Vietnam entry visa, visa exemption

Visitors when entering Vietnam need to have a passport or valid papers whose value is equivalent to passport, and a valid visa granted by a competent authority of Vietnam, except for visa exemption cases. 

Visa exemption cases

• Vietnamese cititzens settling down overseas
• Foreigners whose husband/wife/parent(s) is/are Vietnamese citizens settling down overseas, or Vietnamese citizens are exempt from Vietnam entry visa with the allowed stay of less than 6 months for each entry if they possess a passport or international travel papers whose remaining validity duration is at least 1 year, and documents proving that they are exempt from Vietnam entry visa.
• Visa exemption certificate has a validity duration of up to 5 years and at least 6 months shorter than the validity duration of passport or international travel papers.

Bilateral agreement on visa exemption

- Citizens possessing an ordinary passport of Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Cambodia, Indonesia are exempt from Vietnam entry visa with the maximum allowed stay of 30 days; citizens of the Philippines may stay for no more than 21 days; citizens of Brunei and Myanmar may stay for no more than 14 days.

- Until August, 2016, citizens of 79 countries who possess diplomatic passports and official passports are exempt from Vietnam entry visa and vise versa. Those 79 countries are: Argentina, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Egypt, Albania, Algeria, Angola, Afghanistan, the UAE, India, Poland, Bangladesh, Belarus, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Cambodia, Chile, Columbia, Kuwait,  Costa Rica,  Croatia, Cuba, Dominica, Germany, El Salvador, Estonia, Ecuador, Korea, Italy, Hungary, Israel, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Maroc, Malta, Mexico, Myanmar, Mozambique, Moldova, Mongolia, Montonegro, South Africa, Russia, Japan, Nicaragua, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, France, the Philippines, Romania, Czech, Cyprus, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Spain, North Korea, China, Thailand, Turkey, Switzerland, Tunisia, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Uruguay, Venezuela, Seychelles, Singapore, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sudan. The stay duration is prescribed for specific person(s).

Vietnam provides unilateral visa waivers

- Foreigners and Vietnamese bringing foreign passport when doing entry, exit and residence procedures in Phu Quoc island are exempt from visa with the stay duration of no more than 30 days. In case that a foreigner enters Vietnam through an international border gate (either waterways or airways), stays in the transit area of that border gate, and then goes to Phu Quoc island, the foreigner will be exempt from visa.

- Officials of ASEAN Secretariat - regardless of types of passport - are exempt from Vietnam entry visa with the stay duration of no more than 30 days.

- From January 1^st, 2015 until December 31^st, 2019, citizens of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Russia, Japan, and Korea - regardless of types of passport and entry purposes - are exempt from Vietnam entry visa with the stay duration of no more than 15 days from the date of entry.

- From July 1^st, 2015 until June 30^th, 2017, citizens of the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy - regardless of types of passport and entry purposes - are exempt from Vietnam entry visa with the stay duration of no more than 15 days from the date of entry.

- From July 1^st, 2015 until June 30^th, 2020, Belarusian citizens, regardless of types of passport and entry purposes, are exempt from Vietnam entry visa with the stay duration of no more than 15 days from the date of entry.

Procedures of granting Vietnam entry visa  

- Vietnam entry visa is granted by a competent Vietnamese visa granting agency overseas. Foreigners are granted visa at Vietnamese international border gates in some special cases.

- Visa application documents: visa application form with a 4x6cm size photo; passport or papers which is equivalent to passport (the validity duration is at least 1 month longer than the validity duration of the requested visa).

- The validity duration of tourist visa is no more than 3 months.