"Amendment required" on a Vietnam visa application means Vietnam Immigration has paused your eVisa application and wants something corrected. It doesn't mean you've been refused. Look the application up on the portal's Search tab with your e-Visa app no., email and date of birth, read the Reason line, fix exactly what it names and send it back through the edit link. The wait only picks up again once the corrected application is back with Vietnam Immigration.
Don't wait for an email about it. Vietnam Immigration's portal promises to email you the result of your application, but it says nothing about emailing Amendment required notices, so check the Search tab yourself.
Amendment Required: A Pause, Not a Refusal
The portal's English status labels are Unpaid, Processing, Amendment required, Acceptance, Denial and Document canceled, all visible on the government's application status search. Acceptance is the approval. Denial is the refusal. Amendment required sits between them: the reviewing agency has sent your application back and wants something changed before it decides.
It's also the only status that explains itself: the status page prints a Reason line with Vietnam Immigration's request, then a link to "edit and return to the reviewing agency." That's a correction request with a scope, not a verdict on your trip.
Don't confuse it with Unpaid. Unpaid comes with an edit link too, but that link is for paying the fee, and until the fee is paid the legal clock hasn't started. Amendment required means Vietnam Immigration already has your application and your payment, and it's waiting on you.
The Fix, Step by Step: From Status Page to Resubmission
Everything happens on evisa.gov.vn, run by the Immigration Department of the Ministry of Public Security, and you'll need the details you applied with. A site offering a lookup by passport number isn't Vietnam Immigration's, because the real search doesn't have one.
- Open the status page, which the portal labels "Check application status and download e-Visa."
- Enter your e-Visa app no., the email address you applied with, your date of birth and the security code.
- Read the Reason line in full and take a screenshot of it.
- Click the link to edit the application and return it to the reviewing agency.
- Change what the Reason asks for, then check the passport fields the system filled in against your passport.
- Submit, then check the status page yourself every working day if your flight is close.
If you've lost the e-Visa app no., search your inbox for the confirmation first. The portal told you to note it when you applied, and its Search tab won't work without it. Failing that, the portal's support form has an issue type for exactly this: "Don't remember registration code."
⚠️ Change only what the Reason names. The system read your passport details straight off the passport image, and those fields have to match the passport. Edit a field the Reason didn't mention and you risk turning a one-line fix into a new problem.
Matching the Reason: Field Rules in the Portal's Own Words
Match the Reason to the field it's about, then hold that field up against the rule in Vietnam Immigration's application form or its instruction page.
| Field | The Portal's Rule | What to Check |
|---|---|---|
| Portrait | Recent 4x6 cm photo, JPG or JPEG, under 2 MB, front-facing, no hat, no glasses, formal attire, white background | A newly taken photo, not an old one rescanned |
| Passport image | The data page only, clear, no corners cut off | Both machine-readable lines at the bottom are sharp |
| Full name | As on the ICAO line, in capital letters | Spelling copied from those machine-readable lines |
| Text fields | Latin characters only | Nothing typed in another script |
| Phone number | [country code]-[phone number], 9 to 15 characters | Country code, a hyphen, then the number |
| Address in Vietnam | Complete intended temporary address | Hotel name, street number, street, district and city |
| Multiple choice and "Others" | Tick every answer that applies; "Others" needs specifics | No "Others" box left without detail |
The ICAO line is the pair of machine-readable lines along the bottom of your passport's photo page. The portal wants your name copied from there, in capitals, and it reads those same lines from your upload. If it can't find them, you get "No MRZ detected in the passport image." Shoot the page flat, without glare, with the bottom edge in frame.
Two edge cases are worth knowing. If your passport shows only a surname or only given names, the portal says to enter that single name as the Given name. And the address field wants a complete address in the style of the form's own example, "Daewoo Hotel, 360 Kim Ma, Ba Dinh, Ha Noi," not just a city. Our how-to-apply page walks through the common mistakes we catch before submission, the same ground from the other side of the desk.
Photo Warnings: The Checker You Can Click Past
The portal checks your photos the moment you upload them, and it says exactly what it doesn't like. Its messages include "No face detected in the portrait photo," "Face not looking straight in the portrait photo," "Portrait photo was captured from another source," "Too many faces detected in the portrait photo" and "The portrait and passport photos have a low match rate," all listed in the application form's own checks.
Several of those messages end with "Your application may be rejected. Please upload another photo," and when the images don't match or look poor, the portal asks "Do you still want to continue?" You can click yes. That doesn't fix anything; it hands the same photo to Vietnam Immigration. Shoot a new portrait rather than photographing a print or a screen.
⚠️ Treat any photo warning as a stop sign. If the portal says "Your application may be rejected," take a new 4x6 cm portrait against a white background, without glasses or a hat, and upload it again before you resubmit.
History Questions: Other Passports, Dual Nationality and Past Visits
Not every Reason is about a typo. The application form asks whether you've ever used other passports to enter Vietnam and whether you hold any other valid passports. It also asks "Do you have multiple nationalities?" and "Have you been to Viet Nam in the last 01 year?" Then it asks about past violations of Vietnamese law, and warns that a violation on a previous entry can get an eVisa application denied.
Answer these slowly. The form requires every answer to be complete, accurate and honest, in English, and says an application "will be denied if there is any dishonest information in the application found by Viet Nam Immigration Authority." If you're a dual national, declare the other nationality and any other valid passport, even when you're traveling on just one.
If a Reason points at one of these answers, correct it to the truth, not to whatever looks likelier to pass. An answer Vietnam Immigration later finds untrue is a ground for Denial on its own.
⚠️ A denial is the expensive outcome. Vietnam Immigration doesn't refund its eVisa fee if the application is refused, and that fee is $25 for single entry or $50 for multiple entry. Getting the amendment right costs less than a new application and a new fee.
The Clock After You Resubmit: Vietnam Time and Holidays
By law, Vietnam Immigration has 3 working days to decide an eVisa once it has the complete application and the fee. That's Article 16a of the immigration law, and the word doing the work is "complete." An application sent back for an amendment is one Immigration couldn't finish as it stood, so the 3 days can only run again once your corrected version is back. That's our reading of the law's wording, not a published rule, but it's why fixing the Reason the same day matters.
In practice, 3 to 5 working days is what usually happens, and the timing is set by Vietnam Immigration, which counts those working days in Vietnam time. The portal's instruction page says declaration and processing times run on UTC+07:00, and Saturday and Sunday are the civil service's weekly days off. A fix you send on a Friday afternoon from the Americas reaches Hanoi on Saturday, and the first working day it can count toward is Monday.
Tet and public holidays push it further, and two closures are coming up. Civil servants get Tuesday, November 24, 2026 off for Vietnamese Culture Day, and the 2027 Tet holiday runs from Thursday, February 4 to Wednesday, February 10. The government's holiday letter asks agencies to keep staff on duty so work continues, but it sets no eVisa schedule, so plan as if nothing moves.
When to Ask for Help: The Support Form or a Second Set of Eyes
The government's own help channel is the portal's support form, with four issue types: Wrong application information, Pay failed, Don't remember registration code and Others. If you spot a mistake yourself after submitting and no amendment has been requested, Wrong application information is the one that fits. Put your app no. in the description and say exactly which field is wrong and what it should say.
Your own embassy can't step in. The U.S. Embassy in Vietnam, for one, says Vietnamese visa issues are at the sole discretion of the Vietnamese government and that it can't assist.
Vietnam Visa by BDA is a private company, in business since 2007. We're not affiliated with the Vietnamese government. Vietnam Immigration issues the visa; we prepare, check and file the application. When we file, we review it before submitting, and if we spot a typo, a mismatch or a photo issue, we email you to fix it first, with no extra cost for corrections. If you applied through us and something's wrong, our FAQ explains what to do if you made a mistake on your application.
Prices start at $54 per applicant for a 1-month single-entry eVisa, with the Vietnam Immigration stamp fee included, and our pricing page shows how that breaks down. You can also apply yourself at evisa.gov.vn and pay only the $25 single or $50 multiple stamp fee.
A Few Parting Notes
When the status turns to Acceptance, the status page shows your visa number, an "Allowed to enter Viet Nam from" line with your dates and a Get e-Visa button for the PDF. Check those dates against your flights first: you can only enter from the start date printed on the visa and must leave by its end date. Then print a copy and keep one on your phone, since Vietnam's immigration law describes printing the eVisa from the portal.
Get every detail right at the Amendment required stage. We haven't found any published Vietnam Immigration procedure for correcting an eVisa once it's issued, and if Vietnam Visa by BDA filed it for you, any amendment after issuance is charged separately.