Visa procedure

Most visitors to Vietnam need a visa to enter the country. Visas are exempted for the citizens of the countries, which have signed a bilateral or unilateral visa exemption agreement with Vietnam, tourist visa may be valid for 15 to 30 days.

Tourist visa can only be obtained in Vietnamese embassies, consulates abroad. Otherwise, you can get a visa at the border gates if you are invitees of some Vietnamese competent organs or you are travelling on a package tour organized by Vietnamese travel companies. To apply for a visa, the requirements are as follows:

You should send your application and photos to a Vietnamese embassy or consulate abroad, which is most convenient to you. On your requirement, the reply will be returned by post (you must provide stamped envelopes with your name and address).

It is easier to get your visa from a Vietnamese travel agency. The necessary information to the travel agency include:

Visa exemption:

- Not more than 30 days: for citizens of Thailand, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Laos.

- Not more than 15 days: for citizens of Japan and South Korea, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland.

(Vietnamese diplomatic and official passport holders are exempted from visa requirements to enter Japan).

- French citizens holding valid diplomatic passports are exempt from visa requirements when visiting Vietnam and are allowed to stay for up 3 months at one time or on several visits within six months since their first immigration dates. Vietnamese citizens holding valid diplomatic passports also enjoy similar privileges.

- Citizens of Chile and Vietnam holding valid diplomatic or official passports from one of the two countries are exempt from needing entry, exit and transit visas in the other's territory and are allowed to stay for up 60 days on each visit.

For more information, please visit the website:

http://www.customs.gov.vn/default.aspx?tabid=454

GENERAL INFORMATION

Only citizens of certain countries can visit Vietnam without an entry visa (valid for visit within 30 days). Those countries include: most Asean countries, Korea, Japan & Scandinavians (2005). All other citizens are required to get an entry visa before departure or a pre-approved entry visa (visa is issued on arrival at Vietnam’s International Airports) supplied before arrival in Vietnam.

We recommend that you obtain your entry visa by having a valid passport stamped prior to your departure by applying to any one of the Vietnam Embassies and/or Consulates worldwide. However, if your particular city does not have a Vietnamese embassy, and you wish to avoid procedural delays (anywhere from 4 to 10 days) which sometimes happen with visa approvals at embassies outside Vietnam, One Travel Agent.Com can make this requirement a fairly easy exercise. We provide a form below, which you may copy and paste into a word document, fill out and return to us with the required information by fax or email. We will then arrange to obtain the visa approval code service for you. You will subsequently still need to get the official Vietnamese stamp of approval on your passport at any of our Embassies. Following such an approval, we will send you notification (by fax or email) and fax the approval to your desired Embassy or Consulate. You will need to take that approval with your passport to that Embassy or Consulate to get the visa stamp on your passport, which is done on the same day. You are now ready to go Vietnam!

In the event that there is no Vietnam embassy or Consulate in your country, or you just want to make Vietnam part of a multi-destination trip, then we recommend Visa on Arrival as your best option.

What is a 'Visa on Arrival ?': this is most likely the easiest way to obtain your visa without having to chase down embassies, consulates and the like prior to your trip, and is a valid alternative when applying for a tourist visa. The entry visa will be stamped on your passport as you pass through our immigration checkpoint. Though valid for thirty days, it can be extended once you enter Viet Nam. With this type of visa, you only can enter the country by air.

How to get a Visa on Arrival: this is where service at One Travel Agent. shines over other travel services. We are the first agency to offer this kind of service, whereby we obtain what is called an “Approval Letter” for you from the Viet Nam Immigration Department in Hanoi. After we obtain the approval for you, we will forward you a copy by fax or email. Copies of the same document will be forwarded on your behalf to Vietnam immigration checkpoints at International Airports only, so that when you arrive in Viet Nam, the Immigration officers will have those documents on hand and will be able to issue your entry visa expediently.

VIETNAM TRAVEL VISA - The SERVICE as sample

VISA ON ARRIVAL

Below is our Service fees and Stamping fees - which you will be required to pay directly at the airport.

NORMAL PROCESSING: 3 - 4 working days
URGENT PROCESSING: 1 -2 working day/s

2- TOURIST & BUSINESS VISA APPROVAL SERVICE
Our Service fees below do not include the STAMPING FEE of about US$25-65/pp to be submitted directly to the Embassy or Consulate (the stamping fee vary from Embassy to Embassy).

NORMAL PROCESSING: 3 - 4 working days
URGENT PROCESSING: 1 -2 working day/s

VISA APPROVAL CODE OR VISA ON ARRIVAL THROUGH APPLICATION FORM

a- Requirement: to process a visa for you, we need the following information:
1. Your title (Mr./Mrs./Ms.)
2. Your name exactly as it appears in your passport
2. Date of birth
3. Nationality
4. Passport No. (valid at least 06 months)
5. Date of Passport issuance
6. Date of Passport expiration
7. Proposed date of arrival
8. Flight Ref.
9. Port of arrival - Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) or other
10. Purpose of visit (Vacation/Business/Visit family)
11. Type of service (Visa approval code or Visa on arrival)
12. The city at which a Vietnam embassy or consulate is located, where you plan to get the visa (only for visa approval code type)

b- How it works:
After receiving your information and payment (will be advised upon receipt of your information), we will process the visa immediately. You can expect the process to take 2 to 4 working days, and in urgent cases, only 1 to 2 working days.

Visa on Arrival: After approval, we will fax or email you a copy of the Approval letter as an attachment. Please remember to bring at least 2 photos of passport regulation size (2in x 2in, or 5.08 cm x 5.08 cm)

Approval Code Visa: After approval, we will fax or email you a copy of the Approval letter with code as an attachment. You will then have to proceed to the Vietnam Embassy or Consulate to obtain your visa.

APPLY FOR A VISA AT AN EMBASSY- REQUIREMENTS and PROCEDURE

• Passport with a validity of at least 6 months.

• Visa application form.

• 2 photos of passport regulation size (see above).

Visa fee: range of US$45 - 85 if application is sent directly to the Embassy or US$25-55 if your visa has been pre-approved. This fee depends on The Embassy and Type of visa required.

The visa application form may vary from Embassy to Embassy, so you need to take the form from the specific Embassy where you will obtain your visa. Submit this form filled with your original passport, 2 or 3 photos, accompanied by the visa fee. If you apply directly to The Embassy, your information will then be sent to Hanoi for approval. Therefore, it will take between 4 to 10 days depending on your country of origin. In case the Visa has already been approved at the Hanoi Immigration Office, this will then take only one day. The tourist visa is for a single entry only and a one-month stay, but it can be extended after you enter Vietnam. Diplomatic, official visas, business and other types of visas should be handled through the official agencies or government or business sponsor of the traveler.

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