Getting a Vietnam Visa
Citizens of ASEAN countries (except Myanmar) can visit Vietnam with out a visa for up to 30 days. Philippines citizens can visit Vietnam with out a visa for only 21 days and Brunei citizens do not require a visa if the stay if for less then 14 days.
Citizens of few countries can visit Vietnam with out a visa for 15 days. See the image below. All other nationalists need a visa prior to arrival in Vietnam, but can be easily obtained online.
Vietnam Visa Free Countries
Click the image to enlarge. Image source Wikimedia Commons.
Getting A Visa Online
Vietnam does not provide a visa on arrival, but you can get a visa at the airport. All you have to do is apply for an approval letter online through a travel agency. The travel agency forwards your application to the immigration department. Then the immigration will provide a “Letter Of Approval” which will be forwarded to you on e-mail.
Take a print of this and on showing it to the visa counter in the airport, you will get a visa at the airport. Depending on what you applied for, the visa is good for 30 days or 90 days, single or multiple entry. The cost of approval letter depends on your nationality. More over you have to pay USD 45 (maybe USD 100 from January,2013) as stamping fees to the immigration to get the visa stamped in your passport. Remember that the the “Letter Of Approval” is valid only if you arrive by air and not valid at the land border crossings.
CAUTION
Be careful, there are some websites that provide you with fake “Letter Of Approval” which will not be accepted by the Immigration Department. Apply for the visa approval letter from reputed company like Vietnam-Visa.com (provided by Vietnam Discovery Travel) which I used personally. Furthermore you will have chance to get up to 20% discount applying here, see more at their visa discount policy
VIETNAM MISSIONS OVERSEAS
You can also get a Vietnamese Visa at embassy or consulate located overseas. For address of Vietnam missions overseas click here.
Visa Extension
Extending a visa is simple. You can extended the visa up to three times, for 30 days each, at any of immigration office in Hanoi, Da Nang or Ho Chi Minh City. The address are given below –
44- 46 Tran Phu Street, Ba Dinh District, Ha Noi, Vietnam
7 Tran Quy Cap, Da Nang City
161 Nguyen Du, Ben Thanh Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
The people not reading your blogs are missing out a lot of quality contents.
I agree with you all the things except for the statement that many agencies provide fake visa approval. Actually, I cannot find a fake travel agent in Vietnam. The difference between the agencies is the price they offer. 🙂
Hi Kim,
I have heard from tourists that after the payment has been made, they never ever got a reply from the agent. It was two years back and I guess things might have changed. 🙂
Really? It’s so sad to hear that. I do hope that those agents are punished heavily. That’s why we need to tour travel forum to ask for guide from experienced travelers before departing. 🙂
very good work and knowlwdge thanks for giving this to by blog
you are very good in this field thats very impressive work
This is a great guide to Vietnamese visas! The breakdown by nationality is clear and the advice on avoiding scams is valuable. Thanks for including the info on visa extensions too!