Vietnam visa on arrival

Visa On Arrival (VOA) is one of the several visa types issued by the Vietnamese Immigration Department to foreigners intending to enter the country. Unlike a Vietnam e-Visa, citizens of all countries around the world can apply “Visa On Arrival” (VOA), applicants can apply VOA for staying for 1 month, 3 months, 6 months or 12 months with single entry or multiple entry.

If you want to pick up your visa on arrival at international airports of Vietnam, you should apply online through our website or contact your travel agent in Vietnam to ask for a visa approval letter from Vietnam Immigration Department (scroll down to see the sample of the visa approval letter below).

Then upon arrival at the international airports of Vietnam, you are required to show the visa approval letter to get visa stamp on your passport.

1.Visa Approval Letter

Visa Approval letter is the letter which is approved, signed & red sealed by Vietnam Immigration Department (Vietnam Government). It allows you boarding airplane and picking up your visa at the international airports of Vietnam on arrival.

The people on the visa approval letter are granted permission to enter Vietnam, and they are permitted to pick up visa on arrival at the international airports.

The applicants’ personal information will be showed on the visa approval letter with detailed date of entry and length of stays permission.

The applicants normally share the visa approval letter with many other customers (up to 40 people in one letter)  and all applicants’ names are printed on this letter. This kind of letter is cheaper than the private one.

If the applicants are concerned about privacy or security issues, they can ask for a private approval letter that bears only their name or the names of family members/ friends who are travelling with them. This kind of letter requires extra cost.

2. Who is eligible for Visa On Arrival?

Visa On Arrival is available for everybody. People of all nationalities can use this type of visa to enter Vietnam (no need to care about the nationality).

3. Entry ports

There are 6 international airports that you can enter by using Visa On Arrival:

1. Noi Bai international airport in Hanoi city
2. Tan Son Nhat international airport in Ho Chi Minh city
3. Cam Ranh international airport in Nha Trang city
4. Da Nang international airport in Da Nang city
5. Cat Bi international airport in Hai Phong city
6. Phu Quoc international airport in Phu Quoc island

Please note:

• There are many airports in Vietnam, but only the above airports are accepted to get Visa On Arrival. Therefore, you must enter Vietnam through these airports.
• For Visa On Arrival, you enter Vietnam at international airports only. You cannot enter by sea ports or border check points. If you need to enter via other entry ports, please consider e-Visa.
• After getting stamp on your passport (that means you officially obtain Vietnam visa), you can exit at any ports you want (no need to exit at the above international airports). You can exit via border check points or sea ports.

4. Types of Visa On Arrival

For Tourist:

• Tourist 1 month single entry: Allow people coming to Vietnam for tourism to enter and exit Vietnam only one time with a maximum of 30 days staying.
• Tourist 3 months single entry: Allow people coming to Vietnam for tourism to enter and exit Vietnam only one time with a maximum of 3 months staying.
• Tourist 1 month multiple entries: Allow people coming to Vietnam for tourism to enter and exit Vietnam multiple times with a maximum of 30 days staying.
• Tourist 3 months multiple entries: Allow people coming to Vietnam for tourism to enter and exit Vietnam multiple times with a maximum of 3 months staying.
• Tourist 6 months multiple entries: Allow people coming to Vietnam for tourism to enter and exit Vietnam multiple times with a maximum of 6 months staying.
• Tourist 1 year multiple entries: Allow people coming to Vietnam for tourism to enter and exit Vietnam multiple times with a maximum of a year staying.

For Business:

• Business 1 month single entry: Allow people coming to Vietnam for working to enter and exit Vietnam only one time with a maximum of 30 days staying.
• Business 3 months single entry: Allow people coming to Vietnam for working to enter and exit Vietnam only one time with a maximum of 3 months staying.
• Business 1 month multiple entries: Allow people coming to Vietnam for working to enter and exit Vietnam multiple times with a maximum of 30 days staying.
• Business 3 months multiple entries: Allow people coming to Vietnam for working to enter and exit Vietnam multiple times with a maximum of 3 months staying.
• Business 6 months multiple entries: Allow people coming to Vietnam for working to enter and exit Vietnam multiple times with a maximum of 6 months staying.
• Business 1 year multiple entries: Allow people coming to Vietnam for working to enter and exit Vietnam multiple times with a maximum of a year staying.

5. Processing time to get Visa On Arrival

• It normally takes 2 working days to get the visa approval letter from the date you apply Visa On Arrival. (Please note that 2 working days means weekdays, excluded Saturday, Sunday and Vietnam holidays).
• In case you need it urgently, you can use express service. This service helps you to get visa approval letter faster, within 1 working days, 8 hours, 4 hours or even 1 hours. You have to pay extra fee for express service.
• For some special cases, it takes longer than 2 working for processing, and the documents are required.

6. Documents to apply Visa On Arrival

Generally, the applicants do not need any documents for applying Visa On Arrival. They just apply online with the basic personal information, such as full name, gender, date of birth, nationality, etc. The applicants do not need to submit passport scans or photo like e-Visa. Therefore, there is normally no documents required when applying Visa On Arrival.

However, for some special cases, the applicants need to attach these following documents:

– Hotel booking confirmation

– Round-trip air ticket confirmation

– Passport copy

Their visa will be approved according to hotel booking and round-trip air ticket.

You can check the processing time as well as the required documents here.

7. Fees

Fees for Visa On Arrival are divided into two types: Services fee and stamp fee

• Services fee: The fee applicants pay to the travel agent which represents them to get the visa approval letter (The foreigners cannot apply visa on arrival with the Vietnam Immigration Department directly. They need a sponsor (a travel agent) in Vietnam to do that). This letter will help them to get visa stamp when they arrive at the airport in Vietnam. The services fee is varied according to the applicants’ nationality and the type of visa they choose. Click here to check this fee.
• Stamp fee: Fee that applicants pay for getting stamp on their passport on arrival. When they apply visa on arrival, what they have in their hand before coming to Vietnam is visa approval letter only. They have not had stamp on passport yet. At the date coming to Vietnam, they will get visa stamp at the “visa landing counter” or “visa upon arrival counter” by submitting this letter + Vietnamese application form + pay stamp fee. See visa stamp fee table here.

8. How to apply

It is very simple to apply Visa On Arrival. You just access our website and fill in some basic information about your name, gender, date of birth, passport, etc. and the type of visa you choose.

For detailed guidance, please click here.

9. Where to pick up Visa On Arrival?

In Vietnam international airports on arrival, you will see an office for issuing visa, called “landing visa counter” or “visa upon arrival”. This office is located in front of passport control counter. See image below for your reference.

Visa On Arrival in Hanoi Old Ternimal

– Noi Bai Int’l airport (in Hanoi city), you will see an office called “Visa Upon Arrival” (old terminal) or “Visa Application” (new terminal)

Visa On Arrival in Hanoi New Ternimal

– Tan Son Nhat int’l airport (in Ho Chi Minh city), you will see an office called “Landing Visa”

Landing Visa in Ho Chi Minh

– Da Nang int’l airport (in Da Nang city), you will see an office called “Visa On Arrival”

Visa On Arrival office in Da Nang

– Cam Ranh int’l airport (in Nha Trang city), you will see an office called “Visa Application”

Visa on arrival office in Cam Ranh airport

10. Getting Visa stamp on arrival

At the date coming to Vietnam, you show this letter for boarding the airplane. After arriving at international airport in Vietnam, you come to the “landing visa counter” or “Visa upon arrival counter” to get visa stamp.

To get it, you should prepare some documents in advance: Original passport + visa approval letter + Vietnamese Visa Application Form (we usually send this form in the email so you can fill, attach photo and sign to save time on arrival) + Stamping fee.

Wait to be called for paying stamp fee and get back the passport with visa inside.

Check-visa-careful-before-leaving

After this step, you get the visa stamp on your passport and can enter Vietnam officially.

Note: Please check your visa carefully and ask for correction immediately because you will have no chance to correct the mistake after exit passport control counter.