From there, the service agent’s assistant will get it translated.  All English forms have to be translated into Vietnamese for obvious reasons by an authorized translator.  I am not sure where they are going but if you need your documents translated, I recommend the Hanoi Translation Company on the corner of Pasteur and and Nguyen Du in District 1.  Ask for Mr. Quoc.  He can also help process work permits (5 million VND), visas and temporary resident cards.  I should have used him for my work permit processing in the beginning but I do use him for my visa renewals.

For me, I told the service I want to see the forms after they are translated and properly stamped.  I also want to visit DoLISA with them when they drop off my application so I can see that everything is okay.  According to the service, everything will be done by March 19th but that is a full two weeks later than they told me last time and a full 4 four months later than the original date they gave me.  Got to keep on them…

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Today I arrived to meet my service agent at his office at 8:45 AM for a 9 AM appointment.  He did not show up and he staffed tried repeatedly to call him.  He just disappeared.  Then his assistant called my Vietnamese friend who in turn yelled at her.  Thirty minutes later, she and I met my friend at the MFA (6 Alexandre Rhodes street in District 1).  We entered the front office where you submit your documents and my friend and I both were surprised that she, the assistant, had no idea what to do.  That is when we realized that the service agent never submitted my documents.  Remember, yesterday he told me that the MFA refused to accept my document since it was not notarized by the US Consulate.  It cost 160,000 VND to do this process, a little more if you forget to make a copy.

I submitted my forms after we made photo copies (remember to make a photocopy of your notarized degree outside the office).  I submitted my diploma and passport.  About 15 minutes later they called me up and a man gave me a form to fill up.  Yes, they do speak English.  I filled it out and gave it back to him.  About 20-30 minutes later (it was busy today so come at 9 AM if you can) he gave me the receipt which told me when to pick up my diploma.  They had accepted it.  It was that easy and finally it was consularized.

Guys, I mean Americans here, the key to getting your diploma accepted is to remember the keyword here, consularization.  I read the law here and my friend explained to me thoroughly which is why he was surprised my service agent could not do it.  The law says that before you can get it consularized, you must first have your diploma notarized by a government authority in the US.  Then after it is notarized, you then need to get an affidavit, notary or seal from the US Consulate (or Embassy).  The US Consulate in Vietnam will only give an affidavit.  After you get this, then you will take it to the MFA to get it consularized.  Remember, the Vietnamese government consularizes it, not the US Consulate.

So in short, to get my diploma recognized, I first FedEx’d it to Indiana University.  From there, Indiana University made two copies (you should make 10 if you can), sent it to Monroe County to start the process, then notarized it and sent it to the Secretary of State of Indiana.  The Secretary of State then added their Gold Seal sticker to all of the original and copies and FedEx’d it back to me (be sure to include a completed bill form so they can send it back).  This process took me 3 weeks total.  It would have been shorter but the US was experiencing the holidays at that time.  Total cost here was about $90 US which included two FedEx fees and about $6 US for Monroe County.

When I received my notarized documents, I took the original diploma and one notarized diploma to the US Consulate.  They then attached a piece of paper and I had to write “I swear that this is a true copy”.  After that, one of the Consuls came and I had to raise my right hand and swear an oath.  They then signed, stamped all the documents and imprinted their seal on the documents.  This costs about $35 US (plus a credit card fee of $35 US for me).  From there I just needed to take these documents to the MFA and after two days, I could have picked them up.

My service agent did not do this.  He just held on to them.  I could have had my work permit before Tet if he had down his job. It turns out that many law firms do this on purpose.  Foreigners give them a deposit, 5 million VND in my case, and then give excuses that seem real to their clients but actually never do the work.  In the end, they keep the deposits since it is not their fault you DO NOT qualify for the work permit.

Now, Thursday I will pick up my translated documents from the MFA and I will submit the rest of my documents (criminal background check, CV, notarized diploma, health check, etc.) to the Department of Labor and Invalids.  Within 7 working days I should have my work permit if there are no issues with my documents.

Lastly, you do not need to use a service to get your work permit.  In fact, each time I had to go with the service agent’s assistants to get my documents.  Technically I am just paying them to accompany me.  If you do need an agent, the one who advised us today said to not pay more than 5 million VND.  He also said, do not use a law firm, they cannot be trusted.

At the MFA, I met two Americans whose diplomas were turned down.  The MFA said they needed the original copy with them which they did not have in Vietnam.  They just had copies.

So in conclusion, today in one way was a successful day for me.  I jumped the biggest hurdle.  The next one will be Thursday when I drop all my documents off.  If they give me a receipt, then I know I will get my work permit.

Oh the things you must do to stay in Vietnam…

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This happened last December when I found out that my diploma was not recognized as well.  The service agent took nearly two months before he finally told me wasting, I hate to say it, valuable time.  I told them I could get my diploma notarized in the US but they claimed it was not necessary so all the people that “helped out” convinced me it was not necessary.  Since my health was not good at the time, I let my guard down and let them continue their job since I already paid them.

Today I will go with the service agent, a close friend and another, more experienced, agent to visit the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  The MFA’s request was not realistic and we have to tell them that.  Yesterday they told my service agent that I needed to get my diploma notarized by the US Consulate even though they know very well the US Consulate does not notarize them.  Our task is to “convince” them that my diploma is notarized, something the service agent failed to do.

If we cannot do this, the new service agent, who I used for my visas for the last couple of years, will take over.  In Vietnam, choosing the “right” agent is very, very important due to their network within the government.  Unfortunately I cannot dump my service agent now on a technicality.

In the meantime, I have to deal with the visa hassle again.  Another department of the MFA only gave me a 7 week visa which expires this Sunday.  The MFA told me I needed a work permit or that I had to leave.  Of course, due to a lack of transparency, there is no computer system they can use to see whether I was processing my work permit application or not.

Yeah, a lot of frustration.  Many Americans I know are having the same exact problem.  One thing is certain, if the US Consulate would just notarize our diplomas, or notarize the notarized diplomas, the US citizens in Vietnam would not be having so much trouble.  I did an affidavit of a notarized diploma which does not seem to work at the moment even though the Vietnamese law says it is legal.

Lets see what happens today…

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Today, my local ward police signed two documents stating that I lived in my house over 6 months.  I will need this form before the Judiciary Department would start my criminal background check.  Normally you needed to provide copies of your housebook but we were told to get this documents as well so it could speed up the background check process.

Getting the necessary documents from my ward police was not easy.  Since they never processed this request before, they asked us to create the document ourselves.  Our first document, submitted by my landlord, was not approved.  With their help, I edited the form, with the help of my Vietnamese IT students, with their inputs and submitted this form to the ward police yesterday afternoon.  Before they would sign it, though, they wanted me to submit to them a labor contract from my company.  I provided this today and they signed and stamped my document.  It will be submitted with my criminal background check application by the end of this week.

In retrospect, if I had the original housebook, the process would have gone faster but the landlord, mistakenly, took it home with him.  My landlord also provided another form which was supposed to convince the ward police to sign the documents.  They just made a copy of it and gave me the original.

I did not pay a thing for these documents.  The ward police were very helpful to me.  I gave about one and a half hours of my time but if I had the housebook and my labor contract, it could have been completed in 30 minutes.

Now to get my criminal background check.  Next week I will get my health check.  When my criminal background check is complete, all the paperwork will be submitted in roughly 1-2 weeks.  A service I am using will get my university degrees notarized in Vietnam since I actually have the originals here.  The whole procedure should be completed in 2 months.

The process is not painful, yes a bit of a hassle, but still doable.  Anyway, I have no choice if I want to remain and work in Vietnam.

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According to Thanh Nien News, the circular states that bloggers will be held responsible for providing, disseminating, and creating direct links that are in direct violation of the decree issued last August that “…forbids the circulation of information which undermines Vietnam’s national security and social order, revealing classified information, or instigating war and violence.”

Pornography, superstitious content such as astrology, and defamatory content are also banned.  These are social evils in Vietnam.

Bloggers cannot create blogs assuming other identities.  That means the Fake Steve Jobs blogger would be in violation in Vietnam.

Furthermore, bloggers cannot post copyrighted material and they will also be held responsible for ALL the content of their blogs.  Service providers (those that host blogs) “…must detect, prevent and get rid of banned information when asked by governmental blog management agencies, it notes” according to Thanh Nien News.

The questions not answered are whether Expat bloggers and Vietnamese who have blog accounts outside of Vietnam are affected.  A report posted by Tuoi Tre today seems to state that if an overseas blog posted by a blogger in Vietnam violates the August decree, they may be held in criminal violation.  I will need to confirm this since I was reading a translated version of the story with Google Translator.

Despite this circular, many bloggers seem not really worried about the regulation of blogs.  There are just too many blogs, especially with Yahoo 360, that will make enforcing the circular too difficult.  Also, since many bloggers are teenagers who have a tendency to speak their mind, restricting this young group could turn into an headache for the MIC.

With the growing popularity of Facebook and Twitter in Vietnam now, will these two service providers, as defined by the circular, be responsible to manage the information on their sites as well?

Read more about the new blog circular here -> Circular aims to tackle blogging violations

Vietnamese version here -> Tuoi Tre

Update:

VietnamNet Bridge just posted an article about the blog circular: Vietnam to have circular on Internet-based information violations

AP published Vietnam imposes new blogging restrictions as well.  As with Reuters, AP seems to be paraphrasing the Vietnamese English language news sites.  No fact finding as well.

Related Posts on the Regulation of Blogs in Vietnam

• Blogging Boom Faces Gov’t Blockages (Helen Clark – IPS News)
• Are Expat Bloggers in Vietnam affected by the Draft Blog Resolution?
• Vietnamese Govt Watchdog to Regulate Blogs

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Anh Hung (Fresco 2.0), Chris Harvey (charvey in Vietnam), and I were interviewed by Helen Clark via telephone.   This will be Anh Hung’s second interview.  Over a week ago, he appeared in Geoffrey Caines’ SFGate article, Bloggers the new rebels in Vietnam.

It will be interesting to see how the law will be implemented next year.  What about blogs not affected by the new Blog Law, will they just be filtered out?  As we have seen with Geocities for many years, the Vietnamese government has the capability to filter out websites.  It will be relatively easy to filter out ‘controversial’ blogs as well.  We will just have to wait and see but as I told two other reporters, I think the Western media are a bigger threat to Vietnam bloggers than the new blog law

Excerpt of Helen Clark’s article:

Though blogging regulations have been discussed before the issue again came to prominence in November, with reports running in local media that the Ministry of Information and Communications was planning a law which would counteract “incorrect information” about Vietnam.

Read more here -> http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45171

or here -> http://www.google.com/search?&q=Blogging+Boom+Faces+Gov%27t+Blockages+Helen+Clark

Oh yeah, one little mistake.  Helen mentioned that I ran Barcamp Saigon.  Actually, I just formed it and helped obtain the venue though my network.  The Barcamp Saigon organizers ran the event.  Want to make sure they get the credit here, not me

Other Press Reports on the Blog Regulation

Edit 1:

Reuters published their report on the blogging regulation.  A bit more negative in tone than Helen Clark’s article.  John Ruwitch seemed to just quote online news sources without checking out the facts.  As I mentioned earlier, nobody seems concerned about the new blog regulation except the Western media.  They are blowing this out of proportion.

Read article here -> Vietnam Bans Submersive Blogs

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Take note though, ‘violators’ should pay the fine AT the office later, not to the traffic policeman.  Fines for not wearing a proper helmet or running a red light runs about 100,000-200,000 VND.  Speeding ranges from 200,000-800,000 VND.  Oh, if you do not have a driver’s license in Vietnam, you will get another fine most likely.  I will work on mine when I get my temporary residence permit hopefully next month.  The process is easier now.

My advice, just follow the laws.  Remember that you should ride on the right lane at ALL times.  I got fined two years ago for riding in the left lane.  I paid 40,000 VND at that time.  I have not had a fine since then.

Some may ask if the traffic police will now pull you over if they noticed you are a foreigner?  If they do and you feel that you did not violate any traffic law then fight it.  That’s what the Vietnamese do but remember, if you do not have a motorbike license, you are violating the law.

This could be a blow to the tourist areas since many tourists rent motorbikes with little or no experience riding them.

For me, I will follow the rules.  Things are changing in Vietnam rapidly.  Next year all Foreigners working in Vietnam will be required to obtain Tax IDs and obtain work permits.  This was much needed and finally will eliminate the discriminatory income tax regulations.

Read more about the new traffic regulation of foreigners here -> http://thanhniennews.com/society/?catid=3&newsid=44618

Update: Thanh Nien News posted an update to their story today.  HCMC Traffic Police Deputy Chief Lieutenant-Colonel Tran Thanh Tra was reported saying that ‘Fluent’ English traffic police deputies will be dispatched when an Expat ‘offender’ is stopped for a traffic violation.  Easier said than done so I guess the traffic policeman who stops an Expat traffic offender in say, the Thu Duc District, will not mind waiting for an English speaking deputy.  We just will have to wait and see what happens.

The general feeling among Expats is that even though the new rule is fair, many of the traffic police will abuse it and just pull over Expats for money.  I am not generalizing, the traffic police have that reputation here in Saigon.  Notice the high number of expensive motorbikes that are repeatedly pulled over by the traffic police.  The police CAN now take your motorbike as well.  Previously they could not.

Tourists are fair game as well according to the ruling and I personally think they will be most affected by it.

Time to think about switching to an electric bike or plain ole bicycle.

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