Any news on when they're going to restart issuing 3-month visas?

[dcollins]

I was planning to come to Vietnam for 2-3 months on 4 April. I contacted one of the agencies to see about a 3-month visa but they told me immigration aren't issuing them at the moment. The longest available tourist visa is the 30-day e-visa. You can normally extend an e-visa once, they said, but currently immigration are not allowing extensions, and anyway it involves getting some sort of sponsor letter and sending your passport off in the post.

 

So the Q is whether I should put the trip off until the 3-month visas are available again. If it was just going to be a week or two that would be OK, but if it's going to be months or it's still a "how long's a piece of string" question I will go as planned and maybe do a visa run to Cambodia. I know absolutely nothing about Vietnamese immigration so was wondering if anybody had heard anything or could make an educated guess.

 

[Kaoboi Bebobp]

I'm waiting for the same thing. I do not want to do a 30-day visa because I intend to stay for lengthy periods. I've heard estimates of mid-April for the 90-day Tourist visa (YouTuber living in HCMC) to 2-3 months by others.  

 

Vietnam has really botched this "re-opening."  It has not issued any kind of statement on visa plans other than pre-pandemic rules will apply. There were quite a few unhappy people who booked flights and hotels for after the March 15 only to find out VN is not doing long visas, both Tourist and Business. 

[thecyclist]

In 2020 the Vietnamese government issued new immigration regulations that did away with the 3 month Tourist visa Allegedly this was done to crack down on illegally working English teachers. TV from then on were restricted to just 1 month (with the possibility to get two 1 month extension). It was unclear whether these extensions would have to be applied for through expensive agents (like previously) or could be done for the official fee of 10$ at the immigration office. The country closed its borders till recently so there was no way to find out. The only immediate effect was that they stopped giving 3 month extension for those of us that were 'stuck' here. I have been doing very expensive monthly extensions for over a year. 

Now there have been reports/rumors here in Vietnam that they might revert back to the old system that was in effect pre-covid that allows many nationalities 90 day TV, and Americans 1 year TVs. Expect much of the usual dilly-dallying before they come a provisional decision that might last, or might be changed /reinterpreted shortly after the fence sitting. Thailand is bad in this respect, but Vietnam is even worse, much worse. 

[teelac777]

I'm a long-time VN resident and journalist, have been following this closely.

I think the 90 day tourist visa is based on reciprocal agreements with the related countries, not sure.  I do know for sure that the 1 year tourist visa for US citizens that was implemented 6 years ago was based on reciprocal agreement that allows VN passport holders to remain in the US 6 months at a time.   

Therefore, I believe reinstatement of 90 day and 1 year tourist visas is imminent, so in your position I would await a formal announcement.