A single-entry eVisa gets you into Vietnam once, and leaving uses it up, even for a day trip to Cambodia. A multiple-entry eVisa lets you leave and come back as often as you like until its end date, and with us it costs $30 more on a 1-month eVisa ($54 vs $84) and $10 more on a 3-month eVisa ($94 vs $104). Vietnam Immigration's own fee is $25 for single entry and $50 for multiple, whatever the length.
Choosing a single entry vs multiple entry visa for Vietnam has nothing to do with how long you're staying. It turns on whether any leg of the trip leaves Vietnam and comes back. Domestic flights don't. A weekend in Bangkok does.
Single vs Multiple Entry: What Each One Lets You Do
A single-entry eVisa lets you into Vietnam once. Leave for Cambodia or Laos, even for a day, and it's spent, so coming back takes a new visa. A multiple-entry eVisa allows unlimited entries until its end date. On the government form it's one field, "To issue e-Visa for", with Single-entry and Multiple-entry as the two answers.
Both types share one ceiling. A Vietnam eVisa can be valid for up to 90 days, and you set the window yourself with two dates, "Grant e-Visa valid from" and "To". The form rejects a window longer than 90 days, counting the start and end dates.
Multiple entry doesn't add days to that window. Every entry has to fall between your two dates, and Vietnam's immigration law lets you stay until the end date on the eVisa. Coming back from Laos doesn't restart a 90-day count, and the week you spent there still came out of the window.
The Price Gap: $30 on a 1-Month eVisa, $10 on a 3-Month
Vietnam Immigration prices the eVisa by entries, not by length. File it yourself at evisa.gov.vn and you pay $25 for single entry or $50 for multiple, for any window up to 90 days. Our prices include that fee, per applicant:
- 1-month single entry: $54
- 1-month multiple entry: $84
- 3-month single entry: $94
- 3-month multiple entry: $104
The gap between our 1-month and 3-month prices is our service fee, not a government charge. Our pricing page lets you compare single and multiple entry eVisa prices, along with the Urgent and Super Urgent tiers.
Before you pick a length, look at the two multiple-entry prices together. A 3-month multiple-entry eVisa costs $104 and a 1-month multiple costs $84, so $20 buys 60 more days of window: room for a trip that runs long or a side trip that moves.
Choosing by Itinerary: Which Trips Need Multiple Entry
Sketch the route, then count how many times it arrives in Vietnam from abroad. If you're still building it, start with our Vietnam itinerary ideas. Every arrival from abroad is an entry, and nothing inside Vietnam is.
| If Your Trip… | Choose | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Stays in Vietnam, with domestic flights between cities | Single | A domestic flight never leaves the country |
| Goes from Hanoi into Laos or Cambodia, then back | Multiple | Coming back is a second entry |
| Includes a long weekend in Bangkok mid-trip | Multiple | Any round trip abroad uses an entry |
| Lands in Hanoi and flies home from Ho Chi Minh City | Single | You can leave through a different gate |
| Ends in Cambodia with no return to Vietnam | Single | You enter once and leave once |
| Is Phu Quoc only, flying in from abroad | Maybe no visa | The island exemption gives 30 days |
| Uses a 45-day exempt passport, with side trips | Maybe no eVisa | Each return is a new exempt entry |
Phu Quoc is the exception. Foreigners arriving from abroad can stay on Phu Quoc for up to 30 days without a visa, including on a connection that stays in the transit area of another Vietnamese international airport.
⚠️ Phu Quoc's exemption stops at the island. Going on to the mainland without a Vietnamese visa breaks the rules and can bring a fine. If the mainland is anywhere in your plans, enter Vietnam on an eVisa from the start.
Domestic Flights and Connections: What Counts as an Entry
An entry is a crossing at an international border gate. Hanoi to Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City never leaves the country, so a single-entry eVisa covers as many domestic flights as you can fit in. Use one passport throughout, though: Canada's travel advice says you must travel on the same passport you used to enter Vietnam, or risk being refused boarding.
The connection is where a "transit" quietly becomes an entry. Britain's Foreign Office says that transferring from an international flight to a domestic flight in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City means going through immigration and entering Vietnam, even when your final destination is abroad. Connecting airside to another country is different: under Vietnam's immigration law, you don't need a visa as long as you stay in the transit area. Layovers get their own guide: transiting through Vietnam.
⚠️ Your entry gate is where you clear immigration, not where your ticket ends. Book Bangkok to Da Nang with a change in Ho Chi Minh City and you enter Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City. That's the airport to name as your entry gate.
Border Gates: Why the Form Asks for One Entry Point
Even on a multiple-entry application, the Immigration Department's form asks for one entry gate and one exit gate. It doesn't limit how many times you come back. The exit side is settled: the Immigration Department's FAQ says eVisa holders don't have to leave through the gate they entered by, using Hanoi's Noi Bai airport as its example.
The entry side is less clear-cut. Vietnam's immigration law requires eVisa holders to enter and leave through a border gate on the government's list, and Vietnam accepts eVisa holders at 83 border crossings: 17 airports, 27 land border gates and 39 seaports. Long Thanh (near Ho Chi Minh City) and Gia Binh (Bac Ninh) are on that list, but they're not open yet. No Vietnamese authority says in writing whether the entry gate on your application binds you. The British, Canadian and U.S. governments read it strictly: Britain's travel advice says eVisas restrict you to the entry and exit points you select, Canada says entry is only via the port named in the approval notice, and the State Department tells Americans the entry and exit location must match the port of entry they chose.
So name the gate you'll actually use for your first arrival, and where the route allows, bring later returns from Cambodia or Laos back through that same gate. It's the one choice that works under either reading.
Visa-Exempt Passports: When an eVisa Still Earns Its Place
If your passport is on one of Vietnam's unilateral exemption lists, side trips don't need a visa at all. Citizens of the UK, Germany, Japan, South Korea and eight other countries are covered for any purpose under Resolution 44/NQ-CP, and 12 more European countries are covered for tourism only under Resolution 229/NQ-CP, Switzerland among them. Visa-exempt visitors get 45 days per entry, and current Vietnamese law sets no minimum gap between visa-exempt visits, so each return from Laos or Cambodia starts a new 45-day stay.
Belarus and Kazakhstan work differently: their bilateral agreements cap Belarus at 90 days in a calendar year and Kazakhstan at 90 days in any 180-day period. For everyone on the 45-day lists, an eVisa earns its place in two cases: one stretch in Vietnam longer than 45 days, since an eVisa can run to 90, or a business trip on a tourism-only passport.
⚠️ Hand the eVisa over with your passport. The Immigration Department's FAQ tells visa-exempt travelers holding an eVisa to present it to immigration officers at the border and to check the stamp in their passport before leaving the desk. Show only the passport and you can be stamped in on the 45-day exemption instead of the eVisa you paid for.
Changing Plans Mid-Trip: Decide Before You Apply
The entry type is hard to change once you're traveling. An eVisa is issued to people outside Vietnam: the Immigration Department's FAQ says you may request one after departing, and Britain's travel advice says an eVisa obtained while you're in Vietnam only starts once you exit and re-enter. At Vietnam Visa by BDA, an issued eVisa is non-refundable and any amendment is charged separately, so treat single or multiple as settled once it's filed.
If a single-entry trip sprouts a side trip to Cambodia, the way back in is a second eVisa, applied for once you're across the border. That's another $54 with us for a 1-month single, or $25 if you file it yourself at evisa.gov.vn, and you can't re-enter until it's issued. Our Urgent tier (2 business days, +$45) and Super Urgent tier (1 business day, +$85) help with a tight return. Processing times are set by Vietnam Immigration, though: we can file, chase and correct, but we can't make it decide faster.
Longer Stays: Multiple-Entry Options Beyond the eVisa
Vietnam's tourist visa won't get you more time than the eVisa: the law gives DL tourist visas and eVisas the same limit, and the Immigration Department puts that limit at 90 days. Citizens of every country and territory can apply for a Vietnam eVisa, so U.S. citizens get the same single or multiple entry choice as everyone else, and our Vietnam visa page for U.S. citizens has the rest. The Embassy of Vietnam in Washington's visa page says U.S. citizens can be granted multiple-entry visas of up to one year, but it doesn't name the visa type, so ask the embassy before you plan around it.
Families with Vietnamese ties have a longer option. Overseas Vietnamese, and foreign spouses and children of Vietnamese citizens or overseas Vietnamese, can apply for a visa exemption certificate. The certificate lasts up to five years, ending at least six months before your passport expires, and each entry gives you up to six months in Vietnam. You apply at a Vietnamese embassy or consulate, or at Vietnam Immigration if you're already in the country.
A Few Parting Notes
Vietnam Visa by BDA is a private company, and we're not affiliated with the Vietnamese government. Vietnam Immigration decides every application and issues the eVisa. We check your details against your passport, file the application with Vietnam Immigration and follow it up. If you'd rather do it yourself, evisa.gov.vn charges only the $25 single or $50 multiple fee. Our eVisa FAQs cover the questions this post doesn't.
One habit pays off on every multiple-entry trip: read the stamp the Vietnamese officer puts in your passport before you leave the counter. The UK's Foreign Office advises checking the leave-by date written in your passport before leaving border control, because a wrong date can get you accused of overstaying. On a trip with side trips, that means every return.