freqflier

We're going to vacation in Vietnam and Cambodia and realize that we will need a multiple entry visa for going in and out of Vietnam. There seems to be some confusion on our part about the pricing. The Vietnam Embassy quoted $140 pp for multiple entry, 1 month visa. Other online sites that issue letter of approvals for visas have quoted as little as $19pp for the letter and $50pp for the stamp once you arrive at the airport.

Can anyone tell me if what the difference is (other than the price of course)? What has been your experience if any in doing this online at one of the "visa" sites?

Thanks!

Kathie

The pre-approved visa works out to about the same price as getting your visa in advance. The online visa sites often don't differentiate between single entry and multiple entry visa prices unless you ask directly. The only downside to the pre-approved visa that I know of is that some people have complained that the line for pre-appproved visas is both much longer and much slower than the line for people who already have the visa in their passport.

Cambodia is more straight-forward, as long as you are entering by air. You can buy a visa on arrival or do an e-visa.

Elainee

Remember....two empty facing pages in Passport for Cambodia.

sf7307

Elaine, when did that rule go into effect for Cambodia - it wasn't a rule when we arrived in Siem Reap in March 2011.

Kathie

It's been a rule for over a decade. Did they not use two facing pages for you, sf?

lcuy

Cambodia is pretty lax about their "rules" Twice I've come with no visa photo (forgot once, lost it the second time) and they charged me a $2 "fee". Last time I cropped a photo that I printed off my phone, and the guy just told me "next time no do". But you really do need two pages as the visa fills one completely.

Southam

In my experience (in Canada), obtaining advance approval of a Vietnam visa through a commercial on-line agency is cheaper and easier than getting the actual visa in the passport from the Vietnamese embassy. It's known as visa-on-arrival. The on-line agency arranges for a visa to be waiting at your airport destination. There, the government charges a separate fee (US dollars) to place the visa in your passport. But even so it is cheaper than sending your passport away to an embassy and waiting for weeks without it. Yes, you may sit for half an hour waiting for the airport bureaucracy to creak through its process. But at least you can find a chair and you would be waiting for your luggage anyhow, standing up.
By the way, this is not the only example you will find in Vietnam of government and private enterprises existing side by side.

sf7307

Maybe I just had two facing pages, so it didn't become an issue - I definitely didn't know the rule. I'm out if town right now but I'll check when I get home.

freqflier

Southam, yes, I believe I've heard of others going on-line prior to traveling rather than going thru the embassy. As it stands now, it is half the price of the embassy.

Thanks!

sf7307

Turns out I did, by chance, have two facing pages for my Cambodian visa (obtained on arrival at Diem Reap airport).