with the work
permit.’ ‘I have to leave every three months.’ Tales of bureaucratic nightmares
make great stories over a cold beer.
There seems to be a failure to understand how extended
visas and making it easy for foreigners to stay and work contribute to a
nation’s development.
Over the past five decades, opening the doors wide to
foreigner expertise helped Southeast Asian countries lift their economies to
world-class status.
Singapore turned its educational system into one of
the most respected high quality teaching systems in the world by encouraging a
massive influx of foreign experts to train local teachers to the point where
the foreigners are no longer a necessity of their education system. Expertise
is now ‘targeted’ to the needs of particular universities and industries.
China was willing to open its door to thousands of
teachers who then passed on modern technological and management knowledge to
modernize their industries. The result was the creation of a huge energy supply
that powered its gigantic construction boom.
Japan employed (and still does) thousands of
foreigners to rapidly reach world standards in manufacturing quality and
high-tech production, with the nation competing in space launches, robotics,
communications and entertainment.
South Korea became an economic miracle on the back of
the thousands of teachers, trainers and experts who taught them virtually
everything needed to reconstruct the nation to the point where the East Asian
country builds supertankers and Samsung sells phones around the world.
South Korea and Japan allow visas of up to three
years. China lets you stay up to a year at a time.
Singapore, although very strict, has many options for
living and working for up to two years or more that attract professional
expertise from all over the world. Even Cambodia allows foreigners to obtain a
one-year visa. All this information I found on their government websites. Why
doesn’t Vietnam equal its neighbors in offering these options?
Another issue is qualifications. If a foreigner
studied for three years – not four years – in his field, should that really
make any difference? In addition, five years of experience in the field limits
the available pool of expertise quite dramatically. Is that so important
compared to recent up-to-date knowledge?
There are other reasons too to support bringing the
length of time foreigners can stay in Vietnam into line with other countries
developing their economies in Asia. Vietnam’s education system is heavily
dependent on foreign experts – and not just English teachers. Technical
trainers, manufacturing experts in modern technologies, business instructors,
engineers, water system consultants, public infrastructure advisors,
hospitality managers and information technology gurus are required all over the
country.
Vietnam’s neighbors, particularly Cambodia, Thailand
and Myanmar are competing to attract these experts. Why? They speed up economic
growth. If Vietnam is truly to complete technologically and in manufacturing
and logistics, these people become crucial to its economic advancement. Vietnam
can best defend its future by developing areas such as offshore oil fields and
raw material processing, using foreign aid and expertise.
Just as Vietnamese authorities are realizing the need
to welcome more tourists, so more long-term foreign residents will come and buy
houses, invest in businesses, employ and train local people and help lift the
country to its deserved place as a model of peace and economic success in the
region.
So open the door, Vietnam! Put the sign in the window,
“Open for Business,” and let’s do business together.
Business & Investment Opportunities
Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC) is incorporated
in Singapore since 1994.
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