Bao viet nam

Vietnam okays e-visa for citizens of 80 countries from July 1

May 27, 2020 by hanoitimes.vn

The Hanoitimes – The government also revealed a list of border gates and airports that will allow the entry of e-visa holders.

The Vietnamese government has made public a list of 80 countries whose citizens are eligible for e-visa to enter Vietnam as well as a list of international border gates that allow the entry of e-visa holders from July 1.

Noi Bai International Airport prepares to welcome a number of foreign visitors once the regulation on issuing e-visa takes effect into July 1. Photo: Vietnam News

The new regulation, Resolution No.79/NQ-CP, was issued by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in line with the Law on Entry, Exit, Transit and Residence of Foreigners in Vietnam.

Nationals of Austria, Poland, Belgium, Portugal, the UAE, Germany, India, South Korea, the US, Italy, Finland, France, China, Brazil, Canada, Russia, the UK, Japan, Spain, among others, are allowed to enter Vietnam if granted e-visas.

E-visas procedures are carried out at eight international airports, 16 international land border crossings and 13 sea ports across the country.

Eight airports that accept e-visas are Noi Bai, Tan Son Nhat, Cam Ranh, Da Nang, Cat Bi, Can Tho, Phu Quoc and Phu Bai.

Sixteen land border crossings processing e-visas are Tay Trang (Dien Bien province), Mong Cai (Quang Ninh province), Huu Nghi (Lang Son province), Lao Cai (Lao Cai province); Na Meo (Thanh Hoa province), Nam Can (Nghe An province), Cau Treo (Ha Tinh province), Cha Lo (Quang Binh province), La Lay, Lao Bao (Quang Tri province), Bo Y (Kon Tum), Moc Bai, Xa Mat (Tay Ninh province), Tinh Bien, Song Tien (An Giang province), and Ha Tien (Kien Giang province).

Thirteen seaports that accept e-visas are Hon Gai, Cam Pha in Quang Ninh province, Hai Phong, Nghi Son in Thanh Hoa province, Vung Ang in Ha Tinh province, Chan May in Thua Thien-Hue province, Da Nang, Nha Trang in Khanh Hoa province, Quy Nhon in Binh Dinh province, Dung Quat in Quang Ngai province, Vung Tau in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, Ho Chi Minh City, Duong Dong in Kien Giang province.

The e-visa granting program for travelers from 40 countries was launched on February 1, 2017 and was piloted for two years.

The pilot scheme did not require foreigners to be sponsored or invited by organizations or individuals in Vietnam to be eligible for the e-visas as long as they have valid passports and are citizens of one of the 40 listed countries.

Foreigners are not required to show up at diplomatic missions of Vietnam in their countries, get interviewed or scan their fingers to apply for e-visas.

Foreign citizens from 80 countries will be allowed to enter Vietnam using e-visa. Photo: Tienphong Online.

Until now, Vietnam has suspended entry for all foreign citizens to prevent and control the Covid-19 pandemic. Only Vietnamese citizens, foreigners on diplomatic and official business, and highly-skilled laborers are allowed to enter the country. Everyone entering the country must comply with medical checks and the compulsory 14-day quarantine upon arrival.

Due to Covid-19, all foreigners who entered Vietnam after March 1 on visa exemptions, e-visas or tourism visas will be given automatic stay extensions at no charge until June 30.

“After June 30, if the situation of the pandemic does not improve or the transportation and healthcare policies of other countries remains unchanged, we will continue to propose to extend validity period of the policy,” Senior Colonel Dang Tuan Viet from the Immigration Department told Vietnam News.

KMS launches electronic know-your-customer platform for Southeast Asian banks

March 4, 2021 by bizhub.vn

A KMS office in the US. — Photo courtesy of KMS Technology

KMS Solutions, a subsidiary of US engineering and software services company KMS Technology, has launched an electronic know-your-customer (eKYC) platform targeting Southeast Asia’s banking sector.

It automates the verification, identification and extraction of data from images and documents.

Le Huu Tan Tai, digital banking solution director at KMS Solutions, said: “Banking needs to stand at the forefront of digital transformation as it directly impacts the economy at large. However, Southeast Asia, and Viet Nam in particular, still faces certain challenges when undertaking digital banking.

“Thanks to our experience in implementing digital banking for established banks across the world, KMS is well-positioned to support banks in the region with accelerating their digital transformation faster, more effectively and more securely.”

eKYC allows banks to reduce the time needed to verify customer’s information, which otherwise might take days to weeks using traditional methods.

Customers will no longer have to wait in long queues at counters because all the processes are done online.

The solution is researched and developed based on 4.0 technologies such as optical character recognition, face matching, liveness detection, and artificial intelligence.

Le Tran Bao Duy, general director of KMS Solutions, said, “As banks, financial institutions, e-wallets, and securities companies in Viet Nam are actively going digital, the prospects for eKYC solutions are huge.”

eKYC could support at least 35 per cent of the automation process at banks in Viet Nam by 2025, he added. — VNS

Six Hai Duong residents diagnosed with Covid-19

March 4, 2021 by english.thesaigontimes.vn

Six Hai Duong residents diagnosed with Covid-19

The Saigon Times

A medical worker takes samples from a resident for Covid-19 testing. The Ministry of Health has reported six locally-transmitted Covid-19 cases in Hai Duong Province – PHOTO: VNA

HCMC – The Ministry of Health has reported six locally-transmitted Covid-19 cases in Hai Duong Province, raising the country’s tally to 2,488 as of tonight, March 4.

The latest Covid-19 patients, who reside in Kim Thanh District, tested positive for Covid-19 after they had been put under quarantine. They are receiving treatment at the Field Hospital No. 3.

Kim Thanh District’s Kim Dinh Commune with over 2,100 households has been put under lockdown since March 1.

Hai Duong Province ended the 15-day social distancing period on March 3, but tens of areas in nine districts and cities are still on lockdown.

Up to now, the country has seen 1,917 Covid-19 patients make a full recovery.

Thuduc House denies connection with companies to commit tax fraud

March 4, 2021 by english.thesaigontimes.vn

Thuduc House denies connection with companies to commit tax fraud

By Van Phong & Dung Nguyen

An office of Thuduc House. The firm has denied cooperating with other companies to commit tax fraud – PHOTO: TPO

HCMC – Thu Duc Housing Development Corporation (Thuduc House), in its latest announcement, has denied any collusion with 70 companies to commit tax fraud as mentioned in a report by the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

In response to the customs agency’s report on some southern firms’ appropriation of value added tax (VAT) refunds, smuggling and illegal cross-border cargo transport, Thuduc House said it had no connection with Saigon Southwest Trading JSC, a subsidiary of Saigon Trading Group, as well.

As for the trade of electronic accessories, from 2018 to 2019, Thuduc House purchased the products from a domestic partner, An Lanh Phat Co., Ltd, through its subsidiary–Thuduc House Wood Trading JSC–and exported them to other countries.

Thuduc House, Thuduc House Wood Trading and An Lanh Phat are operating legally, with seals, legal representatives and headquarters and have sufficiently paid VAT as well.

Regarding the news that one of the importers of the products of Thuduc House could not import the products to Hong Kong and two others in Cambodia had no import data in 2018 and 2019, Thuduc House explained that it did not know if its partners had complied with their countries’ regulations and had no jurisdiction to ask them to prove their compliance with the law.

According to Thuduc House, KGL Vietnam Company, which transports the products of Thuduc House, confirmed that it had transported the products to the Phnom-Penh International Airport in Cambodia and the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong and handed them over to the importers.

The conclusions of the inspectors of the HCMC Tax Department and the report of the General Department of Vietnam Customs are being verified. Courts and investigative agencies have yet to conclude that Thuduc House falsified documents to get VAT refunds.

Earlier, the HCMC Tax Department had ordered Thuduc House to pay more than VND451.3 billion in the tax refunds the firm is alleged to have illegally received from the tax authorities by asking banks to extract money from the company’s accounts and block all of its accounts.

The firm later opposed the HCMC Tax Department’s decision and filed a lawsuit against the taxman to the municipal People’s Court.

The court temporarily suspended the tax agency’s decision but withdrew its decision several days later.

According to the General Department of Vietnam Customs, Thuduc House exported nearly VND5.3 trillion worth of electronic accessories from February 17, 2017, to August 2, 2019. It later received VAT refunds valued at VND261 billion.

Enterprises selling the products to Thuduc House regularly changed their information about their headquarters, owners and legal representatives.

According to the customs agency, Thuduc House and its partners established subsidiaries to purchase local products at low prices, then exported them at much higher prices and appropriated tax refunds of hundreds of Vietnamese dong, causing huge losses for the State budget.

The Investigative Police Department for Corruption, Smuggling and Economic Crimes under the Ministry of Public Security has detained 20 people and seized 200 seals of local and foreign units involved in the case.

Air passengers without online health declaration to be denied security screening

March 4, 2021 by english.thesaigontimes.vn

Air passengers without online health declaration to be denied security screening

The Saigon Times

Passengers conduct check-in procedures at kiosks at the HCMC-based Tan Son Nhat International Airport. Air passengers who fail to make online health declarations while they complete check-in procedures online or at kiosks will be denied security screening at airports – PHOTO: VNA

HCMC – Air passengers who fail to make online health declarations while they complete check-in procedures online or at kiosks will be denied security screening at airports.

The security screening staff members at airports will have to ask these passengers to contact ground service employees to complete health declarations in line with the prevailing regulations, according to a dispatch sent by the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) to the relevant agencies and units.

CAAV also told local air carriers to work with the country’s airports to support passengers and give them guidelines on how to make online health declarations before they board the aircraft.

Besides, the authority asked the airports to inform foreign airlines and units and organizations active at the airports about the regulation on security screening, Nguoi Lao Dong Online reported.

Following the Transport Ministry’s directive on March 2, the CAAV wrote to the relevant agencies and units proposing that they closely collaborate with the provinces and cities to proactively apply Covid-19 infection prevention and control measures. The provinces and cities were also told to facilitate goods transportation and not to ban markets to make life easy for production and daily activities.

System error hinders recovery of main index

March 4, 2021 by english.thesaigontimes.vn

System error hinders recovery of main index

The Saigon Times

An electronic stock quotation board shows local stock prices at a brokerage firm in HCMC. The benchmark VN-Index of the Hochiminh Stock Exchange closed in negative territory today, March 4 – PHOTO: THANH HOA

HCMC – The benchmark VN-Index of the Hochiminh Stock Exchange closed in negative territory today, March 4, as order placing activities were slowed down due to a system error which has recently occurred on the bourse, especially in the afternoon.

With the number of decliners nearly quadrupling that of advancers at 362 to 95, the main index lost 18.43 points, or 1.55% against the previous session at 1,168.52.

Turnover on the HCMC market improved over 6% in volume and 10% in value over the session earlier at more than 670 million shares and some VND16.8 trillion. Block deals contributed around VND1.5 trillion to the total value.

In the VN30 basket, financial stocks deeply declined, with financial service provider TCH, brokerage SSI, lenders TPB, STB, TCB, MBB plunging 3-4.2%.

Besides this, insurer BVH, consumer goods producer MSN, tech firm FPT, lender BID, retailer VRE dropped 2.1-2.8%, while lender VCB, housing developer VHM, steelmaker HPG and some others fell slightly.

Steelmaker HPG led the HCMC market by liquidity with nearly 28 million shares changing hands. Lenders STB, MBB, TCB reported the respective matching volume of 23.5 million, 23.1 million, 16.1 million shares.

Meanwhile, a host of speculative stocks made gains, including FLC, PVD, PVT, SCR, GEX, and DCM. Of them, property group FLC saw over 23.6 million shares transacted. Also, TLH, TGG, and DQC were among outstanding winners as they hit their upper limits.

In contrast to the southern bourse, trading on the northern bourse was upbeat. The HNX-Index added 1.67 points, or 0.66% versus Wednesday at 255.77. Notably, oil and gas stock PVS soared a whopping 8.4% and was the most actively traded stock on the Hanoi market, with over 27 million shares traded.