If you decide to travel to a neighbouring country, you will have to incur expenses on travel and accommodation. At the embassy, you will have to fill up the Visa application form. Along with the form, you will have to submit one recent passport size photograph, one self-addressed envelope and your original passport. You will also be required to pay the Visa fees along with these documents. The fees can be paid in favour of the Embassy of Vietnam by way of money order or cashier’s cheque. Once you have submitted all documents and paid the fees, your application will be submitted for further processing.
The embassy will take at least five working days to process your documents. Once the documents are processed, you will be issued a fully stamped Visa. Although this procedure allows you to get hold of a fully stamped Visa before your departure to Vietnam, this process is quite expensive and time consuming.
In case you decide to apply for Visa through correspondence, you will have to send across all your documents to the embassy by postal mail. This is highly risky as you may lose all your documents if your package is misplaced or lost in transit.
An easier alternative to this method is the Visa on Arrival process. In order to apply for Visa on Arrival, you will have to get in touch with a travel agent based in Vietnam. You will have to fill up an online application form on the agent’s website. You will have to fill in details such as your name, occupation, duration of stay, purpose of visit etc. in the form. You can pay the Visa fees and the travel agent’s service charges online.
Once this online application is processed, you will be issued a letter of approval. This letter of approval can be collected by your travel agent and he can have it forwarded to you. On reaching Vietnam, you will have to submit this letter of approval along with the Visa stamping fees to collect your Visa on Arrival.
It is to be noted that the Visa on Arrival facility is extended only to those travelers who arrive in Vietnam by air. For those who take land routes, it is mandatory that they carry all their documents while traveling. In case of a cruise ship, the cruise authorities can be contacted for information on Visa on Arrival.
