In this article, we will explain the different procedures available to you to prepare your tourist trip to Vietnam.
How to apply for an e-visa for Vietnam online?
We are now going to see together how it is possible to obtain an e-visa for Vietnam and thus be able to go to this country without going through a classic visa. First of all, you have to choose the website on which you are going to make your request because there are many providers. It is important here to choose a serious site that offers you a form in English as well as help in case of difficulty to fill it in. You should also ensure that the payment interface offered by this site is secure. To make things as simple as possible, you can trust the service provider we have selected for you, which meets all the requirements listed here.
Once you have selected the partner site, you will be taken to an e-visa application form which you should fill in with the utmost care. You will of course need to fill in some information about your identity and your trip. You will also need to attach some supporting documents to your application. You will need to provide a scan of your passport, which must of course be valid both at the time of application and throughout your stay, as well as a scan of a passport photo.
Please take the time to check the format of these documents so that they are valid, as well as all the answers you have given to the questionnaire. These answers must be truthful and any false information may be verified and result in a visa refusal. One of the advantages of this online e-visa is that you can choose the date on which your visa will become valid. You can therefore take full advantage of this validity and prepare your trip to Vietnam in advance without the risk of facing any unforeseen administrative problem. Also note here that you will be asked for an exit point from the country on the form.
However, if you do not yet know the exit point of your trip, do not hesitate to mention any exit point as this information does not really matter.
Finally, the last step of this online Vietnam e-visa application is to pay the application fee and the processing fee. These fees are to be paid directly online, usually by credit card and of course on a secure server.
When the e-visa application is validated, it is sent to the authorities in charge of studying it. You will receive a reply by email to the address you gave on the form within a maximum of 3 days. If your e-visa application is successful, you will simply need to print the document that will be attached to the visa. This is the document you will need to present to the authorities when you arrive in Vietnam.
It is important to remember that the e-visa will not be accepted if you are entering the country via the land borders. If you are travelling to Vietnam by train or car, you will need a regular visa. However, there are some border crossings that do accept it.
There are many advantages to applying for an e-visa before travelling to Vietnam. It will prevent you from being scammed once you arrive at the country's border. It will also save you from paying additional fees on arrival.
Applying for a visa on arrival in Vietnam:
Another more or less common procedure for travelling to Vietnam is to apply for a visa on arrival in the country. Indeed, it is possible to apply for a visa on the spot but only under certain conditions. First of all, it is necessary to present a letter of invitation from the country's immigration services. This letter can be obtained online by making a preliminary request on the website of a travel agency or a specialised service provider in return for an online payment. Again, it takes an average of three days to obtain the letter.
There are also different forms of visa that you can collect on the spot when you arrive. You can choose a single-entry visa valid for one to three months or a multiple-entry visa valid for one month which, as the name suggests, allows you to enter Vietnam several times. Please note that the visa fees are to be paid on the spot and are therefore added to the fees that you will have previously paid to obtain the invitation letter.
Please note that only a few entry points in Vietnam accept these visa on arrival applications. These are the airports of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Dà Nang.
To obtain this famous document, you should also allow some time on arrival as you will have to go to a Visa on Arrival office with your invitation letter and a passport photo. You should also bring some change in US dollars to pay the fee. An officer will ask you to fill in an official form and you will have to wait on site while your application is processed. This can take up to an hour at some airports.
Of course, if you have applied for and obtained a multiple-entry visa, you will not have to repeat this procedure for future entries into Vietnam.
Note that some airlines will want to check that you have your invitation letter before you board.
Obtaining a classic visa for tourism in Vietnam:
Let's look at the procedure for obtaining a classic visa, but this time before your departure. For this type of application, you must apply to the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK or the Vietnamese Consulate.
Again, several visas are possible with the single entry 1 month or 3 months visa or the multiple entry 1 or 3 months visa. Given the limited duration of use of these visas, it is also possible to choose the date from which this document will be valid.
To apply for a classic visa for Vietnam, you can of course go to one of the institutions mentioned above, but you can also apply by post. To do so, you will need to send to the Vietnamese embassy the application form that you can download online and print out in duplicate, not forgetting to sign it and a passport photo on each of these copies. Also include a copy of your passport and a cheque to cover the application and processing fees. It should be noted here that the fees required to obtain a classic visa are of course higher than those for an e-visa. As for the time it takes to obtain this visa, you should allow an average of one to two weeks. However, there is an express procedure for urgent cases, but the price is much higher. Obtaining an express visa for Vietnam will take an average of 3 days.
Can I extend or exceed the validity of my Vietnam visa or e-visa?
Many travellers to Vietnam wonder if they can overstay their visa once they arrive. Of course, this is not the case as Vietnam has a very strict policy regarding immigration and the respect of the validity period of residence permits. Indeed, if you stay in the country after the end of the validity of your visa, you will be exposed to prosecution and a fine of about $25 per day of overstay.
It is still possible to extend your visa on the spot in certain hotels or by going to a travel agency or a major city in the country. A visa extension can be for an additional 30 days or 90 days depending on the type of initial visa (one month or three months). Note, however, that this procedure will take an average of 3 to 5 working days. The price of this renewal is also very random depending on the service provider chosen.
