Are you traveling to Vietnam from the United States for the first time? Here is all the information you need to know about Vietnam travel visa requirements as a United States citizen.
With so much conflicting information online, it may be hard to figure out the Vietnam travel visa requirements for any first-time traveler. I personally had issues when it came to entry into Vietnam and am here to help, so you don’t make the same mistakes I did.
This post will cover everything from cost, requirements, validity, processing time, and where to do so.
After reading about all the rules and regulations, you’ll be breezing through Vietnamese immigration in no time.
This post is all about how to obtain a Vietnam travel visa for United States citizens.
Vietnam Travel Visa
Planning your first trip to Vietnam can be extremely exciting and challenging at times. With so much to see and do, it can be difficult to decide what parts of the country to visit your first time around, when the best time of the year is to go, and what flights you need to take. This may all seem important, but no step is more important than getting your travel visa in order.
If you’re traveling from the United States of America, a visa is required for you to enter the country and even to get your boarding pass at the airport. I made the mistake of thinking I could get a visa upon arrival and was turned around at the airport. Not all citizens from other countries need to have their visas before boarding the plane and this is where some misinformation can happen online, but I’m here to tell you that United States citizens MUST have their visas ready before traveling to Vietnam!
Requirements
As long as you are traveling to Vietnam on a tourism basis and not for work, then there are only two requirements that need to be met to apply for your visa.
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- Six months validity on your passport from the day you plan to leave Vietnam.
- One completely blank passport page.
Cost
Depending which way you go about obtaining your visa will dictate how much it will cost you. If you’re applying for an e-visa it will cost you $25 USD, but if you’re obtaining your visa through a tourism agency it can cost anywhere from $50-$110 USD. There are also ways to pay extra to have your visa expedited for the same day. This usually takes 4-6 hours and can cost upward of $100 USD or more. It is common for some visa agency sites online to send you a fake e-visa to fool the airport attendants so you may board your plane and then they will have the actual e-visa ready for you upon landing. The agencies that offer same-day expediting are not run through the official immigration site, so you need to be careful that you don’t get scammed.
There is a stamp fee that you will pay at immigration after they have approved your visa. This fee is $25 USD and is a requirement.
Validity
Your travel visa is valid for 30 days upon arrival and is only for single entry. It is possible for you to extend your visa for up to three months while in the country, at an extra cost. You will need to go to a United States Embassy to do so and may take some time before it is approved.
Processing Time
The average time to obtain a travel visa is between 5-7 business days. This can fluctuate depending on what method you use to obtain the visa. There are also ways for you to pay to expedite your visa which will come at an extra cost. It is recommended to apply for your visa three to four weeks in advance to allow time for any issues that may occur.
How To Obtain A Visa
There are three different ways you can go about obtaining a Vietnam travel visa.
Apply for an e-visa online
As long as you plan ahead, this is the easiest and cheapest way of obtaining a visa. You will need a passport-sized photo taken within the last six months, a scanned copy of your passport’s data page, your entry and exit dates, and the entry and exit points/ airports. This will cost $25 USD and will take 3-5 business days to process, sometimes longer. Your e-visa will be emailed to you and you must print it out before heading through immigration.
Here is the link to the official Vietnamese Immigrations Office website: https://evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn/en_US/web/guest/trang-chu-ttdt
Vietnamese Embassy in the United States
Visiting the Vietnamese Embassy in the United States is another way of obtaining a travel visa. You will need to schedule an appointment and come prepared with all the forms printed and filled out. You will then pay a fee and they will take your passport to process, which you will then come back and collect at a later date. Vietnamese Embassies in other countries may not be able to help you as a United States citizen.
Tourism Agency
You can go through a tourism agency and pay someone there to go through the process of obtaining your visa for you. This will cost you an extra fee on top of the fee for the visa. This is basically the same process as applying for an e-visa but can be quicker at times.
My Failed Attempts To Obtain A Visa
I obtained my visa by going through a travel agency and would not recommend going about it this way. Going through a tourism agency is the most expensive way, but can help if you’re in a hurry. I was in Thailand at the time and got turned around at the airport for not having my visa ready. I had read online that I could get a visa on arrival, which was not the case. The airport agent at the desk said she could rebook my flight within the next 72 hours free of cost, but I would have to have my visa ready to show her. This ended up falling on a weekend, so I was not able to get my visa expedited in that amount of time and ended up losing the cost of that flight that I had to miss.
I tried going to the Vietnamese embassy in Bangkok, but they were no help since it was not the embassy in my home country. I also had trouble finding the correct website for a valid Vietnamese travel visa and was afraid of getting scammed, so I went ahead and paid for a travel agency to obtain my visa for me. Again, I will link the correct website to obtain an e-visa below. Hopefully, you can learn from my mistakes and have a seamless time obtaining your own travel visa.
Here is the link to the official Vietnamese Immigrations Office website: https://evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn/en_US/web/guest/trang-chu-ttdt
By now you should have all the tools to properly apply for your Vietnam travel visa with ease and enjoy all the wonder that Vietnam has to offer!