Visas and entry: what you actually need
Vietnam issues an electronic visa to every nationality, valid for up to 90 days, at an official fee of USD 25. Thirty-eight countries need nothing at all for short stays. The United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand are not among those thirty-eight, and that single fact accounts for most of the entry problems we see.
The short version
| E-visa eligibility | Every nationality |
| Maximum validity | Up to 90 days |
| Official fee | USD 25 single entry, USD 50 multiple entry |
| Processing time | About three working days |
| Where it is valid | 83 entry points |
| Where to apply | evisa.gov.vn — the government portal, not an agent |
| Visa exemption | 38 countries, from 14 to 90 days depending on passport |
| Passport | Valid at least six months, at least two blank pages |
This is the single most common mistake we see, and it is usually made by travellers who read a list of visa-free countries and assumed theirs was on it. It is not. Holders of US, Canadian, Australian and New Zealand passports need an e-visa before travelling — USD 25 for a single entry, about three working days, applied for at evisa.gov.vn. Arriving without one is not a problem you can solve at the airport counter.
The e-visa
The electronic visa is now the standard route into Vietnam and it is open to citizens of every country. It is issued for up to 90 days, single or multiple entry, and it is accepted at 83 entry points — airports, land crossings and seaports — which covers every arrival route a private trip is likely to use.
The official fee is USD 25 for single entry and USD 50 for multiple entry. Processing takes about three working days. The only place to apply is evisa.gov.vn, which is the government portal.
- Apply at evisa.gov.vn and nowhere else. Check the address character by character before you enter passport details into it.
- Choose single or multiple entry. Multiple entry is worth the extra USD 25 only if your trip genuinely leaves Vietnam and returns.
- Name your intended entry point. It is one of 83, and it should match the airport on your ticket.
- Allow about three working days, and apply further ahead than that. Three working days across a weekend is five calendar days.
- Carry a printed copy as well as the file on your phone. Airline check-in staff at your departure airport may ask to see it before they will board you.
Search for a Vietnam visa and the first results are frequently agents, not the government. They take the same application, submit it to the same portal, and charge several times the official USD 25 — sometimes with an "urgent processing" fee on top for a service the portal already provides. Some are legitimate agents charging for convenience; some are not, and either way you are handing your passport data to a third party for no gain. The official portal is evisa.gov.vn.
Where a booking with us is involved and you would rather not do the form yourself, we will walk you through it or point out what a particular consulate is asking for that week. What is not on offer is submitting it for you at a mark-up, because that is the business we just described.
The 38 countries that need no visa at all
Vietnam exempts 38 countries from the visa requirement for short stays. The length granted depends on the passport, and the four bands are:
| Stay granted | Passports |
|---|---|
| 90 days | Chile, Panama |
| 45 days | United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Kazakhstan |
| 30 days | Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus |
| 21 days | the Philippines |
| 14 days | Brunei, Myanmar |
Two consequences worth stating plainly. First, if your passport is not on that list, you need an e-visa — and the four countries whose travellers most often assume otherwise are the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Second, a stay entered under the exemption cannot be extended. If you are exempt for 45 days and want 60, you apply for an e-visa before you travel rather than trying to convert your status once you are in the country.
For a mixed party — a British passport and an American one travelling together, which is common — the exemption covers one of you and not the other, and the American application should be started three or four weeks out. Nothing about the exemption helps the other passport in the room.
Your passport
Two requirements, both checked at the airline desk before you fly and again at the immigration counter on arrival.
- At least six months of validity remaining. Count from your date of entry, not your date of booking — a passport that expires four months after your trip is a problem to solve now rather than at the airport.
- At least two blank pages. Frequent travellers with full passports get caught by this one, and a renewal takes longer than an e-visa.
Check both today, before anything else on this page. A passport renewal is the only item in the entry process with a lead time measured in weeks rather than days, and it is the one that most often forces a change of travel dates.
The Ha Giang border area permit
This one is new, it is not on most travel sites yet, and it applies to a route that a lot of people are planning. Since June 2026 foreigners have needed a border area permit to travel in the districts that make up the Ha Giang loop.
| What it is | A border area permit for foreign travellers |
| Since when | June 2026 — mandatory, not advisory |
| Where it applies | Quan Ba, Yen Minh, Dong Van and Meo Vac districts |
| Cost | About 250,000 VND, roughly USD 10 |
| Where to get it | The immigration office in Ha Giang city, with your passport and visa — or arranged in advance by your operator |
| If you travel without it | A police check, an administrative fine, and possibly being sent back to Ha Giang city to apply |
The districts named are not an obscure corner of the route — they are the route. Quan Ba, Yen Minh, Dong Van and Meo Vac are the four that contain the passes, the markets and the viewpoints that people come for. There is no version of the loop that avoids them and no discretion at the checkpoints.
Arranged in advance, this is an administrative detail costing about USD 10. Discovered at a checkpoint on the second morning, it is a fine and a long drive back down the valley. On our northern mountain trips the permit is handled before you arrive and the paper travels with your guide; see the five-day Ha Giang loop and the six-day market route, or the Ha Giang destination page for what the roads are actually like.
Check it yourself before you fly
Entry rules change, and they change without much notice. The exemption list has been revised more than once in recent years, e-visa validity was extended to 90 days, and the Ha Giang permit requirement appeared in June 2026 with limited warning. Everything on this page was correct on 8 September 2026 and it is dated for that reason.
Confirm your own case at evisa.gov.vn, the official portal, in the fortnight before you fly. Check the fee, the validity and the entry point list against what is written here, and tell us if anything has moved — we would rather correct this page than have a client discover it at a check-in desk.
One last piece of sequencing. The visa is the item people leave until last and it is the one with a fixed processing time attached, so start it when you book rather than when you pack. The rest of the planning — which month, how many days, how you move between regions — can be adjusted at any point. Three working days at the immigration department cannot.
Questions travellers ask most
We hold US passports. Do we need a visa for Vietnam?
Yes. The United States is not one of the 38 exempt countries, and neither are Canada, Australia or New Zealand. You need an e-visa: USD 25 for single entry, USD 50 for multiple, valid for up to 90 days, applied for at evisa.gov.vn.
It is a straightforward application and takes about three working days, but it has to be done before you fly. There is no counter at Noi Bai or Tan Son Nhat that will fix it for you when you land.
How far ahead should we apply for the e-visa?
Processing takes about three working days. Apply three or four weeks out anyway: three working days across a weekend or a public holiday becomes five or six calendar days, and applying early leaves room to correct a typed passport number.
Applying too early is not a problem either, because the visa is issued with your requested dates rather than starting from the day it is granted.
Can we extend a visa-free stay once we are in Vietnam?
No. Stays entered under the visa exemption cannot be extended. A 45-day exemption is 45 days, and planning to convert it into something longer after arrival is not a plan.
If you want longer than your exemption allows, apply for an e-visa before you travel instead — it runs up to 90 days and is open to every nationality, including the ones that are already exempt.
Who arranges the Ha Giang border permit — us or you?
On our northern mountain trips, we do. The permit costs about 250,000 VND, roughly USD 10, and it is arranged before you arrive so that your first morning is spent on the road rather than at an office counter.
Travelling independently, you apply in person at the immigration office in Ha Giang city with your passport and visa. Either way it is mandatory for foreigners in Quan Ba, Yen Minh, Dong Van and Meo Vac, and the checkpoints are real — without it, expect a fine and possibly a return trip to Ha Giang city to do the paperwork.
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