HOW TO RENEW A TOURIST VISA IN VIETNAM

Saturday, 11/04/20

Foreign tourists can come to Vietnam by a paper tourist visa, e-visa or visa free entry. These visas allow foreign visitors to remain in Vietnam from 15 - 30 days to 3 months and in case they want to stay longer, it is possible to obtain a new visa or extend your current visa right in Vietnam instead of leaving. When you renew your visa, you are granted a new visa stamp and visa sticker paper on your passport with the new duration permission. Your length of staying is prolonged from 1 to 3 months based on your purpose of entry and demands. However, the cost of visa renewal is much higher than extension. You should make decision carefully based on your budget and your purposes. As you use any of these services, we highly recommend you submit your application as soon as possible before the expiration day. The Immigration Department will receive your submission and proceed it within 7 working days. If you are not really master in the procedure and do not know how to renew your tourist visa, please follow our instructions below to conduct your application.

NEW POLICY OF TOURIST VISA RENEWAL AND EXTENSION VIETNAM 2020

Normally, the tourists can choose between renew their Vietnam visa or extend it. However, currently as a result of the pandemic COVID-19, the visa policies for foreigners of Vietnam is temporarily suspending on issuance of visa for all nationals. This regulation has come into force since March 2020 and there have not been any new official announcements on the removal of this suspension just yet. Therefore, for the foreigners who have already been in Vietnam before the outbreak of Corona virus, the only option available to them at the moment when their Vietnam tourist visa expired is to extend their permission to remain in Vietnam with their current visa or we usually call visa extension. The extension allowed is from 1 up to 3 months.

CAN VIETNAM TOURIST VISA BE EXTENDED FOR SEVERAL TIMES?

Vietnam paper tourist visas, free visa entry and electronic visas can be extended from 2 to 3 times, and number of extension of tourist visa also means that the cost will be different. If foreigners come from developed countries like European countries, Japan, Canada, USA, Australia, they should prove their purpose and need for staying longer in Vietnam, and importantly their visa has not expired before that.

The term of Tourist visa, bilateral or unilateral Visa Waiver Program, and Vietnam e-visa can be extended as the following:

Vietnam tourist Visa can be extended for a maximum of 1 or 3 months with single entry
Vietnam visa exemption stamp can be extended for 15 days, 1 month or 3 months
Vietnam e-visa can be extended from 1 to 3 months in maximum with single entry
Expired visa and overstayed in Vietnam can be extended for from 15 to 30 days in maximum

Remember that the Vietnam tourist visa extension length depends on the current visa type, nationality, the time of the year and purpose. So we recommend you to contact directly to our team to check your case. Only a limited number of nationalities are eligible to apply for the tourist visa extension or renewal, and the requirements change accordingly as well.

TYPES OF VIETNAM TOURIST VISA YOU SHOULD KNOW

The most popular types of visa in Vietnam are Tourist Visa or travel visa which is normally valid from 15-30 days, unilateral visa free entry, or e-visa. Vietnam tourist visa can be extended several times even when you are staying in Vietnam without leaving the country.

The terms of Vietnam tourist visa, e-visa and Unilateral Visa Free Entry:

Vietnam tourist paper visas are valid for 1 or 3 months, single or multiple entry
Vietnam e-Visas (Electronic Visas) are valid for up to 30 days
Unilateral Visa Free Entry - Vietnam Visa Waiver Program is valid for less than 15 days

The list of countries have applied for Vietnam Visa Waiver Program 2020

Vietnam Visa Waiver Program is valid until 30 June 2021, applying for 6 countries of European included United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Belarus. These countries are in the Vietnam visa exemption list with visa-free entry into Vietnam, length of staying in Vietnam is less than 15 days with single entry/exit. In the new immigration laws of Vietnam binding from 1 July 2020, the citizens of South Korea, Japan, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Spain, Belarus and France will no longer be subject to a 30-day cooling-off period upon their latest exit, so they can enter and exit Vietnam freely (in the current law, if they enter Vietnam under unilateral visa exemption, the next entry must wait for at least 30 days after the exit day out of Vietnam).
List of countries applied for unilateral visa exemption policy with indefinite period includes Japan, South Korea, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Russia and Finland whose citizens can enter and exit Vietnam multiple times with a visa free and stay no more than 15 days.
Bilateral visa exemption policy of Vietnam applies to the citizens of South East Asia such as Brunei and Myanmar with a free visa of 14 days, Philippines for 21 days of visa free, meanwhile Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Laos and Cambodia are exempted from visa and can stay up to 30 days.

HOW TO RENEW TOURIST VISA VIETNAM 2020 – DETAILED REQUIREMENTS

Based on the provisions of Vietnamese entry laws, foreigner visitors granted paper tourist visas, exempted from unilateral or bilateral visa and also Vietnamese e-visas, the only way is to renew their visa to extend their visa, extend their permission to stay in Vietnam, in case they want to renew a Vietnam visa like the original one, they must leave the country in accordance with the current laws and obtain the new Vietnam visa at any Vietnam’s land border international gate or international airport or Vietnamese embassies / consulates abroad.

DETAILED REQUIREMENTS RENEW OR EXTEND TOURIST VISA VIETNAM 2020

Except for nationals from Africa, Middle East, citizens of Turkey, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, Vietnam tourist visa extension for other countries is very simple, processing time is within 5 business days and the required document needs only the original passport. Here is the list of required documents for tourist visa extension in Vietnam 2020:

Original copy of current passport valid for at least 6 month with 2 blank pages;
Original copy of current Vietnam tourist visa, or free visa entry stamp or e-visa;
The name of latest port of entry into Vietnam;
Your current address in Vietnam;
Original certificate of temporary residence in Vietnam (if any);

You should extend/ renew Vietnam tourist Visa several days before your visa date expires. It had better before at least 1 week (for 3-month visa, preferably 2 weeks).

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HOW TO RENEW A TOURIST VISA IN VIETNAM

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