Vietnam seems so awesome. The deprogram episode interviewing Luna (read her book btw, it’s good) had so many small details about regular life that really made me wish I had marketable skills to move there. Like, sit down food places just give you fresh veggies as an appetizer while you order. Free fresh vegetables. You’d never have something like that in the west. I think she said the reason is it’s basically free for the place because of how subsidized healthy food and veggies are.
American who moved to Vietnam 9 months ago, and I can confirm its amazing. The only downside is how hot it gets. I'm from Oklahoma/Texas, and it's hotter here.
I work remotely as IT support for my old company back home still. We got here because my partner got her TEFL certification and teaches English for Apollo here in Hanoi. It's a 120-hr cert that - with any college degree - will definitely get you a job and a work permit in Vietnam. I'm here as her dependent. We were also able to bring our two cats over with minimal-ish hassle.
EDIT: A little more info, I had to switch from a full-time employee to a contracted employee for tax purposes. I also registered my own business to make it easier for them from a contract and invoicing perspective which cost me about 80 dollars. I worked out going from 40 hours a week to 20 hours a week, so I work 6p-10p local time here which is currently 7am-11am EST (though DST will mess with this when we get there).
I had another friend who was out here (in Thailand and Indonesia) for a while who worked in phone support/phone sales from out here. The hours were bad (he worked nights to align with daytime hours in the US), but he was able to extend his stay for quite some time out here. He and his partner never secured a 1 or two year permit anywhere though, so they stayed moving back and forth a bit on the longer-term tourist visas that both of those countries allowed.
Vietnam seems so awesome. The deprogram episode interviewing Luna (read her book btw, it’s good) had so many small details about regular life that really made me wish I had marketable skills to move there. Like, sit down food places just give you fresh veggies as an appetizer while you order. Free fresh vegetables. You’d never have something like that in the west. I think she said the reason is it’s basically free for the place because of how subsidized healthy food and veggies are.
American who moved to Vietnam 9 months ago, and I can confirm its amazing. The only downside is how hot it gets. I'm from Oklahoma/Texas, and it's hotter here.
I’m from SC, I can handle humid hot. If you don’t mind me asking, what skills allowed you to get there? I’m open to learning whatever it takes.
I work remotely as IT support for my old company back home still. We got here because my partner got her TEFL certification and teaches English for Apollo here in Hanoi. It's a 120-hr cert that - with any college degree - will definitely get you a job and a work permit in Vietnam. I'm here as her dependent. We were also able to bring our two cats over with minimal-ish hassle.
EDIT: A little more info, I had to switch from a full-time employee to a contracted employee for tax purposes. I also registered my own business to make it easier for them from a contract and invoicing perspective which cost me about 80 dollars. I worked out going from 40 hours a week to 20 hours a week, so I work 6p-10p local time here which is currently 7am-11am EST (though DST will mess with this when we get there).
I had another friend who was out here (in Thailand and Indonesia) for a while who worked in phone support/phone sales from out here. The hours were bad (he worked nights to align with daytime hours in the US), but he was able to extend his stay for quite some time out here. He and his partner never secured a 1 or two year permit anywhere though, so they stayed moving back and forth a bit on the longer-term tourist visas that both of those countries allowed.
Thanks for the info, it certainly sounds doable. Getting out of the states really is my top priority these days.