Why Vietnam Visa on Arrival if you travel to Vietnam by air

Almost travelers to Vietnam by air need a visa except for those included in the Vietnam visa exemption list.

If in the past when there was only option for Vietnam visa application – applying via Vietnam embassy, getting a visa for Vietnam might be time-consuming and costly, resulting in a low recorded number of arrivals in Vietnam.

However, the time has changed and visa policy has been changed as well. Vietnam Government introduced an alternative option for getting visa is to get visa on arrival (VOA). Since its introduction, this kind of visa has been much preferred for its convenience, simplicity and time-saving.

1. Why VOA is said to be convenient?

With VOA, the air travelers always take the initiative in their time. One can apply for visa approval letter at any time before departure for Vietnam since visa is valid from date of arrival provided in the application, not from the date of application submission.

2. Why VOA is said to be simple?

A typical procedure to apply for a visa via Vietnam embassy covers completing a written application with a lot of information and bringing it together with your original passport, photos and other required documents to the embassy to apply for visa to Vietnam, and then coming back home to wait for a few days and traveling again to the embassy to pick up your full visa for Vietnam. Do you find it a little bit complicated? You can completely avoid this complicity with Vietnam visa on arrival, in which you only need to:

  1. Access an online website providing this kind of service (Vietnam-visa is highly recommended for great reviews on their service) and fill out the online form with a few details as following:
    1. Full name
    2. Date of birth
    3. Gender
    4. Passport number
    5. Passport expiry date
    6. Date of arrival
    7. Purpose of visit.
  2. Pay for service fee online, and then get visa approval letter via email within 1 or 2 working days.
  3. Get visa stamped upon arrival at Vietnam airport.

3. Why VOA is said to be time-saving?

With VOA, applicants are not required to travel to the embassy at all. They can complete their visa application right at home or office, etc.

Instead of waiting as many as 7 days to get visa issued by Vietnam embassy, the online visa application can help applicants get visa approval letter within 2 working days at maximum. Even in urgent cases, Vietnam visa approval letter can be processed within one working day or 4 working hours. VOA will care all time troubles.

These are three major advantages clarifying why you should use Vietnam visa on arrival if you travel to Vietnam by air.