Moving to Vietnam from New Zealand

New Zealand passport holders need an e-visa or eTA before a visit to Vietnam, but living there takes a residence permit. The self-funded residency routes we track start at an investment of about $114k, and our residency index rates Vietnam 50/100 for New Zealand citizens (possible, with conditions). We estimate €2,291 a month for a couple living centrally in Da Nang and €2,475 in Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam is in our low to medium tax tier. Check the official requirements before you apply.

Start the quiz

12 questions, about 4 minutes, no account needed. Taking the quiz is free, and so is seeing your #1 city. Full results for both of you are a one-time US$12 (€12 in Europe).

Short stays
e-Visa / eTA
New Zealand passport
Residency
50/100
Possible, with conditions, our index
Tax tier
Low to medium
Moderate personal income tax
Est. cost for two
From €2,291/mo
Da Nang, our estimate

Living there long term

Our residency index: 50/100, possible, with conditions. It is our own rating of how realistic long-term residency in Vietnam is for New Zealand citizens, based on the routes Vietnam publishes. Realistic long-term residency runs through an employer-sponsored work-permit temporary residence card or the DT investor visa, since Vietnam has no retirement, passive-income, or digital-nomad route and its touted 10-year golden visa remains an unenacted proposal.

The cheapest self-funded routes we track:

  • Investment: about $114k (Vietnam DT3 investor visa, capital contribution VND 3 billion (lowest tier granting a multi-year temporary residence card), converted at 26,348.5 VND/USD; as of June 2026)

Check the official requirements before you apply: amounts, conditions and exchange rates change, and what a couple needs can differ from a single applicant's threshold.

For short visits, New Zealand passport holders need an e-visa or eTA before a visit, according to the passport-index dataset. Short-stay entry covers visits; living there takes a residence permit.

Source: OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed approximations researched against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. Not legal advice: check the official source before you apply. Short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT).

Where in Vietnam to start

Ranked by our match model for a typical couple who both hold New Zealand passports, using the preset answers of our best places to live list. Your own answers would change the order. We pick the cities, up to five, by how often English Wikipedia readers looked them up over the past year.

  1. 1. Haiphong

    63% match
    Est. cost
    €2,347/mo
    Avg temp
    24°C
    Safety index
    62/100

  2. 2. Hanoi

    63% match
    Est. cost
    €2,432/mo
    Avg temp
    24°C
    Safety index
    62/100

  3. 3. Da Nang

    60% match
    Est. cost
    €2,291/mo
    Avg temp
    26°C
    Safety index
    62/100

  4. 4. Huế

    60% match
    Est. cost
    €2,297/mo
    Avg temp
    26°C
    Safety index
    62/100

  5. 5. Ho Chi Minh City

    58% match
    Est. cost
    €2,475/mo
    Avg temp
    28°C
    Safety index
    62/100

Cost of living for two

Our estimate for a couple living centrally runs from €2,291 a month in Da Nang to €2,475 in Ho Chi Minh City. For comparison, we estimate €3,812 a month in Auckland. Use these figures to compare places rather than to set a budget.

Source: our cost model: a country-level cost-of-living index scaled for city size, from our city dataset (last rebuilt June 2026). An estimate, not a survey of current prices.

Taxes

Vietnam is in our low to medium tax tier (moderate personal income tax); New Zealand is in our low to medium tax tier (moderate personal income tax). Tiers describe each country's own income tax. They do not cover tax you may still owe in New Zealand after you leave, or the treaty between the two countries, so check both with a tax adviser before you move.

Source: OurNextCity tax tiers, assigned by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation, with no fixed rate cut-offs. Coarse by design; not tax advice.

Compare cities in Vietnam

Lists with cities in Vietnam

Moving to Vietnam from elsewhere

Every country and origin we cover

How we built this page

Every figure here comes from the datasets behind our city and country pages:

  • Short-stay entry: the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT license), which records the entry rule for short visits on each passport.
  • Residency index, routes and thresholds: the OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. It is a summary, not legal advice.
  • City ranking: our match model, the one behind the quiz, run with a typical couple's preset answers and both partners holding New Zealand passports. It ranks up to five of the country's best-known cities: of the cities in our quiz (100,000 people or more, capitals and a few towns movers seek out, such as Faro), the five most read about on English Wikipedia over the past year. It folds suburbs into their main city and leaves out countries with a residency index under 40 and areas under a US State Department Level 4 advisory, as our best-cities lists do.
  • Costs: our cost model, a country-level cost-of-living index scaled for city size, from our city dataset (last rebuilt June 2026).
  • Tax tiers: three coarse bands we assign by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation.