Visa stamp when arriving from outside Vietnam

There is a large room at the NE corner of Tan Son Nhut where a number of officials will process your application. Watch the tourists that leave your plane and where they go. You will fill out a form and submit it. You will be called when it is your turn. The agent will take your money when your paperwork is processed.

Thanks Jim-Minh! Sounds like it the same process as the Visa On Arrival but the service I use with Visa On Arrival, the guy handles all that and he jumps to the front of the line.

You are welcome. I am not familiar with the 5 year visa. But certainly if what I described is not the exact procedure you need to follow, then someone there will be able to direct you to the right people. Good luck and enjoy Vietnam!
BTW, I see you are going to Hanoi and not Saigon. The same trick of following the tourists will still work. Many people will be in the same situation as you and are in need of the same thing.
LOL - Let's just hope that not everyone is using the same technique of finding the visa area and hopefully the whole airplane load won't end up in the men's room....

If its a 5-year VEC (visa exemption certificate) there should be no fee. Is your 5-year visa due to being married or  being Viet Kieu?

colinoscapee wrote:

If its a 5-year VEC (visa exemption certificate) there should be no fee. Is your 5-year visa due to being married or  being Viet Kieu?

With the VEC, there should be no stamping fee at the point of entry (only for in-country extensions) but there is still the cost for the VEC itself.  The OP is a little unclear if he already has the VEC or expects to get it on arrival.  If he already has the VEC in his passport then you are correct, he just goes through the line and gets a stamp for free. Once you have the VEC, I don't think there is any distinction based on type of eligibility, is there?

THIGV wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

If its a 5-year VEC (visa exemption certificate) there should be no fee. Is your 5-year visa due to being married or  being Viet Kieu?

With the VEC, there should be no stamping fee at the point of entry (only for in-country extensions) but there is still the cost for the VEC itself.  The OP is a little unclear if he already has the VEC or expects to get it on arrival.  If he already has the VEC in his passport then you are correct, he just goes through the line and gets a stamp for free. Once you have the VEC, I don't think there is any distinction based on type of eligibility, is there?

VEC's in country are free if married to a local. I presume the OP must be a Viet Kieu and has to pay.

colinoscapee wrote:

VEC's in country are free if married to a local. I presume the OP must be a Viet Kieu and has to pay.

Not to say you are wrong but my VEC, obtained in HCMC, is clearly stamped with "20 USD HAI MƯƠI"  Maybe things have changed as they often do in Vietnam.

THIGV wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

VEC's in country are free if married to a local. I presume the OP must be a Viet Kieu and has to pay.

Not to say you are wrong but my VEC, obtained in HCMC, is clearly stamped with "20 USD HAI MƯƠI"  Maybe things have changed as they often do in Vietnam.

There is a stamping fee, but the VEC is free when you apply for it. My friends just did it last month in Saigon.

I think back 5 years ago you paid for it, but now its free.

colinoscapee wrote:

If its a 5-year VEC (visa exemption certificate) there should be no fee. Is your 5-year visa due to being married or  being Viet Kieu?

colinoscapee, I'm a Viet Kieu. Born in VN, was one of the boat people in the mid/late 70's. What I got was a book that looks like a passport for VN. Planning to go back again next year and just preparing.
Thanks!

qnbui wrote:

colinoscapee, I'm a Viet Kieu. Born in VN, was one of the boat people in the mid/late 70's. What I got was a book that looks like a passport for VN. Planning to go back again next year and just preparing.
Thanks!

That's a little confusing (at least to me, sorry).  Are you now a US citizen with a US passport or do you have a green colored Refugee Travel Document given by the US?  Most people call this a "refugee passport" but technically it is not a passport as the holders are not citizens.  If so, you are fortunate that the US seems to allow you to return to Vietnam using this document.  Several countries prohibit return to the country of origin for holders of such travel documents.

there is NO fee to pay when you enter or re-enter Viet Nam with a 5 year Visa Exemption, just go to the immigration  officer as you would normally do to enter the country

With a Visa Exemption in your passport go straight to the immigration counters on arrival. Do not pay anything there. They will stamp your passport, write down a date 6 months from your arrival date - you must leave again before this date. That's it, go downstairs and get your luggage...

Rinse and repeat for the next 4+ years!

Regards
Dave

saigondave2 wrote:

With a Visa Exemption in your passport go straight to the immigration counters on arrival. Do not pay anything there. They will stamp your passport, write down a date 6 months from your arrival date - you must leave again before this date. That's it, go downstairs and get your luggage...

Rinse and repeat for the next 4+ years!

Regards
Dave

When you say "immigration counters", are you referring to the immigration officers at the actual Point of Entry, where passports are stamped and annotated as you've mentioned?

I ask for clarification (for the casual reader) because in Hà Nội, the place where you get your visa stamp (before the point of entry and run by Immigration) could easily be considered the "Immigration Counter".

OceanBeach92107 wrote:

saigondave2 wrote:

With a Visa Exemption in your passport go straight to the immigration counters on arrival. Do not pay anything there. They will stamp your passport, write down a date 6 months from your arrival date - you must leave again before this date. That's it, go downstairs and get your luggage...

Rinse and repeat for the next 4+ years!

Regards
Dave

When you say "immigration counters", are you referring to the immigration officers at the actual Point of Entry, where passports are stamped and annotated as you've mentioned?

I ask for clarification (for the casual reader) because in Hà Nội, the place where you get your visa stamp (before the point of entry and run by Immigration) could easily be considered the "Immigration Counter".

You are overthinking this.  The immigration counter is exactly what most people would think it is.  The counter at the airport where you line up to have you passport stamped.

The Visa 0n Arrival Counter is not the Immigration Counters.

The Immigration Counters are many, all lined up beside each other, manned (or womanned) by one officer each, or sometimes unmanned when it's especially busy. The Immigration Counters may have a sign above that says All Passports, or APEC, or Diplomat, or Vietnamese, etc. There is not a sign here that says Visa On Arrival.

The Visa on Arrival Counter (only 1 normally) will have a sign that says Visa On Arrival and there will be more than one officer behind the long counter. There will likely be a disorganised pile of blank forms for Visa On Arrival applicants to fill out and submit with their passports. There may be a sign detailing Visa On Arrival fees, and an officer milling about with a DSLR camera. There will be visa agents with lost of papers and passports. There will definitely not be an orderly que and there will be foreigners (sometimes many) also milling about waiting patiently (because they will need patience) for their names to be called out (often badly mispronounced to the point that they don't recognise their own name and need prodding by a more diligent member of their tour group) to collect their passports and pay the fee, yes, that's another fee.

With about 17 seconds observation and just a little bit of thought the difference between The Visa On Arrival Counter and the Immigration Counters will be fairly obvious, even I suspect in Hanoi for those foreigners mentally deranged enough to want to go there.

Although I have never used Visa on Arrival, your description encapsulates my opinion of the process.  Why would anyone get on a 5 hour or more flight without actually having a visa attached to their passport?  This is particularly true if you are going to a country not known for adherence to the rule of law and where solicitation and acceptance of bribes is a cultural norm.  A letter is not a visa.  One screw up and you could be on the next plane back home.

Overthinking shouldn't be an option. Clear, concise, unambiguous statements are always the best option. Area or department or desk would've been a much better option. I am as guilty of this as anyone and continuously find statements I've made that are not unambiguous.

Immigration counter is pretty unambiguous to me. 

Immigration Area would have been totally ambiguous as it could encompass several functions at the airport. 

The Immigration Department is a government agency with offices in town as well as at the airport. 

Counter is a better description than desk, as one is standing when one is there and the surface is approximately mid-chest level for most adults.  The officer may be seated but usually on a high stool to compensate for the height of the counter.

In HCMC last week, at 01:30 the VOA area had 50+ people waiting for the VOAs.

Wxx3 wrote:

In HCMC last week, at 01:30 the VOA area had 50+ people waiting for the VOAs.

Ditto last February at 1 AM (just before Tet).

OMG going through immigrations at the airport is not that difficult, ambgioys or not. A junior high school child could do it

The VOA at the Ho Chi Minh airport is usually busy but the website that I use to obtain the VOA also has an expedited service for $10-$15 or so. There will be a person waiting for you when you land with your name on a piece of paper. You give that person your passport (scary the first time), $25 for the visa and you wait at the VOA seating area. The person cuts in line and get you your VOA in about 15 minutes or so. Then you take your visa and go wait in one of the 10+ lines to get it stamped.

qnbui wrote:

... for $10-$15 or so ...  The person cuts in line and gets you your VOA in about 15 minutes ....

Entrepreneur business model for 3rd world. Or in PC, "developing counties".

My December trip:


This is to notify that your visa application has been approved and the letter of approval (an attachment in PDF or JPG format) has been sent to both primary and secondary emails you provided.

As a reminder, below is a list of what you will need at Vietnam airports: (Hanoi with Noi Bai Airport, Da Nang with Da Nang International airport, Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon with Tan Son Nhat airport)

-    Original passport
-    02 photos 4x6CM
-    Letter of approval
-    Stamping fee
-    On arrival form (you can download it here and fill out in advance)

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Vietnam Visa Team