vietnam: visa on arrival?

Old Jan 9th, 2008, 06:24 PM
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vietnam: visa on arrival?

hi - has anyone used one of those online visa on arrival services (vietnam)? i live in south korea, 4 hours away from the u.s. consulate and so am considering my options. i contacted a travel agent and they quoted me an $80 fee, while the online services appear to be around $25. my needs are straightforward: 30 day tourist visa, single-entry. the site i was looking at was www.guidevietnam.com, which looks pretty good, but you never know... will there actually be a visa for me at the airport? any help/tips would be appreciated!
elainerd is offline  
Old Jan 9th, 2008, 07:03 PM
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There is no visa on arrival for VN. What you are talking about is a pre-arranged visa. A number of people have reported using these successfully. The agency most went through is www.vietnamstay.com While I do not know the agency you mention, I've not heard of anyone pre-arranging a visa and not getting it. Note that there is an initial fee for the "visa" - actually an email you must print - and a "stamping fee of also approx $25 when you actually have the visa put in your passport when you arrive via plane to VN.

Do note that you will not be allowed on an airplane to VN if you do not have the printed email indicating that you have a pre-arranged visa waiting for you.
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Old Sep 3rd, 2008, 07:31 PM
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Hi,
There is visa on arrival Vietnam, you can pick up at the international airport in Vietnam, the price about 25USD(for the service), when you pick up you'll have to pay another fee for the vietnam immigration at the airport(as i know is 25 USD). But you need to provide for the agent who can make your visa some information such as: your passport No, Your birthday, the day you intend entry vietnam...
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Old Sep 3rd, 2008, 10:28 PM
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So the total fee is $50? I had to get a visa upon arrival in Vietnam. There is a HUGE price board next to the office window, and it says $25, but the immigration agent told me I had to pay another $25 "service fee." When I asked for a receipt, he suddenly couldn't speak English....check my story here.

http://urbanmixplate.honadvblogs.com...ion-in-saigon/
MelissaHI is offline  
Old Sep 4th, 2008, 06:38 AM
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Melissa, I remember your story about this. Of course you were only able to get a "replacement visa" because you already had gotten a visa - you just didn't have it with you.

Just think of it this way... you were aiding the VN economy.
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Old Oct 2nd, 2008, 10:03 PM
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Hi travelers
A fixed cost US$ 25 for stamping fee at the immigration and other deals should be done first-hand with an agent in Vietnam.
By emails, Agent has your Passport detail + an arrival date and they proceed for " letter of approval " which they fax or email back to you ( it is fast now 3 - 4 work days ) then you board the plane with this letter and show 01 photo, passport and the " letter of approval " to get your visa. Service cost for it will range from 15 - 25 usd up to different agents and up to their sales policies.
It's been very easy, fast and cost-saving.
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Old Oct 29th, 2008, 09:27 PM
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Does this sound legit? Is vietnamstay & Aurora Travel one in the same? I prefer to use paypal, but just want to make sure it's legit.

Dear Sir and Madam



A warm greeting from Vietnamstay.com. Thank you for your interest in our service.



It is our pleasure to help you obtaining a visa to Vietnam for you. Our service is to help you get the Approval letter for getting visa on arrival (when you arrive at the airport in Vietnam). Therefore, you need not to come to Vietnam Embassy or Visa Consulate in your country at all.
With this visa approval letter, you can get your visa stamped at the airport in Vietnam at any time you arrive.



You must indicate your arrival date. If you are not sure what date you will fly to Vietnam, you can give us your proposed date of arrival. You can come to Vietnam some days later than proposed date, but not before.



Please be advised that the visa on arrival is a tourist visa, and it is valid for maximum 06 month stay (depending on the Visa type you apply
for) and for single entry or multi-entry. Futher more, you only can get visa on arrival if you enter Vietnam via airport (not land border)



To get a visa on arrival you firstly need to apply for a visa permission
(approval letter) at Vietnam Immigration Department in Hanoi.



We would like to show you our Procedure and Payment policy as
followings:

PROCEDURE

1- After having received your payment, we will immediately start processing visa for you through Vietnamese Immigration Department (It takes only 3 working days after we received your payment.)



2- After approved, the Immigration Office will inform us, and send us the original Approval letter. One copy of on- arrival visa document also be sent to Immigration check -in -desk at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi City or Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCMC.



3- We then will scan this Approval Certificate/Letter and send a copy to you via email or fax.



4- This document is only from Vietnam side for you to get Visa on arrival at the Airport. Please do not forget to bring with you 2 passport photos and CASH for Visa stamping fee (from 25 USD to 100 USD) depending on the different type of visa. Submit all to Immigration counter at arrival airport and you will easily get your visa issued.

HOW TO PAY:




Please be advised that once processed, Visa can not be cancelled as hotel booking, so we require you to pay us in advance. We offer you some alternatives, you can choose one of these at your convenience.



a. CREDIT CARD

Please check for the credit card form in the attached file, kindly complete it with your authorization signature and do not forget to paste two sides of your CC on the form then fax to our office in Hanoi at ++84
4 7472598, or you can scan via email to us as soon as possible.



b. BANK TRANSFER

In case, it is inconvenient for you to pay by credit card, please settle the payment by bank transfer (bank fee at your side). Following is the detail of our bank:



CONG TY TNHH DULICH BAN MAI (AURORA TRAVEL Co., Ltd.)

Account Address : 37 Ly Nam De, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi,
Vietnam

Account No : 0011 0006 2880 5

Bank : Operation centre of Bank for Foreign
Trade of Vietnam

Bank Address : 198 Tran Quang Khai, Hanoi, Vietnam

Swift code : BFTV VNVX001



c. WESTERN UNION

You may pay us via Western Union Transfer Service (all fees is at your side). For more information of this service, please check here:

http://www.westernunion.com

Here is our information of our Accountant for transfer:

Receiver Name: Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Thu

Receiver ID: 031058043

Receiver Address: Aurora Travel 37A5 Ly Nam De, Hoan Kiem district,
Hanoi, Vietnam

Receiver Tel: + 84 4 747 2597



Also please do not forget to provide us the copy of Western Union receipt or confirmation with the code of your bank remittance (the code including 10 digits) when you complete the transferring procedure.



d. PAYMENT WITH PAYPAL



If it is more convenient for you to pay with Paypal, please pay to us at Aurora Travel’s account in Paypal: [email protected]. Incase you need us to send you an notification, please inform us.



QuotationOur service fee)



01 month visa on arrival with single entry normal processing (2-3 working day): 28 USD/pax

01 month visa on arrival with single entry urgent processing (1-2 working days): 33 USD/pax



Please note that you can use one Credit card to pay for both of you.



Besides Vietnam visa processing, we provide full travel services including hotel reservation, package tours, tailor made tours, trains and flights booking... For more information please check at:

http://www.vietnamstay.com/hotel/
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:http://www.vietnamstay.com/hotel/>

http://www.vietnamstay.com/tour/
<BLOCKED:LOCKED:LOCKED::blocked:LOCKED::bloc ked:LOCKED::blocked:
:http://www.vietnamstay.com/tour/>

http://www.vietnamstay.com/service/airticket.htm
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:http://www.vietnamstay.com/service/airticket.htm>

Should you wish to make any special requirements and arrange any other activities prior to arrival, we would be delighted to take care of this for you.



I hope this is clear to you, but if you need more information, please contact us as soon as possible.

We are always at your service, so please feel free to contact us for other query or request. We can help you in booking hotels in any city of Vietnam with discount rate.



Thanks again for choosing Vietnamstay.com and I look forward to serving you.



Yours sincerely,





Best regards.



Minh Thu/Ms.



Tel: (84.4) 7472597 - Ext 11 or 24

Fax: (84.4)7472598

Handphone: (84)904 559121

Yahoo ID: thuvietnamstay

Skype ID: fairyworld179



------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------



AURORA TRAVEL

(VIETNAM)
The Smile of Travelers



Head Office: 37 Ly Nam De, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel: (84 4) 3747 2597 (16 lines) Fax: (84
4) 3747 2598

Branch Office: Suite R10, IBC Building, 1A Me Linh Square, Dist. 1, HCMC
Tel: (84 8) 3823 3771 (6 lines) Fax: (84
8) 3823 3787




Web: www.vietnamstay.com
<file:///C:\Documents%20and%20Settings\ThuN\Application%20D ata\Microsoft
\Signatures\www.vietnamstay.com> Email: [email protected];
[email protected]
deptrai is offline  
Old Nov 7th, 2008, 11:52 AM
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Deptrai,
We used the service you are looking at . I noticed that the contact for the service was Aurora Travel, also. Everything worked out fine. We used paypal as that seemed to be the simplest method. I did request notification when payment was received and emailed the agent that I was sending the payment via paypal. Got my visa via email. Will be using it in December.
Just a note. It came through very small and we enlarged it before printing. Also, our names were listed along with others.
critch is offline  
Old Nov 7th, 2008, 09:08 PM
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We are now in possession of our pre-arranged visa letter. We are in a group of 11. 6 of th 11 are from Russia and 2 from Australia.

The only problem is now our plans have changed slightly and we are scheduled to arrive at 11:00 PM the day before our visa begins.
deptrai is offline  
Old Nov 8th, 2008, 07:03 AM
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You will not be allowed into the country before your visa begins. Contact the agency you used to see if it can be modified (I doubt it, but it never hurts to ask). When you get a visa from the Embassy, it cannot be modified and you must buy another.

You may want to change your itinerary slightly so you don't arrive until the visa is valid.

When I got my VN visa, I gave the entry date as the day before I planned to arrive, just in case I needed to change some travel arrangements. You can enter VN the day of or any time after the visa validity date, but the length of the visa is from the visa validity date.
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Old Nov 8th, 2008, 10:34 AM
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Would have been a good idea to have the visa start a few days ahead of our expected arrival. Especially since we are only planning to be in Vietnam less than a week.

I think we can manage to wait an hour from 11:00 PM until midnight when the visa technically begins.
deptrai is offline  
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