The procedure for applying for a Vietnam e-visa will remain available for at least two more years. In recent years, Vietnam has grown to become a very popular holiday destination in southeast Asia. To continue attracting tourists, the government of Vietnam has decided to extend the visa procedure with two years.
The Vietnam e-visa program was introduced in 2016 as an experiment to make it more attractive for foreign travellers to travel to the country. Due to the breakout success of the project, the government has extended it until 2021. After that, the experiment will be re-evaluated.
Vietnam e-visa as experiment
Since January 2017, it is possible to apply for a Vietnam e-visa online. This means that for British travellers headed to Vietnam that are staying for longer than 15 days, it is no longer necessary to visit the embassy to get your visa. Applying for an electronic Vietnam visa will remain possible until 31 January 2021. Afterwards, the Vietnamese government will reconsider whether the experiment needs another extension, or if it will be permanently implemented.
Validity Vietnam e-visa
The Vietnam e-visa is mandatory for all British travellers headed to the country, and that are staying in Vietnam for longer than 15 days. For trips shorter than 15 days, no visa is required for British travellers. The Vietnam visa is a single-entry visa, allowing you to stay in the country for a maximum of 30 days.
Applying for a Vietnam visa safer and easier
The government of Vietnam started digitizing their program to apply for a Vietnam visa in 2017. The government did this to make it safer to apply for a visa. Before the introduction of the program, Asian countries saw a lot of cases of fraud with fake visas and visa-on-arrival letters.
The Vietnam e-visa makes it a lot easier to apply for a visa. What’s more, you won’t need to wait in line at the airport, as everything is arranged through your computer before departure. It is therefore expected that Vietnam will permanently implement the e-visa in 2021, or at the very least extend the program again.
Applying for an Vietnam e-visa costs £54.95 per person. No additional stamping fee of 50 dollars needs to be paid once you arrive in Vietnam. Waiting in line at the airport is therefore no longer needed. The Vietnam visa is approved and granted before departure, when travellers apply for it online.
The costs of £54.95 include all possible fees, making the Vietnam e-visa a fair bit cheaper and easier to apply for than the visa on arrival. So much so that the government of Vietnam flatout advises against using the visa on arrival.
Requirements Vietnam e-visa
To apply for the Vietnam e-visa you need to meet a number of requirements. You don’t need to know the exact date of arrival or departure, nor is it necessary to have already booked your flight. The Vietnam e-visa can be used to enter and exit the country once. You can stay in Vietnam for a maximum of 30 days.
When the e-visa Vietnam is applied for, you need to indicate on the application form where you will be spending your first night in Vietnam. Meaning, you need to have already arranged accommodations. The Vietnam e-visa needs to be in your possession before leaving for Vietnam. Your passport has to be valid for at least 30 days longer than the end-date of the visa.
Furthermore, travellers with mental or contagious illnesses are excluded, as well as travellers that have been deported from Vietnam in the past 3 years. There are a limited number of airports, seaports and border posts through which you can arrive in Vietnam.
Application procedure Vietnam e-visa
With the implementation of the Vietnam e-visa, Vietnam wants to prevent that travellers continue making use of the more expensive and less safe visa on arrival. To this end, applying for a Vietnam e-visa online has been made extremely easy. An application can be submitted 24 hours a day, seven days a week. After filling in the form, the payment needs to be made. Afterwards, a scan of the passport or passport photo needs to be provided. e-Visa.co.uk always checks each application for errors, before it is sent to Vietnam.
Those that don’t meet the requirements for a Vietnam e-visa need to submit their application at the Vietnamese embassy. Applying for a Vietnam e-visa can be done as early as you wish. If you are already arriving in Vietnam within a few days, you can make use of the urgent procedure. An added fee of £17.50 is charged for that. The application is then approved within three workdays. We cannot provide any guarantees on delivery times, as urgent applications first must be approved by the government.
Please note: this news article about the visa for Vietnam is more than one year old. It might contain outdated information and advice, and no rights can therefore be derived from this article. Are you going on a trip soon and do you wish to do know what rules currently apply? Read all about the up-to-date information about the visa for Vietnam.