Photo: Collected

As a country located in the humid tropical monsoon region, Vietnam is blessed by nature with a rich climate, water source, soil, etc creating the perfect growing environment for flowers. Especially at the end of the year, provinces and cities across Vietnam are filled with dreamy flower seasons waiting for tourists to explore.

1. Sapa Cherry Blossom Season

All over the Internet, cherry blossom trees in Sapa Town are in their full bloom during December and January of Vietnam. Tourists are captured standing under the trees filled with dreamy pink color and taking pictures, which makes the beauty of Sapa more vivid and soulful in this time of the year.

Photo: Vietnam Booking

As a gift from Japan, cherry blossoms are held in high esteem thanks to their pleasant scent and gorgeous visual appeal. Especially, the cherry blossom trees in Sa Pa have flourished and bloomed magnificently for many consecutive years with perfect weather conditions and dedicated care from local people.

2. Ha Giang Buckwheat Flower Season

Have you ever wondered why the cold weather of Northern Vietnam can nurture so many beautiful flowers? Ha Giang - another of Vietnam's northern points, has annually attracted visitors to this province by its iconic buckwheat flowers. 

Photo: Huynh Nhi, VnExpress

From the ground, tiny buckwheat bounties bloom brightly and come together to create a graceful pink carpet that adorns the whole area. At the end of September, the white flowers show up on their yearly schedule. As October transitions into November, the petals alter to a pink hue. And at maturity by the conclusion of December, they become a vibrant red.

Tourists can admire these flowers at Yen Minh, Quan Ba, Meo Vac district and the communes of Sung La, Pho Cao, Ma Le in Dong Van district. 

3. Moc Chau White Mustard Flower Season

Around November and December, the weather in Moc Chau is chilly with fog in the beginning of the day and sunshine at midday. The white mustard flowers that bloom along the streets make the atmosphere of Moc Chau quite enchanting during the season. This crop is widely grown in Ang village, Pa Phach village, Coc village in Dong Sang commune, Thai Hung village in Muong Sang commune, etc. 

To someone who has been to Moc Chau (Son La), the memories of white mustard flowers filled in baskets of ethnic minority children surely left a deep and remarkable impression on them. 

4. Nghe An Sunflower Season

Based in Nghe An, TH True Milk on their mission to bring high-quality nutrition products to Vietnamese households has grown the biggest sunflower field in Vietnam, and now it is also one of the most photogenic hotspots for travelers at the end of the year.

Photo: Sach Nguyen

As the weather changes, sunflowers come into full bloom across Nghe An, creating a stunning landscape of golden tones. The cheerful blooms dance in the wind, creating a captivating and delightful spectacle that enthralls visitors and locals.

5. Da Lat Pink Grass Season

The Da Lat Pink Grass Season is an enthralling natural occurrence that changes the scenery of Da Lat, a picturesque city in the Central Highlands of Vietnam. This captivating event usually takes place in the late autumn and early winter, turning the hills and valleys into a breathtaking sight of pink.

Photo: Nguyen Khac Tung

The Pink Grass, scientifically referred to as Imperata cylindrica, covers wide stretches, forming an extraordinary visual presentation. As the grass undergoes a remarkable transformation, its vivid green color develops into a gentle, enchanting pink, spreading a dreamlike atmosphere over the landscape.

Photo: Thanh Nien

When Vietnam first introduced the concept of Citizen Identity Cards that integrated all basic personal information of Vietnamese citizens including passports, many people wondered whether this card (with chips and without chips) can replace passports entirely for entry/exit purposes.

First, we need to look at their definitions.

What is Citizen Identity Card?

According to Clause 1, Article 3 Law on Citizen Identification:

“Citizen identification means basic information about the origin and identity of a citizen in accordance with this Law”

Pursuant to Clause 1, Article 18 of the Law on Citizen Identification 2014, a citizen identity card has the following information:

• On the front side of a card, there are the national emblem of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; the words “Cong hoa xa hoi chu nghia Viet Nam, Doc lap - Tu do - Hanh phuc” (The Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Independence - Freedom - Happiness); the words “Can cuoc cong dan” (Citizen identification); photo, citizen identity card number, family name, middle name and first name, birthdate, gender, nationality, native place, place of permanent residence; and expiry date.
• On the back side of a card, there is an encoded place for information storage; fingerprints, characteristics for identification of the card holder; date of card issuance; family name, middle name, first name, title and signature of the card issuer, and a seal bearing the national emblem of the card-issuing agency.

What is Passport?

Passport is a government-owned document that the Ministry of Public Security issued to Vietnamese residents for entry and exit, for the purpose of nationality and identity verification. 

To put it simply, if you want to leave the country, one of the important and required documents is the Passport - it is extremely important for immigration purposes in Vietnam and other countries. In the world, Passport also replaces Identity Cards to perform some transactions in some specific cases. 

So, can Citizen Identity Cards replace passports?

Also stately clearly at Article 20 Law on Citizen Identification,

Article 20. Use validity of citizen’s identity cards

“1. Citizen identity card is a personal paper of a Vietnamese citizen which proves citizen identification of the card holder for conducting transactions in the Vietnamese territory.

2. Citizen identity cards shall be used instead of passports in case Vietnam and a foreign country have signed a treaty or international agreement permitting citizens of the signatories to use citizen identity cards instead of passports in each other’s territory.”

Citizen identification cards can only be used instead of passports in cases where Vietnam and a foreign country sign treaties or international agreements that allow citizens of the signing countries to use them. Thus, the Citizen Identification Card is not a substitute for a passport when traveling to all countries around the world.

However, in the Discussion on the draft Vietnamese Citizen Identification Law on June 22, 2023, Delegate Nguyen Thi Thuy, Deputy Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Judicial Committee expressed some problems may arise in store upon replacing passports by Citizen identification cards. 

Delegate Nguyen Thi Thuy, Deputy Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Judicial Committee (Photo by Gia Han)

“ICAO guidance is valid for all countries and carriers. But Articles 16 and 19 of the draft regulations on identification data and identification cards have absolutely no information about passports, so they cannot be used as a substitute for a passport. It is necessary to research accordingly in case you want to use an ID card instead of a passport," said Delegate Thuy.

Vietnamese people are advised to bring along passports when entering or exiting any countries and territories, even though they are in the list of countries accepting Citizen Identification cards.

Photo: There are 10 Autogate that have been installed and tested at the international terminal, Tan Son Nhat airport. Of these, 5 machines serve exiting procedures and 5 machines serve immigration procedures. (Lao Dong)

Autogate is an automatic entry/exit gate control system implemented at five international airports in Vietnam, namely Da Nang, Noi Bai, Cam Ranh, Tan Son Nhat, and Phu Quoc International Airport. Instead of queuing in line for ground staff to check manually, Vietnamese citizens and foreigners now can easily go through Autogate with advanced technologies including facial recognition, passport scanning, and extraction of information from electronic chips to autonomously ascertain the identity and details of passengers during entry or exit from the country. 

The Autogate application is hoped to help expedite immigration procedures, decrease the number of employees working at airport security desks, and improve security measures all at the same time.

The only limit in this initial phase (about 2 years) is that Autogate only allows Vietnamese nationals with valid passports (Diplomatic passport, Official passport, or ABTC card) and foreigners with valid residence cards or temporary residence cards issued by authorized Vietnam government agencies.

Instructions on using Autogate system in Vietnam's international airports (Data source: The Tan Son Nhat International Airport Border Gate Police)

After 6 months, most of the concerns and problems related to Autogate arising from… passports. Vietnameses came back to their home country from overseas often forgot to check whether their passports are chip based or not. If not, they have to register to use this system beforehand. 

“Normally, if a passenger registers at a convenient time such as morning shift, afternoon shift, or night shifts that are not too late, the leader on duty will immediately approve the request. In the case of passengers registering manually at the airport, too late at night, if the unit leaders are not awake at the right time, there will be no one to review”, said one staff working in Tan Son Nhat International Airport. 

Other problems such as scanning glitch, wrong data, inconsistent information, etc of the Autogate system have also caused confusion among Vietnameses and foreigners. The authority in Tan Son Nhat International Airport explained that the Autogate system requires a long time to perfect its data collection function, as well as the user's proper passport information. Namely, there are many cases where passengers have incompatible passport features, passports that are too old, or images that do not match their current face due to editing or aesthetic surgery, etc. 

Overall, Autogate may not have been meeting the expectations of Vietnamese nationals at the moment, especially foreigners who wish to enter Vietnam with ease; it is still in the first phase and there’s a chance to improve in the near future.

Photo courtesy of VOI

In honor of The 30th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the Kingdom of Oman, the two countries decided to sign a mutual visa waiver agreement for diplomatic, special, and official passport holders in Hanoi - the capital of Vietnam on April 28, 2022. 

Specifically, citizens of Vietnam and Oman who possess diplomatic, special, and official passports with a validity of at least six months will receive visa-free privileges, allowing entry, stay, transit, and exit for up to 90 days from the date of entry. This initiative aims to enhance economic and tourism collaboration between the two nations.

In Vietnam, Official Passports are issued to government officials abroad because of the state civil service. Diplomatic Passports are issued to government diplomatic officials traveling abroad on business. 

These kinds of passports are valid for 05 years from the date of issuance and are entitled to all countries. This passport holder has priority over the special port entry and priority visa-free entry under the provisions of the destination countries.

Diplomatic relations between Vietnam and Oman were established on June 9, 1992, leading to the formation of the Oman-Vietnam Joint Venture Investment Company (VOI) in 2008. 

This visa waiver policy of both countries has expressed clearly their goodwill and directions: opening the door for future meetings between officials of the two nations, as well as promoting each other’s tourism to respective visitors and travelers.