TexasSlim

I've been reading about the VN visa on arrival and have pasted in below. Does anyone have more info on this? Has anyone done it this way? Is the total visa fee USD$25? And from whom do I get this letter?

Vietnam Visa Upon Arrival
Arrival visa means the visa that you can collect upon arrival at the airport. The advantages of arrival visa is you will not need to go anywhere to apply for the visa and it is convenient for people who really want to save their valuable time in business.

However, the airlines will ask you to have a visa to let you get on board. You will need to have a letter of visa upon arrival which is issued by Vietnam Immigration Department. Airlines accept this letter and you can get visa upon arrival at airports in Vietnam easily

We will send you the approval letter 8 to 48 hours after you send all information:

- Full name as in your passport (First name - Last Name/ Sex)
- Birthday and place of birth
- Nationality
- Number of your passport -expire date
- Entry date, flight number
- Exit date, flight number


Things to prepare upon arrival at airport for visa stamping:
- Orriginal passport
- 02 photos 4x6CM
- Letter of visa upon arrival
- 25USD stamping fee

rhkkmk

i applied and received my visa from the embassy in washington dc....it was easy and took less than two weeks....suppose the airline will not accept the letter, then where would you be...??

Kathie

Note that this is NOT a visa on arrival, but a pre-arranged visa. (Visa on arrival means that you can show up at a border or airport immigration without advance notice and can receive a visa).

How much is the travel agency charging? You will pay an additional fee upon arrival, in this case, US$25. Typically, the pre-arranged visa is much more expensive than getting a visa at a consulate or Embassy. In the US, the VN visa costs US$65. I believe, however, that you are in Thailand. At the VN Embassy in Bangkok you'll pay much less, I believe about $30-35 last I heard. And if you have the visa in your passport, there is no "stamping fee" upon arrival.

cruisinred

Yes, I did this through Vietnamstay back in May. All went well, except that is was very tricky to find the office to pick up the visa and there was noone to ask. So just make sure you pickup the visa from the small office, before standing in the long immigration line.

It was certainly easier for me to arrange the visa in advance through this service than to pay to FedEx our passports to the embassy, etc. Also, I recall that the fee through the Vietnamese embassy was alot more than $25.

connette

If you live in Bangkok (I think that is what you said) that has to make it easier, but for others:

We also got our visa thru our agent in Vietnam. Much more convenient! They just emailed us a letter to show the airlines and when our guide picked us up he did everything for us while we waited less than 10 minutes. Our luggage had not even hit the carousel by the time we were finished.

Not sure if it went up for this year, but our cost last year was $45.00 total for single entry, $70.00 total for double entry. I think sending it tracked to the embassy would have cost more total. This did include the "stamping fee".

connette

P.S. I think this is becoming much more common with the increased tourism to Vietnam these days.

twofortheroad

I think it is important when giving prices for the visa, that you state your country. There are different fees for different countries. For instance, connette, are you a resident of USA?

connette

Well isn't that interesting. Yes, USA.

mrwunrfl

Visa for Vietnam, eh?

mrwunrfl

Glad I saw this post. I used to be able to drive down to any embassy, but no longer, so I will have to take care of this in advance.

TexasSlim

OK, the consensus seems to be it's better & cheaper for me to get the visa from the VN embassy in BKK (yes, I live in Thailand - Pattaya) After I get the visa I'll post with details & cost for others' benefit.
Once again thanks everyone.

Dothilua

Visa on arrival is the best way to get visas quickly and hassle-free.
All the informations we need is in the first page of your passport, includes:
- Full name in your passport, sex
- Birthday and place of birth
- Nationality
- Number of passport (Valid at least 6 months)
- Entry date, flight number
- Port of entry
- Exit date, flight number
It takes 3-4 working days to get approval letter. Then we send you a copy and you use it to fly to Vietnam. At a Vietnam International Airport, you will get visas stamped on your passport. For your trip, you need one- month single entry visas. Please remember to bring 2 most recent photos (in passport size)
The price for this service is US$ 30/person.
Note: The price not includes stamp fee you pay at the Immigation Office(about US$25)

Kathie

Dothilua, please note that there is to be no advertising on the forum.

Also, note that you are NOT describing a Visa on Arrival - you are describing a pre-arranged visa.

Kathygo

I'm a US resident & citizen, hoping, planning a trip to Vietnam in Feb. '07. Will want a multiple entry, 90 day stay type of visa. I've tried to contact:
1. VN Embassy in DC...no response to
3 emails + one phone line
constantly busy, their other one
gave a message "the party you
called cannot be reached at this
time". I phoned at their posted
"time to call."
2. An email I sent to the San Fran
consulate bounced back with
"returned mail..had permanent
fatal errors, relaying denied
from this location, user
unknown."

HELP, HELP, PLEASE. THANKS!

Vietnamhelp

if you contact a travel agent in Vietnam, they will send you the approval letter for the visa upon arrivel in 48 hours, cost 18$ and you pay 25$ for the stamp at Immigration Department

Vietnamhelp

For the multi-entry- visa,you can still get it upon arrivel but the cost for approval letter is about 110$

Kathie

advertisers, please note there is no advertising on the forum.

Again, note that these are NOT Visas on Arrival, these are pre-arranged visas.

Voyageuse

Kathygo,
I sent an e-mail inquiry to the embassy in D.C. in October, and finally got a response to my inquiry in June(!) months after I had returned from my trip to Vietnam. However I was able to reach the consulate in San Francisco by telephone, and sent in my passport to the San Francisco consulate where the visa was promptly processed.

Kathygo

Voyageuse....
Thanks so much for the tip; now I have a new tactic to try to reach VN for a visa (phoning San Fran). If they are so hot on developing/increasing tourism why can't they make it just a tad easier to get a visa??
Kathy

Voyageuse

Yes, and I should add that the long-awaited response that I finally received from the D.C. embassy appeared to be just a canned response, and did not answer any of the questions I had asked. Hopefully you'll have better luck with the San Francisco consulate.