What is the cheapest way to get a visa for Vietnam?

Nephew

The Vietnamese embassy in London are looking for £70 for a single entry tourist visa and £100 for a multiple entry visa, which seems exorbitant. I've read online that it's possible to get a visa cheaper through a travel agent like Trailfinders but they're practically the same price as the official method or through a visa booking website but some of the sites don't look legitimate. I've heard it's also possible to get one on arrival in the airport for $20-50 but I'm not sure if its worth the risk or how that even works.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has recently been to Vietnam and where you got your visa from and what you paid for it.

087dannyboy

If you go to myvietnamvisa.com its really straight forward. For a single entry visa its $65, you pay $20 on the website and when you arrive pay $45 in the airport for stamping. Just done it 2 days ago, its my third time using this site and never had any problems.

Gatica

we used starvietnamvisa. It was $15 (gone up to 16 now), +$6 ($6pp for 2 or $9 for one) for a private visa letter.

http://www.starvietnamvisa.com/fees.php

Very easy application process.

Tipperary animal lover

+1 myvietnamvisa.com

Nephew

Thanks for the advice. Is it true that some of the customs officials will look for a bribe before they stamp the visa?

Gatica

we didn't have any issues. There were 2 officials in the office and a whole flight of people waiting for visas. It would've been a bit obvious if they started expecting bribes.
Customs wasn't an issue as we weren't importing anything.

jester77

Nephew wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. Is it true that some of the customs officials will look for a bribe before they stamp the visa?

Depends where you enter. I entered across the border at Cambodia along the coast and they wanted to charge for crossing into Vietnam, as in they wanted a bribe. I just explained that there were no costs to cross and that was it.

Gatica

I think that is the difference between flights and land crossings... So depends on how you plan to arrive into the country.

IrishCitizen

Here is what the embassy in London sent me last week.

VISA fees per passport (not including postage charges) are as followed (new visa rates applied from 1/1/2013):

Tourist Visa:

- 30 days, single entry: £54 (regular process takes 5 working days). Express service: £69 (2 day service), £75 (next day service).

- 30 days, multiple entry: £85 (regular process takes 5 working days). Express service: £105 (2 day service), £115 (next day service)

- 90 days, single entry: £85 (regular process takes 5 working days). Express service: £105 (2 day service), £115 (next day service)

- 90 days, multiple entry: £105 (regular process takes 5 working days). Express service: £125 (2 day service), £135 (next day service).

Add £8 for return postage. I have had 3 visas in the last year -- beware of time it takes to get post from London, my last visa arrived in the nick of time. It took 4 days from embassy posting for it to leave Heathrow. A guy at An Post in Dublin helped me make sure I got it on Good Friday.

I am considering using VOA next month. Not hard to find legit sites. But if you have ever had to 'queue' for Vietnamese officials you will know what they mean by the chaos of getting the actual visa stamp and it may be worth paying the extra to embassy in London. I met a guy last time who waited 3 hours at Saigon airport -- nothing wrong with his letter just crowds of people.

There are some other pitfalls with VOA too -- USD or Vietnamese Dong are required in cash. No plastic. I've heard Euro can be negotiated but don't know if that's true or not.

P.