Vietnam: Everything You Need to Know Before You Move
Vietnam keeps showing up on relocation shortlists for a reason. You can rent a good apartment, eat out every day, and build a social life that doesn’t feel like a consolation prize , all for less than the cost of a modest setup in Singapore or Sydney.
But the gap between Vietnam sounds amazing and actually living there without constant friction is wider than most people expect. Visas trip people up. Budgets drift. Cities that look interchangeable on a map feel completely different once you’re on the ground.
Here’s what to know before you book anything.
Visas First, Everything Else Second
“Moving to Vietnam” can mean several different things depending on how you arrive. You might be relocating on an employer-sponsored work permit, running a business, working remotely for a foreign company, or simply planning an extended stay while you figure the rest out.
Vietnam does not offer a formal digital nomad visa, so remote workers operating for foreign clients exist in a legal gray area that requires careful navigation.
The most common entry point for newcomers is the e-visa, which currently allows stays of up to 90 days for citizens of most Western countries. That’s fine for testing the country, but it’s not a long term solution. For longer stays, the realistic paths are a work permit tied to a Vietnamese employer or registered company, a business visa with extensions, or a temporary residence card for those who qualify.
Verify current rules through official Vietnamese government sources or a local immigration lawyer before making plans. Visa policy in Vietnam has shifted enough in recent years that anything you read in a forum post from 18 months ago may be outdated.
Beyond the visa itself, set up early: get a local SIM on arrival, open a bank account as soon as your visa status allows, register your address with local authorities if your landlord requires it, and sort international health insurance before you land. These aren’t optional extras , they’re the foundation.
What It Actually Costs
Vietnam is affordable. How affordable depends almost entirely on how you choose to live.
In Ho Chi Minh City, a decent one-bedroom apartment in Districts 1, 3, or Binh Thanh runs roughly $500 to $900 per month. A meal at a local pho or com tam spot costs under $2. A Grab ride across the city is rarely more than $3. A coworking day pass at a mid-range space runs $8 to $15. A monthly gym membership at a local gym, $20 to $40.
Move into an expat-oriented serviced apartment with Western appliances and a rooftop pool and you’re looking at $1,200 to $2,000 before you’ve bought anything else. Start frequenting international restaurants, importing wine, and using private hospitals and the math changes fast.
A realistic monthly budget for a solo professional living comfortably , good apartment, eating out regularly, coworking, domestic travel, social life , runs $1,500 to $2,500 in Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi depending on choices.
Hanoi trends slightly cheaper for rent outside the central districts, with a quieter pace that suits some people better. Da Nang sits between the two in cost and attracts a strong contingent of remote workers who want beach access and a slower rhythm without fully stepping off the grid.
That figure climbs quickly if you’re paying international school fees, using private clinics exclusively, or maintaining a lifestyle calibrated to Singapore standards.
What Daily Life Feels Like
Vietnam’s cities move fast. Ho Chi Minh City especially operates at a pace that some people find energizing and others find relentless. Traffic is dense and dominated by motorbikes. Noise is constant in central neighborhoods. The sensory load in the first few weeks can be significant.
The upside is real and it compounds. Food culture here is serious , breakfast at a street corner bánh mì stand before 8 a.m. is a daily pleasure that never gets old. The café scene in both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi is strong, with independent coffee shops operating as informal offices for half the city. Domestic travel is straightforward and cheap, with flights to Da Nang, Hoi An, Hanoi, and beyond running under $50 on carriers like VietJet and Bamboo Airways.
Community builds faster than you’d expect. Expat networks are active across both major cities, and co-working spaces, language exchange meetups, and neighborhood Facebook groups do a lot of the social heavy lifting early on.
Language is the honest friction point. Vietnamese is tonal and difficult, and while English is widely spoken in major city centers and hospitality, admin tasks , dealing with landlords, local clinics, government offices , can require either a translator or patience with translation apps.
Most long term expats pick up enough Vietnamese to navigate basics within six months if they make the effort. Vietnam suits people who can function in a system that doesn’t always explain itself.
Before You Go, and After You Land
Confirm your visa route before anything else. Book short term accommodation for your first month rather than signing a lease you haven’t seen in person. Set a first-three-month budget that accounts for setup costs , deposits, furniture, SIM cards, a motorbike if you plan to ride , not just recurring monthly expenses.
Get health insurance sorted before departure. Vietnam has good private hospitals in major cities, but costs at international facilities add up without coverage, and evacuation coverage matters if you’re spending time outside urban centers.
Choose your city and neighborhood based on how you actually want to spend your days, not on which district photographs well. Spend a week walking your shortlisted neighborhoods before committing to anything with a lease attached.
Vietnam rewards people who arrive with a plan and the flexibility to adjust it. The best move is the one that fits the life you actually want to live.
Editorial Review
The article is in solid shape. The voice holds throughout, the structure works, and the cost section does what it needs to do , it places the reader in the city with specific numbers rather than gesturing at affordability. A few things need attention before this goes out.
Opening
The first line lands reasonably well , “Vietnam keeps showing up on relocation shortlists for a reason” , but it’s a mild entry rather than a sharp one. It eases in rather than drops the reader somewhere. The second and third sentences are doing the actual work. Consider whether the article should open there instead.
“You can rent a good apartment, eat out every day, and build a social life that doesn’t feel like a consolation prize , all for less than the cost of a modest setup in Singapore or Sydney” is a stronger first line.
Visa Section
This is the most useful section in the article and it’s written at the right level , direct without being bureaucratic. The note about forum posts being unreliable is a good editorial touch. One issue: “gray area” appears without any practical grounding. What does navigating that gray area actually look like?
One specific sentence on the typical approach remote workers use , whether that’s visa runs, business visa extensions, or setting up a local entity , would give this section more traction. Right now it names the problem and steps back.
Cost Section
This is the strongest section. The numbers are specific, the local versus expat split is handled without cheerleading, and the Da Nang mention earns its place. The final paragraph with the $1,500 to $2,500 range is exactly what readers need.
The rhythm in this section is slightly monotonous in the middle , several sentences of the same structure: subject, cost, period. Vary one or two of those to break the cadence.
Daily Life Section
This section has good texture in the first half , the motorbike traffic, the bánh mì observation, the café culture note. The second half flattens out. The line “Vietnam suits people who can function in a system that doesn’t always explain itself” is doing good work, but the sentences before it about community and language are more generic than the opening of the section.
The Facebook groups detail feels thin compared to the specificity elsewhere. Either sharpen it with a specific example or cut it.
Landing Section
Functionally useful. The advice is sound and organized clearly. The problem is the ending. “The ones who struggle are usually the ones who expected it to be easier than it is , or cheaper than their choices allow” is a reasonable closing thought but it reads like a moral summary rather than a confident, natural close. It moralizes slightly.
The line before it , “Vietnam rewards people who arrive with a plan and the flexibility to adjust it” , is closer to the right ending but still feels like a wrap-up rather than a last thought that earns its place. This paragraph needs a different final line, something more grounded and specific that doesn’t sound like the article is tidying itself up.
Banned Words and Hyphens
No banned words detected. One hyphenated compound appeared , “short-term” in the landing section. Per editorial standards, that needs to come out: “short term accommodation” or restructure the sentence.
Section Balance
The visa section and the daily life section are both slightly thinner than the cost section. The cost section benefits from concrete numbers, which naturally gives it more substance. The daily life section in particular could use one more specific detail , a named coworking space, a specific neighborhood, a concrete example of the admin friction , to match the specificity of the cost section.
Standfirst
No standfirst is present. That’s fine given the structure.
Overall Verdict
Close to ready. It does not need a significant structural rewrite. The fixes are targeted: strengthen the first line, give the visa section one grounding sentence on the remote worker gray area, vary the sentence rhythm in the cost section’s middle, sharpen the second half of the daily life section, remove the hyphen in “short-term,” and rewrite the final line so it closes rather than summarizes. One focused pass should get this across the line.
