Vietnamese law issues a visa in one of three forms: in your passport as a sticker, on a separate loose-leaf sheet or electronically as an eVisa. Most tourists only need the eVisa, a PDF you print that carries a Vietnam Immigration fee of $25 single entry or $50 multiple entry; a Vietnam sticker visa or loose-leaf visa comes from an embassy, a consulate or a border post, mostly for sponsored or longer stays.
Through Vietnam Visa by BDA, eVisa prices start at $54 with the stamp fee included for a 1-month single-entry eVisa. The embassy formats carry traps the eVisa doesn't. A DL tourist sticker valid for more than 30 days gets you 30 days on arrival, and a visa in a passport you replace has to be transferred to the new one for $5.
Three Formats: What Vietnamese Law Actually Issues
Article 7 of Law 47/2014/QH13, Vietnam's immigration law, settles the vocabulary. A visa is issued into the passport, issued loose-leaf or issued electronically, and the electronic one is the eVisa. Article 8 then gives every visa a purpose code: DL for tourism, VR for visiting relatives and EV for the eVisa.
You mostly don't choose the format. The route does: online means an eVisa, an embassy or consulate normally means a sticker, and loose-leaf is kept for the cases Article 11 lists.
| Format | Where It Comes From | What You Carry | Typical Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sticker | An embassy, a consulate or a border post with an approval | A visa label in your passport | Sponsored stays, embassy visas over 90 days, visa on arrival |
| Loose-leaf | An embassy or a border post, in listed cases | A separate pink card kept with your passport | Full passports, travel documents, urgent embassy requests |
| eVisa | Vietnam Immigration's online portal | A PDF you print and keep on your phone | Tourism, family visits and short business trips |
The Sticker Visa: How the Embassy Route Works
A sticker is the default at Vietnamese embassies and consulates. The catch is the approval behind it: under Article 10, a visa normally needs an inviting or sponsoring agency, organization or individual in Vietnam, and the eVisa is one of the few exceptions. Once Vietnam Immigration notifies the mission, you hand in your passport, a visa application form and a photo, and the mission issues the visa within 3 working days of receiving Immigration's notice.
The Embassy of Vietnam in Washington offers a standard embassy visa in person or by mail, and quotes 5 working days without an approval letter or 3 business days with one, with paid expedite options. For stays under 3 months, Washington tells applicants to leave the visa approval number blank and the embassy will take care of the approval, though extra fees may apply.
The sticker's real advantage is length. Article 9 caps DL tourist visas and eVisas at 90 days, though a treaty Vietnam has signed can set different terms. The Washington embassy says US citizens can be granted multiple-entry visas of up to 1 year, well past the 90 days of the eVisa for US citizens. Its form offers 1-month, 3-month, under-6-month and up-to-1-year visas, the last two with an approval only. Whatever you get, you can only enter from the date printed on the visa and must leave by its expiration date.
The Loose-Leaf Visa: A Pink Card for Listed Cases
A loose-leaf visa (thị thực rời in Vietnamese) is a defined exception, not an option you tick. Article 11 of the law lists five cases for a loose-leaf visa:
- Your passport has no visa pages left.
- Your passport is from a country without diplomatic relations with Vietnam.
- You travel on an international travel document instead of a passport.
- Diplomatic, defense or security reasons apply.
- You're on a cruise-group visa issued from an Immigration list.
Some missions also take requests. Washington says you can request a loose-leaf visa in urgent cases, sending a passport copy instead of the original plus one extra photo, and its form asks for the original passport for a sticker or a passport copy for a loose-leaf visa.
Circular 70/2026/TT-BCA replaced the loose-leaf visa form (NC2) from July 1, 2026, and papers issued before that date stay valid until they expire. The new card measures 12.5x17 cm, with a light pink patterned background, a printed or glued 4x6 cm photo and a machine-readable ICAO zone. It also states, in Vietnamese and English, that your length of stay is subject to permission by the Immigration Authority.
⚠️ Treat a loose-leaf visa like a second passport. Officers stamp your entry, your exit and your permitted stay on the card. When its stamp spaces fill up, a still-valid visa can be moved onto a new loose-leaf visa for $5, so keep the card with your passport until you've left Vietnam.
The 5-year visa exemption certificate for overseas Vietnamese and the foreign spouses and children of Vietnamese citizens or overseas Vietnamese follows the same pattern. Decree 82/2015 has it placed in the passport, or issued loose-leaf in listed cases, including at the holder's request.
The eVisa: A PDF You Print, Not a Sticker
The eVisa puts nothing in your passport before you fly. Your eVisa is a PDF file you download from Vietnam Immigration's eVisa portal, and Article 16a of the law describes printing it from the portal, so carry a printed copy and keep one on your phone. An eVisa only works at border gates on the government's list, so name the gate you'll actually use when you apply.
Nobody is shut out: citizens of every country and territory have been able to apply since August 15, 2023. An eVisa is valid for up to 90 days and can be single or multiple entry. You can stay until the end date on the eVisa. There's no sponsor, no embassy visit and no approval letter. You fill in the form online, and by law Vietnam Immigration has 3 working days to decide once it has the complete application and the fee. Three working days is the statutory standard, and 3 to 5 working days is what usually happens. Tet and public holidays push it further.
Vietnam Visa by BDA is a private company, not affiliated with the Vietnamese government. We prepare, check and file your application; Vietnam Immigration issues the visa and sets the timeline.
The DL Trap: When a 3-Month Sticker Means 30 Days
Under Article 31 of Law 47/2014/QH13, the stay you're granted at the border equals the visa's validity, except that a DL (tourist) visa valid for more than 30 days earns a 30-day stay, which Vietnam Immigration can then consider extending. Pay for a 3-month tourist sticker and you still get 30 days on arrival.
The rest of a 3-month DL visa means an extension, and you can't file that alone. You apply from inside Vietnam, through a sponsor (a company, organization or person in Vietnam) filing with Vietnam Immigration. Vietnam Immigration takes up to 5 working days to decide, and the government fee for an extension of stay is $10. We don't handle extensions.
The eVisa skips this cap: the law treats it as a separate visa type, coded EV, valid for up to 90 days, and you can stay until its end date.
⚠️ Read the code and dates on any embassy visa before you plan around them. Then check the date the officer gives you at the border: the UK government warns that if the visa expiry date written in your passport is wrong, you could be accused of overstaying.
Visa on Arrival: A Sticker That Needs Approval First
Visa on arrival is the other road to a sticker. Visa on arrival still exists, but only in specific cases and only with a pre-approval letter from Vietnam Immigration. Article 18 lists six cases, including a tour run by a Vietnamese international travel company, a relative's funeral or serious illness, and departing from a country with no Vietnamese mission.
A sponsor in Vietnam has to get Vietnam Immigration's approval first, and border officers issue the visa against it. Vietnam Immigration has up to 3 working days to approve the request, or 12 working hours for funerals, serious illness and emergencies. Its reply, form NB3, is headed "Pick up visa on arrival" and lists each approved traveler with a passport number and the border gate. At the counter you hand over your passport, the approval letter and a completed application form with a photo. Then you pay $25 for single entry or $50 for multiple entry.
We don't process visa-on-arrival letters anymore; for most travelers the eVisa is simpler. For the background, here's how visa on arrival and the stamping fee worked.
Embassy Fees: Why There's No Single Price
An embassy sticker visa isn't one charge. The Washington embassy splits it into a stamping fee, listed on its consular fee page, plus charges for visa approval arrangement, processing, shipping, handling and expedite services. Ask your mission for its current fees before you post a passport.
Vietnam's government fee schedule, Circular 28/2026/TT-BTC, has applied since April 1, 2026. It sets $25 for a single-entry visa, $50 for multiple entry up to 90 days, $95 for over 90 to 180 days and $135 for over 180 days to 1 year. The government keeps the fee if you turn out not to qualify or refuse the result, and Vietnam Immigration doesn't refund its eVisa fee if the application is refused.
Through us, the eVisa costs $54 for 1-month single entry, $84 for 1-month multiple, $94 for 3-month single and $104 for 3-month multiple, per applicant, with the government stamp fee included. You can also apply for the eVisa yourself through Vietnam Immigration's portal at evisa.gov.vn and pay only the $25 single or $50 multiple stamp fee.
New Passport, Old Visa: The Transfer Nobody Mentions
A sticker or loose-leaf visa goes with one passport. Canada's travel advice says Vietnamese visas in expired Canadian passports aren't valid, and the visa has to be transferred to the new passport. The UK adds that visitors must enter and exit Vietnam using the same passport. Circular 28/2026 charges $5 to move a still-valid visa, residence card or permitted stay from an old passport to a new one.
The eVisa has a limit of its own: Vietnam Immigration's eVisa portal doesn't issue visas for emergency or temporary passports. A passport lost mid-trip means a full replacement passport, then a visa transfer or a new visa that a sponsor in Vietnam applies for, not a quick eVisa.
⚠️ Renew your passport before you apply, not during the trip. Your passport has to stay valid for at least 30 days after your eVisa ends, and a visa in an old passport needs a transfer before you leave Vietnam on the new one.
A Few Parting Notes
For a trip that fits inside an eVisa's 90 days, skip the embassy. The eVisa is the only format most travelers can get without a sponsor, and our guide on how to apply for an eVisa walks through the form. Use a mission for a longer stay or a sponsored purpose, and ask it what it will issue and what it charges.
Lead times differ by format too. Vietnam's embassy in Australia says eVisa applicants normally receive the eVisa at the end of the fourth working day, Vietnam time, if Vietnam Immigration doesn't ask for changes, while a sponsored sticker waits on an approval the sponsor arranges in Vietnam, which takes at least 5 working days before your passport even goes to the embassy. Give yourself one to two weeks for an eVisa and the speed tiers stop mattering.