Hanoi Family Homestay Wants to Help You Visit Vietnam!
Citizens of most countries need to have a visa before entering Vietnam. There are two ways to do this.
The first way is to apply through any Vietnamese embassy or consulate. You’ll need to send them your passport, visa application form, passport photos and payment. After the visa is processed, it will be mailed back to you. Alternately, you can drop off your passport in person and pick it up after it has been processed. You may then enter Vietnam by any airport or overland border crossing.
If you’ll be arriving by air, there is a much less expensive and easier way to get your Vietnamese visa. This is by obtaining a “visa approval letter” before you come. This is a document that is approved by the Immigration Department that allows you to enter and exit Vietnam for a given time period, usually one month or three months. The visa approval letter allows you to enter Vietnam through any of its three international airports: Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, Da Nang International Airport in Da Nang, and Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City.
It takes less than a week to get a visa approval letter. Simply complete this form or email us a scan of the first page of your passport or send us your full name, country of citizenship, date of birth, passport number, date that your passport was issued, date that your passport expires, the date you will be entering Vietnam and the airport of entry (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City or Da Nang). Your passport must have at least six month’s validity, so if your passport is about to expire, you will need to get a new one before you travel abroad.
Once the application has been approved, we will email you the document that has been stamped by the Immigration Office. You’ll need to print this out and present it at the Immigration counter at the airport. You will also need to provide one passport photo and pay a stamp fee (see below). The Immigration office will then affix the Vietnam Visa stamp in your passport. That’s it!
The Vietnam visa approval letter is only valid for entry into Vietnam by air. If you plan to enter the country by land, you must have the actual visa in your passport! When it's time to leave Vietnam, you can exit any way you choose.
The stamping fee must be paid to the Immigration office at the airport. You’ll need to bring some US dollars or Vietnamese dong for this. Other currencies and credit cards are generally not accepted. If you forget to bring a passport photo with you, immigration will take your picture for a small fee.
You cannot enter Vietnam before the first date of entry on the visa approval letter, but you can arrive any time after that date. You must exit the country by the last date of your visa unless you get a visa extension. As an example, if you apply for a one-month visa and submit your arrival date as January 1, 2017, you can enter Vietnam any time from January 1, 2017 to February 1, 2017, but your last day in the country must be on or before February 1, 2017.
We suggest applying for a Vietnam visa approval letter at least two weeks before your arrival date.
The price of the visa approval letter varies according to the length of visa requested and whether you want a single or multiple entry visa. If you plan to spend the entire duration of the visa in Vietnam, then you should request a single entry visa. If you think that you may want to leave the country and return a few days later, then you’ll want a multiple entry visa.
Here are the total costs for a Vietnam Visa Approval Letter and Stamp Fees
One-month single entry: $15 US (plus $25 Stamp Fee payable upon arrival at Immigration counter)
One-month multiple entry: $20 US (plus $50 Stamp Fee payable upon arrival at Immigration counter)
Three-month single entry: $25 US (plus $25 Stamp Fee payable upon arrival at Immigration counter)
Three-month multiple entry: $29 US (plus $50 Stamp Fee payable upon arrival at Immigration counter)
If you would like for us to arrange your Visa approval letter, please complete the Visa Approval Letter form and email it to us. Thank you and we look forward to welcoming you to our home!