Jump to content
Login with your Gmail HERE and start posting in seconds! ×

Vietnam Tourist Visa at Embassy in Bangkok

Banana7
 Share

Recommended Posts

Banana7 Gold Member

Banana7

Posted
Posted

Went to the Vietnam embassy in Bangkok to get a tourist visa. Website at http://www.vietnamembassy-thailand.org/en/

says 30 day single entry tourist visa is USD$25 or 3 mo. multi-entry USD$50.

Embassy lady refused to issue a 3 mo. multi-entry. Told me to phone a visa company if I wanted a 3 mo. visa and get visa on arrival. Told her visa arrival are now just for emergencies according to Vietnam government website (https://visa.mofa.gov.vn/NewsDetail.aspx?type=Info&id=28#sec3)- she disagreed.

Big sign in the Embassy says online visa companies may not be reliable. Also stories on internet where people pay for a 3 month visa and upon arrival are told the visa is only 1 month.

 

Charged me 2,200 for a single entry 30 day tourist visa - 4 day processing. Receipt says 2,200 baht.

 

Was I swindled?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LongTimeLurker Gold Member

LongTimeLurker

Posted
Posted

10 years ago when I last got a visa and the fees were not published they cost Baht 1,800. but if the website says $25 and you were charged Baht 2,200 then yes you were swindled.

 

Suggest you take a copy of the website page and your receipt and complain to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs when you are in VN.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Incobart Senior Member

Incobart

Posted
Posted

Hi,  I went for a 30 day tourist visa 1 month ago, and it was the same. I asked why the price is not 900 B as was noted for the visa...

she said you also need an approval letter from tourism autorithy (witch  I saw before in the visa conditions) and as I didn't had it , I had to pay 1300 B fee

I asked her , where/how can you get that paper, she said she don't know,  some traveller shops offer then  when you pay them she said

so a rediculous rule.. Meanwhile i have been to Hanoi, I saw many people go to the 'apply visa' counter, so I don't think it's a big problem, and better to apply online.. People I heared that did that, had no problem.

 

Anyway everything hopefully a lot better as vietnam start with visa on arrival january 2017.

 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Incobart Senior Member

Incobart

Posted
Posted
50 minutes ago, biggles45 said:

You dont need a visa for a stay of  upto 15 days at the moment, it has been extended to next year. 

 

I went for 6 days.. visa applyment cost me 6000 B , 2200+hkt-bkk flights +hotel

 

can you show me where thie information is ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jgold Apprentice Member

jgold

Posted
Posted

It is a lot cheaper to get the entry permit letter online with agencies  and get the visa on arrival than to do it at the embassy. You were not swindled just costs more doing at the embassy.

I have been to VT 3 times and the agencies are very reliable. Every expat in Vietnam knows going to embassies is more expansive and everyone living here goes with the agencies using the letter. 

Next time you need it get a visa go on facebook and look for expat group in Ho Chi Minh and ask about visa agency there. You will get tons of reliable recommendations.

You could have gotten a 6 month visa for the same price they charge at the embassy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
jgold Apprentice Member

jgold

Posted
Posted (edited)

Citizens from these countries don't need a visa and can stay up to 15 days

 

 

* - required to hold a passport valid for at least 6 months from date of departure from Vietnam, at least 30 days must have passed since last leaving Vietnam, and required to show a printout (computer/mobile screen not acceptable) of a flight ticket to a third country. For British passport holders, only holders of British citizen passports are eligible.

Edited by jgold
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites
IMA_FARANG Ruby Member

IMA_FARANG

Posted
Posted

For U.S. citizens, it used to be  a 30 day visa.....the Vietnam embessy in Thailand did not issue a 3 month visa, only 30  days.

The fee was $ 25 dollars the last time I went in June 2016. At one time it was $ 45 dollars but it was lowered to $25 dollars in 2016.

There never was a 15 day entry for U.S. citizens, but the U.K. nationals did or may still have a free 15 day entry.

I have not been to the Vietnam embessy in Bangkok since June 2016, so if the rules have been changed since that time i would not know.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
louse1953 Platinum Member

louse1953

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, jgold said:

It is a lot cheaper to get the entry permit letter online with agencies  and get the visa on arrival than to do it at the embassy. You were not swindled just costs more doing at the embassy.

I have been to VT 3 times and the agencies are very reliable. Every expat in Vietnam knows going to embassies is more expansive and everyone living here goes with the agencies using the letter. 

Next time you need it get a visa go on facebook and look for expat group in Ho Chi Minh and ask about visa agency there. You will get tons of reliable recommendations.

You could have gotten a 6 month visa for the same price they charge at the embassy.

PP ,no letter needed for any visa,just a bloke at the hotel i stayed at.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Inyati Girl Rookie Member

Inyati Girl

Posted
Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, jgold said:

Citizens from these countries don't need a visa and can stay up to 15 days

 

 

* - required to hold a passport valid for at least 6 months from date of departure from Vietnam, at least 30 days must have passed since last leaving Vietnam, and required to show a printout (computer/mobile screen not acceptable) of a flight ticket to a third country. For British passport holders, only holders of British citizen passports are eligible.

 

Edited by Inyati Girl
Link to comment
Share on other sites
wanderluster Senior Member

wanderluster

Posted
Posted

what about thailand travel agents.   many yrs ago now but the last time i went to vietnam. i used a travel agent in bkk. cant remember the $$ but i was no $40.

last time me and thai gf went to china we used a travel agent in pattaya. 4 days and was cheaper than the cost of gas to drive there and back.

so has anyone got a visa for vietnam by using a travel agent anywhere in thailand recently?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ragpicker Explorer Member

ragpicker

Posted
Posted

Yeah Banana7, I got screwed worse than you a couple weeks ago at the BKK Vietnamese embassy.  2700 baht for me!!  Told me to read the non-existing fees posted on the back wall when I complained!   I also brought up the on line $25 and she told me this was a phony web site, there is no official Vietnam visa web site according to her.   She offered to refund my money and I could take my chances with this "fake" web site.   Since she was very rude and unfriendly I got scared.  I figured she'd give me the refund refund and then phone the Hanoi airport immigration and tell them to screw me out of even more money when I arrive as she had all my details already.

  First and last time.

  • Like 1
  • Sad 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Clamhua Apprentice Member

Clamhua

Posted
Posted

Got a Visa on Arrival 2 weeks ago at Hanoi airport, $12 for letter which is needed for airline check-in, $25 stamping fee for single entry 30 days..

 

Sounds like BKK embassy is just screwing people for the hell of it...

 

Aussie passport

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Banana7 Gold Member

Banana7

Posted
  • Author
Posted
12 hours ago, jgold said:

It is a lot cheaper to get the entry permit letter online with agencies  and get the visa on arrival than to do it at the embassy. You were not swindled just costs more doing at the embassy.

I have been to VT 3 times and the agencies are very reliable. Every expat in Vietnam knows going to embassies is more expansive and everyone living here goes with the agencies using the letter. 

Next time you need it get a visa go on facebook and look for expat group in Ho Chi Minh and ask about visa agency there. You will get tons of reliable recommendations.

You could have gotten a 6 month visa for the same price they charge at the embassy.

 

I don't have facebook. Any chance someone can post, or PM me, a reliable visa agency website for Vietnam multi-entry tourist visas, so people can avoid the Embassy in Bangkok?

Link to comment
Share on other sites
geisha Platinum Member

geisha

Posted
Posted

@Banana7

i used MyVietnamVisa.com   Very easy to use and reliable. You get the approval letter and then your stamp at the Vietnam immigration Saigon or Hanoi. The person at the BKK office  should be reported. Happy travels. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
onlycw Silver Member

onlycw

Posted
Posted

Thanks for sharing. In June, I was swindled by an online company which took the money for a "1 hour VISA". VIETJET was anal about it and after I paid, they said they would process it like 6 hours later. I wouldn't have purchased it if I had known this...

 

Years ago, a perp at the Cambodian embassy overcharged me and lied to me, then skilfully pocketed the over-payment. Unbelievable! 

 

Pay in USD $ and avoid forex scams they also play in Laos. $ 30 / $ 35 vs 1,500 THB.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
IMA_FARANG Ruby Member

IMA_FARANG

Posted
Posted

You can if you wish use one of the "agents" that are on the internet.

But that fee they qoute you is only for the appeoval letter they give you.

When entering Vietnam you will get a "stampimg fee" on entering Vietnam.

What the actual "stamping fee" is depends on your Nationality, as different countrues pay dudderent fees.

As i said in my other post as of June 2016..... the Vietnam embassy in Bangkok charges $25 dollars U.S.

They do not isssue a multi-entry 3 month visa there only a 30 day single entry.

Requires 2 days, if you apply on a Monsay morning.

Do as tou wish, but what that botive in the Vietnam embassy is trying ti tell you is that those internet agencies are NOT an offcial part of the Vietnamese government and therefore there is no refund gaurentee.

Although most of those "agents" are legit with their fees, and many people use them sucessfully they are not authorised by the Government of Vietnam.

I have been to Vietnam 4 times since my first trip in 2012, and the visa fee was once $45 or a US. national, but since 2015 it has been lowered back to $25, which is the same "stamping fee" you will be charged when tou enter Vietnam with your $10 "approval letter" you recieved on line from the internet agency.

And i was once told bt a "travel agency" in Ho Chi Minh City that they could extend my 39 day entry stamp for a one year multi -entry stay at a fee of $100 dollats in cash U.S. dollars

I turned them down as I was not sure they were legal.

And i assure you that a Vietnamese immigration detention cell would be a lot worse than the IDc in Thailand.

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
LALes Silver Member

LALes

Posted
Posted

I don't know where you are getting this $25 fee for a visa from the Embassy in BKK.

I have been going to Vietnam every year since 2007 and getting my visa there.  First,

it was 1800 baht and a few years ago it went up to 2200 baht.  There has never been

a $25 visa.   You are correct about the 3 month visa-that is only available for businesses.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ragpicker Explorer Member

ragpicker

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, IMA_FARANG said:

 

"As i said in my other post as of June 2016..... the Vietnam embassy in Bangkok charges $25 dollars U.S."

 

 

 

Has the Vietnamese Embassy moved or changed staff since June 2016?  I didn't notice the Thai to U.S. exchange rate plummet last month??

 As of September 2016 the Vietnamese Embassy in Bangkok charges 2700 baht for a U.S. passport holder, single 30 day entry.  Took 2 days to issue.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Banana7 Gold Member

Banana7

Posted
  • Author
Posted

If you have a US passport, you should be getting a minimum of a 1 year Visa for Vietnam.

 

Since August 29, 2016, according to an agreement between Vietnam and US governments, visa to Vietnam for US passport holders will be granted and valid for 1 year with multiple entry regardless the length of their stay in Vietnam. The applicable fees will be charged accordingly.

 

The above announcement is posted on the Embassy of Vietnam website in Ottawa Canada.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
moondragon Senior Member

moondragon

Posted
Posted

Hey everyone,

 

Need some advice.

 

So.... Im a US citizen in Bangkok for a month. Going to Saigon for a few days in January. If I understand all these posts correctly here's what I have to do to get visa.

 

1. Go to embassy in Bangkok and pay 2200 baht (about USD 60) OR

 

2. Get visa letter from online company (approx. USD 10) and then get visa stamp at airport (USD 25).

 

Is this correct?  Also anyone know if I can pay for visa stamp at airport with USD or do I need Dong?

 

Cheers,

 

Michael

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.










×
×
  • Create New...