Current time in Vietnam:
Vietnam Immigration

How to Apply A Vietnam Visa in San Francisco – California (USA)

Most countries in the world need a visa when visiting Vietnam. Only some countries are exempt from visa if visiting Vietnam in a short time. You can check the full list of countries with visa exemption here.

Besides, there are two exceptional cases:

  • APEC business travel card holders are exempt from Vietnam visa for not more than 90 days.
  • Travelers visit Phu Quoc island with an air return ticket and stay on the island for less than 30 days are exempt from having a Vietnam visa. A visa is required if going outside the island.

If you do not belong to ether visa exemption list or these two cases, you should apply a Vietnam Visa before coming to Vietnam.

How to Obtain Vietnam Visa in San Francisco – California (USA)?

At this moment, there are 3 ways to obtain a Vietnam visa in San Francisco – California (USA):

1/ Consulate

The first way is to go to the Vietnam consulate in San Francisco – California (USA). This way is really helpful if your home is near the consulate. You will get the visa from a trustful organization before coming to Vietnam.

However, this way is more time-consuming because you need to spend more time to come to the consulate office at least 2 times (submitting the application and getting the result). And it is really not a good choice in case you are far way of the consulate.

In order to get visa at the consulate, you directly come to the office of Vietnam consulate in San Francisco – California (USA), then submitting the original passport + application form + photo and pay the visa fee. Sometimes the consulate requires some more documents, such as air booking, hotel booking, etc. depending on your nationality and purpose of visit.

After 5 – 7 working days, you come back to the consulate to get back your passport + visa.

For more detail, you can check with the Vietnam consulate in San Francisco – California (USA).

1700 California Street, Suite 430, San Francisco, CA 94109, California, USA

Tel:                 415-922-1707 ext. 115

Fax:                415-922-1848; 415-922-0307

Web address:          www.vietnamconsulate-sf.org

If you consider about the time it takes to be physically present at the consulate, as well as all protocols and processes you have to undergo, you can consider about two below options:

2/ E-Visa

Vietnam Electronic Visa (e-Visa) is an official document granted by the Immigration of Vietnam which permits the holder to enter into and travel within Vietnam. It is an alternative entry visa issued at the embassies of Vietnam and visa on arrival. The e-Visa is a single-entry visa, and the maximum duration of stay in Vietnam is 30 days, which cannot be extended and converted to other types of visa.

At the present, citizens from 46 countries can apply for a tourist e-Visa or a business e-Visa depending on which purpose they visit Vietnam. Travelers who use the E-visa program can apply and make payment online, then receive the e-Visa via email before travelling to Vietnam.

In order to get a Vietnam E-visa, you need to follow these steps:

Step 1: Check whether you are eligible for E-visa or not

As I mentioned above, E-Visa is only eligible for citizens of 46 countries, so you cannot apply this type of visa if you are not in the list.

Step 2: Fill out the online form

Click to apply online and fill out the information as request:

  • Your nationality
  • Purpose of visit
  • Port of arrival
  • Port of exit
  • Entry date
  • Exit date

Step 3: Upload passport photo and digital photo

These are two documents you must attach when applying a Vietnam E-Visa.

See requirement of passport photo and digital photo.

Step 4: Make payment

It is required to make payment prior to process the visa, so you need to finish this step to create your visa order.

Step 5: Receive E-Visa through email

After 2 working days, you receive your E-visa through email. Your job is to check all information showed in the paper. If there are something wrong, ask the agency doing it for you to revise it immediately. If it is totally correct, print it out!

See full of instruction to apply a Vietnam e-visa online here.

Tips: Print out the E-visa for boarding the airplane. When you come to Vietnam, show your e-visa document + passport to the Immigration Officer at the Passport control counter and enter Vietnam.

3/ Visa On Arrival

Visa On Arrival, as its name, is the visa you get on arrival. It has some specific features:

  • Be available for all countries
  • Only can get at the international airports.
  • Can be valid from 1 month to 1 year.
  • Single entry or multiple entry
  • No documents are required

See the differences between Visa on arrival and e-visa here.

In order to get visa on arrival, you need to apply a document in advance, which is called “visa approval letter”. This letter shows that the persons stated in the letter are granted to get visa on arrival at the airports. Without this letter, you cannot get visa on arrival. You can apply this letter few month before your departure, but do not apply it too late. It takes 2 working days to process this letter, so you should apply it at least 2 working days before the departure date (Or it is better to get this letter 1 week before your departure).

To get the visa approval letter, you should apply online through these steps:

Step 1: Fill out the online form

Click to apply online and fill out the information as request:

  • Your nationality
  • Purpose of visit
  • Visa type
  • Port of arrival
  • Port of exit
  • Entry date
  • Exit date

Step 2: Fill out your personal information

Your personal information will be used to apply your visa, so you can fill out the blanks correctly or upload your passport photo (the agency will pick up your personal information in passport and send to the Immigration department):

  • Your email
  • Full name
  • Gender
  • Date of birth
  • Passport number
  • Passport expiry date

Step 3: Make payment

It is required to make payment prior to process the visa, so you need to finish this step to create your visa order.

Step 4: Receive visa approval letter through email

After 2 working days, you receive your visa approval letter through email. Your job is to check all information showed in the paper. If there are something wrong, ask the agency doing it for you to revise it immediately. If it is totally correct, print it out!

See full of instruction to apply a Vietnam e-visa online here.

Tips:

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 visa stamp, you should prepare some documents in advance: Original passport + visa approval letter + Vietnamese Visa Application Form (we usually send this form in 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. After this step, you get the visa stamp on your passport. Then come to Passport control counter, show your passport and enter Vietnam!

YOU MIGHT BE INTERESTED

Most countries in the world need a visa when visiting Vietnam. Only some countries are exempt from visa if visiting Vietnam in a short time. You can check the full …

Most countries in the world need a visa when visiting Vietnam. Only some countries are exempt from visa if visiting Vietnam in a short time. You can check the full …

Most countries in the world need a visa when visiting Vietnam. Only some countries are exempt from visa if visiting Vietnam in a short time. You can check the full …

Most countries in the world need a visa when visiting Vietnam. Only some countries are exempt from visa if visiting Vietnam in a short time. You can check the full …

Most countries in the world need a visa when visiting Vietnam. Only some countries are exempt from visa if visiting Vietnam in a short time. You can check the full …

Most countries in the world need a visa when visiting Vietnam. Only some countries are exempt from visa if visiting Vietnam in a short time. You can check the full …

Most countries in the world need a visa when visiting Vietnam. Only some countries are exempt from visa if visiting Vietnam in a short time. You can check the full …

Most countries in the world need a visa when visiting Vietnam. Only some countries are exempt from visa if visiting Vietnam in a short time. You can check the full …

Most countries in the world need a visa when visiting Vietnam. Only some countries are exempt from visa if visiting Vietnam in a short time. You can check the full …

Visit this link on mobile
Risky Free:
We charge service fee when your visa application is processed successfully.
Hassle-Free:
No passport send-off. No embassy queuing.
Fast:
Within 48 hours processing time.
Accessible:
100% online. Send and receive by email.
APPLY FOR VISA ON ARRIVAL VIETNAM
VietnamImmigration.com is a commercial website providing service for visa Vietnam and charge service fee. We are neither government website nor affiliated with embassy therefore our fee is higher than official fee from government.