Please note that what Vinci is talking about is NOT a visa on arrival. Visa on arrival is something offered by many countries - it means you can arrive with no advance notice and, in exchange for some money and a passport photo or two, you get a visa (Cambodia, Laos do this). VN does NOT offer Visa on arrival. Indeed, you will not be allowed on the palne unless you have a visa in hand or email confirmation of a pre-arranged visa. Vinci is describing a pre-arranged visa, which others here have also described as getting throug vietnamstay

I just got an email back from Vietnamstay and I might do it. It seems cheaper than doing it through the Embassy in the US and this way we don't have to send our passports anywhere. It comes to $50-53 total vs $64 plus shipping costs both ways.

Thank you, Kathie, to help me determine the pre-arranged visa, I always call it : visa upon arrival.

Does anyone have updated information about the fee for a single entry Vietnamese visa? I am planning to go to the NYC consulate today....

Never mind..I just called them. The fee here is $75 and personal check is ok. They need one photo.

In case anyone plans to obtain the visa in NYC, I just want to report that it is a snap. You have to leave the passport for a week, write a check for $75 for single entry, and have one photo and one copy of the application. The gentleman at the desk when I was there this morning was extremely congenial and there was no wait. 866 UN Plaza, 4th Floor, just north of the UN at the corner of First Avenue and 48th Street, east side of the avenue.

I don't think there is a Vietnam consulate in NYC. That's probably why you paid $75. There is one in SF and in Washington DC. And the fee is $45 plus $20 processing. My friend just got one in person in SF for $45 - took 1 day. If I sent it in from LA, it would have cost me $65 plus postage both ways. I went ahead and did it through www.vietnamstay.com and it was $53 total per person (it's less if you have more than 2 people in your party). And no need to send in the passport anywhere. All done through email.

I may be dense, but I can't figure out if that service from Vietnamstay costs less or more. You pay in advance, but it also says you pay at the airport when your passport is stamped.

In NYC it is the Vietamese Mission to the United Nations. Visa prices seem to differ at every location but I really dislike having to mail my passport so was willing to pay the fee, if indeed it is higher than elsewhere.

qzzer, Did you have any additional fees at the airport upon arrival with the "loose-leaf visa"?
Jane

When we did this in 2005 it was $25 to Vietnamstay and $25 paid in cash upon arrival for a total of US$50. Prices could have increased since then as I see a PP states they paid $53 which I assume is the total.

For us it was less to use vietnamstay than to mail our passports around and risk losing them.

Just got my Vietnam visa. Downloaded forms from internet. (Do Google search.) Called SF office with questions, they could not have been nicer. They are cheaper than DC office. Sent completed form, money order and two passport photos. Did not send passport. About one week later I received visa in mail. This all happened over a weekend and Thanksgiving. It was very easy.

I did this via vietnamstay.com. $28 per person to them via credit card, and $25 in cash paid at the border. No issues.

Wish I had read this thread first, but I got a single-entry visa from DC in less than week with the express mail plan. But now I am realizing I might want a multiple entry visa, if I do a side trip to Cambodia, does anyone know if that can be changed when you are there?

It can't be changed. You'll need to get another visa.