What documents do I need to travel to Vietnam?
Vietnam needs a passport valid six months from arrival plus an e-visa or a visa exemption. The e-visa now covers up to 90 days. Full checklist for your trip1 stay.
Updated
Entering Vietnam - what you need
Vietnam is one of the easier countries in the region to enter on paper, as long as you apply for the e-visa early enough. Get these items together before your trip1 booking dates come around.
- A passport with at least six months of validity from your arrival date, and two blank pages for an e-visa entry.
- A printed e-visa, or proof that your nationality is visa exempt.
- A return or onward ticket dated inside your permitted stay.
- Proof of where you are staying, which your trip1 booking confirmation covers.
- The pre-arrival declaration, which foreign passport holders arriving by air complete no more than three days before landing.
- A currency declaration if you are carrying more than 15,000,000 dong or the equivalent of US$5,000.
How the Vietnam e-visa works
Vietnam opened its e-visa to every nationality, so eligibility is no longer the hurdle it once was. You apply on the official government e-visa portal, upload a scan of your passport bio page and a photo on a plain white background, and wait roughly three working days.
The e-visa now covers up to 90 days, in single-entry or multiple-entry form. Single entry costs US$25 and multiple entry costs US$50, which lets you leave and come back inside the same 90-day window.
An e-visa cannot be extended from inside Vietnam. To stay longer you leave the country and apply again, or arrange a different visa class through a sponsor before you travel.
Important: Apply only through Vietnam's official government e-visa portal, and check that every letter of your name and passport number matches your passport exactly. A mismatch means being denied boarding at your departure airport, with no refund on the flight.
Visa exemptions and recent changes
More than 30 nationalities skip the e-visa entirely. Exemption lengths run from 30 to 45 days depending on the passport, and Vietnam has extended several of these schemes for years ahead.
Two details catch people out. The exemption is a fixed number of days from the entry stamp rather than a rolling allowance, and a few nationalities have a minimum gap between visa-free visits.
Vietnam's digital arrival paperwork has also changed more than once in recent years. Check the official Vietnamese immigration site in the week before you fly so you submit the current form rather than an old one.
Checking into a hotel in Vietnam
Vietnamese hotels register every foreign guest with the local police, which is why the front desk asks for your passport at check-in. Some properties want to hold it for an hour or two while they complete the registration.
Ask for it back the same day. You are entitled to keep your own passport, and you need it for domestic flights, train tickets and any other hotel you move on to.
Your trip1 booking confirmation covers proof of accommodation for the border, and it gives you the hotel name and address that the arrival forms ask for. Save an offline copy in case you land without a data connection.
Entering Vietnam - FAQ
US citizens need a passport valid for at least six months beyond the arrival date and a visa arranged before travel, which for most visitors means Vietnam's e-visa from evisa.gov.vn. You must enter and leave on the same passport. Keep your return ticket and trip1 booking confirmation handy, as officers and arrival forms ask where you are staying.
Yes, if you arrive by air. Vietnam asks foreign passport holders to complete an online pre-arrival declaration at prearrival.immigration.gov.vn no more than three days before landing, at the main airports including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Nha Trang and Phu Quoc. Save the confirmation QR code on your phone or print it for immigration.
The government fee is US$25 for a single-entry e-visa and US$50 for multiple entry, each covering stays of up to 90 days. Apply only on the official portal, evisa.gov.vn, where approval usually takes about three working days. Check that your name and passport number match your passport exactly, because a mismatch can get you refused at boarding.
Up to 90 days, in single-entry or multiple-entry form. Multiple entry lets you leave and come back within the same 90-day window. The e-visa cannot be extended from inside Vietnam, so to stay longer you leave the country and apply again, or arrange a different visa through a sponsor before you travel.
Yes, carry a printed copy of your e-visa with your passport, because airline staff at check-in and Vietnamese border officers can both ask to see it. Save a copy on your phone as a backup alongside your trip1 booking confirmation.