Applying for first time passport in Vietnam possibility

Even though you are clear across the continent, let me recommend the San Francisco Consulate.   Far better and much more polite than the Embassy in DC.  You are dealing by phone and mail anyway so really it should be no real difference.   Cost for the passport itself might be more than in Vietnam but the hassle factor should be less.   Whatever the passport costs you will be made up on your first trip to Vietnam by not needing a visa.  Of course this assumes you have the required documents and will not be needing to go to Vietnam to get tham.   If you look at the counsulate site and download the application, you should know what documents you need and perhaps relatives could send tham to you.

SF Passport link

Thanks for your reply and information. Yes, I am aware of the SF consulate. I have a VEC so getting into Vietnam usually isn't a problem. I was just wondering if it was possible to get this done once in the country or if anyone successfully has done this?

Thanks.

My wife obtained her passport in order for her to emigrate to the US.   All she had to show was her ID card, but that is something you do not have.  I expect that the required documentation would be similar but you never know.  Another thing to consider is that in San Francisco, coffee money is not required.   The fees are whatever they are.  You don't know about wherever you might apply within the country.   It is possible that the cost could vary from one province to another and there could be a need for additional inducements.

THIGV wrote:

My wife obtained her passport in order for her to emigrate to the US.   All she had to show was her ID card, but that is something you do not have.  I expect that the required documentation would be similar but you never know.  Another thing to consider is that in San Francisco, coffee money is not required.   The fees are whatever they are.  You don't know about wherever you might apply within the country.   It is possible that the cost could vary from one province to another and there could be a need for additional inducements.

My wife is doing her new passport here at the moment, and the cost is very low,only 20 usd. The only hassle is that she has to travel to the next town to lodge the paperwork.

peterpan75:  It seems, as I would expect, that most readers of this forum have only experienced obtaining a VN passport for their spouses who are not US citizens and have obviously different circumstances than yourself.   So knowing how weak the on-site search function is,  I did a Google search adding expat.com to the search line, as generously suggested by OceanBeach92107 in another thread.   I came up with two relevant threads begun by Vietnamese born US citizens.   One is Vietnam passport and ID The other is called Vietnam passport cost

The poster who obtained his passport from DC paid what seems to me to be a lot, however none that I could find quoted the cost in San Francisco.  One post (#3) in the passport and ID thread described a lot of minor hassles and time wasted getting it done within Vietnam.  If you have internalized, as I suspect you have, the Western concept that "time is money" you probably should consider calling the SF Consulate.

Just a note:  I read it here that ID's and hộ khẩu entries for Vietnamese residing overseas will no longer be renewed.  If this is true, the ID related aspects of the above threads may no longer be relevant.  If you end up residing in Vietnam and buying property you still may need an ID and hộ khẩu.

After a more careful reading, it appears that the cost of a VN passport from the SF Consulate was $400 in 2020.   See post #14 in the passport and ID thread.

THIGV wrote:

After a more careful reading, it appears that the cost of a VN passport from the SF Consulate was $400 in 2020.   See post #14 in the passport and ID thread.

Thats a big jump from the 20 usd it costs in Vietnam. This is why I told my wife to apply here and not in Australia when her passport expires.

Renewals are probably both quicker and easier both within Vietnam and overseas.   I know for my second VEC, no documents were required.   I just sent in my passport with the old VEC attached, plus the photo.   I expect that renewing a VN passport should be about the same.

THIGV wrote:

Renewals are probably both quicker and easier both within Vietnam and overseas.   I know for my second VEC, no documents were required.   I just sent in my passport with the old VEC attached, plus the photo.   I expect that renewing a VN passport should be about the same.

If Vietnamese regulations are at all similar to the United States, it's really easy to renew a passport before it expires.

In fact, anyone who has a couple years left on their passport but wants to have a brand new large size passport with extra pages before traveling only needs to apply for passport renewal, no matter how long before the expiration date of the current passport.

But if the passport has expired,
then the requirements for renewal are more complicated.