Aircoco

Didn't have any problem when passing through the custom just a few days ago.

imm2b

I have been in/out of VN a dozen times since 1994. The only time I've given bribes was on my first trip in 1994, nothing on subsequence trips.

My last trip in 2005, I "heard" the Vietnamese gov't had realized that airport bribery is damaging to the country's tourism industry. They installed monitoring cameras to deter bribery. Since, a job as a Customs Officer is quite plum in VN, the risk of loosing one's job for taking a $5 bribe is no longer worth it.

jimbo99

Do you mind my asking if you are of VN origin?

I'm not sure if bribery really is causing a tourism problem - I don't think I've ever met a (non VK) tourist who has had a problem. Before they go, I suppose the perception is there. Once tourists have been, other issues seem more of concern when they consider returning. General lack of facilities, inconsistent services, hasslesome visa requirements, petty theft, hotel mess-ups, all seem higher up the list.

Disagree that a Customs/Immigration job is such a plum job. Like many public sector jobs in VN, one of the key benefits is the extent to which you can get bribes and I think this is wildly overestimated by the would-be employees who often have to bribe their way in, as I mentioned earlier.

Incidentally a Canadian Vietnamese once told me that he had never had a problem since becoming Canadian. He said that its not just "Viet Kieus" that are targetted but Viet Kieus according to their new homeland. He knew this because originally he'd had another (non-Vietnamese) passport and he'd had more trouble then. He claimed that certain governments had applied pressure to the Vietnamese government over this issue and accordingly officials were more wary of causing their nationals trouble.

This is just an anecdote, but I did wonder about aaac's post (aaac - you give your location as YUL, are you a Canadian passport holder?). In the case of my UK VK friend, I cannot accept that she was in anyway to blame for her situation. She's a successful business woman and "carries herself" very well. She refused to pay the bribe and she WAS detained. In the end a lawyer got her some kind of court order and she left a few days later. She was completely in the right - yes they had no power to prevent her from boarding. But as she didn't pay, they did detain her. Since my earlier post I checked with her what they had said. Immigration had refused to let her through on the grounds she couldn't show an entry visa to the UK. (!!). She was travelling on her UK passport. They said that since they didn't recognise her UK nationality, they couldn't recognise her right to enter the UK on a passport they didn't recognise as being hers. So they couldn't let her depart Vietnam. Completely ridiculous!

I agree with the gist of aaac's post. The propensity for some VKs to cough up the cash does drive expectations. I've heard some say "I always put $20 in passport to avoid a problem". They are quite pro-active about this - and I think those that moved to "tipping" cultures are the worst offenders.

Here's an example. I had an issue with the police once (not at the airport). Whilst I was arguing the point, an American Vietnamese came over. Being as I'm a white guy, he understandably wrongly assumed that I couldn't speak Vietnamese. He offered to help and I said I was fine. I continued the debate with the policeman a little longer when the American Vietnamese chipped in and the policeman started talking to him. Seconds later the Vietnamese American got his wallet out, paid the guy $10 and it was all over. The Vietnamese American (who was over for 2 weeks) then told me (who was living and working in Saigon at the time) that I should "learn how things work over here" and apologised that his homeland was the way it is.