Vietnam promises change after asked to ease visa policy for Australian, US citizens

Foreign tourists cross a street in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Diep Duc Minh Business groups from Australia, Japan and the US in Vietnam have asked the government to ease its visa policy for their business persons, local media reported. They were speaking at the year-end session of the Vietnam Business Forum in Hanoi on Tuesday, where they criticized Vietnam for failing to open entry for investors and tourists from other member states of the Pacific Rim trade bloc TPP, which Vietnam is joining. Sherry Boger, chairwoman of the American Chamber of Commerce in Vietnam, said in a statement that it once asked Vietnamese government to extend the validity of temporary visas for US business persons and tourists from three months to 12 months, allowing multiple entries instead of single entry. However, since the proposal was made in June, the chamber has not seen any change yet, she said. Currently, the US government grant Vietnamese citizens who travel to the country for business and pleasure multi-entry 12-month visas. But, the treatment could be changed to match Vietnam’s policy in the near future, if Vietnamese government does not make the change, Boger said in the statement. Vietnam’s current visa rule has already caused “significant impediments” to business and pleasure travel between Vietnam and the US, and could reduce the large revenues that tourism could generates, she said. Moreover, she said, it has negative impacts on the growth of Vietnam’s tourism which is now one of the country’s development focuses. US investors…