Vietnam Visa on Arrival
 

Let me see if i get this right...I just apply and get a code and i dont have to mail my passport off to an embassy/consulate? Im confused on the process, can someone explain?

Unless things have changed you have to get a visa before you leave home. I had to mail my passport and had to show the visa before I could board the plane.

Sorry if I've misunderstood your question.

Again, Aubrey, there is no such thing as visa on arrival for VN. Here is what I wrote for you in response to your previous question about this:

The visa for VN must be arranged ahead of time.

You have three options:

one, get your visa from the VN consulate in the US. Time is short, as Lcuy says.

two, get your VN visa in Beijing. It will take up some of your time in Beijing, I don't know how complicated it is in Beijing.

three, get a pre-arranged visa though one of the VN travel agencies. vietnamstay.com is one that has been used by a number of people on this site, though there are many others. You pay for a pre-arranged visa and you get an email confirmation. You must carry this with you. You will not be allowed on a plane into VN if you don't have either the visa in your passport or the email confirmation of your pre-arranged visa. WHen you get off the plane in Hanoi, you go to a desk to have the visa put in your passport and you pay a $25 "stamping fee."

As lcuy says, you get visa-free entry into Thailand. You'll go through immigration and will get a passport stamp - no cost.

If there is some part of this that is not, clear, let me know.


You apparently want to get a pre-arranged visa (three above). You must contact a travel agency that does these to apply and pay. You do not send your passport to the travel agency.

"two, get your VN visa in Beijing. It will take up some of your time in Beijing, I don't know how complicated it is in Beijing."

I did this in '04 and it was very simple. Show up at the Vietnamese embassy, fill in the form, hand over passport, photo (don't remember if it was one or two) and form. (Take your itinerary with you so you can ask for the right dates.) Show up five days later to collect passport and visa. And pay, of course.

Worst part of the process was getting there - I took a taxi that got stuck in traffic! Going back I took the metro and walked. There were armed guards on the streets in the embassy section when I was there, but it was right after some North Koreans had gone over the wall into the Canadian embassy.

Hi,
I don't know, where you apply and get a code, but I make sure they have to stamp to your passport, that is visa. You can pick up it right as Kathie wrote.

In the following thread I explained the process we used in Oct 2006 for a pre-arranged visa via vietnamstay.com. As Kathie noted, you receive an email confirmation that you MUST bring with you or you can't get on the plane to fly to Vietnam. It was $50/person ($25 to vietnamstay and $25 stamping fee at Vietnam entry) and we didn't have to send our passports anywhere.
http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...p;tid=34912456

hi,
no, don't send your passport to anywhere. They can stamp on arrival, and 25USD/for visa fee.