Before you start

A temporary residence card or a visa with 12+ months validity
Passport valid 6+ months
A Vietnamese mobile number registered to your passport
Ward police confirmation of temporary residence, as proof of address

Step-by-step

1
Do the chain in order: address, ward declaration, SIM, bank
Every Vietnamese bank sends one-time passwords to a local number and asks for proof of address, which the police residence confirmation provides. Attempting the bank first is the standard wasted morning, and in Da Nang it is a wasted morning in Hải Châu traffic.
In personWho: YouBefore the branch visit
2
Choose a branch with foreigner experience
Vietcombank, BIDV, Techcombank and VPBank all open resident accounts. In Da Nang the branches around Hải Châu's Bạch Đằng and Nguyễn Văn Linh, and the ones serving the beach hotels, deal with foreigners routinely. A suburban branch in Liên Chiểu may simply decline rather than work through an unfamiliar file.
In personWho: You
3
Bring the whole dossier and allow an hour
Passport, visa or TRC, work permit, contract, address confirmation, phone number. Opening deposits range from VND 50,000 to a few million. Card and app are usually issued the same day.
In personWho: YouSame dayOpening deposit VND 50,000–3,000,000
4
Ask for the foreign currency account at the same time
Resident foreigners may hold a USD account alongside the đồng one, which matters if any of your income arrives from abroad. Non-residents face much tighter limits. Adding it later means a second appointment and a second set of forms.
In personWho: You
5
Set up VietQR immediately
QR transfers from the banking app are accepted almost everywhere in Da Nang — market stalls, beach cafés, the mì Quảng place with no sign. They settle instantly and cost nothing. It is the single biggest quality-of-life change between arriving and having a working account.
Mobile appWho: You
6
Learn the outward remittance rules before you need them
Vietnam operates exchange controls, and remitting salary abroad requires documentary proof the income was earned and taxed here. Banks apply this strictly. Remit regularly in modest amounts and keep payslips and withholding statements rather than accumulating a balance you later cannot move quickly.
In personWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Passport valid 6+ months
Temporary residence card or visa with 12+ months validity
Work permit
Labour contract
Ward police confirmation of temporary residence
Vietnamese mobile number registered to your passport

Things most newcomers don’t know

The twelve-month residence validity rule closed the tourist and short-visa route in 2025.

Major Vietnamese banks now require a visa or residence card with at least twelve months remaining before opening a full account, applying State Bank requirements. This hit Da Nang harder than most Vietnamese cities because so many residents here arrived as long-stay visitors on rolling business visas rather than as sponsored employees. There is no branch-level workaround; the fix is the residence card.

Source: State Bank of Vietnam requirements / provider consensus

Remote workers paid from abroad sit in an awkward gap, and should know it.

Da Nang's large remote-working population often has no Vietnamese employer, therefore no work permit, therefore no residence card, therefore no full bank account — while still spending most of the year here and, past 183 days, being a Vietnamese tax resident on worldwide income. The banking limitation and the tax exposure come from opposite directions and people usually notice only one of them. Take advice before your second year.

Source: community-reported / PwC Vietnam

VietQR reaches further down the informal economy than card networks ever did.

Bank-app QR transfers run on Vietnam's domestic interbank rails, cost nothing and settle instantly, which is why a woman selling bánh mì from a cart has a QR code taped to it. In Da Nang you can go days without cash. It also means a bank account is the difference between participating in the ordinary economy and constantly hunting ATMs at foreign-card withdrawal fees.

Source: community-reported

Getting money out of Vietnam is a documentation problem, not a fee problem.

Exchange controls mean outward remittance of salary requires evidence the income was lawfully earned and taxed here — payslips, employer withholding statements, often the annual finalisation. People who save two years of đồng and then attempt one large transfer meet this at the worst possible moment, typically while trying to leave. Remit little and often, and file the tax paperwork you will be asked to produce.

Source: State Bank of Vietnam / provider consensus

Common mistakes to avoid

Arriving on a tourist or short business visa and expecting a full account.
Turning up without a Vietnamese SIM registered to your own passport.
Missing the ward police residence confirmation used as proof of address.
Living here on foreign income for years without checking the 183-day tax position.
Accumulating a large đồng balance and only then learning the outward remittance rules.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.