Everything you need to know about the Vietnam e-visa
While British citizens may stay in Vietnam for up to 45 days without a visa, travellers from most countries need to apply for a visa before departing to Vietnam. On this page, you can find out everything you need to know about the electronic visa for Vietnam, which all European travellers can apply for online.
Apply for a Vietnam visa right awayWhich visa do you need?
British citizens only need a visa for Vietnam if they intend to spend more than 45 days in the country. Irish citizens always need a visa to be allowed to enter Vietnam. Tourists and business travellers can fulfil the visa requirement easily by applying for an e-visa. Before the e-visa became available, travellers to Vietnam could buy a visa upon arrival (the so-called 'visa on arrival'). Because of this visa on arrival, travellers did not have to apply for a visa in advance. After the coronavirus pandemic broke out, no more visas were issued on arrival, and the visa on arrival was never officially reintroduced. Instead of the visa on arrival, travellers can apply for a visa online before departing for Vietnam.
The electronic Vietnam visa
You can complete the entire application for an electronic visa for Vietnam online, without having to submit your passport to the embassy or consulate. This visa allows you to travel to Vietnam for a holiday, business trip or to study, and to stay in the country for up to 90 days. You can also use the visa to transit through Vietnam. The visa is valid for a maximum of 90 days, but the exact validity period of your visa depends on the arrival and departure date which you need to enter in the application form. You can apply for the visa as long before your departure as you want, which allows you to prepare for your trip well in advance.
Please note that citizens of certain countries are waived from the requirement to hold a visa, which means that they do not need a visa for a short visit to Vietnam. Holders of a British, German, French, Spanish or Italian passport do not need to apply for a visa if they intend to stay in Vietnam for up to 45 days. For a stay of more than 45 days, travellers from these countries also need a visa.
Citizens of Ireland and most other countries always have to apply for a visa for Vietnam. They can use the simple online application form in English.
Requirements for a Vietnam visa application
Next to the travel purpose, there are a number of other requirements that need to be fulfilled if you want to travel with an e-visa. You cannot apply for the visa if you are in Vietnam already. Also, the e-visa can only be used to enter the country via certain air-, sea- and landports in Vietnam. You can find more information about this on the page about the requirements of the e-visa Vietnam.
Apply for the Vietnam visa online
You can apply for the e-visa Vietnam easily by filling in the online application form. You can submit the application for multiple people at the same time. After you enter all required data, you can pay the visa costs. The visa costs £54,95 per person. After the payment is made, you need to upload a few documents, i. e. a recent photograph and a photo or scan of the passport of each traveller. As soon as your visa is issued, you will receive it as a pdf-file by email. On average, applications are processed within 13 days, but urgent applications are processed after 5 days, on average.
Apply for the visa immediatelyDo you need to go to the embassy for a Vietnam visa?
Next to the e-visa, there are different types of paper visas that you can apply for at the embassy. However, most British and Irish traveller can apply for the e-visa easily from home. If the e-visa does not suffice, you can apply for a visa at the Vietnamese embassy. This is necessary if you want to stay in Vietnam for more than 90 days or if you do not fulfil the requirements to apply for an e-visa. In that case, you need to make an appointment at the embassy to submit your passport. After your visa is issued, you can pick up your passport, which contains the visa. Since e-visa applications are cheaper, easier to submit and processed faster than visa applications at the embassy, eligible travellers are advised to apply for the e-visa online.
