Vietnam will grant visa exemptions to its overseas emigres, or Viet Kieu, and their spouses and children from September 1, state media reported Monday in the communist country. The move is part of Vietnam's drive for closer links with its diaspora of nearly three million people and tap their expertise and wealth to boost the developing country's rapid economic growth.
Ethnic Vietnamese who hold foreign passports and their immediate family members will benefit from the policy approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, said published newspaper reports by the Vietnam News Agency (VNA).
Viet Kieu will need to gain visa exemption certificates valid for five years that will allow them to return to their former homeland for 90-day stays, with extensions available in-country, said VNA. Expecting a rush of applications, the foreign ministry's Committee for Overseas Vietnamese (COV) has sent 200,000 of the certificates to embassies overseas, said the report published in the English-language Vietnam News daily. To qualify, overseas Vietnamese need to submit a document that proves they are ethnically Vietnamese, said VNA.
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