Vietnam visa exemption | Countries that don't need visa for Vietnam

 

CONTENT 1. Visa exemption requirements 2. Visa exemption for Diplomatic and Official/Service/Special passport holders 3. Visa exemption for Ordinary passport holders 4. Other Vietnam visa exemptions  4.1. APEC card holders 4.2. Phu Quoc Island 4.3. 5 years Vietnam visa exemption 5. Who needs a Vietnam visa?

 

What is the first thing that is on top of your head when you think about traveling to Vietnam? Most of us would have “visa” as the answer. Yes, most likely that you need to have a Vietnam visa to visit this beautiful country. However, there are some countries and regions that have agreements of visa exemption with Vietnam. In other words, citizens from some countries are eligible to enter Vietnam for a limited period of time without a Vietnam visa. So which ones are exempt from Vietnam visa? Let’s find out in our following article about Vietnam visa exemption!

1. Visa exemption requirements

The requirements for Vietnam visa exemption are uncomplicated. You just need to ensure:

• The passports must be valid in at least 6 months since the date of arrival in Vietnam
• For unilateral visa-exempted, the gap 30 days between the last exit date and re-entry date is required. Otherwise, you are required to have an appropriate visa to enter Vietnam.

2. Visa exemption for Diplomatic and Official/Service/Special passport holders

For those who own Diplomatic and Official/Service/Special passports can be qualified for Vietnam visa exemption 2019. Please check the further information on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

3. Visa exemption for Ordinary passport holders

Vietnam passport visa free is not only applied for Diplomatic and Official/Service/Special passport holders but also Ordinary ones. 

If you have an Ordinary passport and qualify 2 conditions mentioned in section 2, you can check out the list of 24 countries exempted from a Vietnam visa as the chart below:

Continent	Countries	Maximum stay	Expired date
EUROPE	Belarus	15	In accordance with Resolution No 39/NQ-CP of Government dated June 01, 2015. Visa exemption effective date applies from July 01, 2015 to June 30, 2020
	Russia Denmark Norway Finland Sweden		In accordance with Resolution No 99/NQ-CP of Government dated December 29, 2014. Visa exemption effective date applies from January 01, 2015 to December 31, 2019
	United Kingdom France Spain Italy Germany		In accordance with Resolution No 54/NQ-CP of Government dated May 10, 2018. Visa exemption effective date applies to June 30, 2021
ASIA	Japan South Korea	15	In accordance with Resolution No 39/NQ-CP of Government dated June 01, 2015. Visa exemption effective date applies from July 01, 2015 to June 30, 2020
	Brunei, Myanmar	14
	Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Kyrgyzstan	30
	Philippines	21
AMERICA	Chile	90

 

As shown, although these nations are able to be granted with visa–free to enter Vietnam, there is a variation of their period of stay, which is based on the agreement between Vietnam and these countries.

 

4. Other Vietnam visa exemptions 

4.1. APEC card holders

APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) Holders from Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies are exempted from Vietnam visa for staying 60 days period of time. So if you are a holder of ABTC, Vietnam visa will not be your concern anymore. Moreover, you are also benefited from fast-track entry and exit through special APEC lanes at participating airports. 

 

4.2. Phu Quoc Island

Located in Ha Tien province, Phu Quoc may be an ideal destination in most traveler’s wish list. Now if you want to visit Phu Quoc island, concern about Vietnam visa will no longer bother you because in accordance with Decision No 80/2013/QĐ-TTg of the Prime Minister dated December 27, 2013, foreign passports are exempted from Vietnam visa requirement for entry into, exit from Phu Quoc island, with a stay of period no longer than 30 days. 

In case if you had a transit through other international border gates of Vietnam before entering Phu Quoc, you also enjoy such exemption.

After arriving in Phu Quoc Island, the Vietnamese immigration department will be responsible for issuing visas right on the spot if visitors want to travel other localities or stay on the island for more than 30 days. 

 

4.3. 5 years Vietnam visa exemption

In accordance with Decree No 82/NĐ-CP of Government dated September 24, 2015, Vietnam overseas, foreigners, who are spouses, children of Vietnamese overseas, or Vietnam citizens are eligible to be granted the certificate of 5 years Vietnam visa exemption. In other words, the certificate of visa exemption is applicable for:

• Vietnamese residing abroad
• Foreigners who are spouses/children of Vietnamese overseas or citizens

Those who granted this type of certificate are allowed to enter Vietnam without a visa at any time they want in 5 years. However, they can only stay for no longer than 180 days for each visit.  

For detailed information, please visit the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Vietnamese only) to know more about how to obtain the visa exemption certificates. Or you can also check out our service for 5 years Visa exemption vietnam to have a great experience with our quick and convenient service.  

 

5. Who need Vietnam visa?

• Holders of British National Oversea (BNO) passports are not applicable for Vietnam visa exemption. Therefore, they need to apply for visas to visit Vietnam 
• Regardless of the type of passport, officials of ASEAN Secretariat are exempted from Vietnam visa for 30 days duration of stay  
• You will be able to enter Vietnam without a visa if your country is in Vietnam visa free countries 2019 list. However, you can just stay in Vietnam for a fixed period of time. You are required to apply for a Vietnam visa for a longer stay. For example, Singaporean passport holders are allowed to stay in Vietnam for less than 30 days without a visa.

If they want to stay there for more than 30 days, they need to apply for a Vietnam visa. In this case, you can go with 2 options:

• • Apply for a visa at Vietnam embassy: with this option, you need to contact with the Vietnam embassy in your living country for assistance.   
  • Apply for a Vietnam visa on arrival: for this second option, it is much easier than the other one because the visa process is online from beginning to end with 3 steps:

• • • Step 1: Apply online: fill out the secure online application form which will take you less than 5 minutes.

• • • Step 2: Confirm and Make the payment: double-check to ensure the information is all correct and pay for the service fee with credit cards or debit cards.

• • • Step 3: Get a visa approval letter and visa stamp.

 

Receive your visa approval letter via email in 2 working days (normal service) and 1 working day (urgent one) and prepare:

• The printed visa approval letter and the entry-and-exit form
• 2 passport-sized photos 4x6cm 
• Cash for stamping fee ($25 for single entry; $50 for multiple entry visa)
• Original passport

Visa approval letter can be used as a normal Visa when you board the plane. Upon landing, head to the Landing VISA (VOA) Counter, you must present the all things mentioned above in the prepared package to the Immigration officer to get your visa stamp.     

We hope you can get some useful information about Vietnam visa exemption for your next trip to Vietnam in our article. If you have any concern about this, please do not hesitate to contact us by leaving a comment below or sending your email to our email address: visa@vietnam-visa.org.vn.

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