Vietnam entry formalities for foreigners

11/21/2023

Nowadays, Vietnam has become one of the places that many international travelers choose to visit as a tourist destination. Before you go sightseeing to enjoy the magnificent scenery and taste the delicious Vietnamese food also meet hospitable locals in Vietnam, don’t forget to prepare your documents as a foreigner coming to visit Vietnam. So, what do you need to have before coming to Vietnam?

Outlanders can depart in Vietnam with different alternatives. Some of the common options are:

Entry with Vietnam entry approval letter
Entry with electronic visa (e-visa)
Entry with visa exemption in 15 days, 30 days
Entry with visa exemption in 5 years
Entry with Temporary Residence Card (TRC)
Entry with APEC Business Travel Card

Countries that have visa exemption to Vietnam

For some countries that don’t require a visa to Vietnam, travelers only need to prepare passports that have more than 6 months till the expiration date before their flight is allowed to depart. Depending on your nationalities and country, you will have different time durations of visa exemption, from 14 days to 45 days. Besides that, when you meet the officer, you need to provide the round-trip flight ticket, the confirmation of your accommodation or hotels during the time you visit Vietnam and also your purpose when coming to Vietnam, it could be travel, business, visit your relatives or any other legal reasons.

And here are countries that Vietnam doesn’t require a visa: Russia, Japan, South Korea, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belarus, Brunei, Myanmar, Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Laos.

In reality, many international travelers want to visit Vietnam longer than the fixed time duration or don’t have a passport from the above countries, so then you are required to get a travel visa to enter the area of Vietnam. There are two different types e-visa and travel visa stamped on your passport.

E-Visa (EV)

Recently, foreigners coming to Vietnam should use an e-visa – a convenient online visa that is time-saving and easy to use. You can easily register for your e-visa on the website of Vietnam portal on Immigration. International travelers can do it by themselves without a guarantee from any company or individual.

Why we should choose e-visa:

Foreigners can enter Vietnam with an e-visa for any legal purpose.
The procedure is completely done online. Foreigners can fill in an e-visa application anywhere, anytime.
E-visa can be transferred into other long-term visa types

The fee for e-visa is 25 USD per application for any duration.

Travel visa (DL)

A travel visa is the type of visa that is provided to foreigners who travel on tour guaranteed by the travel agency in Vietnam with a duration from 30 days to 90 days.

The travel agency must have a travel license and tour routes that are legitimate to register an application for the foreigner. The application must come through the procedure of inspection of the approval letter on arrival to receive the visa at the border gate or the representative office of Vietnam’s foreign affairs abroad (Embassy of Vietnam, Consulate of Vietnam).

In order to apply for travel visa to Vietnam, foreigners must have their passports that are still valid from six months above by the time travelers depart in Vietnam and the passport must have two blank pages for visa stamp.

Travel visa has different amount of fees depend on the duration of the owner’s travel:

Visa valuable for single entry (once a month, once 3 months, once a year): 25 USD

Visa valuable for multiple entry: