Saudi passport holders need a visa to enter Vietnam, and the one to get is the eVisa: it's valid for up to 90 days, you apply online, and with us it costs from $54 per person with the $25 government stamp fee included. Below is everything the Vietnam visa for Saudi citizens involves, plus a section for Iqama holders of other nationalities, because Vietnam looks at the passport you carry, not the country you live in.
Yes, you need a visa. Saudi Arabia isn't on either of Vietnam's 45-day exemption lists. Resolution 44/NQ-CP of March 7, 2025 names 12 countries, among them the UK, Japan and South Korea, and Resolution 229/NQ-CP of August 8, 2025 adds 12 European countries for tourism only. Vietnam also has no bilateral visa-free agreement covering Saudi ordinary passports. No Gulf state is on any of these lists, so there's no GCC shortcut.
The eVisa is open to you: since August 15, 2023, citizens of all countries and territories can apply for a Vietnam e-visa, single or multiple entry. Saudi Arabia isn't among the three nationalities flagged for extra mandatory questions in the nationality list the eVisa form runs on (Nigeria, Ghana and Congo are), so you get the standard form. Once issued, the eVisa works at 83 border crossings: 17 airports, 27 land border gates and 39 seaports.
The one visa-free door open to Saudis is Phu Quoc. Foreigners arriving from abroad can stay on Phu Quoc island without a visa for up to 30 days, flying in direct or staying in the transit area of another Vietnamese international airport. It covers the island and nothing else; the questions below show where a Dubai routing breaks it.
No appointment at the embassy in Riyadh, no visa-on-arrival line at Noi Bai. The approved eVisa is a PDF file you download from Vietnam Immigration's eVisa site, and we email it to you. Visa on arrival still exists, but it needs a sponsor in Vietnam to get Immigration approval first, and a family holiday doesn't come with one. We don't process visa-on-arrival letters anymore; the eVisa is the document you can arrange alone.
Gather these before you open the form:
⚠️ An emergency or temporary passport can't carry the eVisa. Vietnam Immigration's eVisa portal doesn't issue visas for emergency or temporary passports. If you lost your passport and were handed a stopgap travel document, wait for the full replacement, apply on that, and use that same passport to enter and leave Vietnam.
| Option | Validity | Our fee (per applicant) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Month Single Entry | 30 days from arrival | $54 |
| 1 Month Multiple Entry | 30 days from arrival | $84 |
| 3 Month Single Entry | 90 days from arrival | $94 |
| 3 Month Multiple Entry | 90 days from arrival | $104 |
All prices include the Vietnam Immigration Department's stamp fee. Speed upgrades, add-ons and group orders are in the full fee breakdown.
Our fee is whatever is left after the government's share. Vietnam Immigration charges $25 for a single-entry eVisa and $50 for multiple entry, the stamp fee shown on evisa.gov.vn. Split the four prices and it's $25 to Immigration and $29 to us on the 1-month single, $50 and $34 on the 1-month multiple, $25 and $69 on the 3-month single, and $50 and $54 on the 3-month multiple. You can apply yourself at evisa.gov.vn and pay only the $25 single / $50 multiple stamp fee. Our share pays for a person checking your form against your passport before it's filed, and for the follow-up if Immigration has a question.
Vietnam Visa by BDA is a private company. We're not affiliated with the Vietnamese government. Vietnam Immigration doesn't refund its eVisa fee if the application is refused. Our refund terms are specific: a full refund if you cancel within 5 to 10 minutes of applying or if we catch a problem before we submit, and none once the eVisa is issued. One order holds up to 10 applicants at the same per-person price.
You choose a speed at checkout, priced per applicant:
Those times depend on Vietnam Immigration, not on us: we file, chase and fix, but the approval arrives when Immigration grants it. Timing runs from the moment your file reaches Immigration, usually 2 business hours after you pay, rather than from checkout. Immigration's published deadline for an eVisa decision is 3 working days, counted from the day it holds the full application and fee; in practice, expect 3 to 5 working days.
February is the month to watch. Tet shuts Vietnam's civil service, Immigration included, from Thursday, February 4 to Wednesday, February 10, 2027, and Vietnam's other public holidays slow things as well. Apply one to two weeks before you fly and the speed you pick hardly matters. If your flight is less than 24 hours away, call +84 832 320 320 before you pay, and we'll tell you plainly whether it can be done. If we can't deliver in time, we say so up front and refund.
Count the times you'll pass through Vietnamese immigration, not the days you'll stay. Changing planes in Dubai or Abu Dhabi doesn't use an entry, and neither does Hanoi to Da Nang or Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc, because those are domestic flights. Leaving Vietnam for Siem Reap, Bangkok or Vientiane and flying back in does, and every return after your first entry needs a multiple-entry eVisa.
The upgrade costs $30 on the 1-month eVisa ($84 instead of $54) and $10 on the 3-month ($104 instead of $94). Discover the side trip after you've landed and the fix is a second single-entry eVisa at $54, plus the wait. When in doubt, choose multiple entry.
Your Iqama decides nothing on the Vietnamese side. Exemptions and the eVisa follow citizenship, and the form asks for it outright: your current nationality, whether you have multiple nationalities and whether you hold any other valid passports. Your address in Riyadh, Jeddah or Dammam goes in the permanent residential address or contact address field, which the form keeps separate from your passport's place of issue.
So the answer depends on the passport you'll travel on:
⚠️ Apply on the passport you'll fly with. The eVisa belongs to that passport: enter and leave Vietnam on the same one, and if it's renewed mid-trip the visa has to be transferred to the new one. Leaving and returning to Saudi Arabia is a separate, Saudi matter, so sort out your exit and re-entry visa with your sponsor before you book flights.
The eVisa portal's photo rules are short and strict:
On head coverings, that list is the whole published rule: no hat, and no exception stated for religious dress. We won't guess beyond it. If you cover your hair for religious reasons, send your photo to support@vietnamvisa.govt.vn or call us before you apply, and we'll go over it with you before anything is filed.
The form takes under 10 minutes and needs no account. To preview each screen, see how to apply online.
No airline flies nonstop between Saudi Arabia and Vietnam, so every itinerary has a stop, and on Emirates it's Dubai. Sample journeys on Emirates' route pages, as shown on October 15, 2026:
The long legs are Emirates' 7 weekly flights from Dubai to Hanoi, 6 hours 45 minutes in the air, and its 7 weekly flights from Dubai to Ho Chi Minh City, 7 hours 25 minutes. Through Abu Dhabi, Etihad launched Abu Dhabi to Hanoi on November 2, 2025 with six flights a week.
Those routes put you into Noi Bai in Hanoi (HAN) or Tan Son Nhat in Ho Chi Minh City (SGN). Name the airport where you'll first meet a Vietnamese immigration officer as your entry gate. If you're carrying on to Da Nang (DAD) or Phu Quoc (PQC), a domestic connection means clearing immigration where you land in Vietnam, so that airport is your gate, not your final stop. An eVisa only works at border gates on the government's list.
With an eVisa you can stay until the end date printed on it, and that date stays put when your flight home doesn't. Fines come from Decree 282/2025/ND-CP, in force since December 15, 2025, and climb with every band:
Past 15 days, money may not settle it. Deportation can be added for overstays of 16 days or more, and a deportation keeps you out of Vietnam for three years. British travel advice adds that overstayers can be prevented from leaving Vietnam until they pay the fine.
⚠️ Buy the length you might need before you leave Riyadh. Extensions are done from inside Vietnam, through a sponsor applying to Vietnam Immigration, and we don't handle extensions. If your dates might stretch, the 3-month single entry costs $94, which is $40 more than the 1-month.
Copy the name exactly as the ICAO lines at the bottom of your photo page show it, in capital letters, and ignore the Arabic script and the longer English name line above them. If AL or BIN is on those lines, it goes in; if part of your name isn't there, leave it out. A passport carrying only one name goes in the given-name box.
Not for the island itself, if you land there from abroad: Phu Quoc allows visa-free stays of up to 30 days. The catch is a Dubai routing into Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City with a domestic hop, because a domestic connection means clearing immigration there, and that entry needs a visa. Leaving the island for the mainland without one can bring a fine of VND 3 to 5 million.
Only with a sponsor. Visa on arrival is stamped against Immigration approval that a sponsor in Vietnam has to obtain first, and the government fee is the same $25 single or $50 multiple as the eVisa. Without a Vietnamese company or relative to sponsor you, that route isn't available, and the eVisa is the one you can arrange alone. We no longer offer VOA processing.
For Saudi citizens, the basics didn't: you still need a visa, and the eVisa is still open to you. The $25 single and $50 multiple government fee is now set by Circular 28/2026/TT-BTC, in force since April 1, 2026. Immigration also launched an optional online Pre-arrival Information form you can submit up to three days before landing, at prearrival.immigration.gov.vn only. It isn't a visa.
Elsewhere in Middle East: Turkey, Yemen, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Israel, Lebanon.
Also applying for the eVisa: China, Taiwan, United States, India, Australia, Canada.
Not listed? The eVisa has been open to every country and territory in the world since Resolution 127/NQ-CP in August 2023 - check your nationality on the full list →