How to get a Vietnam visa in San Francisco

You are confused about how to get a Vietnam visa in San Francisco? No problem. After reading this post, you will find it’s a piece of cake.

Best time to apply for the visa

As soon as possible. Don’t wait until last minute to file application unless you are willing to pay large amount of money for express service. Your visa is not valid from the date of application but from intended date of travel in application. And you are allowed to enter/exit Vietnam anytime you want while the visa is valid.

The important thing to note is thatthe short visas are no long available for US citizens since 31^st August, 2016. Whether you will be staying in Vietnam for days or months, you will be granted 1 year multiple entry tourist or business visa.  Basically, the tourist visa is good for both holidays and business purposes but you are limited to a maximum of 90 days for each visit.  For business visa, there is no restriction on numbers of day for each entry. You are allowed to remain in Vietnam as long as you want. The extension is not available for long-term visa. After your visa gets expired, please leave Vietnam and apply for new visa to return.

How to get visa for Vietnam in San Francisco

Vietnam remains 3 consulates in the United States and one of them is located in San Francisco. Thereby, you can easily get the visa before arrival at the consulate (1) or on arrival at airport(2). 

1. Obtain visa at Vietnam consulate

Consulate General of Vietnam in San Franciscoallows in-person and postal application but you are encouraged to apply by post to avoid long queue at the consular office. A complete application includes the following papers:

• Application form: you have to visit the consulate’s website and fill out the form online. You can download PDF file to computer and fill out later but it’s not recommended unless you cannot complete it online for some reasons.
• Original passport: the passport should have at least 01 month of validity from the date you exit Vietnam.  If you order a loose-leaf visa, the passport copy is required instead.
• Passport-sized photos:  01 photo if you want the traditional visa and 02 photos if you would like loose-leaf visa
• Prepaid return envelope: the envelope must be included if you request the passport and visa to be returned by post. One envelope can be used for several applications. For safety of documents, the Vietnam consulate general in San Francisco recommend using UPS or Fedex and keeping tracking number.
• Visa fee:  can be paid by cash (if you apply in person)or  in form of money order, cashier’s check or certified check (if you send the application by post)

Processing time for normal visa is 3 business days and for urgent visa is 24 business hours (extra fee is required for rush service).

Make sure you check for error on the visa once you obtained it. If anything is wrong, notify the consulate instantly for correction. 

2. Obtain visa on arrival

Are you thinking that you just need arrive in Vietnam’s airports and pick up the visa there? Yes. That’s true. But it’s not the entire story.  Before you are granted a visa stamp on arrival, you must obtain approval from Vietnamese immigration department first. The airlines will not let you board the plane if you cannot show letter of approval.

The good news is the approval can be easily obtained online via travel agents (and we are one of those). If you are interested to apply online for the letter through our site,  please visit http://www.vietnamvisa-easy.com/apply to fill out the personal information and pay $30 visa fee online using credit/debit card or via bank transfer. Shortly after the application was paid, you will receive an email confirming approval delivery date. Normally, it takes less than 48 business hours for normal service and 1-24 business hours for express service. To make sure no problem will happen at the airport, you should double check the letter and report the error (if any) to us immediately.

Refer to page Vietnam business visa if you care about procedure and price for business visa. 

Upon arrival, you should approach the Visa On Arrival window and present the print copy of letter, original passport, 01 passport photo, and 01 entry-exit form. Depending on the length of queue, stamping process may take 15-20 minutes. Once the visa is ready to use, the officer will call your name and request you to pay $135 stamping fee. You do what he said and get the passport back. Please be aware of that the stamping fee must be paid cash. Either US. Dollars or VN dong is accepted.

Related articles:

• Apply Vietnam tourist visa in San Francisco
• Visa for Vietnam in San Francisco
• Vietnam visa types
• Vietnam Visa Exemption
• Vietnam Tourist Visa
• Vietnam Business Visa
• Vietnam immigration policy for Processing Vietnam visa
• Urgent Vietnam visa on arrival for Irish passport holders
• How to get urgent visa for Vietnam
• List of countries cannot be supporting Vietnam visa online.