Full guidance of Getting Visa On Arrival at Tan Son Nhat International Airport (Ho Chi Minh City)

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Documents Preparation

In order to get a Vietnam visa on arrival at Tan Son Nhat airport (Ho Chi Minh City), you need to prepare these documents in advance:

1. Original Passport

When you travel abroad, passport is surely the most important document. Without this document, you cannot enter any country. Moreover, please do not forget that your passport must be valid more than 6 months prior to the entry date, and it is required to have at least 2 blank pages on your passport.

You cannot use the expiry passport to enter Vietnam. In case you applied a visa in advance, make sure that the passport number in the application form is the same with your current passport number.

2. Visa Approval Letter

Many people misunderstand that they can get visa on arrival without any application in advance, and they are refused to get visa at the arrival date. Please note that you only can get visa on arrival if you already applied a document which is called “visa approval letter”.

Visa approval letter is the letter which is approved, signed and read sealed by the Vietnamese Immigration Department. Your name and the other applicants’ name will be showed on the letter with the information “these below people are granted to get visa on arrival at the international airports”. It is also considered as a “pre-approval visa”, but it is use for boarding the airplane and getting the real visa at the airport only.

You need to apply a visa approval letter before flying to Vietnam

Visa approval letter, as its name, is not the real visa. It is the “approval notice”, which allows you to get the real visa at the airports on arrival date. However, if you do not apply this letter before arriving, you cannot get visa at the airports.

3. Photos

You need to prepare two photos size 4×6 (one for sticking on the Vietnamese visa application form, one for back up).

Prepare 2 photos before coming to Vietnam

Photo requirement:

• Size: 4×6 cm
• Must clearly show a full face, front view and open eyes
• Make sure photo presents full head, from top of hair to shoulders level
• Take the photo in a plain white or off-white background
• Avoid shadows on the face or background
• Face should be in a natural expression (with mouth closed)
• No sun glasses or hats are to be worn, as they obscure the full face
• The contrast and lighting conditions in the photo should be normal

4. Vietnamese visa application form (Form NA1)

This is the form to collect the information of your trip. You can get this form in front of “visa upon arrival counter”. Or you can download it online here.

It should be better to print it out and fill out before coming to Vietnam (cause you can learn it in advance and clearly know how to fill out it correctly). It also saves your time.

You can do it at home with the guidance here.

5. Cash

You have to pay the stamp fee to get your visa on arrival. The visa stamp fee is the fee which you directly pay to the Immigration officer at the Visa Upon Arrival counter to get the real visa and visa stamp.

• Single entry for 1 month up to 3 months staying is 25 USD per person
• Multiple entries for 1 month up to 3 months staying is 50 USD per person
• Multiple entries for 6 months staying is 95 USD
• Multiple entries for 1 year staying is 135 USD

The stamp fee is collected in cash only, so you need to prepare some cash before coming to Vietnam. Both US Dollars or Vietnam Dong are accepted, but US dollars is recommended. If you pay in Vietnam Dong, you may pay a higher fee than this amount in US Dollars (due to balance exchange).

Procedure:

Here is what you need to do for obtaining visa at the Ho Chi Minh Airport (Ho Chi Minh City)

1. Before Boarding

The airlines only allow you to get on the airplane in case you have visa (Of course, if you are free of visa to enter Vietnam, you just tell them you are visa exemption). The visa can be the real visa sticking on your passport, Evisa document, or visa approval letter. So, you just show the airlines staff your original passport + the visa approval letter. They will check and then you are allowed to fly to Vietnam.

airlines staff check the visa approval letter before letting you boarding airplane

2. When Arriving the Airport

After arrival, you will see the sign board which show you the way to come to “Landing visa counter”.

landing visa counter sign board in Tan Son Nhat Airport

3. At the “Visa Upon Arrival Counter”

You submit the documents (original passport + visa approval letter + completed visa application form with photo attached) to the Immigration Officer. After receiving your documents, she will ask you to come to the seat for waiting a few minutes. After checking, she will call your name, and ask you to pay the visa stamp fee.

getting visa on arrival at tan son nhat airport

4. At the Cashier Counter

You come to the cashier counter (near by the Visa Upon Arrival counter) to make payment. Please note that only cash is accepted and USD is recommended. After paying, you get back your passport with your visa inside.

Please carefully check the information showed in visa. If any wrong information, you need to ask her revise immediately.

5. At the Immigration Custom Check and Passport Control

At that time, you already had visa. You just show your passport at passport control counter and do the custom check. After this step, you are in Vietnam already.