HOW MANY STAGES TO APPLY FOR VIETNAM TOURIST VISA

Thursday, 16/05/19

As a traveler, you really engage in travelling, so the next country you are planning to visit in the Southeast Asia is Vietnam – a country with a long history and unique culture. To embrace the natural beauty of Vietnam, you have to issue a Tourist Visa if not included in Visa Waiver Countries. This type of visa coded as DL is granted for those who visit Vietnam for Tourism purposes during short-term about one to three months with a single or multiple entries. You have to apply for Tourist Visa prior the entry day to make sure that you prepare enough dossiers to meet the requirements of Vietnam Customs. The stages, required documents and cost are varied depends on the service you decide, so please consider carefully to decide which service is convenient and cost-effective for you. Please keep in your mind that you should not issue your flight-ticket until you receive the visa result to avoid changing your flight schedule and time-consuming. To make clear all of questions you are in trouble, let’s come across these following stages to apply for Vietnam Tourist Visa.

TWO STAGES TO APPLY FOR VIETNAM TOURIST VISA

If you're planning to get the tourist visa in Vietnam, you could apply yourself in person at Vietnamese Embassy/ Consulate or E-visa portal, or via a travel company in Vietnam. The whole procedure for the tourist visa must go through 2 stages: 1. The first stage, have a visa Approval Letter (Pre-Visa) sponsored by the travel company in Vietnam, issued by the Ministry of Public Security in advance; 2. The second stage, the applicant pick up the business visa by themselves at the overseas Embassies/ Consulates of Vietnam, or at the international border gates or at the Vietnam’s international airports.

Stage 1: Obtaining a tourist approval letter from Vietnam Immigration Department

For the purposes of travel, visiting relatives, friend, the applicants are required the tourist Visa Approval Letter from the Ministry of Public Security in advance obtained by a travel company in Vietnam. The Visa Approval Letter is the legal document approved by the Vietnam Immigration Department to allow foreigners enter into Vietnam and pick up visa at the overseas Embassies or Consulates of Vietnam, or at the international border gates or at the Vietnam’s international airports.

The required documents need to provide both the applicant and Vietnam’s sponsor company

A scanned copy of the applicant’s passport;
Providing the proposed date of arrival (this is the date you want your visa to start from. The start date of the visa itself will be the day you arrive - you can enter Vietnam at a later date (up to your exit date) but not before that date, so be sure to take time zone differences into account);
Providing the place of picking up the visa (the visa can be picked up at either the Vietnamese Embassies/ Consulates in your own or another country, or airports of Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang or Nha Trang);
The visa duration for tourist visa is from 1 to 3 months with single or multiple entries (Only United States nationals are able to arrange one-year visas)
Normal processing time: 4 working days

Stage 2: Stamping Vietnam Tourist Visa

You are able to get your visa stamped at the embassy or the airport or border crossing, to do this you must submit the following documents:

Applicant’s original passport must be valid for six months from your intended arrival date, and must have at least one blank visa page;
2 passport sized photographs (4x6 cm);
The copy of visa approval letter;
Complete the entry and exit application form;
Visa stamping fee depending on the visa single or multiple entry and visa validity (USD25 for 1 and 3 month single, USD50 for 1 and 3 month multiple, USD95 for 6 month multiple and USD135 for 1 year multiple entry) must be paid in cash at the place of visa picking up

WHERE TO PICK UP THE TOURIST VISA

There are three options to obtain Tourist Visa for those that require it

Obtain the visa at Vietnamese Embassies/ Consulates in your own or another country or
Obtain the visa at Vietnam’ international airports including Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City, Noi Bai airport in Ha Noi City, Cam Ranh airport in Nha Trang, Da Nang airport in Da Nang City or Phu Quoc airport in Kien Giang Province or
Obtain the visa at Vietnam’ international border crossings, Vietnam has over a dozen international overland border crossings. These allow overland travel to Cambodia (via five crossings), Laos (via six crossing) and China (at least two crossings)

THREE WAYS TO OBTAIN A TOURIST VISA FOR VIETNAM
All foreigners coming to Vietnam for travel, visiting relatives, friend purpose recommend to apply for a tourist visa under sponsored by a travel company in Vietnam. There are three ways of obtaining such a visa:

Apply in person or by post through your nearest Vietnamese Embassy or Consulate;
Apply for a Visa on Arrival at the Vietnam’s international airports (VOA) or;
Apply for an e-visa online

While there are advantages and disadvantages associated with each of these, we recommend the Visa on Arrival as the best option for the purposes of tourist, business and work considering a trip to Vietnam.

Option 1: Via Vietnamese Embassy or Consulate
Key Features:

Traditional approach to getting a visa
Can be done in person or by post
Can be used to apply for any type of visa
The fee is uncertain as it depends on the consulate/ embassy
Can be used for any entrance point, whether by land, air, or sea
Takes about 5 working days to process, but can be sped up to 1- 2 days for urgent service.
Visa is stamped before departure.

You can apply for a visa through the local Vietnamese Embassy or Consulate either in person or by mail. To do this, you need to fill out and sign an application form, sending it along with your passport and a passport photo.

The advantage of applying this way is that you already have the visa stamped in your passport before leaving for Vietnam, which means you do not need to queue on arrival for your passport to get stamped.

The application process is not the most convenient, however, especially for people who do not live near a Vietnamese Embassy or Consulate. Moreover, the fees vary depending on the Embassy or Consulate, and the processing time is longer.

Option 2: Visa on Arrival at any Vietnam’s international airports
Key Features:

Convenient, as it can be done by completing an online application form
Can be used to apply for any type of visa (1- 3, or 6 months, or 1 year multiple-entry visa)
You will need to pay two fees: 1. Service fee for Visa approval letter, 2. Stamping fee.
The service fee is paid online to the service provider. The amount depends on the visa type (number of months and number of entries) and service provider.
The stamping fee is paid at the arrival airport when the visa is stamped. The fee starts at USD25 for 1 month and 3 month single entry, USD50 for 1 and 3 month multiple-entry visas. The stamping fee must be paid in cash (USD or VND).
Can only be obtained at Vietnam’s international airports in Hanoi, Danang, Ho Chi Minh, Cam Ranh or Phu Quoc Airport. Hence it is only an option for air passengers.
For tourist approval letter takes about 2 working days to process and can be sped up to 1 day or 4 hours for an extra charge. While the business approval letter takes 7 working days to process

Visa on Arrival is a viable option with various advantages. With Visa on Arrival, you can apply for longer-term and multiple-entry visas, and you do not need to go in person to the Embassy, or apply by post. You just need to submit an online application and get a pre-approval letter.

Option 3: E-Visa

Key Features:

Very recent, was only launched on 1 February 2017
Convenient, as it can be done by completing an online application form
Only costs USD 25, which is non-refundable if the visa is declined.
May be used for any entrance point, whether by land, air, or sea. (there are 28 entrance points, including 8 international airports, 13 international border gates, and 7 seaports.)
Only for 1 month single-entry.
Takes about 3 working days to process, and you’ll know quickly whether the application was accepted or not.
The visa does not need to be stamped on your passport; hence there is no stamping fee and no need to queue for your passport to be stamped on arrival.
Only available to citizens of 46 countries (including the UK and the USA).

Applying for an e-visa is our recommended option for tourists as it is most convenient and cost-effective. However, please note that this visa is only for visitors visiting for less than 30 days. Longer-term visitors will need to consider the other two options.

Please Note that the arrival port must be the same on the documents issued by Immigration Department. If you are to change the arrival port after receiving your E-visa, you should contact them to amend the information on the documents to avoid any issue on the ground.

As this kind of visa is very new, we suggest that visitors contact with Vietnamese Immigration Department via electronic system before processing the visa application.

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HOW MANY STAGES TO APPLY FOR VIETNAM TOURIST VISA

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