The Vietnam e-visa has become the default way for most travellers to enter the country. It is issued entirely online, it covers every international airport and most land and sea border gates, and it removes the need to visit an embassy. That convenience comes with a trade-off: everything depends on the accuracy of what you type into the form.
Who can apply
Citizens of the countries on the current e-visa list can apply, provided their passport is valid for at least six months from the date of arrival and has at least two blank pages. If your passport expires sooner, renew it first — an e-visa cannot be transferred to a new passport.
What you need before you start
- A colour scan of your passport data page, flat and fully readable
- A recent portrait photo, straight on, no glasses, plain background
- Your intended date of arrival and the exact border gate you will use
- An address in Vietnam for the first night of your stay
How long approval takes
Standard processing runs to seven working days. Urgent options shorten that to a few working days, and same-day services exist for genuine emergencies. Working days matter here: an application submitted on Friday evening under a two-day service will not be back before the following Tuesday.
The details that cause rejections
Most refusals are not dramatic. They are a passport number typed with a zero instead of the letter O, a photo cropped too tightly, a date of birth entered in the wrong order, or an arrival gate that does not match the flight. Read every field back once before paying — that single minute saves the majority of resubmissions.
After approval
You receive a PDF. Print two copies, keep one digital copy offline, and carry them together with the passport you applied with. Immigration checks the passport number against the document, so the two must match exactly.