Vietnam is fast becoming one of the most popular tourist destinations in South East Asia. Few years back when I visited Thailand for 2 weeks, Vietnam had only started to gain popularity. And it was nowhere near Singapore when I had visited the later. But things have changed since. Affordable flights and accommodation, convenient and multiple internal means of transport and variety of healthy and delicious cuisines are some of the top reasons this scenic country is becoming popular tourist hub fast.
But did you know that obtaining a Vietnam e-visa for travel to Vietnam, particularly for leisure and holiday, is also very easy. And that is what makes it so lucrative a destination. I realized it when recently I was looking for a summer holidays destination. Although smitten by the beauty of Europe like all other Indians, I was skeptical to get a schengen visa given the paperwork it requires. And the whole itinerary also needs to be sorted beforehand. And then I checked about Vietnam visa. The process to obtain Vietnam e-visa looked like a breeze. And it gave me all the flexibility to plan my trip on the go, than to sort out everything in advance. So, if you are also planning a trip to Vietnam, here’s all you need to know on how to obtain a Vietnam e-Visa.
Official site to book Vietnam e-Visa
This is the official website of the Vietnam e-Visa portal. There might be other websites available online. Most of those are fake. Or, agencies that might charge you extra for processing the Vietnam e-Visa. So, only go through this official website.
Documents required for obtaining Vietnam e-Visa
There are very minimal documents required for obtaining Vietnam e-Visa. These include –
- Copy of both sides of your passport (with validity for next 6 months)
- One recent digital photograph
Filing the Vietnam e-Visa
Below are the steps for filing a Vietnam-eVisa
#1 Gather the above documents
#2 Open the above Visa portal link
#3 Upload your passport & a recent photograph
After scanning your passport and your photograph, the system will match the picture in your passport against what you have uploaded. And if its a good match (above 75%), it will move to the next step. Also, don’t use the same pic that you used for your passport as the system will flag it.
You should always use a recent photograph. I got a little lazy and tried to use an older photograph which I had at hand. And I must say the image processing and comparison algo that the Vietnam e-visa portal uses is quiet smart. It gave me an error. Which didn’t clearly say that there was a problem with the mismatched pictures. But I just tried taking a selfie from my phone and uploading that instead. And guess what! It worked. As it matched with my passport picture 85% . And the application went through without any warning.
#4 Provide your personal information
#5 Requested, passport and contact information
In Requested information, you are asked about single or multi-entry visa. The fee for both vary a little. Also, it is much more hassle free and easier to get a single entry visa quickly. So we choose the same. Since we were sure we are going to visit Vietnam only this once over the next few years.
For emergency contact, it is better to choose someone you are not traveling with. Because this will be mostly used if anything were to happen to you while in Vietnam. You can fill in here your parents, siblings, friends contacts – whoever you can rely on as an emergency contact.
#6 Occupation and trip information
Filling in the occupation information is straightforward. When filling in the trip information, you might want to keep a few things in mind –
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When filling in the entry and the exit dates in Vietnam, you can keep them within a duration of 30 days to easily get your Visa processed. It need not necessarily be the same dates on which you are traveling. But the Visa will be issued for this duration. For example, we were planning a 20 days trip to Vietnam. Initially our plan was to start on March 31. So we put our start date as March 31 and end date as April 29. And we got the Vietnam e-visa for exactly this duration. But, by this time, the air ticket prices had escalated. So, instead, we actually started our journey one week later. And came back to India on around April 24
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You have to provide the name of accommodation here. Here, people generally provide the name of the first accommodation they will be staying in. So, you can book a hotel or airbnb in the first city you are landing in, just for one night, if you want to. To fill in the detail. And still keep rest of your itinerary flexible.
On the next step, you can review the details and then make the payment for your Vietnam e-Visa fee.
#7 Accompanying children under 14 years with same passport as parent
This step is for people traveling with kids. And it can confuse you a bit.
PS: It is only applicable as your child has a joint passport with yours and not a separate passport. (The key is to emphasise on the word “who are issued with the same passport“. Since, in India, kids are issued their own passport since birth, this section didn’t apply to us. And we left it blank.
Filing the Vietnam e-Visa application for kids
The Vietnam e-Visa application process for kids is exactly same as that of adults, if they hold their own passports. I filled in 2 application forms – one of each of my kids. After I had filled mine. And provided my contact details in both.
Tracking the e-Visa application status for Vietnam
Once you have applied the e-Visa for Vietnam, you will get a confirmation email in your inbox. This email contains your application number and a link. Clicking on this link, you directly land on the e-Visa portal where you can check the current status of your e-Visa.
Once you Vietnam e-Visa is approved, you will get another email confirming the same. By clicking on the link in this email, you can download, save and print your Vietnam e-Visa. Make sure to save an electronic copy on your phone as well as take a printout of the eVisa for easy access at immigration counters for when you travel.
Cost of obtaining Vietnam e-Visa
The Vietnam e-Visa cost us around INR 2000/- (Roughly USD 24) per individual.
You can easily pay online through a credit card or debit card if it is enabled for international transactions.
Or, you can also pay this fee through a UPI or internet banking transaction.
How much in advance do we need to apply for the Vietnam e-Visa
Although a Vietnam e-Visa gets approved within 2-4 working days. It’s always a good idea to keep a few buffer days at hand. Just in case they want an additional document from your end. Or, because of holidays or weekends, it takes more number of days for the processing to happen.
When we applied for our Vietnam e-Visa, we were yet to book our flight and most of the accommodation. So, we filed almost a week in advance. We got our Vietnam e-Visa within 3 working days. Post which we booked our flight and accommodation. And started the rest of the trip preparations. What I already had at hand was a rough Vietnam trip Itinerary for 2 weeks. But the executions (bookings etc.) mostly happened after obtaining the Visa.
Flexibility with Vietnam e-Visa
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Since you don’t need to lay out the whole itinerary in advance to get a Vietnam e-Visa, this will really give you the flexibility to plan the rest of your days within the duration of your trip. Something that families with younger kids or elderly particularly value. What this means is, if you couldn’t get an attraction ticket or book that day trip on day 1, you can always do it on day 2 or day 3. Or, if your kid is not feeling very well one day, you can take it at ease. When we ourselves reached Vietnam, and landed in Ho Chi Minh. It was at an odd hour in the morning. So, we didn’t really know at that point of time, how our day would unfold. Our first priority was to take ample rest, get our bodies adjusted to the slight time difference. And then plan out for rest of the day. Had we booked a day trip in advance, we won’t have been able to do the same.
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With a tourist e-Visa in Vietnam, you can work like a digital nomad for 30 days or so. For working longer remotely, you might require additional permissions. But again, to be able to work from somewhere as a digital nomad without having to go through additional documentation and Visa charges is a bliss. Very less countries provide this kind of facility as we speak.
Now that you know the whole process, it is so seamless. You need not go via even a travel agent or visa agent. You can get your Vietnam visa within just a few days. That also with just a few details in place. And have a relaxed trip to Vietnam. Hope you found the information here helpful.