And why did you go in and out around that border twice anyway, maybe you got valid reasons, crossing to vietnam, crossing to China, and back to Vietnam, all in a week. Including a forlorn crossing point. You had 30 days, why go back to China, in order to cross at Lao Cai a few days later. For any official it would smell fishy, no wonder you were questioned.

There is a lot of back and forth irrelevant stuff on this thread. What I'd like to know is whether the Malipao crossing is an international crossing where foreigners who are NOT Chinese and NOT Vietnamese can cross here. Whether they need a visa or not depends on their nationality (most ASEAN nationals get a 30-day exemption while some select European and a handful of other nations such as Russia, South Korea, Japan and the USA get 15 days) and is such a minor issue that it's not worth discussing here because the same rules would apply here as at any other international border crossing of which there have so far only been 3 between China and Vietnam. I have not seen any official documents that prove that this crossing is international so perhaps the OP is Chinese?

USA isn't on the two weeks visa exempt country list. Jiangwu isn't Chinese, unless he is local to a border town. Only those Chinese locals can cross without the need for a Vietnamese visa. At Hekou, most of the locals cross at the electronic gate.

@Peter 99. Jiangwu indicated the second crossing was at hekou, and I have seen passports and rmb pass hands at the Vietnam entry building plenty of times and it's out in the open, so not likely to be bribe money. Also, who cares why he entered vietnam from China twice in one week? Maybe he left a work visa doc behind, maybe he brought the wrong cellphone, maybe he left his atm card, maybe he just felt like going back for some nem caused he missed Vietnamese food after a week. I'm sure crossing twice into vietnam in a week isn't some kind of record.

That doesn't exactly answer the question of whether or not the Malipo border crossing can be used by foreigners. You seem to imply yes, by stating that Jiangwu isn't Chinese, but we need more information here. Without accurate information people would be wasting their time traveling to this border by assuming it's international when it may not actually be. It's the same with the Jiangcheng/Ban Lanteuy crossing between Yunnan and Laos' Phongsali crossing, which is NOT an international crossing, despite claiming to be.

Please post official proof that Malipo is an international crossing. I haven't seen proof anywhere.

I probably got the UK and US mixed up regarding the Vietnam visa exemption. I've checked and indeed the US isn't included, though the UK is. Anyway, that wasn't the point of this thread. Question is still, is Malipo useable for crossing into Vietnam/China by foreigners?

I think the USA has a lot of making up to do before it gets any favourable visa treatment for Vietnam.

Rightly so too.

@Napoleon: I doubt that has anything to do with the visa situation in Viet Nam these days. I would perhaps have thought it did before I first went to Hanoi about 10 years ago, but found absolutely no indication of any open resentment of US individuals. Surprised me - Americans seem as welcome as anybody else. Have been 2 more times, total of 2&1/2 months altogether. In my experienced, resentment over the horrors of war, including invasions, generally lasts longer in countries that have been defeated.

Napoleon still needs to update from the 90's. The USA is not the 'enemy' anymore in Vietnam. You may want to guess who replaced the 'enemy'. Theres even a book called 'Brother Enemy' looking into it. Now, US and Vietnam even have a strategical partnership. Plenty americans living in Vietnam - easy visa- and happy to live there. Even more odd is that many war veterans live in Saigon (and allover Vietnam). Thats a good story, aint it. Have to credit the vietnamese for that.

(PS. Yea, Alien said that as well. As american, he probably has even more experience on this matter.)

Doesn't look like we're any closer to figuring out whether foreigners can cross this border. If someone could just post a link already.