HÀ NỘI — Six months after being introduced, the online registration of foreigners’ accommodations in Việt Nam has yielded effective results, according to police authorities and hotels.

The online registration has been used since mid-February, allowing those who host or provide accommodations for foreigners residing in Việt Nam to create accounts on the websites of immigration management offices of provincial and municipal police forces.

They can then update the information - name, gender, nationality, date of birth and passport numbers - of the foreigners staying with them or at their accommodations upon their arrival.

Nguyễn Hoàng Thái, a receptionist at the Splendid Hotel on Hàng Hành Street in Hà Nội, said the online registration was convenient for both the hotel and guests.

Trần Quốc Tuấn, service manager of the Apricot Hotel on Hàng Trống Street, said the internet-based residence registration saves time, labour and travel cost by precluding the need to go in person to the ward police station to report on foreign clients’ check-in and check-out.

Caption Trần Trung Kiên, vice head of Hàng Trống Ward Police, said the ward located in a busy downtown area in Hà Nội gets registrations of about 1,500 foreigners daily. Police have instructed and encouraged accommodation units to use the online registration, Kiên said.

Major General Bạch Thành Định, vice director of Hà Nội Police, told Hà Nội Mới (New Hà Nội) newspaper that the implementation of the online temporary residence registration was a milestone in the city’s administrative reform, facilitating the stay of foreign visitors and workers. It also helps police get quick updates to better ensure social security, he said.

Định said that since the beginning of this year, about two million foreigners had their temporary residence reported in Hà Nội. The number accounted for over 30 per cent of foreign visitors to Việt Nam.

Định said that police usually faced difficulties in overseeing and managing foreigners’ temporary residence because accommodation units ignore reporting requirements or submit wrongly-filled or late reports.

Paper-based temporary residence registration must be submitted to local commune/ward police within 12 hours. The time can be extended to 24 hours in remote areas. — VNS