Viet Nam visa requirement?

I just did a cruise with Vietnam ports. The Visa is obtained online, costs about $50USD. Beware if you make a mistake and have to resubmit you have to pay again.

I got help on filling it out from folks on my Cruise Critic Roll Call.

In HCMC we did a Highlights tour through Travel Authentic Asia. It was excellent. We formed groups on the Roll Call. I don't recommend Bana Hills/Golden Bridge from Hue.

Here is a link to my trip report, if you are interested:

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/beyond-europe/asia-live-trip-report

good friends of mine were headed for Australia a year ago and decided to fly Vietnam and have a look around on a stopover. The visa took them 3 weeks and never came so they couldn't get on the flight. Friends in the airport pooled their miles and 24 hours later they got on a flight on Brunai and never saw any Vietnam. Or any of the money they had given Vietnam air. But they liked what they saw of Brunai.

So my advise is to get the Vietnam visa out of the way early.

May be different in your case. This is an Irish and a Canadian married in Australia and living in England.

Since you will be entering Vietnam at two different ports, it’s POSSIBLE that you will need a multiple-entry visa. The cruise line may know if this is true. You can get a multiple-entry visa online. As others have said, be very careful that your information is correct.

You do need a visa for Vietnam, but as of a few years ago you can get this online as an e-visa. This is the official website- we used it in 2023 and got our e-visas within a few days: https://evisa.gov.vn/

Yes, the e visa only took two or three days. It is multiple entry.

There are services to obtain one. Google. We used it without problem. You do not get the actual visa but a letter that you present on arrival. And it not just produce letter and walk through. You have to produce letter and wait whilst such things are done and they return with your visa at your point of entry. For us it was the airport. Took about 30 minutes wait.

I got a Vietnam visa two years ago (e-visa) and had no problems. It came rather quickly. No problems upon entry, either. Follow the instructions on the website and you should be fine.

My husband and I were just in Vietnam in February. The e-visa form is lengthy but not difficult. It took a couple of tries to get a selfie that met requirements. The approvals took three days and came through as attachments to an email. We printed them out but didn't need to show them.

Be sure you get a Vietnam Visa that allows multiple entries vs. single entry. We made a side trip to Cambodia to see Angkor Wat and made the unfortunate discovery we only had a single-entry Visa when we tried to re-enter the country. That was stressful! Fortunately it was at the end of our trip and just meant that flying back through Ho Chi Minh we had to stay at the airport (couldn't leave without a valid Visa). FYI, you can rent a sleeping pod in the Ho Chi Minh airport and it really helps to have access to a Priority Pass Lounge if you are going to be there 24 hours or so. No joke. There are also services online that you can pay $400'sh to get a Visa within an hour or so if you really need it in an emergency. It ended up being a travel experience for the record books, for us. Despite all that, we LOVED Vietnam and hope to return. What a beautiful, exotic, interesting place to visit. Enjoy!