What happens when your short-term visit visa expires? ... Get an easy extension? Register for 'language school' or other dodges? Suffer a month of quarantine for a visa run? Return to your home country?
Lots of people left but a core of nomads and expats have remained.
They have since slowly begun to dial back the giving out of emergency visa extensions but you can still get a new visa through the normal process. There are even people arriving in Bali recently, on newly-issued visas from overseas.
The scene is obviously quieter here now. There are no tourists, only nomads and retirees who live here.
Honestly it’s pretty nice and I’m glad I stayed.
Visa for work? AFAIK Indonesia has closed its borders to tourism until the end of the year.
Education visa is available for enrolling in a part-time VN language course, which if you want to live here is not a terrible idea anyway.
You do not need to leave the country to change visa type, nor did you need to before the pandemic. This kind of thing is why getting good advice is important.
The weworks in Moscow are amazing, and everyone is following health guidelines very well. Definitely not in a rush to head home, or at least keep riding it out here
- http://kremlin.ru/acts/bank/45441 - https://gupkrd.ru/novosti/prodleno-dejstvie-norm-ukaza-prezi...
I returned to Australia just before that and flights got shut down during my quarantine period. So I've been living in my mother's caravan while having already paid rent on a large tropical island villa that lasted until last month ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
We're thinking about a trip to my home country of New Zealand, but it's a big decision. Our quality of life is very good in Malaysia, even though we spend most of our time in an apartment, and even though there's recently been a spike in coronavirus cases. It's nice to go back to New Zealand for a visit and a short holiday, but I don't really want to get stuck there until the end of 2021 (or even the middle of 2021.)
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We very luckily got our Malaysia long term visa approved in December after 2 years of gathering the necessary documents and 6 months of processing time. We were in Vietnam until November 25th and due to my wife having disturbingly good intuition, we had pre-planned to be in KL for the last week of November "just in case" we happened to get approved sometime before then. Didn't hear anything from our visa agent until the 2nd day we were in KL. We woke up to a text that we were approved and we spent the next 2 days running around the city signing papers, opening bank accounts/health insurance plans, and getting our visa in our passports.
We then went from KL to Kota Kinabalu as we are always there around the end of the year and were there to slowly watch the chaos unfold that we had been pretty aware of since the very beginning since it was the major discussion in nomad circles. As things slowly escalated, CNY came and went right as travel restrictions started to be implemented - slowly a major city for tourism became a ghost town.
We were planning on going to Bali next around March but we were slowly coming to the realization that that was not a good choice. If we were going to be stuck somewhere, Bali was not where we wanted to be. As we were cancelling those plans, Malaysia was about to crack down on foreigners entering the country, providing only a few days notice about incoming restrictions (Sabah and the mainland are considered separate countries essentially in terms of Visas so we very likely would be stuck in KK). Knowing we only had a couple days to act, we cancelled everything (flights, airbnbs etc.) and booked a flight to Penang that we consider "home" in Malaysia and would be the place we could handle being stuck in.
First flight - got an email in the middle of the night that it had been cancelled. Booked another - also got cancelled. Booked a third on the last day before the restrictions went into place - didn’t get cancelled. Furiously packed and noped out of there.
Been in Penang since then (March 18th). We are usually here for about May-August. The local government has handled the pandemic response better than most of the world (including other parts of Malaysia - Penang started taking action before the federal gov). We could not have picked a more safe and comfortable place for us to ride this out and we are very grateful everything worked out amidst the chaos.
Would you please explain why Bali is not a good choice for you?
Why do you prefer Penang over Bali?
Most accommodations (especially in Ubud) are of the "open air villa" variety - they look pretty but aren't the most comfortable and are vulnerable to weather, insects and rats. Power outages and water pump issues are also fairly common. On top of that, if you were to catch COVID in Indonesia (but especially Bali), the hospitals are not really something you want to have to rely on. Lastly, as a "digital nomad" (cringey term, but descriptive) dealing with hardware issues on Bali is expensive and something like Apple Care has multi-month waiting times.
In comparison, Penang is much more modern. Newer apartment buildings with high vacancy rates and lower rent, better grocery stores, better product availability. It's also has some of the best medical care in the world (number 1 from 2019 retirement index). On top of that, you have easy access to lots of hiking, beaches, parks, and world-class food (including arguably the best durian in the world).
We have been going to both almost every year for the last 5 years, but Penang is definitely a better long-term option for us and Bali is more of a vacation.
Vietnam's government handled the situation rather well, so by pure luck I ended up being in one of the safest countries in the world through the Spring. When it came time to leave, a border guard tried to scam me into paying some fine or bribe by suggesting that my visa had expired. It didn't wash because I had done my homework and I had prepared to have on-hand the government's official website which explains in Vietnamese that all tourist visa are automatically extended for free.
Travel is still possible, but you need to be well-prepared, and you need a certain level of financial and temporal freedom.
If you are unsure (and asking questions here would suggest that) then do yourself (and everyone else) a favour and just stay home.
Just to avoid the proliferation of misinformation about this: the government is not punishing overstayers upon exit if they entered the country after a certain date (March iirc). Visas are not being automatically extended.
Here is one source in English: https://vietnamnews.vn/society/748936/free-visa-waivers-exte...
Another source in English: https://vn.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/covid-19-infor...
Another source in English, this time from the official Vietnamese government website: https://xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn/en/tin-tuc/notice-“automatic-sta...
If you don’t, it can be problematic to incorrectly believe that your visa has been extended. The law that was passed to enable the “automatic stay extension” refers to overstay fines being waived when the tourist subsequently leaves VN. If you instead don’t leave, you may face difficulties or costs to legalise your status. In the meantime, you can’t do many things like open a bank account or get a drivers license, since those things require valid visas and you don’t have one.
(I’m currently in VN, working closely with an immigration lawyer, and have seen first-hand the issues caused by people not understanding their status while they are on this “automatic stay extension”.)
Most importantly, I can get access to nature and place to do sports everyday, it helps a lot.
And overall during the day, I just pay attention not hanging outside with my cellphone in my hand or stuff like that (even if it's okay and everybody do it).
On the other hand, If you go/live in the north of Rio de Janeiro, it feels like theses places haven't seen public money for a lots of time. And lots of robbery at gun point happen, and there are various places controlled by factions/militia, so that's particular.
But on my day to day life, It's totally okay, I can enjoy life easily.
Many countries in Asia developed short-term extensions to keep people already in country there. A huge population skirting rules and spreading coronavirus, that they couldn't track, would be a bigger issue than one they could track.
Some returned home when the US sent out a barrage of emails and press warning that "overseas countries could become unlivable and you could get trapped". Most travel insurance schemes threatened to cancel policies if you didn't return home between February and March.
Many people I know figured out legitimate visa solutions that were compatible with their existing goals, like continuing to freelance, run a business, or get a job.
Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia & Indonesia seem to have been accommodating, at least for those already living semi-permanently before March. Other countries wanted to give those staying long-term a gentle nudge to go home.
Planning to be in VN until the next spring.
Preferably I would like to fly to Mainland China soon for business and also personal reasons and would be willing to stay in 14 days' quarantine for that, but it's still proving difficult due to visa paperwork (a so-called "PU letter" is needed) issues.
I'll enter thru Croatia or Slovenia which allows travelers from the US. I'm hoping I'll find my way to Western Europe crossing by land.
I can go online and buy a flight right now. Let’s say my airline let’s me board without a business visa (which they likely won’t). When I arrive in the EU are they saying, “No you must book the first return flight home” or is it similar to the deportation process? I’m curious because I haven’t actually seen any information about what is happening to people upon arrival without the right visa.
I do not know this for certain but I believe this is the process followed if someone (somehow) manages to board an international flight without a valid passport
Language schools are not operating, or not in person, so depending on the government rules they might reject an application based on that.
I returned to my 'home country' in August, got scared after meeting several people who got COVID while abroad and had to deal with it alone.