Marriage and Owning Land in Vietnam

Here's one man's story:

I thought that you nice guys and gals might find it useful as to what a foreigner has to do to buy property (land/building not a condo) in Vietnam. 

First up I am married to a VN citizen, yes a real marriage certificate from HCMC. If you do not have legal marriage in VN do not bother buying a LUC (Land Use Certificate) as you will have no rights at all, even if you have an agreement it will carry no weight as it will be a civil matter. So if you are considering buying a property here in VN marry her fast, those who have married after buying property here in VN will still have problem if the marriage goes bad as she will have owned the land before the marriage. Apparently is is illegal to be living with a VN citizen without being legally married; well so I have been told. 

We bought an old house in Bien Hoa city as I do not like HCMC. The price was reasonable by VN standards: $114,000 for a block of 257m2 with a pink paper in a very good area with professional employed neighbors, as you all know some VN people can be very noisy and messy; yeas I know it is the same as in the West, so location is important. 

Here a pink land paper is building land, red land is agricultural, and you are not supposed to build on it, lol you can but it is risky as they can buy it off you (the government) for very little. 

Pink land is valuable in VN as they will have to pay you heaps if they want to take it off you. The other reason that pink land is also costly is there is so little of it. Remember when you buy land you are just buying a LUC . But this LUC is yours/wife forever. Well that of course if the laws are not changed in the future. I doubt that that will ever happen. 

So how does a foreigner married to a VN citizen protect oneself? I have been through the merry go round of finding a lawyer and so far as I can see I have NO protection on the land, (well I do, because she is my wife, BUT what happens if I get kicked out on VN? Yes that has happened, I bet he was a dog husband in the first place, lol when a divorce happens we all become dog husbands to her), but I do on the building as I am apparently allowed to own the building in VN. 

I still have to nut out the process with my lawyer.So when it comes to signing the building contract with the builder I will sign it only and not her. Please note that you will also need a trail of transactions showing that the money for the LUC was through your bank account, that is if you are paying for it, I bet you are?. 

So I will have an agreement with my wife on the property that she owns the land but I own the building. I do know that as a husband of a VN citizen that I have rights, as in she cannot sell the land without my permission, but that does not mean that I will get half the money if for heaven bid a divorce happens, as the moneys will go into her account not mine. So one can only get the money owned by a civil action. So your agreement needs to state a joint account that the moneys can go to on a divorce settlement. 

BTW divorce is not an easy process in VN, there will also be a lot of face to loose in such a terrible thing. I have only done this to protect myself if things go south, I love my wife and have no intention of divorce, but anything can happen, who knows the future? I will be seeing my lawyer soon I will keep you all posted on the process.