Vietnam requires a valid US Passport that is valid for six months beyond your planned departure. You must have one blank page in your passport. Vietnam also requires a visa, which can be a pre-approval for visa on arrival or an e-visa.

Instead of using E-visa which we used for Cambodia and India we tried the Vietnam Visa Center at https://vietnamvisacenter.org/ and opted for the pre-approval for visa on arrival letter.

Paid Online

  • One-month multiple entry 3-day service
    • $25.00 per person
  • Fast Track Service
    • $20.00 per person
  • Confidential Letter
    • $10.00 per person
  • Total paid online
    • $55.00 per person

Paid upon arrival in Vietnam     

  • Government charge for multiple entries
    • $50.00 per person
      • (Single entry is $25.00 per person)

Process

  1. At home online
    • Applied for “visa on arrival” at – https://vietnamvisacenter.org/
    • Received confirmation email with travel, applicant, and invoice details
    • Received second email seven days later with
      1. Visa on arrival letter
      1. Entry form to complete ahead of time
        1. You must bring a color or black and white copy of the letter
        1. 2 passport photos – We did this at Walgreens pharmacy 
  2.  Upon arrival in Vietnam
    • We were met before customs/immigration by a Vietnam visa center person with our name on a sign 
    • If no one is there to meet you go to the Landing Visa counter
  3. We gave them
    • $50.00 US per person or $100.00 US new bill in our case
    • Passports
    • Visa on Entry letter
    • We did not give them the passport photos and they did not ask for them  
    • They disappeared for some time and then came back and said they needed a different $100.00 bill. It happened quickly so we obliged and off they went again  

Lesson learned

We assumed they needed a different bill since the one we gave them had a bank ink strip on the side. They gave us a torn and taped $100.00 bill in return. We found out later that cash is king when using US currency in Vietnam and no one will take a torn or worn US bill. This left us with an unusable $100.00 US bill the entire trip. Essentially the representative used us to get rid of a bad bill they had.

  • They came back again about 40 minutes later with
    • Our passports and a Vietnam Visa glued into our passports 
    • Stamp “Fee Paid 50 USD”
  • We then waited in the customs/immigration line for about an hour where we showed them
    • Passports with glued in Visa
    • Entry form we pre-filled out – They kept this  
  • Received stamp and off we went into Vietnam

Tips

Double check current regulations and guidelines. A good place to read up on Vietnam visa requirements and other information on Vietnam is the state department web site at https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/International-Travel-Country-Information-Pages/Vietnam.html.

Pay attention to where the crowds are in the lines for customs. People enter the hall on both sides so the lines may be quicker on the opposite side of where you came in.

Make sure you have new crisp US currency and don’t accept worn or torn bills in return as change or an exchange.