You have found an apartment in Da Nang, or a friend has offered you a spare room, and your landlord or host asks to photograph your passport. That request is about temporary residence registration, Vietnam's rule that every foreign guest's stay is reported to the local police. Does it cover a rented apartment or a friend's home, and whose job is it?
The way the report is made changed in 2026, and the fines are set by a decree in force since December 2025. Here is who does what, how long they have and what happens if it is not done.
Who registers you, and when
When you check in anywhere in Da Nang, someone has to report your stay. Under Vietnam's rules on foreigners' residence, temporary residence registration goes through the person who manages the place where you stay, who declares you to the commune-level police there: online as soon as you arrive, or on a paper form handed in within 12 hours (24 hours in remote areas).
The law counts tourist accommodation, guest houses, housing for foreigners who work or study, hospitals and clinics, and private homes as places that must register their foreign guests, so a rented apartment, a homestay and a friend's house all count. The law sets no minimum number of nights. The official English FAQ on Vietnam's e-visa site puts it plainly: you go through the manager or operator of the place to declare your stay, and this happens each time you change location.
- Your part: show your passport and residence papers to the host so they can register you. The host must ask to see them before agreeing to let you stay.
- You are registered again, through the new host, when you move or when your passport details change.
- The host must check that you are in Vietnam legally before letting you stay.
How the host declares you: online or on paper
Ask your host which way they register you, because the rules differ. The law allows two ways, and Circular 87/2026/TT-BCA, in force from July 24, 2026, sets out how each one works.
- Online: on the national system run by the Ministry of Public Security, tbltkbtt.bocongan.gov.vn, or its "TBLT KBTT" app for Android and iOS. Da Nang police, relaying the ministry, said on September 24, 2026 that hotels, guest houses, homestays and all other accommodation declare there, that from May 21, 2026 accommodation must declare on the new system rather than the old site, and that logging in requires an Authenticator app. The system can read details from a photo of your passport. The declaration must be made immediately when you arrive.
- On paper: the host fills in form NA17, sends it ahead immediately by a suitable means, and hands the form to the commune-level police within 12 hours of your arrival (24 hours in remote areas). The police check it, confirm it, copy it and hand it straight back to the host.
The police take declarations 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Online, the host declares your full name, gender, date of birth, nationality, passport number, the validity of your temporary residence certification, extension or card, and how long you expect to stay. The ministry's English procedure page lists the online declaration as free; its legal basis section cites Circular 53/2016/TT-BCA, which predates the 2026 rules. Hosts who have trouble registering are told to contact the local police.
Fines in 2026
Know which fines are yours and which are the host's. Fines come from Decree 282/2025/NĐ-CP, in force since December 15, 2025, which replaced Decree 144/2021; a September 2026 decree that amended parts of it did not change Article 21, which sets these fines. The amounts below are for individuals; organizations such as hotel companies pay double, and households and household businesses are fined as individuals.
| Who | Violation | Fine |
|---|---|---|
| Host | Does not register 1–3 foreigners | 3,000,000–5,000,000 VND (about US$116–194) |
| Host | Does not register 4–8 foreigners | 10,000,000–15,000,000 VND (about US$388–581) |
| Host | Does not register 9 or more foreigners | 15,000,000–20,000,000 VND (about US$581–775) |
| Host | Lets a foreigner stay who is in Vietnam illegally | 20,000,000–25,000,000 VND (about US$775–969) |
| You | Do not show your passport or residence papers to the host for registration | 3,000,000–5,000,000 VND (about US$116–194) |
Only the last row is a fine on you as a guest; the other four fall on the host. Two other fines for foreigners are worth knowing. Traveling without your passport or residence papers can bring a warning or 300,000–500,000 VND (about US$11.5–19.5). Vietnamese law and the decree name the passport and residence papers themselves and say nothing about copies; the UK government says the authorities accept a printed copy of the passport photo page and visa. Overstaying starts at 500,000–2,000,000 VND (about US$19.5–77.5) for under 16 days, rises to 5,000,000–10,000,000 VND (about US$194–388) for 16 to under 30 days and reaches 30,000,000–40,000,000 VND (about US$1,163–1,550) for a year or more, with higher steps in between. Deportation can be added, case by case, for a foreigner who commits any violation in clauses 4 to 9 of the decree's Article 21, which include overstays of 16 days or more. It is not among the penalties for the clause 3 violations, such as not showing your passport to your host. A foreigner who is the host and fails to register four or more foreigners falls under clauses 5 and 6, where deportation can apply.
Registration is not a visa, an extension or a residence card
Do not confuse registration with your permission to stay. Three different things share the word "residence" in Vietnamese rules.
- Temporary residence registration (khai báo tạm trú): the host's report to the police, described above.
- Temporary residence certification (chứng nhận tạm trú): the length of stay stamped when you enter. It matches your visa, except that a DL tourist visa of more than 30 days gets 30 days. E-visas are valid for up to 90 days, and citizens of countries with a unilateral visa exemption get 45 days without a visa. UK citizens are on that list under Resolution 44/NQ-CP, from March 15, 2025 to March 14, 2028; the US and Australia are not. An extension goes through the organization or person who invited or sponsors you, and the request is considered within 5 working days of a complete application.
- Temporary residence card (thẻ tạm trú): a card for people on work, investment, study, family and similar visas, applied for through the sponsor. Tourist visas and e-visas are not on the list.
The rules for exchanging a driving license, extending a stay or getting a residence card do not ask for a certificate of your registration. If your host registers you on paper, this guide suggests asking to see the form the police confirmed and returned. For leases, deposits and bills, see renting in Da Nang; for license exchange, see motorbike rental in Da Nang.
Checks in Da Nang
Keep your passport and residence papers where you can show them, because the police checks Da Nang reported in August and September 2026 focused on places with many foreign residents. On September 7, 2026, the immigration department of Da Nang police reported inspecting 781 accommodation facilities during an inspection campaign, mainly in areas with many foreign residents, and finding 34 that had broken the rules on registering foreigners and 33 foreigners who had broken the law. Fines across all the cases totaled 689 million VND (about US$27,000).
At 3:00 am on August 1, 2026, Hai Chau ward police checked residence rules at two high-end apartment buildings, covering 118 rooms with 203 foreigners and 92 rooms with 154 foreigners, and said they would keep making surprise checks at accommodation, rental houses and apartments.
Registration itself goes to the commune-level police where you stay. Extensions and residence cards are filed by your sponsor with an immigration office (for a residence card, the one where the sponsor is based or lives); in Da Nang, a 2023 Ministry of Public Security directory lists the immigration department of Da Nang police at 78 Le Loi Street.
Sources and how we checked
We checked every rule and fine on October 3, 2026 against the law as consolidated in November 2023 (a 2025 amending law, Law 118/2025/QH15, could not be opened in full), Decree 282/2025/NĐ-CP as published in the Official Gazette, the Ministry of Public Security's declaration site and procedure page, and notices from Da Nang police. Circular 87/2026/TT-BCA could not be opened in full; its rules here come from the ministry's own site, the government's news portal and the Vietnam Bar Federation's journal, which agree with each other. Where sources disagree, on carrying a passport copy, we give both. We found no separate procedure for foreigners to get a certificate of their registration on the Ministry of Public Security's public services portal on October 3, 2026. This is general information, not legal advice. US dollar amounts use Vietcombank's transfer rate of 25,800 VND per US$ on October 1, 2026, rounded to the nearest cent below US$1, US$0.5 up to US$100, US$1 up to US$10,000 and US$1,000 above that.
- Law on Entry, Exit, Transit and Residence of Foreigners (in Vietnamese): consolidated text (Official Gazette, November 29, 2023); Law 23/2023/QH15 (July 26, 2023).
- Decree 282/2025/NĐ-CP (in Vietnamese): Official Gazette (November 17, 2025); Decree 347/2026/NĐ-CP: signed text (September 8, 2026).
- Ministry of Public Security: temporary residence declaration site; English procedure page; e-visa site FAQ; immigration office directory (in Vietnamese, July 11, 2023).
- Government news portal (in Vietnamese): Circular 87/2026/TT-BCA (June 21, 2026); Resolution 44/NQ-CP (March 7, 2025).
- Vietnam Bar Federation journal (in Vietnamese): how declarations are made and received (June 22, 2026); the online system (June 29, 2026).
- Da Nang police (in Vietnamese): accommodation uses the ministry's shared system (September 24, 2026); Hai Chau ward apartment checks (August 1, 2026).
- Van Hoa newspaper (in Vietnamese): Da Nang fines for violations involving foreigners (September 7, 2026). Tuoi Tre News: Da Nang cracks down on residence violations (September 7, 2026).
- Photos: Da Nang police (in Vietnamese), Hoi An Tay ward meeting on foreigners' residence (July 27, 2026), Son Tra ward meeting on managing foreigners (September 26, 2026) and Hoa Cuong ward session on the new software (June 5, 2026); Danang Fantasticity, opening of TTC Plaza Da Nang (in Vietnamese, September 15, 2026).
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs (in Vietnamese): visa exemption list. UK government: Vietnam safety and security and entry requirements (updated September 21, 2026).
Updated: October 4, 2026
