FIRE in Vietnam: South-East Asia's cheapest country, but no visa for people living off investments

The starting case

We use the same profile as in the article on FIRE in Thailand, so the numbers can be compared:

• a single person who stops working at 50 and moves to Da Nang, the seaside city foreigners living in Vietnam like best;
• from the Italian state pension age, around 67, they receive an INPS pension of about €1,000 a month net, paid 13 times a year;
• market exchange rate on 7 October 2026: €1 = 29,200 dong.

Ho Chi Minh City costs about 15–25% more than Da Nang. Hanoi is a little cheaper than Ho Chi Minh but has serious winter pollution. Hoi An, half an hour from Da Nang, has similar prices.

Three monthly budgets in Da Nang

Item (million dong per month)	Basic	Comfortable	Generous
Rent	8.0	11.0	20.0
Utilities, internet, phone	1.5	2.5	4.0
Food (groceries and eating out)	6.5	9.0	15.0
Transport	1.2	2.0	4.0
Health insurance (at 50)	3.9	5.8	9.7
Medical costs and medicines	0.6	1.0	1.5
Leisure and travel	3.0	5.0	9.0
Household, clothes, other	1.2	2.0	4.0
Visas and border runs	1.6	1.6	1.6
Total in dong	27.5m	39.9m	68.8m
Total in euros	€940	€1,370	€2,360

• Basic (about €940 a month): a simple studio or one-bedroom a few blocks from the sea, Vietnamese food, a scooter, local inpatient insurance.
• Comfortable (about €1,370 a month): a modern one-bedroom near My Khe Beach, international restaurants now and then, a gym, some travel within Vietnam, broader insurance.
• Generous (about €2,360 a month): a sea-view flat with a pool, frequent dinners out, regular regional travel and international insurance covering all of Asia.

Compared with Chiang Mai, Vietnam costs 4% less (basic budget) to 10% less (comfortable budget). On generous budgets the gap disappears: international insurance is expensive everywhere.

Problem number one: the visa

Vietnam has no retirement visa and no visa for people living off investments or working remotely. These are the practical options:

• Visa exemption: Italian citizens can enter without a visa for 45 days, under a Vietnamese government resolution valid until 14 March 2028.
• 90-day e-visa: applied for online, single entry ($25) or multiple entry ($50). When it expires you have to leave the country and apply for a new one. This is the route most foreigners living in Vietnam without a job use.
• Temporary Residence Card: valid one to five years, but only available through investment in a business, an employment contract or family ties with a Vietnamese citizen. For someone living off a portfolio it isn't really an option.

So living in Vietnam all year means four border runs a year, for example a budget flight to Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur. We've budgeted about €660 a year for them. The real risk isn't the cost: it's that rules are applied more strictly to people who keep renewing e-visas, or that they change. That makes Vietnam an excellent choice for long stays and a mobile lifestyle, but a more fragile one as your only home.

Healthcare

Vietnamese public hospitals are crowded and poorly equipped for foreigners. Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Da Nang have good international hospitals and clinics, at private-clinic prices. For complex cases many expats are transferred to Bangkok or Singapore. So your insurance should include medical evacuation and treatment at least across South-East Asia.

• A local inpatient policy costs around €1,500–2,000 a year at 50.
• A comprehensive international policy often costs €4,000 or more already at 50, and $5,000–7,500 a year at 60.

As in Thailand, the cost rises with age, and after 60–65 a new policy is hard to find. In our numbers the premium rises by 60% from age 60, is 2.5 times the starting cost from 70 and 3 times from 80.

Tax: Vietnam taxes worldwide income

When you become a Vietnamese tax resident

You're a Vietnamese tax resident if you spend 183 days or more there in a calendar year, or in the 12 months from your arrival. In some cases a long-term rental lease is enough on its own. Residents are taxed on all their income, wherever it arises, but the rates on investment income are low:

• selling securities: 0.1% of the sale value, not of the gain. Selling €20,000 of ETFs to live on for a year costs about €20 in tax;
• dividends and interest: 5%;
• other income follows the new progressive scale in force since 1 July 2026: five brackets from 5% to 35%, with a personal allowance of 15.5 million dong a month.

Many foreigners ignore these obligations, but they apply: you need a Vietnamese tax code and an annual return, ideally with help from a local accountant.

The INPS pension and the Italy–Vietnam treaty

Italy and Vietnam have a double tax treaty in force since 1999. Article 18 says private pensions, such as INPS pensions for former private-sector employees and the self-employed, are taxable only in the country of residence, that is Vietnam. Government pensions, for example for former civil servants, remain taxable in Italy.

For a private pension of €1,000 a month net, the estimated Vietnamese tax would be about €40 to €100 a month, depending on whether the personal allowance applies. To be paid without Italian withholding you must ask INPS to apply the treaty, with a Vietnamese tax residence certificate. In our numbers we still prudently use the pension net of Italian tax.

In Italy: residence and accounts

• Register with AIRE, but remember it isn't enough: the centre of your interests and the days you spend in Italy also decide whether you are still an Italian tax resident.
• The risk to avoid is becoming "resident nowhere". If you rotate between Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia without passing 183 days anywhere, Italy can argue you are still resident here.
• With an Italian intermediary, the 0.2% stamp duty on your securities account still applies, and not every broker accepts non-resident clients.

How much capital you need

Same assumptions as the Thailand article: a 10% currency buffer, flights to Italy (€900, €1,800 or €2,500 a year), insurance that rises with age, a 2.5% real return, a horizon to age 95 and a 10% safety margin.

Scenario	Annual spending at 50	No pension	With INPS pension from 67
Basic	€13,300	€450,000	€260,000
Comfortable	€19,900	€670,000	€480,000
Generous	€33,600	€1,135,000	€945,000

What changes if the assumptions change (comfortable scenario)

Assumption	Capital needed
Base case: stop at 50, €1,000 pension	€480,000
Stop at 45 (possible, there's no age limit)	€530,000
Stop at 55	€425,000
INPS pension of €700 instead of €1,000	€540,000
The dong strengthens by 15% for good	€570,000
Real return of 1.5% instead of 2.5%	€560,000

So Vietnam lets you stop with about 10% less capital than Thailand: €480,000 against €530,000 in the comfortable scenario. The saving comes at a price, though: a weaker visa position and expensive healthcare if you want international standards.

Practical things to know

• Money: opening an account at a Vietnamese bank on an e-visa isn't always possible. Many foreigners withdraw from their European account, so choose a card with no foreign ATM fees and compare the exchange rate it applies.
• Climate: in Da Nang the rain and typhoon season runs from September to December, with flooding in some areas. Factor that in when you pick a place to live.
• Housing: foreigners can buy flats, but only with time-limited ownership (usually 50 years) and complex rules. For FIRE, renting is almost always the more flexible choice.
• Try it first: three months in Da Nang on an e-visa is the cheapest way to find out whether it suits you.

The bottom line

Vietnam is the cheapest South-East Asian destination for FIRE, and the only major one open to you before 50. With an Italian state pension on the way, about €260,000 is enough for a basic life and €480,000 for a comfortable one, stopping at 50. Its weakness is stability: no long-stay visa for people living off investments, and good healthcare concentrated in the big cities. For many people the best answer is a combination, for example Vietnam now and Thailand after 50.

Run your own numbers with the FIRE simulator with Italian state pension, and compare other destinations in our ranking of the 10 best countries for low-budget FIRE.