Vietnam's arrival card is the Pre-arrival Information (PAI) form at prearrival.immigration.gov.vn, and it's an optional pilot at Tan Son Nhat in Ho Chi Minh City and, since June 1, 2026, on Phu Quoc. You can submit it up to three days before you arrive to get a QR code to show at immigration.
So if a Vietnam arrival card turned up in an airline email, it's real and it's new, and it can speed up immigration on arrival if you land at one of those two airports. It isn't a visa, though: you still need an eVisa or a visa exemption.
Pre-Arrival Information: The Arrival Card's Real Name
Vietnam doesn't officially call it an arrival card. The Immigration Department calls it the Pre-arrival Information Submission for Foreign Visitors, or PAI. British advice says digital arrival card and Canadian advice says Digital Pre-arrival Form, but it's one form.
The PAI collects your passport, visa, flight and accommodation details before you reach the counter. Its portal says why: "Submitting your declaration in advance helps reduce waiting time at the immigration area." It approves nothing: the Ministry of Public Security says the system is not there to receive or process visa applications.
⚠️ Only one address is genuine. Vietnamese authorities have detected fake websites impersonating the PAI that are used to defraud applicants' credit cards. Type prearrival.immigration.gov.vn yourself, and check that the address ends in immigration.gov.vn before you enter a passport number.
Where It Runs: Two Confirmed Airports and a Longer List
The PAI started as a pilot at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City on April 15, 2026. Phu Quoc International Airport followed on June 1, 2026, with a pilot its border police encourage rather than require. Those are the only two airports where Vietnamese sources have confirmed the system is running.
Vietnam plans to roll it out to more airports, still on a voluntary basis. The Immigration Department, as relayed by the Embassy of India in Hanoi, names Noi Bai, Da Nang and Cam Ranh as next, but no Vietnamese source has said the system is running at any of them yet.
The form is ahead of the announcements. Its arrival list already names Noi Bai, Da Nang and Cam Ranh alongside Tan Son Nhat and Phu Quoc, plus the Dong Dang land border gate and 14 seaports, from Hai Phong to Cai Mep. A place on that list isn't confirmation that Immigration is using the system there, so if you're landing in Hanoi, Da Nang or Nha Trang, don't plan your arrival around it.
Required or Optional: What the Governments Say
The Ministry of Public Security, which runs the system, says the PAI is optional rather than mandatory for international air travelers. UK advice says it's not currently a mandatory requirement but may become one, or spread to other airports, with limited notice. Canada's advice, updated October 13, 2026, says it's encouraged and not mandatory for entry.
Optional doesn't mean pointless. The Ministry says that once you've filed, Immigration carries out the entry procedures in advance, cutting waiting time, especially at peak hours. Travelers took to it quickly: in the pilot's first 15 days, some 70% of foreign air arrivals at Tan Son Nhat used it.
⚠️ Landing at Tan Son Nhat or Phu Quoc? File it. It's the one step that can shorten your wait at the counter, and both the UK and Canada warn the rules could change at short notice. Recheck their advice the week you fly.
Who It's For: Foreign Visitors Who Clear Immigration
The portal's own title says who it's for: Pre-arrival Information Submission for Foreign Visitors. If you're traveling on a Vietnamese passport, it isn't your form.
Transit is the case people get wrong. Connect airside to another country and you don't need a visa as long as you stay in the transit area, so you never reach the immigration counter the form is for. Connect to a domestic flight and you clear immigration at your first Vietnamese airport with a visa or exemption, which puts you back in scope if that airport runs the PAI. Check when a connection counts as transit before you skip it.
Timing: A Three-Day Window the Form Enforces
You can't tick this off when you book. The arrival-date field enforces its own rule: "The expected arrival date must be today or within the next 2 days." In practice, the Ministry of Public Security's rule that you can submit up to three days before you arrive means a three-day window that ends on your arrival day. Landing on a Saturday? Thursday is the earliest day the form will accept.
Aim to file after your final flight number is confirmed and before you leave for the airport. Miss the window and you aren't stuck: the form is optional, so you clear immigration at the counter the usual way.
Filling It In: The Form, Screen by Screen
Have your passport, your eVisa if you have one, your flight details and your hotel booking open. Here's the order, with the portal's own labels in quotes.
- Passport. Enter your passport number, or use "Upload your passport photo (if available)" and the portal fills in the details automatically. Check every filled-in field against the passport anyway.
- Contact details. Use an email you can open on your phone. Your verification code goes there, and so does your PAI number if you lose it.
- Visa. Under "Provide details of your Vietnam visa (if applicable)", choose your visa type (see the next section) and enter your visa number if you have one. For an eVisa, the portal tells you to check the 'Số / No.' line on the e-visa and enter the exact number shown.
- Trip. Fill in "Departure country before Arrival in Vietnam", "Purpose of Travel" (Business trip, Travel, Study abroad, Work, Transit or Other), "Mode of Travel", your airline, "Arrival Airport", "Flight Number" and "Seat Code". Then add "Type of Accommodation in Vietnam" (Hotel, Residential or Others), "Accommodation Address", "Expected date of departure from Vietnam (DD/MM/YYYY GMT+7)" and "Next Intended Country of Disembarkation After Vietnam".
- Email check. The portal sends a six-digit code to your email. If it doesn't arrive, you'll wait 60 seconds before you can ask for another.
- Save the result. Use "Download QR code" and "Download PDF Pre-Arrival Information", and note your Pre-Arrival Information Number.
Watch the departure date: it runs day first, so July 4 is 04/07, not 07/04.
Families can file together. "Add Passenger" lets one person submit for the group: the first traveler fills in "Lead Passenger Information", and each person added picks a "Relationship with Lead Passenger", such as Spouse, Child, Parent, Sibling, Friend or Colleague. Every traveler still needs their own passport and their own visa or exemption.
The Visa Type Picker: One Choice That Sets Your Stay
The visa-type list has ten options, and a line under it reads: "Note: The selected visa type determines your permitted entry period." Choose wrong and the form pushes back with a message such as "This country and passport do not have a bilateral visa exemption. Please check again." These are the five you're most likely to need.
| Option on the Form | Who Picks It | What It Means for Your Stay |
|---|---|---|
| Electronic Visa (E-Visa) | Anyone entering on a Vietnam eVisa | Until the end date on the eVisa, at most 90 days |
| Bilateral exemption | Treaty passports, such as Thailand, Malaysia or the Philippines | 30 days for Thailand and Malaysia, 21 for the Philippines |
| Unilateral exemption | The 24 countries on Vietnam's 45-day list, such as the UK, Germany and Japan | Up to 45 days |
| Phu Quoc Visa Exemption | Visitors arriving on Phu Quoc under the island's visa-free rule | Up to 30 days, on the island only |
| Visa Exemption Certificate | Certificate holders, such as foreign spouses of Vietnamese citizens | Up to six months per entry |
The 45-day list has a catch that matters when you pick your purpose of travel. For Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland, it covers tourism only, so a business trip needs a visa, such as an eVisa. Not sure where you fall? Check whether your passport needs a visa before you reach this screen.
Mistakes and Fixes: Flight Codes, Names and Locked Dates
The flight number is the mistake Vietnam's Immigration Department singled out. In the first 15 days of the Tan Son Nhat pilot, 161,596 passengers accessed the system and 119,854 completed it, and some declarations failed because the flight code didn't match the airline's Passenger Name Record. Use the number for your last flight into Vietnam as the operating airline shows it, not your first leg from home or a partner airline's codeshare number.
Names are the next trap: "This system does not allow non-Latin characters." Type your name exactly as it appears in Latin letters on your passport's photo page, even if your passport also prints it in another script.
Some fields lock once you submit. You can "Edit this submission" or "Cancel this submission", but you can't change the Date of Arrival, Date of Passport Expiry or Nationality / Citizenship. Lost your PAI number? "Forgot number (PAI)" sends it to the email you used.
⚠️ A flight that moves to another day means a new submission. The arrival date is locked, so cancel the old filing and start again with the new date, which still has to be today or one of the next two days.
At the Airport: QR Code in Hand
The Ministry of Public Security advises saving the QR code on your phone or printing it for use at the border. Keep it with your passport and, if you have one, your eVisa. Vietnam's immigration law describes printing the eVisa from the portal, so carry a printed copy and keep one on your phone too.
You still see an officer, and Vietnam's entry conditions don't change: a valid passport and a visa or exemption. The QR code speeds up the check at the desk; it doesn't replace it.
The eVisa Comes First: How the Two Documents Differ
The eVisa is permission to enter Vietnam; the PAI is information about a trip you're already allowed to make. Unless your passport is visa-exempt, the eVisa comes first, and Vietnam issues it only to people who are outside the country. By law, Vietnam Immigration has 3 working days to decide once it has the complete application and the fee. You file the PAI up to three days before you arrive, and it asks for that visa number.
There are two ways to get it. On evisa.gov.vn you file it yourself and pay only Vietnam Immigration's charge of $25 single entry or $50 multiple entry, which Immigration keeps even if it refuses you. Through Vietnam Visa by BDA, a private company with no ties to the Vietnamese government, a 1-month single-entry eVisa costs $54 per applicant with that stamp fee built in, and we review the form, correct it, submit it and follow up. The decision and the timing stay with Vietnam Immigration either way. How to apply for the eVisa lays out each step, and our complete Vietnam visa guide covers the wider rules.
Health Forms and Hotel Registration: What the Arrival Card Doesn't Cover
As of October 2026, Vietnam doesn't require a routine health declaration from arriving travelers. Decree 165/2026/ND-CP provides for border health declarations from July 1, 2026, but the Ministry of Health says they won't be applied as a mandatory, routine step for everyone and that it no longer uses tokhaiyte.vn. When one is switched on, it's due within seven days before you cross the border.
Nor does the PAI replace the registration your accommodation files. The form's legal notice says "This declaration cannot replace the temporary residence registration for foreigners." Under Vietnam's immigration law, your hotel or host registers your stay with the local police and has to ask for your passport to do it, so expect to hand it over at check-in.
A Few Parting Notes
The order matters more than the form. Check whether you need a visa, get the eVisa if you do, and if you're landing at Tan Son Nhat or Phu Quoc, file the PAI once your flight number is final.
Because the system is months old and the UK warns its rules could change with limited notice, recheck your government's travel advice the week you fly. For anything about the visa itself, our eVisa questions answered page covers the rest.