Everything You Need to Know: Vietnam Visas

Are you planning on travelling to Vietnam and confused about whether you need a visa and how to get it? This guide will cover everything you need to know about the different types of visas, how to apply, the documents you need and whether you can extend these visas. As someone who has travelled to Vietnam 3 times (both before and after the new changes to the visa process in 2023), I am very comfortable with the visa process. I’ll cover all the tips and tricks, a review of visa runs and how to do this and everything I wish I knew about applying for a Vietnam Visa.

Types of Tourist Visas for Vietnam

There are two main types of visas that tourist are eligible for when travelling Vietnam: a visa exemption and an e-visa. Depending on what passport you’re travelling on, you may be eligible for a visa exemption, or you may need to apply for an e-visa in advance of your travel. As of August 2023, there have been changes to the length of stay and how to apply for these visas, so this guide will cover all the new changes.

What is a visa exemption?

A visa exemption is also called a visa waiver or a visa-free entry to Vietnam. This is the easiest way to enter Vietnam as you technically don’t need any visa in advance and can just arrive in Vietnam without any hassle. A visa exemption only counts for certain nationalities from countries that have signed a bilateral tourism agreement with Vietnam. Prior to 2023, the maximum time you could spend on a visa exemption was 15 days. However, in order to boost tourism post-COVID, the Vietnamese government has extended the maximum visa exemption period to 45 days for many countries, meaning you may be able to stay in Vietnam for up to 45 days without a visa! But, there are still certain nationalities to which the old-time frame applies.

Which nationalities can get a visa exemption?

Passport holders of the following countries can stay in Vietnam for tourism purposes for a period of 45 days without needing to get a visa:

Passport holders of the following countries can stay in Vietnam for tourism purposes for a period of 30 days without needing to get a visa:

If you hold a passport from one of the following countries, you can stay in Vietnam for tourism purposes without needing a visa for the number of days stipulated below:

Documents needed for a visa exemption

You don’t need to apply for anything or do anything in advance if you are valid for a visa exemption, arrive in Vietnam. Arrival can be via airport, seaport or land border crossing to get your visa exemption. You will need to show the border agent a valid passport (with at least six months left) and have at least two blank pages on your passport.

However, border agents may also ask for proof on onward travel (usually a flight exiting the country before your 45 day visa-free period ends) and proof of your address in Vietnam (the first hostel or hotel you’ll be staying at). They don’t always request this information, but it’s better to have this ready beforehand. If you don’t have a flight out and plan on crossing a land border, you may need to purchase a proof of onward ticket. There are a number of websites that offer this service. Personally, I’ve used Best Onward Ticket multiple times without any issues.

What is a tourist visa?

If you’re not eligible for a visa exemption, you must pay for a tourist e-visa to travel to Vietnam. There is no other visa-on-arrival or any visa you can get at the airport to enter Vietnam. You’ll need to apply for an e-visa online well before your travel dates. It states on the website it will take 3-5 business days for the visa to be processed, but sometimes it takes closer to 10 business days, so it is better to allow extra time. Prior to 2023, the maximum time you could spend in Vietnam on a tourist visa was 30 days, but it has now been extended to 90 days.

Which nationalities need to get a tourist visa?

Application for a tourist e-visa is open to all nationalities, including nationalities who are eligible for a 45-day tourist exemption. So, for example, if you’re from the UK and want to stay for three months in Vietnam, instead of getting a free visa exemption, you could just pay for the 90-day e-visa to save the hassle of doing a border run.

Documents needed for a tourist e-visa

Before applying for your Vietnam e-visa, ensure you have all your documents together. For the visa process, you’ll need a passport with at least six months of validity and two blank pages (you’ll need to upload a clear photo of your passport page to apply for the e-visa).

You’ll also need a passport-sized photo (4 x 6 cm) that clearly features your face, looking straight at the camera with a neutral expression. The passport-sized photo will need to be uploaded at the time of applying for the e-visa. While you could take this yourself, it’s a much safer bet to pay for a passport picture to be taken at a photography store or post office in your home country. If you take it yourself and there’s too much of a shadow on your face or there’s another issue, your visa may get rejected and you’ll have to pay and re-apply again.

Do I need to book flights and accommodation before my visa gets approved?

The answer is not necessarily, but it is easier if you do have these booked. During the e-visa process, they will ask about your intended arrival date, exit date, port of entry, and where you’ll stay. You’ll need to provide full contact information for where you plan on staying (even if you haven’t booked your hostel yet). So, while you don’t have to have accommodation booked, it’s just as easy to book a hostel and grab their contact information for your visa when you apply. Even if you only book the first night at this hostel, it’s enough for the visa.

During the e-visa process, they won’t ask for your flight details to enter and exit Vietnam, so you don’t need to have flights booked. If you’re applying for a 90-day visa, just make sure the timeframe between your entry and exit dates doesn’t exceed 90 days. You can arrive after the date you have selected as the intended date of travel; this is simply the day your visa starts. You’ll be granted 90 days from the date you put as the intended day of travel, regardless of whether you actually enter 2 or 3 weeks after this date you originally wrote down. However, it’s important to note that you can’t change your intended travel date to an earlier one once you apply.

Know your port of entry when applying for an e-visa

For your port of entry, it is super important that you get this correct! If you list “Ho Chi Minh Airport” as your port of entry, you cannot enter by any other airport or land border; you can only enter from this location. This is fairly simple if you’re flying into Vietnam, as generally you’ll have an idea of what city you will arrive into. It becomes tricky when you’re arriving overland. There are a number of land borders, so you need to make sure you select the correct border.

Always check with the bus company you are booking to take you overland to Vietnam which border they will be using, as different bus companies may take slightly different routes, meaning different land border crossings. As a quick guide, here are the most popular land borders for different routes:

• Luang Prabang– Hanoi= Nam Can Border Gate (Nghe An)
• Nong Khiaw– Sapa= Tay Trang Border Gate (Dien Bien)
• Vientiane–Hanoi= Cau Treo Border Gate (Ha Tinh)
• Vang Vieng– Hanoi= Cau Treo Border Gate (Ha Tinh)
• Siem Reap– Ho Chi Minh City= Moc Bai Border Gate (Tay Ninh)
• Phnom Penh– Ho Chi Minh City= Moc Bai Border Gate (Tay Ninh)
• Kampot– Ho Chi Minh City= Ha Tien Border Gate (Kien Giang)

How to get a Vietnam tourist e-visa

The best way to apply for a Vietnam e-visa is online. Be wary, there are lots of travel agencies and fake Vietnam visa websites, make sure you only use the official site to avoid getting scammed or spending more money. The official site is linked here. You’ll need to switch it from Vietnamese to English by clicking the flag in the top right corner. Follow the prompts for a tourist visa for foreigners. After inputting all your information and uploading passport photos and pages, you’ll need to pay for your visa. It costs $25 USD for a single-entry 90-day e-visa or $50 USD for a multi-day 90-day e-visa.

You’ll receive an email confirmation of your pending application and a further email in a few days once your visa has been approved (or rejected if you fill in your application incorrectly). Once you have your visa, make sure you keep a soft copy handy for the entirety of your time in Vietnam. You will have to show your visa to clear immigration both when you enter and exit Vietnam. Personally, I also like to keep a physical print out as a backup, in case I’m having issues with my phone.

Warning: allow enough time for the visa to be approved

While it says the visa process will only take 3-5 business days, PLEASE allow more time. Do not apply for the visa exactly five business days before your non-refundable flight to Vietnam. So many travellers have horror stories of missing flights or being stressed out because their visa comes in just in time for their flight. Vietnam e-visas often take longer than this timeframe. If it’s a peak season of travel and many other tourists are applying at the same time as you, it can take longer. You also have to be mindful of Vietnamese national holidays like Tet New Year, as government offices will be closed or running on fewer staff, meaning visa applications take longer to process.

Can you extend a tourist exemption or e-visa?

Before the new changes in 2023, you could extend a tourist visa or visa exemption once you were already in Vietnam. However, since the visa exemption and e-visa periods have been extended, a visa can no longer be extended. If you want to stay in Vietnam longer than the maximum period on a visa exemption or e-visa, you will need to do a visa run.

What is a visa run?

What this means is you will need to travel (usually overland) to another country and then enter Vietnam again on a fresh visa (meaning you get another 45 days or 90 days). Vietnam shares a land border with China, Cambodia and Laos. Still, generally travellers will only do visa runs to Cambodia and Laos from Vietnam as the visa process for China is expensive and time consuming. You could also do a visa run by flying to another place like Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur or Singapore (all over visa-free entry). However, flights are usually more expensive than doing a land border crossing.

There are two ways to do a visa run from Vietnam to Cambodia and Laos. The quickest way is to book a visa run through a hostel or travel agency. This usually takes one full day and most people will do this from big cities like Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Da Nang and Hanoi. The company picks you up first thing in the morning and takes you to the border. You cross into Laos or Cambodia, cross back, get a new visa, and then the company takes you back to your hostel by the late evening.

It’s a long day, the transport is generally very basic (think a cramped small van transfer with no A/C), and it does cost a fair bit of money. Depending on your nationality, you also may need to pay for a visa-on-arrival for Laos or Cambodia, which is around $25 USD, even if it’s just for the day for a visa run. You’ll also need to pay for the transport through the company offering a visa run and potentially the e-visa for Vietnam if you’re not eligible for a visa exemption.

An alternative to doing a visa run

The second way to do a visa run (which is the best option, in my opinion) is to actually just leave Vietnam, travel to another country for a while and then come back. For example, you could get a bus from Hanoi to Luang Prabang in Laos, travel north to south Laos for a few weeks and then catch a bus from Vientiane back to Hanoi. While this isn’t a traditional “visa run”, it’s a much better way to restart your visa without wasting a whole day just doing a visa run and wasting money getting a visa-on-arrival for Laos, just for a few hours for a visa run. In my mind, if you’re going to cross a border to do a visa run, you may as well actually travel to and experience that country at the same time to make the travel time and money worth it.

Another way you could do this is to plan your travel itinerary around the 45-day visa exemption limit for Vietnam. If you’re likely to want to spend more than 45 days in Vietnam (and many people do!), why not plan to visit Vietnam twice on your Southeast Asia trip? For example, you could start your trip and spend 45 days in the north of Vietnam, then travel around Laos, Cambodia and Thailand before returning to spend another 45 days in the south of Vietnam. If your eligible for a visa exemption, you can do this and it won’t cost you any money for Vietnam Visas. For more information about transport and route planning in Vietnam, read my full transport guide here.

Doing a visa run when you need an e-visa

Another thing that complicates a visa run is whether you are eligible for a visa exemption. If you’re eligible for a visa exemption, doing a visa run is easy, as you don’t pay anything to re-enter Vietnam. If you’re not eligible for a visa exemption, you’ll need to pay for another 90-day e-visa, then do a visa run. You can do this yourself online, but you’ll need to apply for it more than five business days before leaving for the visa run. Alternatively, some travel agencies offer expedited 24-hour e-visas if you decide on the spur of the moment that you want to stay longer in Vietnam. These companies usually offer this service with their visa-run transport services, but it costs a lot more money.

If you’re planning on travelling to Vietnam on a visa exemption but already know in advance you’ll probably want to spend more than 45 days in Vietnam, you should get an e-visa instead. Even if you’re from a country that is covered by the visa-exemption policy, you can still opt to pay extra and get the 90-day e-visa. While a 45-day visa exemption is free and a 90-day e-visa costs $25 USD, you will spend more than this doing a visa run to reset and get another 45 days on top of your visa exemption timeframe.

Tips and recommendations for Vietnam Visas

If you take any advice from this blog post, it should be the following points:

• Check your eligibility. Check in advance whether your nationality is eligible for a visa exemption or an e-visa, this can change as international agreements are often renegotiated, so always triple check before you go.
• Allow more time for an e-visa. Make sure you apply for an e-visa at least ten business days before your flight. Do not trust the 3-5 business day timeline.
• Research your port of entry. Know your entry port if you’re crossing a land border. Your approved visa will be invalid, and you will not be permitted entry to Vietnam if you put the wrong entry port on your application.
• Beware of scam websites! So many scam websites or travel agencies offer Vietnam e-visas for cheaper prices or faster. Only use the official website when applying online, or you risk getting a fake visa and being denied entry to Vietnam.
• Reconsider doing a visa run. Visa runs are uncomfortable and expensive. If you know you’re going to be in Vietnam longer than 45 days, it’s better to pay for a 90-day e-visa.
• Plan your SE Asia Travel route around Visas. Another alternative to a visa run is planning the trip around visiting Vietnam twice, both times for less than 45 days.

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