Important notice about 1 year Vietnam tourist visa for U.S citizens

U.S citizens get special treatment when they are the only country being granted a long-stay Vietnam tourist visa valid for up to 1 year. However, many of them had a painful experience with it due to the lack of adequate information. By reading this article, you will avoid their mistakes and select the most appropriate visa type for the upcoming trip.

Vietnam visa starts effective from the date of entry shown in the application, which allows you to apply for the visa so early without having to worry that it may expire before your departure. The visa validity can be 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, or 1 year depending on your selection at the time of application. You can use the visa to enter/exit Vietnam anytime as long as it is valid. 

 

For example, You request a three-month single tourist visa with the date of entry as February 16th, 2018. This visa will be good for travel anytime during the period of visa validity, but you have to exit Vietnam by May 16th, 2018. If you wish to stay beyond this date, an extension is the only solution.

With short-term tourist visas (1 month and 3 months), you are allowed to remain in the country until the visa expires. However, this rule doesn’t apply to long-term visas. Even though the visa is valid for 6 months and 1 year, each stay cannot exceed 90 days; which means you have to do a visa run or get the visa extended every 3 months. (Note: you are not required to pay any fee when re-entering Vietnam. It’s possible to exit and come back on the same day).

 

At the port of entry, the immigration officer always puts an entry stamp into your passport with a note about permitted length of stay for the entry. Lots of U.S visitors didn’t take notice of this note because they believed that the one-year visa means a one-year stay. Consequently, they stayed continuously in Vietnam for the whole year. From 2016 to 2017, we have handled no less than 20 cases of U.S visa overstay and their reaction to hear our information is the same –SHOCK. In this situation, the visa bearer is not permitted to exit Vietnam until they pay fine for overstay and get an exit visa. And this might cost USD 500. More seriously, they are likely to be prohibited from entering Vietnam again.

 

 

1 year Vietnam tourist visa stamp and entry stamp

Vietnam business visa is the answer to this issue. No matter what purpose of your trip is, you can easily obtain a business visa with assistance from us, Vietnam Visa Easy. No proof of business or invitation letter of the employer. With only a passport copy, we are able to arrange a long-term business visa for US travelers within 5 working days. 

The procedure is very simple. All you need to do is sending a picture of the passport page and the best-estimated entry date to support@vietnamvisa-easy.com and wait for our reply with a payment link of $189 processing fee. Shortly after the payment is verified, your information will be sent to the immigration office for processing. Now you can take a rest and wait to receive the approval in the email inbox. Below is a picture of a standard approval for business travel.

In order to avoid any last-minute problem, you are advised to check the accuracy of the information on the letter. Once you make sure it is totally correct, you can move on to the next step: Get papers ready for stamping on arrival. The documents needed to pick up visa stamp are:

• Visa approval

• Completed entry-exit form (usually sent along with the approval)

• 01 passport-sized photo taken against a white background

• Origin passport valid for at least 6 months (you may be denied boarding if the passport is valid less than 6 months)

• Cash: $25 for single entry visa, $50 for multiple entry of short-term visa, $95 for 6 months multiple entry visa, $135 for 1 year multiple entry visa. VND currency is also accepted.

 

The average waiting time for a visa stamp is 10 minutes. It may be quicker or longer depending on the length of the queue in front of the immigration counter. In case of emergency, you should use the stamping assistance service to get the visa stamp immediately.

 

Hopefully, the article is informative and helpful to you. Should you have any inquiries about the Vietnam tourist visa for US passport holders, please feel free to contact us for assistance. Thanks very much for visiting us.