Vietnam Visa On Arrival: Complete Application Guide (+How To Get A Teaching English in Vietnam Visa)
[Updated 21st June 2019]
In this post I’m going to break down how to get the correct visa for teaching English in Vietnam.
I’ll explain the “visa on arrival” method, which is a quick and easy way to get started by flying into Vietnam without going through the painful process of applying for a visa at the embassy.
After explaining this, I’ll also talk about how to get the correct visa to teach English in Vietnam for an extended period of time.
Please note, this is not legal advice. I’m simply laying down what I’ve observed over the years of helping people get started teaching English out here.
Okay so let’s crack into it.
Below is the video I made that breaks down the overall process. I then break down the process further in written form below. Finally, I have a second video on how to apply for a work permit. Please note that these videos were filmed a few years ago, and some of the information may be a little out-of-date. See the post below for up-to-date information on how to obtain your visa for teaching in Vietnam.
One update to the video on BOOKING AN ONWARD FLIGHT: Some people have reported issues with booking a one way flight into Vietnam. This is typically not from Vietnamese immigration but from the airlines – they may not let you board if you don’t have proof of onward travel. While you may not have any issues with this, we recommend either:
– Use the service Best Onward Ticket to ‘rent’ a flight for 48 hours. You pay the company around $12, and they book a fully refundable flight in your name that leaves Vietnam on the date of your choosing (any day before your initial visa expires). They’ll send you the ticket confirmation, which you can show the airline if you are asked to provide proof of onward travel. After 48 hours, the company cancels the flight, so we recommend purchasing from Best Onward Ticket about 5-10 hours before you head to the airport.
– Your airline might accept a bus ticket to Cambodia as proof of onward travel. You can book a bus from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh online for about $18: BOOK HERE
Vietnam Visa On Arrival Method
Step 1) Apply For 3 Month Tourist Visa “Approval Letter” Online
This is the first step whether you’re planning on a short stay or if you want to stay in the country for a year or more teaching English. I’ll cover getting a work permit from a school a little later.
An approval letter for your Vietnam visa-on-arrival is essentially just an “invitation” from a visa company in Vietnam that you can apply and pay for online. It’s just a piece of paper with your name and details which you print out and fly in with.
You use a approval letter company to apply for it. I’ve used this company and referred hundreds of our teachers to them too and haven’t had any issues to date.
Cost of Visa
It costs around $30 and it’s emailed to you in a few days. Double check your name, passport number, and entry date are correct and then print it out and fly in with it. You’ll want to bring along two passport photos, and you should also print out the blank application that the company sends you, and fill that out in advance to save yourself some time at the airport. (Here’s a great guide that explains how to fill out the application.)
When you land in Vietnam, head to the “Landing Visa” counter and turn in your invitation letter, the application, your passport photos, and your passport. When they finish your visa and call your name, you’ll pay the visa stamping fee which is usually around $25 for a single-entry visa (or around $50 for a multiple entry visa). Make sure to bring cash in US Dollars for this. You’re then issued your 3 month visa for Vietnam!
I recommend you just apply for the 3 month single entry visa which allows you to enter the country once and stay for up to 3 months. There is also a more expensive 3 month multiple entry visa which means you can go in and out the country during that period. However, it’s likely that you’ll be getting settled during that period so there isn’t a benefit to this unless you know you’ll be leaving the country often in the first 3 months.
For US citizens:
If you’re a US citizen there is also the option of a 1-year tourist visa instead of a 3 month visa. The approval letter cost is the same but the stamping fee is about $135. This is due to a reciprocal agreement between the US and Vietnam to offer each other 1 year visas.
The downside of this is the extra cost. Also, you still need to leave and re-enter the country every 3 months on the 1 year visa, you just don’t need to reapply for a visa approval letter each time you do so.
Should you get this 1 year visa? The upside is that it may give you some valuable extra time to secure a job and process your work permit – 3 months is usually tight to complete that whole process. It also gives you multiple entries into Vietnam so you can leave and come back in. So if you’re up to spend the extra cash it’s not a bad idea, but it probably isn’t necessary and would most likely be cheaper just to stick with the 3-month visa and renew it once if needed (unless you plan to do a lot of international traveling in the first few months).
What about a business visa?
As an English teacher, you should aim to be lawfully employed in Vietnam. This is often easier said than done as the process to get to that point is long and complicated.
To break it down as simply as possible, you need to process two main things:
- A work permit that your school helps you apply for with the correct documents (explained in the work permit section.)
- A business visa from a visa agent.
Typically, you’d follow the order of:
a) Enter the country, interview in person with schools and get hired.
b) Get a business visa, often with assistance from your employer as the visa will be in their name.
c) Get your work permit processed.
Because you ultimately end up on a business visa, some people recommend that you just get a business visa to start with rather than arriving on a tourist visa to search for a job. While we’ve heard of this working for some people, the approval letter for a 3 month business visa is over $100 (plus $25 stamping fee) or for a 1 year costs as much as $250- $500 for the approval letter (plus $135 stamping fee) depending on your nationality. The issue too, is that if you arrive on this, your school MAY require you to get a new business visa (and pay again) because the initial business visa is not in their name.
That’s why we recommend getting the cheap tourist visa for step a) and then only apply for the business visa after you are directed to do so by your school.
But Why Do I Need An Approval Letter?
I know this method sounds a little weird… but don’t worry too much about it – it’s not a scam or anything. It works perfectly and there’s even a specific counter at the major airports in Vietnam for people arriving through the approval letter route. When you apply for visa-on-arrival, the visa agent completes some paperwork and obtains government stamps and signatures here in Vietnam – basically just taking away the legwork of you needing to go to a Vietnamese Embassy in your country. (In fact, these days, visa-on-arrival is often cheaper than going the Embassy route as it’s much easier for the government to manage.)
Step 2) Staying Longer Than 3 Months
If you are planning to stay in Vietnam to teach English longer there are two possible scenarios.
Option 1: Work permit from your job
The first step is to be hired for a teaching English job in Vietnam with a school that will sponsor you a work permit (step A mentioned above). Then you apply for a business visa and work permit.
Here’s a video I filmed a few years back that breaks down the work permit in more details (again, keep in mind that some of this may be outdated at the time you’re reading this):
For this you *typically* need to:
- Be a native English speaker from the US, UK, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia or South Africa.
- Have a bachelors degree in any subject. Bring the original certificate with you to Vietnam. You need to have an authenticated copy, which can typically be done in Vietnam (unless you are from the UK or South Africa.) However, it’s a good idea to have it authenticated in your home country if you aren’t sure.
- Have a TEFL/TESOL certification. You can also usually have a copy authenticated in Vietnam (unless it’s issued by a company in the UK or South Africa).
- Have a criminal background check from your home country (sometimes a criminal background check from Vietnam can also work.) Again, this can usually be authenticated in Vietnam, but if you have the time and resources it’s a good idea to have it authenticated in your home country.
UPDATE for UK and South African Citizens: you will need to have the above documents authenticated in your home country as we’ve been advised it’s no longer possible to have them authenticated in Vietnam. (If you complete our TESOL program, you can have the document authenticated at the US Consulate here in Ho Chi Minh City after the course.)
Option 2) Doing Visa Runs
As mentioned before, you goal as an English teacher in Vietnam should be to aim for lawful employment. However, due to the complicated and time consuming process of getting a work permit, as well as cases where a school you are working for is struggling to get you a work permit for a variety of reasons, it may be necessary to extend your initial visa.
This second option involves either extending your 3 month visa in-country or doing a border run to get a new visa – leaving the country and re-entering on a new visa.
Flying: To do this you’d apply for a new 3-month (single or multiple entry) tourist visa approval letter. You’d then exit and re-enter the the country with your new approval letter by flying to Bangkok, Thailand (or another cheap flight destination.) You can usually re-enter immediately (same day if you like.) There currently do not seem to be any restrictions to how many times you can do this each year. With cheap flights and the cost of the new approval letter and stamping fee, this can be done for as little as $150.
Bus: Another option for a border run is to take a bus to Cambodia from Ho Chi Minh City, pay the $30 fee for the Cambodia visa and then come back into the country again with a visa approval letter. Some just go through the border and turn around and head back into Vietnam. This can be very cheap as local buses to Cambodia run as low as $2 each way. You should consult with your visa agent if you plan to renew your visa this way, as you typically need to obtain the original hard copy of the letter (instead of just printing the scanned version you receive via email).
It’s important to note that while many people do use this method and stay on tourist visas while teaching, a work permit as well as a business visa is required to work legally in Vietnam, so this method should only be used as a temporary solution and does not mean you are lawfully employed.
Option 3) Extending visa in the country
Another option, instead of getting the 3 month tourist visa when you first arrive in the country, is to get a 3 month business visa as described earlier that can be extended in the country. This is considerably more expensive at over $100 for the 3 month business visa (plus $25 stamping fee) or for a 1 year it costs as much as $250- $500 for the approval letter (plus $135 stamping fee) depending on your nationality.
However, it’s usually possible to extend your business visa without leaving the country. You would go to a local visa agent who will take your passport and send it in to get a new visa. You need to be willing to hand over your passport for this method, which not everyone is comfortable doing.
It typically costs over $100 for each 3 months you extend it, and more for 6 months or 1 year, so it’s not the cheapest option. However, if you really don’t want to leave every 3 months this might be a good way to go.
It’s important to note that while you CAN get a business visa without a work permit, a work permit as well as a business visa is required to work legally in Vietnam, so this method does not mean you are lawfully employed.
Conclusion
I’ve laid out all the options available for Vietnam visa-on-arrival to the best of my knowledge.
To summarize, I recommend the 3 month single entry visa to fly into the country and search for a job, and then aim to get lawfully employed with a word permit and business visa after you are hired.
Please note that this information does change regularly and this is by no means legal advice. I’m simply laying down what I’ve observed over the years of helping people get started teaching English out here.
I’ve also spoken to dozens of the top schools in Vietnam and they’re all frustrated by the constant changes and exceptions to these rules.
Come to Vietnam as prepared as possible (document wise) and speak to schools you interview with about what they can and can’t offer when it comes to getting you a work permit and take it from there.