VietNamNet Bridge – Six months after being introduced, the online registration of foreigners’ accommodations in Viet Nam has yielded effective results, according to police authorities and hotels.

Foreigners take a selfie at Ha Noi’s Hoan Kiem Lake on New Year’s Eve 2016/2017.

The online registration has been used since mid-February, allowing those who host or provide accommodations for foreigners residing in Viet Nam to create accounts on the websites of immigration management offices of provincial and municipal police forces.

They can then update the information - name, gender, nationality, date of birth and passport numbers - of the foreigners staying with them or at their accommodations upon their arrival.

Nguyen Hoang Thai, a receptionist at the Splendid Hotel on Hang Hanh Street in Ha Noi, said the online registration was convenient for both the hotel and guests.

Tran Quoc Tuan, service manager of the Apricot Hotel on Hang Trong Street, said the internet-based residence registration saves time, labour and travel cost by precluding the need to go in person to the ward police station to report on foreign clients’ check-in and check-out.

Caption Tran Trung Kien, vice head of Hang Trong Ward Police, said the ward located in a busy downtown area in Ha Noi gets registrations of about 1,500 foreigners daily. Police have instructed and encouraged accommodation units to use the online registration, Kien said.

Major General Bach Thanh Dinh, vice director of Ha Noi Police, told Ha Noi Moi (New Ha Noi) newspaper that the implementation of the online temporary residence registration was a milestone in the city’s administrative reform, facilitating the stay of foreign visitors and workers. It also helps police get quick updates to better ensure social security, he said.

Dinh said that since the beginning of this year, about two million foreigners had their temporary residence reported in Ha Noi. The number accounted for over 30 per cent of foreign visitors to Viet Nam.

Dinh said that police usually faced difficulties in overseeing and managing foreigners’ temporary residence because accommodation units ignore reporting requirements or submit wrongly-filled or late reports.

Paper-based temporary residence registration must be submitted to local commune/ward police within 12 hours. The time can be extended to 24 hours in remote areas.

VNS