How to Apply A Vietnam Visa in USA in 2024

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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 USA?

At this moment, there are 3 ways to obtain a Vietnam visa in USA:

1/ Embassy and Consulate

The first way is to go to the Vietnam Embassy or consulate in USA. This way is really helpful if your home is near the embassy/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 embassy 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 embassy/ consulate.

In order to get visa at the embassy/consulate, you directly come to the office of Vietnam Embassy/consulate in USA, then submitting the original passport + application form + photo and pay the visa fee. Sometimes the embassy/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 embassy/consulate to get back your passport + visa.

For more detail, you can check with the Vietnam embassy address in USA.

If you consider about the time it takes to be physically present at the embassy/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!