Working in Ho Chi Minh City (or any city in Southeast Asia)

tomo — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 10:19:52 +0000

Last week I was interviewed by Sketch Magazine, a monthly publication for Vietnam's Japanese community. So the September issue will feature a little something of my thoughts on living in Vietnam from a foreigner or Viet Kieu perspective.

One question that came up was: How did I end up in Vietnam? And why?

This is a question that's pretty commonly asked in the expat community. Nobody chooses where they were born but we expats all had some say in the foreign country we moved to. I traveled around North America, Europe, Asia, and some of Latin America before deciding I wanted to live somewhere in Southeast Asia, finally settling on Ho Chi Minh City.

When I ask others how they ended up here I get a variety of answers. You could split them into "planned" and "accidently". Those who ended up here accidently stayed because of:

a girl (often now an ex-)
came on holiday and became addicted to cheap beer
came for school and decided to stay (a lot of Germans, Koreans, and Australians)

Others come here due to Vietnamese blood relations, and some come specifically for the business opportunities. And then there are the true expats, the ones who were sent here or came to work for a specific job. Traditionally, they would get a fat expat compensation package with housing allowances (thus driving up housing costs for all) and other perks, but this is changing.

So what do those expats who didn't come here with a job in hand already do?

1. Freelance. With Vietnam connected to the world via internet (barely, sometimes), many of us with creative skills such as programming or writing can continue to work for clients back home. Due to the much lower cost of living compared to Western countries, one doesn't need to work as many hours or maintain as many clients as before.

2. Find a job. This is a bit harder since there may not be the breadth of positions available to match your specific work experience. Having a PhD in some applied science may be worthless here. Nobody may have heard of the university you thought was famous. But most people I know eventually get a real job here (ignoring survivorship bias).

3. Make your own job. This could be by starting a company, something which is within the reach of most foreigners here, whereas it would have been a highly risky use of savings back home. Others shop their skillset around to companies who might not have had a position open if you can make them realize you are the solution they just weren't looking for.

4. Teach English. This is what people do while they are in the process of #2 or #3. Some people do this for years. Teaching English in Vietnam is the easiest way to make decent money in Vietnam, assuming you're from the US, the UK, Canada, or Australia/New Zealand (but they also hire good English speakers from the Philippines, Europe, and other countries). Teachers are in high demand and salaries are often more than you'd make back home. Teachers don't even need high school degrees, much less college degrees. Some English teachers find a school before coming here, but it's absolutely not necessary. The situation is similar in neighboring countries like Cambodia and Thailand. But with low cost of living and high salaries, Vietnam is probably one of the best countries to come and teach English in.

That covers the where, the what, and the why. But how? It used to be quite easy for most Westerners to stay in Vietnam on a 6-month business visa without actually having any business here. They've since cracked down a bit but it's still possible and quite common to stay on a 3-month tourist visa renewed multiple times. The laws on the book (not so much in practice) are always changing though, so more on that next time.

teaching english

Working in Ho Chi Minh City (or any city in Southeast Asia)