Kristina

The time has come for me to get our visas for our trip to Vietnam in July.

I emailed the embassy through their website and the cost is $65 per person for a 30 day, single entry visa. Plus, they recommend you send the passports USPS Express mail, along with a prepaid Express mail envelope for the return, plus a money order for the fee.
So, we're looking at around $165 total to get two visas.

Then I started looking at visas on arrival/ pre-approved visas on Vietnamstay.com and other websites.
The fees for those are $22 per person plus $25 stamping fee on arrival, total under $100.

Doing it this way saves the fear of mailing off the passports, the hassle of having to get a money order and go to the post office and about $65. OTOH, I just can't shake the nervous feeling that a email receipt won't be good enough when we get to the airport.

If I mail them, can I use Priority Mail instead (only $4.95)?
Either way, don't I have to put a date on the return mail postage? How do I know what date to use?

Am I over-thinking it?

Recommendations?

lcuy

Kristina...Isn't that website a bear?

I don't think the VN people care how you do it. They just want to be able to stick it in an envelope and drop it in their mailbox. I just wanted it to be tracked by USPS so that it wouldn't be as likely to get lost.

I sent my passport by certified mail with a return envelope with the certified mail tag and proper postage in actual stamps. Much cheaper, and though you won't have the exact date & time the embassy mails it back, it will be tracked in the USPS system.
Both times (2007, 2008) the passport came back very quickly.

Friends on the 2008 trip got a DIY visa through the agent who got the plane tix- they didn't send off their passport, and the actual visa arrived loose, in the mail. They glued it into their own passport. (Well, one did,. The other lost hers, and nearly got deported back to KL when we arrived in Saigon. Luckily a $50 "service charge" convinced the guard to let her in anyway.)

Kristina

lcuy-
Thanks for the reply. I thought my post was going to drop off the page.
D is concerned if we go the DIY route though an agent we won't get an actual stamp in our passports. So they actually send something that you're supposed to glue in yourself? For some reason I thought it was just an email letter that you show the airlines...

If I mail it to the embassy I will probably use Priority Mail. I have the envelopes here and can print the postage online so that makes it easier and cheaper. But I wonder why the Visa fee is so much more expensive?

lcuy

No there are three- the pre approved one is just an e-mail and when you get there, they do it on the spot. I felt like you though...My worry was that some airline clerk on my way to VN might not accept it and keep me off the plane.

Both times, I had to send two money orders per visa- one for the visa and one for the fee, so in 08 that meant 4 money orders for my daughter and me. such a pain!

It seems so strange in this day and age to jump through such hoops for a tourist visa. Last year, I finally spring for a 10-year visa Indian so I could avoid it for there. My trip planning for May is so much easier not having that to deal with.

Speaking of hard processes though, our office assistant is from Malaysia . When they wanted to come visit her last year, her parents had to pay $130 to apply for a US visa, then travel to the US embassy and be interviewed. No refund if you are rejected, too. That's jump through hoops!

Kristina

lcuy-thanks. I'm leaning toward mailing it in, but using Priority Mail instead of Express. As far as I can tell, I don't have to split the money orders; it's just $65 per person and I can combine the two into one check. Now I just have to get that check...

bniemand

Hi Kristina,
I noticed in your other post about your itinerary that you might use Tonkin Travel for flight and hotel booking. Check out this page on their website:
http://tonkin9876.readyhosting.com/id17.html
They also can arrange the Visa letter for you.

I don't think you should be nervous about the letter. I used an agency (Buffalo Tours) to make our hotel, flight and visa arrangements and the visa letter process worked very smoothly. Once Buffalo Tours received the letter they emailed it to me as an attachment, I printed it, and presented it at the airport here in the US. The people at the airport seemed familiar with the process -- they didn't look at it like "what the heck is this?"

Once we got off the plane in Hanoi we immediately went to the visa desk. It's very easy to find. It's located before you go through customs. They take your letter and the money for the stamp fee and they paste the visa into your passport. And then you still get entry/exit stamps in your passport.

Letting Tonkin handle it seems the way to go....I hate sending my passport off in the mail!

Kathie

Lcuy alluded to an option that allows you to hang on to your passport but to receive the actual visa (not an email) before you leave. You can apply for a "loose leaf visa" in the same way you apply for a regular visa from the VN embassy or consulate, but you mail in a copy of your passport photo page rather than the actual passport. You get a visa sticker back from the consulate. The price and procedures are all the same as getting a regular visa stamped into your passport by mailing it to the consulate.

Given lcuy's friend's experience, I'm sure she'd recommend that you stick it on a visa page in your passport as soon as you get it!

Kristina

Kathie-
In the email I got from the embassy they said this,
"For loose leaf visa, please be advised that you will not keep it any more when going out from Vietnam; the immigration department will collect it back"

Still debating the merits of doing the visa both ways. My husband really wants it in advance. But doing it through Tonkin also sounds tempting. I just don't know why it makes me feel uneasy. Probably because I've been planning for so long I'd be devastated if something went wrong.

Kristina

In doing a little more online research, I'm very surprised more people on Fodor's have not used the pre-arranged visa option.
Are we just an overly cautious bunch?

lcuy

I think it has only been available about a year or so.

Kathie

I do remember a couple of reports of people using the pre-arranged visa option. I also remember a report (I don't know if it was here or not) of someone using it soon after it became available and having problems getting on the flight to VN because the airline was not yet familiar with the pre-arranged visa.

Kristina

Kathie, yeah, I think that's what makes me nervous. I'm afraid we might get someone at the airport who doesn't know it's ok.
OTOH, I've read a lot of reports on Trip Advisor that it has worked very well for people. Unfortunately, the US Gov. website only says that you have to have a Visa and the airline's website says nothing. I don't even want to waste my time calling the airline because I'm sure they won't give me anything definitive.

Kristina

Just wanted to do a follow up on this issue.

We decided to go with Tonkin Travel and got them to do the pre-arranged visa for us. They've emailed it to us, one page for the two of us which says we are "permitted to pick up visa on arrival."

Kathie

Great!

marya_

Thanks for the update. Glad you could save some money on this arrangement.

Smeagol

Kristina How much does it cost? AND do you know if it involves any extra time at the airport versus having your visa already?

Kristina

Smeagol- Through Tonkin it's $25 for their fee and $25 to be paid in cash at immigration on arrival. Other online visa services may charge a little less buy only by a few dollars. I thought it was easier for me to have them handle it.

As far as I can tell from what I've read, it only adds a few minutes on to your time at arrival to the airport.