Vietnam's Sweep Against Illegal Residence Isn't Aimed at Overstaying Tourists

[Vietnam's Sweep Against Illegal Residence Isn't Aimed at Overstaying Tourists]

In late June, Ho Chi Minh City police released the tally from a "45-day peak campaign." They had checked more than 1,600 lodging establishments, identified nearly 300 foreigners involved in illegal residence, illegal work and gambling, and flagged over a hundred operators that failed to register their foreign guests' temporary residence as required.

The headline numbers aren't shocking. What matters is what these people were doing.

In mid-May, police found more than eighty Chinese nationals staying together at one hotel with no residence declaration — and a building full of computers and phones. In early June, another hotel turned up more than eighty more Chinese nationals, most of whom had crossed in illegally from Cambodia, renting the place as a base to assemble staff and equipment for online fraud. These weren't tourists who stayed too long and forgot to leave. They were organized teams running a production line.

Around the same time, Bac Ninh province in the north was doing the same thing. Police there announced in mid-June that they had simultaneously raided five lodgings and detained 23 foreigners, both Chinese and Malaysian. What they declared on their visa applications had nothing to do with what they were actually doing: using software to run large numbers of social media accounts at once, they lured people on Telegram, Zalo and WhatsApp into buying stocks, USDT and crypto — then, once the money was in, manipulated the results from the back end and pocketed it. Some admitted they had been sent to Vietnam to set up online football betting for this year's World Cup. Major tournaments have always been peak season for cross-border gambling.

There's an easy-to-miss detail in this wave of enforcement: it isn't only foreigners being charged. In the Ho Chi Minh City operation, police brought eight cases against 26 people for "organizing and brokering illegal stays in Vietnam." Only nine were foreigners. The rest were owners and staff of the lodgings, and the brokers who arranged the rentals. The message is that Vietnam sees the locals who supply the rooms and the cover as a key link in why these scam bases take root — so they go down together.

That confidence comes from two decrees that took effect back to back.

The first is Decree 282/2025 (a government decree, roughly equivalent to an executive order), in force since late last year. It pushed overstay penalties sharply higher, up to a maximum of VND 40 million (about USD 1,520) — double the old ceiling. Fines scale with the length of the overstay, and crucially, once an overstay passes 16 days, police can deport the person depending on the severity. The decree also puts weight on whoever provides the lodging: a landlord or hotel that fails to register a foreign guest's temporary residence can also be fined up to VND 40 million. Foreigners don't have to file the declaration themselves, but if they feed false identity details to a host, they get fined too.

The second is Decree 59/2026, effective this April, which deals with how deportation works. It replaces the 2021 rules and moves in two directions. One: the entire process of deportation, detention and escort goes onto an electronic system, syncing data faster and cutting processing time. Two: people who can't pay their fines can now be deported first, with forced collection suspended — no longer stuck in the old "pay up or you don't leave" bottleneck. That single change eased a long-standing cause of overcrowding in detention centers for foreigners. The new decree also adds protections for women and children, and gives those facing deportation the right to contact their own embassy and request a review.

So why now?

The answer goes back to 2023. That year Vietnam opened e-visas of up to 90 days to every country. As the threshold dropped, what poured in wasn't just tourists but criminal groups. In 2024 alone, Vietnam reported 16,000 foreigners involved in offenses like robbery, drug use and illegal immigration, with detention centers chronically overloaded. Vietnam wants tourism and investment to stay open, but loosening visa rules also made it a convenient foothold for the region's scam industry. This sweep and the two new decrees are an attempt to tighten control over that crime while keeping the country open.

For foreigners living and working in Vietnam, the takeaway is more than "fines went up." Vietnam's management of foreign residence is shifting from scattered administrative fines toward a system that is digital, allows immediate deportation, and leaves you on a blacklist. Those blacklists can run from one to ten years — and Vietnam's immigration data is gradually being shared with other countries in the region, which means a deportation record here could cause trouble entering Thailand or Cambodia later. The duty to register temporary residence still falls on the host, but the shift is clear: whether your stay is legal is no longer something you can settle with a fine.

—

This article is a news summary. For your own residence or visa situation, consult Vietnam's immigration authorities or a qualified lawyer. It does not constitute legal advice.

The Viet Media Monthly

A curated monthly digest of the most important political, economic, tech, and industry developments in Vietnam.

Designed for reading on desktop or tablet — no algorithm, no noise. Just the stories that matter.

Delivered before the 10th of each month. Cancel anytime.

Subscribe →