Entry Regulations Vietnam
After 2 months in Malaysia and almost a month in Indonesia, it was now time to travel to the third country of our world tour in Southeast Asia. Since we wanted to go to the Epizode Festival in Vietnam our destination was set relatively quickly, it was going to be a month of Vietnam. As we gathered the first information about entering Vietnam, we were relatively quickly fest that an entry without a visa for the huge country with its nearly 100 million inhabitants will be too short. Den with the visa-free entry it is tourists from Germany and some other countries only allowed to stay max. 15 days in the country, and that was us to get to know a country definitely too little. But what are the options when entering Vietnam? In this article we give you all the information for your vacation in Vietnam!
Do you need a passport to enter Vietnam?
To enter Vietnam, a passport is necessary. If there is no passport, the temporary passport still works. Only the identity card is not enough to enter Vietnam. How to apply for the passport and what options are available you can learn here. As with all entries outside the EU, your passport must be valid for at least 6 months upon entry into the country.
What visas are available for Vietnam?
To travel to Vietnam for tourists, there are several options. We would like to introduce these options to you in the following once.
Visa-free entry
Visa-free entry is the right solution when it comes to taking a 14-day vacation in Vietnam. This visa-free entry allows you to stay in Vietnam for 15 days. However, it is not possible to extend this stay and a new entry is only possible after 30 days after the last departure. The visa-free entry is currently valid until June 30, 2021. What changes there will be after that, it is currently impossible to foresee.
There is, however, an exception to the extension of stay during the visa-free entry. If one books the trip through a travel agency and thus a package tour the travel agency has the possibility to extend the stay, by another 15 days for 10 USD per person.
Online visa
If the 30-day stay (via e-visa or visa-free entry) is not enough or it is a business trip, you have to look for another visa. Here there is now the possibility to apply for the visa online and thus save the way to an embassy. The online visa or the visa in general can be applied for business travelers and investors up to one year duration. Who does not want to go the way of the online visa has natürlichrlich also the possibility to apply for the visa on the classical way. For this you can inquire on the page of the Vietnamese embassy in Berlin.
e-visa
With the e-visa, one has the opportunity to spend 30 days in Vietnam. However, only 46 countries (including Germany) are currently unlocked for the e-visa. On the following page you have the possibility to apply for your e-visa for Vietnam. (https://evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn). Unfortunately, the page of the National Web Portal on Immigration is not necessarily user-friendly – however, you get very quick feedback whether you may enter or not.For the e-visa you have to pay 25 USD per application. Here you go directly to the application.
With the e-visa it is important to note that the entry must pass through an international airport. The application works very easy, so there is no expensive visa agency necessary if you apply for visa in time.
Is the normal driver’s license sufficient in Vietnam?
No. To legally drive a 50cc scooter or even borrow a car in Vietnam, an international driving license is required. You can find out how to get an international driver’s license and why it makes sense to have one here.
Entering Vietnam is not a big issue in itself. When we stood in Phu Quoc at the immigration counter, it went relatively quickly although the queue was relatively long. It is only important that you have your documents together when entering Vietnam and can answer questions from the immigration officer.
