Vietnam to increase visa cost for Americans
 

Heads up for any Americans planning a trip to Vietnam. It is being discussed on TA and elsewhere that Vietnam is eliminating the 1 month single entry tourist visa with a stamping fee of $25 and going to a 1 year multiple entry visa wit ha stamping fee of $135.

http://www.amchamvietnam.com/vietnam...-u-s-citizens/

This would have a huge impact on American tourism to Vietnam. The majority of SE Asian countries either have no visa or charge to visit or it is very small. Let's hope the Vietnamese Tourism Ministry comes to their senses and realizes what a devastating blow this would be to the tourism industry. I would think Americans make up a sizeable percentage of overseas visitors and their loss would be noted.

According to that article this is being done at the behest of the US govt. to make their visa policy more reciprocal to US policy for VN citizens. I did not see the fee mentioned in your post. I does seem too high to me. If you increase entry access and time in country then an increase in cost is ok but not that much. This seems way out of line.

Another article on the same topic:

http://tuoitrenews.vn/business/34223...ns-to-one-year

Thank you for the information, Susiesan.
I wonder if this affects also doing the visa prior to entry (e.g. at a consulate) which I did, and which was more costlythan doing the "visa on arrival."

That link does not show the price. Where did you get that figure?

Aren't those links above a bit dated to be correct?

I received the email below from one of the online VOA service companies

Thank you very much for your email.
Please be inform that currently 1 month, 3 month and 6 month visa for US citizens is not available any more.
From 25 Aug, new Vietnam visa policy for US citizens has been effective. It means there is only one type of Vietnam visa for US passport holders: 1 year visa.
Fee to process approval letter - 1 year validity is $120/person and stamping fee at VN airport is: $135.
If you want to proceed 1 year visa, please send us copy of your passport and mention your date of arrival.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Best regards,
Vietnam Visa Team

This puts the total cost to visit Vietnam at $255 for Americans. Prices have not changed for anyone else. The cost is also being discussed on TA threads.

I have asked my TA CVT to look into this. Liliana is going to call the Ministry of Tourism or some government office Monday morning and let me know.

Blame Donald or Brexit!

See this thread:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopi....html#77710523

Well that is crazy!

How can even think this will work. I will call my TA too. We were there last last March as cruise stops and Princess added a nominal fee for us for the visas. Glad we went then if this is the case.

I would like to go to Hanoi one day but if they think they can get $510.00 for the two of us, well thats just not worth it on general principal alone.

I hadn't thought about the cruise angle. Even if I had to pay only the $135 stamping fee and Princess covered the visa letter fee, I would not pay that for just one day visiting a country. If this new policy sticks cruise lines may just pull out of Vietnam.

Isn't this just another case of "reciprocity fees" aka "tit for tat" . We are in South America at the moment and have been talking with a lot of Americans who are saying how expensive it is to travel here. Apparently the US State Department insist on charging fees to South Americans to visit the USA and in return, those countries level similar fee for Us citizens to visit their countries. I understand most SA countries levy fees of $160 although these do provide a visa for 10 years. Visiting three or four countries becomes an expensive proposition.

LL - one can't blame Brexit for everything ( even if some of us would like to!) . Let's wait and see how much some of our European neighbours will charge us once we are no longer EU members.

What I found hard to believe in the link susiesan provided is that the US Amabassador was trying to sell this as a positive!

The Chase bank I use stopped the live person in the drive thru and tried to pass that off as improving service. :S-.

clive: The US Ambassador also has this info on his FB page. I sent him a message asking for an explanation but have received no response yet.

Some of the online VOA agencies are quoting fees of $45 to do a visa letter. CVT had offered to get me a letter free for using their services, but I don't know if they will still do the visa letter for free. I have asked Liliana but have not heard back from her.

This is from another email I got from a VOA agency:

Thank you so much for your email.

According to the Diplomatic Note No.173/NG-LS issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, since 25th August, USA’s passport holders are allowed to be granted 1 year multiple entry visa regardless of your period of stay or your purpose. It means that you will receive 1 year visa letter and have to pay 135USD for stamping fee in cash on arrival.

This regulation is also approved by your USA Embassy in Vietnam with the aim of further developing the bilateral relationship between two countries. Currently this law came into effect since 25th August.

Best regards,
Vicky Lai (Ms.)|Sales Executive
************************************************** *********
Vietnam Discovery Travel JSC., The member of VNB Group
Add: 20th floor, Vinaconex 9 Tower, Pham Hung Road, Tu Liem Dis., Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel : +84-437 005 333. Ext 222
Mobile: +84-906 218 116.
Email: [email protected]
Skype: kimdong802
Website: www.vietnamdiscovery.com

Did you know Argentina is now waiving reciprocity fees for Americans? Chile did away with theirs in 2014. So now I am planning visit Chile and Argentina in the late fall of 2017.

I have just started researching a potential trip to Vietnam. Am I correct that essentially it would cost a total of $255/person to get a visa?

Vietnam was always on our maybe list but now it certain- it's off the list.

Lots of confusion now. VOA agencies are saying $135 for stamping fee plus $45 for visa letter. That would be $180 if true. Some are still taking application for the old tourist visa and showing $25 stamping fee and $14-18 to process the letter.
Some VOA agencies are flat out scamming by quoting $120 fees for the visa letter. kureiff, continue researching put don't book anything until this is all clarified one way or the other before you make your decision. Then vote with your feet.

Someone reported on TA that they called the Vietnam Embassy in Washington and were told this new visa is in addition to the old one, but no one knows for sure. Vietnam has not put this in writing anywhere and until they do or someone goes there soon and reports back with first hand information we will not know.

If all these new higher fees are true then maybe the policy will be rescinded once Vietnam takes note of the drop in tourists coming from the US.

<i>According to that article this is being done at the behest of the US govt. to make their visa policy more reciprocal to US policy for VN citizens.</i>


Way over my pay grade because that just makes no sense to me.

We got a multiple entry visa for VN in April but I used my Australian passport rather than my US one. No where near $255 US and it still isn't, that I can tell. I wouldn't have thought it would make a big difference in visa costs. I'll be more mindful of which one I'm using in the future.

If it is $255, it adds almost $800 to the cost of our trip. And that's a substantial amount of money and will likely take Vietnam off our list, at least for now.

CC, did you ever do a trip report? I think I remember reading a summary on another thread but am not sure if I'm remembering correctly.

At least with the South American examples provided, you pay $150 plus, but get a visa with a 10 year validity.

1 year for the same price seems to make no sense and not be in line with the US-Brazil and formerly US-Argentina reciprocity costs/duration.

Though I have no plans to visit Asia in the next 4 months, it definitely removes Vietnam from my longlist for 2017.

I'm going to have 20 hours layover at Noi Bae airport on December 27. I was planning on getting a VOA and visit the Old Quarter in Hanoi. I even reserved a hotel already, good thing I can cancel the reservation without any fee. I not going to pay that much money just for 1 day of food and sight-seeing. I'll just hang out at the airport or get on an earlier flight. Bye Vietnam, nice not knowing you.

Maybe if everyone here cancelling or changing their Vietnam travel plans emails the Vietnam Embassy or puts a message on their FB page Vietnam will get the message and reverse this policy. I don't think they thought through the unintended consequences of increasing the visa fees. In every country where they have waived the visa fee entirely visitors from those 15 countries have increased substantially. remember, whatever is taxed more you get less of. Applies here to travel. I had been avoiding Argentina and Chile due to the high reciprocity fees but now that those fees are gone I am planning a vacation to Patagonia for 2017.

Maybe it is the US State department to whom you should be addressing your concerns, rather than the Vietnamese. After all they just seem to be charging Americans what the Americans are charging the Vietnamese. It seems from the links provided above that this was done with their agreement. It may even have been done at ambassador level and just maybe, he has overstepped his authority?

I actually sent an email to their DC embassy about it. Hopefully many will.

kureiff - I admit I never really got the chance to sit down and pull one together. Got back, got busy with the business and when I sit down to relax with the forums, I get maybe 20 minutes at a time - if I ignore the pile of other stuff for awhile.

I have tried to answer a few questions though if I think anything applies.

But we were not good sightseers.

We wandered aimlessly around Hanoi instead of going to Halong. Ended up at a annual festival at a temple that didn't seem to draw any tourists and saw women wrestling. Got in water fights with the locals in Luang Prabang and ate street food off carts and most every thing was closed for Lao New Year, so not many restaurants to recommend. Thought HoiAn was pretty but really touristy. Spent a part of the time hanging around in the country, having brekkie with the family of a waitress of one of the restaurants in town. (daughter loved her first motorbike ride).

Fun... but I wasn't sure it was very useful stuff we did, generally speaking! And since I wasn't finding enough time to sit down and focus, I just sort of left it, I guess.

CC, what fascinating "bad sightseer" things you enjoyed.! Water fights and women wrestlers? Quite a bellicose trip! (-:

Maybe VN wants more Chinese visitors and fewer Americans.

I paid US$180 for a 10 year, multiple entry, 60 days per, Chinese visa just 3 months ago.

Could be though that USA retirees could live in VN now, year at a time, without visa runs or VN govt admin headaches.

CC, thanks! We're not always very good sightseers, either. We like to walk around a lot. But we're not always good at checking off the things to see.

I'm feeling kind of at a loss for spring break ideas. We live in Montana, and I start to need a break from winter by March. This sounded like a somewhat affordable option (combined with some FF miles), but the visa costs are putting it out of my price range.

kureiff, most of the SE Asian countries have very reasonable visa fees, if any. March is a good time for Indonesia - take a look at Bali.

What Kathie said, plus Malaysia, especially East Malaysia (Borneo). No visa fees.

clive: The US has been charging high visa fees to Vietnamese for years. The cost for the short term VOA stamping fee has been $25 for the last few years. So I don't think reciprocity is the issue. There must be some political reason why Vietnam wants to discourage visits by US citizens, which they have by increasing the cost of a visa five fold overnight with no warning. Obama visited Vietnam in May, encouraging closer ties between the US and Vietnam, encouraging more business and tourism. The whole deal has just collapsed.

I emailed the US Ambassador to Vietnam and have received no reply. Perhaps he's in on the whole money grabbing scheme and has been promised a kick back from the higher fees.

On the San Francisco Consulate web page they have posted the new visa rules:

http://www.vietnamconsulate-sf.org/e...ervices/visas/

Some asked and was told the cost is $185 from SF. Too get the visa from Washington costs either $220 or $240. Either way, that's a deal breaker for me.

Thanks for all your work on this. For me it's the same. Just not acceptable on general principle alone.

Wow. I called the embassy in DC and consulates in SFO, LA, NYC and Houston and was not able to speak to anyone. I was transferred multiple times to non working numbers and mail boxes that were full. Reminds me of the BLS fiasco for Indian visa apps a few yrs. ago. Finally I called Travisa in Chicago. Yep, got quoted $249.00 for 1 yr. multi entry visa. I wonder what they are thinking. The visa fee is a lot but once there it's relatively cheap at least compared to say Japan, Simgapore or HK. Then again I suppose it's on a par with Cambodia, Laos or perhaps Malaysia or Indonesia. Did VN see increased numbers of US tourists and try to milk that? Hmm.

I did find that US tourism to Vietnam from 2014 to 2015 increased by about 10%.

And a the same time, they offer 2 weeks visa-free entry for UK passport holders...

So much for that theory. :D.

So what the heck is it in then? ?

Not just UK passport holders though Kathie, but that 15 day visa exemption's not available at land crossings.

It's all swings and roundabouts though. China costs a UK passport holder £151, and you can only get a 2 year multi entry. That's a complete deal breaker for me. So some you win others you lose, but the world's a big place, just go somewhere else.

Not trying to teach grannie, but a lot of visa fees reflect the amount of work involved in processing an application. I'm not suggesting there's anything other than the minimal work needed to process a US into Vietnam, but it's about reciprocity there must be a reason.

I didn't like paying for a US ESTA when all I was doing was doing an internatonal transit at Houston, but when there is no option what do you do? Either buy it or don't travel.

C'est la vie.

Per the Chinese consulate website in Chicago a one yr. multi-entry visa is $140.00 for regular delivery. It's up to $160.00 for express delivery.

That'd a deal breaker too.