• Apply through the embassy
Vietnam does not have an embassy in Senegal and hence citizens of Senegal will have to contact the embassy in a neighboring nation to apply for Visa. If you are a citizen of Senegal and wish to apply for Visa through the Embassy of Vietnam, you will either have to travel to the embassy location and personally fill the application form or enquire through e-mail or over the telephone if the Visa application process can be facilitated over postal mail. In case you decide to visit the foreign nation to apply for Visa to Vietnam, you will have to incur huge travel and stay costs. The procedure through the embassy requires making multiple visits to the embassy till the procedure is complete.
At the embassy, you will be required to fill the Visa application form and submit along with a recent passport sized photograph, one self-addressed envelope and your original passport. You will also have to pay the Visa fees to the Embassy of Vietnam by way of money order or cashier’s cheque. The embassy will take at least five working days to process your documents, after which you will be issued a fully stamped Visa.
If you are applying through the embassy through correspondence, you will have to send in all documents along with your original passport via postal mail. The passport is too valuable document to be sent over through postal mail and hence most people avoid this method.
The easier and faster alternative to this method is the Visa on Arrival facility.
• Apply for Visa on Arrival
The Visa on Arrival is a more convenient and more affordable option. To apply for Visa on Arrival, you will have to get in touch with a travel agent based in Vietnam. You can fill the Visa application online and transfer the Visa fees and the service charge of the travel agent online too. You will be asked to fill in your details such as your name, occupation, travel dates, duration of stay, purpose of visit etc. in the online form. You will have to pick from business, tourist and transit options while filling in the purpose of visit section. A business Visa will give you a validity of one month, three months or six months. The tourist Visa comes with a validity of one month and transit Visa comes with a validity of less than five days.
Once the form is submitted, it will take a couple of days in processing. After your form is processed, you will be issued a letter of approval. This letter of approval can be collected by your travel agent and passed on to you. You will have to submit this letter of approval along with the Visa stamping fees at the Visa on Arrival counter at the Vietnamese airport you arrive in to collect your Visa on Arrival.
