Vietnam ranks second among six surveyed ASEAN countries and 19th globally as a country where expats are eager to live and work in the 11th annual Expat Explorer survey by Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC).

A foreign director of a manpower company, which opened its representative office in HCMC in May 2018, speaks at an event held by the company 

Expats in Vietnam revealed that they earn on average US$90,408 annually, with 31% of them seeing an income rise of 25% or more, according to the survey released last week.

Vietnam ranks first globally with nearly three quarters (72%) of respondents stating that moving to Vietnam helped them save more, while 72% also agreed that they now have more disposable income than they did in their home countries.

The most popular purpose for their savings or investments is still retirement (43%), followed by buying their first or an additional piece of property (30%). A quarter (26%) of respondents said they own property in Vietnam.

Expats experience other material benefits by moving abroad. More than half (55%) of expats in Vietnam stated that they take more holidays; many also live on a better piece of property (41%), have more household staff (39%) and spend more on their children’s education (16%).

The top three reasons why expats move to Vietnam are finding a new challenge (26%), progressing their career (26%) and improving their quality of life (24%). With these aspirations in mind, almost half (47%) agree that Vietnam is a good place for expats who want to progress their career.

Expat employment also comes with its perks. A vast majority (54%) of expats in Vietnam receive benefits as part of their employment contract, with 73% receiving health and medical allowances; 57% with an annual trip home or airfare allowance; and 42% with an accommodation allowance.

Although the average income for an expat in Vietnam is US$90,000, fewer expats have financial concerns than expats in other countries, partly thanks to the reasonable cost of living and helpful allowances. Two-thirds (66%) of expats in Vietnam remarked that they feel confident about the economy of the Southeast Asian nation.

With regard to their financial wellbeing, the issues that most concern them are more restrictions on moving their money across countries (37%), global economic uncertainty (24%), a less favorable exchange rate (22%) and less job security for expats and their partners (22%) in Vietnam.

The country, however, receives less favorable feedback when it comes to Experience (rank 17th) and Family (rank 26th). Only 42% of expats in Vietnam agreed that they enjoyed a better overall quality of life, covering everything from health to culture.

Thinking of their early experience of life as an expat in Vietnam, less than one-third (27%) of expats enjoyed the ease of organizing their finances, in terms of opening a bank account, getting insurance and making tax payments, and more than one-third (35%) experienced healthcare issues such as needing a local doctor and getting insurance without difficulty.

Besides this, only 18% of expat parents agreed that the quality of childcare in Vietnam was better than that in their home country.

SGT