Vietnam Visa for New Zealander

General rules:

According to the current Vietnam’s Law, all passengers coming to Vietnam in the purpose of tourist or business have to obtain a visa (except for some countries are exempt from which are mentioned below). 

Vietnam Visa Exemption

1/ This is list of countries that Vietnam Immigration allows their citizens to enter Vietnam without visa with detailed length of stay. Unfortunately, New Zealander isn’t in this list. Therefore, you still need visa to enter Vietnam.

2/ Besides, there are two cases that the you can travel to Vietnam without Visa

• APEC business travel card holders are exempt from Vietnam visa for not more than 90 days.
• Travelers to Phu Quoc Island with round trip air ticket and staying on the island for 30 days or less are exempt from having Vietnam visa. A visa is required if going outside the island.

Ways to apply Vietnam Visa:

There are many ways to obtain Vietnam Visa. Here are three most popular ways for New Zealander. You can consider in order that you can choose the most suitable one.

1/ Apply visa in the traditional way: Coming to Vietnam Embassy or Consulate and applying

This is what many people usually do when they think about applying visa. The first thing you have to do is find out the Vietnam embassy or consulate address in your nation. Preparing all necessary documents for applying visa on the appointment date is your next step. If your current living nation doesn’t have Vietnam embassy or consulate, you need to go to the nearest nation having them to do this process. This way helps you surely to hold your visa before you come to Vietnam, but it takes a lot of time for processing (it normally takes about 5 – 7 working days to get the result) as well as it wastes your effort and time, especially in case the embassy or consulate is far away from your home.

You can see list of Vietnam Embassy and Consulate in New Zealand here.

The documents to apply visa at the embassy/ consulate are different from regions to regions. However, it normally includes:

• Application form.
• Passport which is valid for at least 6 months from the date of entry into Vietnam and still has at least two blank pages.
• Recent passport-sized color photos (Image must be taken within the last 3 months; Photos should be in color and should be taken against a white background; Image must show the full face and without headgear (headgear worn in accordance with religious or racial customs is acceptable but must not hide the facial features)).
• Relating documents basing on particular embassy/ consulate request.

For further information, please contact Vietnam embassy/ consulate in New Zealand.

2/ Visa On Arrival

Visa On Arrival is the visa applying for all nationalities all over the world, coming to Vietnam for tourist purpose or business purpose, with variety length of stay and time of entry (1 month single entry, 1 month multiple entries, 3 months single entry, 3 months multiple entries, 6 months multiple entries, 1 year multiple entries). Visa On Arrival has its own advantages, such as fast (only 2 working day for basic services, and 1- 8 hours for urgent services), time-saving and effort-saving (don’t have to go to the embassy/ consulate directly), simple (don’t have to prepare complicated documents), highly secret (personal information is kept in secret), and cheap (cheaper than other visa services). Another thing you need to know is that Visa On Arrival is only valid for those who enter Vietnam via airports. At the moment, there are 6 international airports in Vietnam agreeing on this visa, included: Noi Bai International Airport in Ha Noi City, Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang International Airport in Da Nang City, Cam Ranh International Airport in Nha Trang City, Phu Quoc International Airport in Phu Quoc Island, Cat Bi International Airport in Hai Phong City.

Applying Visa On Arrival Procedure

It’s not allowed to apply Visa On Arrival from the embassy or consulate directly. Therefore, you have to choose a sponsor in Vietnam, and then you ask this one to apply Visa On Arrival for you. There are many sponsors which can apply Visa On Arrival in Vietnam now, but you should choose a prestigious company with fast, cheap and good-supporting quality. You can visit vietnamimmigration.com for your reference.

After choosing a Vietnam’s sponsor, all you need to do is fill in the form and wait for the result. It is quite simple, right? You can see detailed guidance in below:

Step 1: Fill in the form

The sponsor will send to you the form to apply. You only need to fill in the form with your personal information and kinds of visa you want to apply. It includes:

• Nationality
• Purpose of visit (tourist or business)
• Visa type (1 month single entry, 1 month multiple entries, 3 months single entry, 3 months multiple entries, 6 months multiple entries, 1 year multiple entries)
• Port of arrival (Noi Bai International Airport in Ha Noi City, Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang International Airport in Da Nang City, Cam Ranh International Airport in Nha Trang City, Phu Quoc International Airport in Phu Quoc Island, Cat Bi International Airport in Hai Phong City).
• Entry date
• Exit date

• Email
• Full name
• Gender
• Date of birth
• Passport number
• Passport expiration date

Step 2: Make online payment     

After completing to fill in the form, you will receive an online payment notification. At this step, you can make payment by Credit card via PayPal. It is safe and easy to do. After finishing to make payment, you immediately receive an email informing about your order with detailed information. Your job is to wait for the result. It takes about 2 working days for basic services or faster if you choose urgent services.

Step 3: Receive Approval letter

Within 2 working days, the sponsor send to you an email with Approval letter attached. For this Approval letter, you have to check carefully to make sure the information is correct. If there are any mistakes or errors, you need to contact to the Vietnam sponsor to revise it to the correct one. This visa approval letter helps you when you get in airplane and it’s required to show at “Landing Visa” or “Visa Upon Arrival” office for picking up your visa.

Step 4: When you come to Vietnam

On arrival at your destination airport, you are required to submit your visa approval letter + passport + Vietnamese visa application form, then waiting to be called for paying the visa stamping fee to get your visa. Therefore, you have to prepare these following documents:

• Print a hard copy of approval letter to show for boarding airplane (the airline staffs check the approval letter before they allow you to board), and it is required to show at “Landing Visa” or “Visa Upon Arrival” office for picking up your visa.
• Take at least 2 passport-sized color photos (straight face, no hat or glasses, white or bright background).
• Fill in the Vietnamese visa application form and attach the photos (Some sponsors send this form to you when you apply visa with them so that you can fill in it in advance).
• Note that your original passport must valid at least 6 months from the arrival date with at least 2 blank pages.
• Prepare cash for paying visa stamp fee on arrival. It is the fee paying for Vietnam government to get visa stamped on your passport, and has been paid on cash on the arrival date. You should prepare it in US Dollars instead of Vietnam Dong or other currencies to avoid exchange rate difference. This fee is different from the types of visa you apply. You can see the below table for reference.

After receiving your visa on Visa Counter, you check it again. If there are any mistakes or errors, you ask the immigration officer to revise it. After that, you can enter Vietnam.

Supporting packages:

Besides, for Visa On Arrival, you still have some special supporting packages:

• Express Service: It takes 2 working days for processing Approval letter, excludes Saturday, Sunday & Vietnam’s holidays. If you need the visa urgently, you can add on this service. This service allows you to get the approval letter faster. For example, you can get the approval letter within 1 working hour, 4 working hours, 8 working houses, 1 working day, etc.
• Privacy Protection: For the standard service, you share the approval letter with many other customers and all applicants’ details are printed on the one letter. The other customers who share the same approval letter with you can know your personal information. The privacy protection service allows you to keep your information more secret. For example, you can choose “one person in one letter” if you want to own the approval letter with only your name inside, and “your group in the same letter” if you want to own the approval letter with only your group’s name inside.
• On Arrival Support: You normally pick up the visa by yourself at the visa counter when you arrive. With the standard support, the staffs meet you in front of the visa counter with a welcome board, taking care of all procedures necessary to get the visa stamped on your passport. With VIP support, the staffs meet you in front of the visa counter with a welcome board, receive your passport and give it back with the visa in 5-10 minutes, then escorting you to check out via the VIP gate.
• Depending on the service you choose, you have to pay extra money. Please check with the sponsor you apply visa to know the fee exactly.

Fee for Applying Visa On Arrival:

The total fee you have to pay to get Visa On Arrival = Visa service fee + Visa stamp fee + Supporting Services

• Visa service fee: Fee paying for the sponsor in Vietnam to arrange approval letter from Vietnam Immigration Department. Please note that it is unable to get visa on arrival without the approval letter. This fee depends on your nationality and type of visa you choose. You can click here for your reference.
• Visa stamp fee: Fee paying to get visa stamped on your passport when you collect your visa on arrival at airports of Vietnam or at embassy of Vietnam in your country. You cannot pay this fee in advance via any sponsor or any travel agent. It is different from the type of visa you want to get. Please see the table mentioned in “Applying Visa On Arrival Procedure” for your reference.
• Supporting Services: Add-on service in case you need some special supports from the time processing your approval letter to the date of arrival. You can also click here for your reference.

3/ E-Visa

This is a type of via applied for some countries assigned by Vietnam Government, with maximum 30 days of stay, and only single entry. It is also fast, cheap and can be applied online. New Zealand is in the list of countries that its citizens can apply E-Visa to Vietnam.

To distinguish E-visa and Visa On Arrival, you can see the table as below:

Applying E-Visa Procedure

To apply E-Visa, you need to follow these steps:

Step 1: Fill in your personal information and types of visa you want to apply.

Similar to what you do when applying Visa On Arrival, you still have to complete these basic information (some are different).

• Nationality
• Purpose of visit (tourist or business)
• Visa type (only one type: E-visa for 30 days single entry)
• Port of arrival (Choose one among 8 International airports + 13 Land-crossing borders + 7 Sea Ports)
• Port of exit (Choose one among 8 International airports + 13 Land-crossing borders + 7 Sea Ports)
• Entry date
• Exit date

• Email
• Upload passport copy – Scan the page of passport that contains your personal information for uploading to the online form (passport must valid at least 6 months from the arrival date with at least 2 blank pages – file must be in PDF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, or BMP. Maximum size can be uploaded: 10MB)
• Upload a recent digital photo (file must be in PDF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, or BMP. Maximum size can be uploaded: 10MB)
• Flight number (as in air ticket – if any)
• Arrival time of airplane (if any)

Step 2: Make online payment      

After completing to fill in the form, you will receive an online payment notification. At this step, you can make payment by Credit card via PayPal. It is safe and easy to do. After finishing to make payment, you immediately receive an email informing about your order with detailed information. Your job is to wait for the result. It takes about 2 working days for basic services or faster if you choose urgent services.

Step 3: Receive E-visa

Within 2 working days, the sponsor send to you an email with E-Visa attached. You have to check carefully to make sure the information is correct. If there are any mistakes or errors, you need to contact to the Vietnam sponsor to revise it to the correct one.

Step 4: When you come to Vietnam

With the fact that you receive E-Visa and print it out, you officially obtain visa to Vietnam without coming to “Landing visa” or “Visa On Arrival” counter to get the visa like Visa On Arrival. You are not required to pay any extra fee when you arrive Vietnam (like stamp fee when you apply Visa On Arrival). You only hold your hard copy of E-Visa and check out the immigration gate. These things are your guidance:

• Print a hard copy of E-Visa to show for boarding airplane and it is required to show at Immigration gate to enter Vietnam
• Note that your original passport must valid at least 6 months from the arrival date with at least 2 blank pages.

Special supporting packages:

For E-Visa, you still have some special supporting packages:

• Express service: It takes 2 working days for processing visa, excludes Saturday, Sunday & Holidays. If you need the visa urgently, you can add on this service. This service allows you to get your visa within 1 working day.
• On Arrival Support: You normally queue and do check-in procedure at the passport control when you arrive. With the VIP support, the staffs meet you in front of the passport control with a welcome board, then escorting you to check out via the VIP gate.
• Depending on the service you choose, you have to pay the extra money. Please check with the sponsor you apply visa to know the fee exactly.

Fee for Applying E-Visa:

The total fee you have to pay to get E-Visa = Visa service fee + Supporting Services

• Visa service fee: Fee paying for the sponsor in Vietnam to arrange approval letter from Vietnam Immigration Department. Please note that it is unable to get visa on arrival without the approval letter. This fee depends on your nationality and type of visa you choose. You can click here for your reference.
• Supporting Services: Add-on service in case you need some special supports from the time processing your approval letter to the date of arrival.

Vietnam is welcome you!

In summary, in accordance with Vietnam current laws, it is not difficult to obtain Visa to Vietnam for New Zealander. You can choose to do in the traditional way – going to you country’s Vietnam embassy or consultant, with necessary documents, applying and waiting for 5-7 working days to get the result. Or you can choose a sponsor in Vietnam to apply for visa with Visa On Arrival and E-Visa. To apply E-Visa, you need to be in the list of countries which are eligible for. This type of visa allows you to enter Vietnam via many airports, land-crossing borders and seaports. Therefore, you have more choices for your transportation using to come to Vietnam. However, this visa only allows you to stay 30 days maximum in Vietnam with single entry. If you want to possess a type of visa with variety length of stay and time of entry, you can consider about Visa On Arrival. This visa allows you to stay in 1 month, 3 months, 6 months or 1 year. Furthermore, you can enter Vietnam 1 time or many times.

Both E-Visa and Visa On Arrival are in simple procedure (simple documents, only fill in the form with personal information and type of visa, no need to submit any original documents), with short processing time (about 2 working days for getting the result), urgent service support (from 1-8 hours for getting visa with additional fee) and On Arrival service support (pick up on arrival, help to get visa stamp (with Visa On Arrival), escort to check out via the VIP gate). That is the reason why tourists coming to Vietnam usually choose these types of visa instead of the traditional way.

Vietnam is welcome you. Come and see!