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Originally Posted by Singkieu

Nothing weird about extending a 30 day tourist visa. What is weird is that you are asking for a temporary residence permit.

You can extend your tourist status (I dont call this a 'visa' since S'poreans are visa free for 30 days upon arrival in a tourist status) once for another 30 days. Per VN Immigration Law, a tourist is not a temporary resident. On the other hand, foreign expats on 2 year employment contract in Vietnam are.

Most travel agents in Pham Ngu Lao can extend your 30 day tourist status for a small fee.

Temporary Resident Permit (The Tam Tru) is a different thing altogether. To get this you need to be in possession of a business visa, employment contract in Vietnam and have undergone a medical examination (amongst other things which I dont need to mention here).

I know this because I have held all 3 in Vietnam before (tourist visa, work visa, temporary resident permit).

You should have posted the question on this board earlier, I would have given you a much easier and cheaper way to get your 30 days extended.

Go to the small bus station near Ben Thanh Market across from the roundabout. Get on a bus to Moc Bai (Cambodian border). Clear VN Immigration, find a nice Cambodian xe om to take you to Cambodian Immigration. Enter Cambodia (Singapore passport visa free for Cambodia). Have a hu tieu nam vang and ca phe sua da for lunch. Exit Cambodia, enter Vietnam. Voila, 30 days again. Total cost = about 3-4 hours, approx. USD 10.

the last option would have been ideal but I can't make the trip for certain reasons. I also thought it was a simple matter to extend but after asking a few travel agents that my local friend knows of, all gave the same reply. somehow, something must be different now. our singapore 30 days entry is not considered a visa and cannot be extended