At the embassy you will have to fill the Visa application form. Along with the duly filled form, you will be required to submit one recent passport size photograph, one self-addressed envelope and your original passport. Your passport should have at least six months validity and a few spare pages for stamping purposes. Besides submitting these documents, you will have to pay the Visa fees. You can pay the Visa fees in favor of the Embassy of Vietnam by way of money order or cashier’s cheque. On submitting these documents and making the payment, your application will be forwarded ahead for processing.
The embassy will take at least five working days to complete processing your documents. Once your documents are processed, you will be issued a fully stamped Visa. Although applying through the embassy will get your fully stamped Visa prior to your travel to Vietnam, there are a few disadvantages to this procedure. You will have to travel to the embassy location quite a few times, which is expensive.
In case you decide to apply for Visa through correspondence, you will have to send in all your documents through postal mail. This will include your original passport too. This can be highly risky as you stand to lose your original passport if your package is misplaced or lost in transit.
• Apply for Visa on Arrival
Visa on Arrival is a far more convenient method. To apply for Visa on Arrival, you will have to get in touch with a travel agent based in Vietnam. You will have to fill an online application form wherein you will have to enter details such as your name, occupation, duration of stay, purpose of visit etc. While filling in the purpose of visit section, you will have to choose from options such as business, transit and tourist. A business Visa offers validity of one month, three months and six months. A tourist Visa offers a validity of one month and transit Visa offers a validity of less than five days.
Once your form is processed, you will be issued a letter of approval. Your travel agent can collect this letter of approval from the Vietnamese Immigration department and forward it to you. On reaching Vietnam, you will have to product this letter of approval at the Visa on Arrival counter of the airport you arrive in. Along with this document, you will have to pay the Visa stamping fees to receive your Visa on Arrival.
The Visa on Arrival facility is available to only those travelers who arrive in Vietnam by air. Those who take the land route to travel to Vietnam will have to carry all documents, including the Visa, along with them while traveling.
