At Vietnam immigration on arrival, you hand an officer your passport, your eVisa if your nationality needs one, and the pre-arrival QR code if you filed it. You're then stamped in for a stay set by how you entered: the end date on your eVisa, 45 days for the 24 countries on Vietnam's unilateral exemption lists, your treaty's period on a bilateral exemption, or 30 days on Phu Quoc. Check that date before you leave the counter.
The Arrival Hall: What Happens, in Order
At Vietnam's international airports the order is immigration counters first, then baggage claim, then customs, then the public arrivals hall where drivers and taxis wait.
You may get a body temperature check on the way in, as Canada's travel advice warns. Vietnam's Ministry of Health says the border health declarations that took effect on July 1, 2026, aren't required of every traveler, so there's no routine health form to fill in.
Don't plan on an automated gate. Noi Bai's expanded Terminal 2 opened with eight baggage carousels instead of six and new biometric immigration gates, but nothing published says foreign visitors can use those gates. At Da Nang, the automated gates serve only flight crews and Vietnamese citizens with chip passports. Plan on a staffed counter.
Visa on arrival is a different process: a sponsor in Vietnam gets Immigration's approval first, and at the border you hand over your passport, the approval letter and a completed form with a photo.
Documents to Show: What the Officer Needs in Hand
Start with the passport, because refusals start there. For visa-exempt entry, Vietnamese law requires at least six months of validity left when you arrive. On an eVisa, Vietnamese law requires your visa to end at least 30 days before your passport expires. The UK and Canada advise at least six months' validity, and airlines often apply that rule. The UK also advises at least two blank pages, which is its advice rather than Vietnamese law.
⚠️ A damaged passport can stop you at either end of the trip. The UK government says British nationals have been denied entry and exit because of passport damage, and that you'll be refused entry on a passport that's been reported lost or stolen. Replace a damaged passport before you fly, not after.
Your eVisa is a PDF you download from evisa.gov.vn, and Vietnam's immigration law describes printing it from the portal, so carry a printed copy and keep one on your phone. It's tied to the passport you applied with, and both the UK and Canada say a visa in a replaced passport has to be transferred to the new one.
The eVisa also only works at border gates on the Vietnamese government's list. Since December 2, 2025, that list runs to 83 crossings: 17 airports, 27 land border gates and 39 seaports, though two of those airports aren't open yet. When you apply, choose the gate you'll actually arrive through. Our guide to how to apply for your eVisa walks through the form's 7 steps, and the overview explains what the eVisa covers and what to do at the border.
Vietnam Immigration's online Pre-arrival Information (PAI) form is optional, but filing it can speed up immigration on arrival. It runs as a pilot at Tan Son Nhat and Phu Quoc. You can submit it up to three days before you arrive and get a QR code to show at the counter, but PAI isn't a visa: you still need an eVisa or an exemption. Use only prearrival.immigration.gov.vn, because the Ministry of Public Security has warned of fake look-alike sites that can defraud your card.
The Passport Stamp: What It Means and How Long It Lasts
Legally, the stamp is a temporary residence certification, issued at the border under Article 31 of Vietnam's immigration law. Its length comes from how you entered, not from what you tell the officer, which is why two people off the same Bangkok flight can walk out with different dates.
| How You Entered | Stay Granted at the Counter | Where the Rule Comes From |
|---|---|---|
| eVisa | Until the eVisa's end date (up to 90 days) | Immigration law, Article 31 |
| Unilateral exemption (24 countries) | 45 days | Resolutions 44/NQ-CP and 229/NQ-CP |
| Bilateral exemption | The treaty's period, or 30 days if it's silent | Your country's agreement |
| Phu Quoc exemption | 30 days, on the island only | Immigration law, Article 31 |
On an eVisa, Article 31 lets you stay until the end date printed on it. Paper tourist visas coded DL work differently: one longer than 30 days still gets you only 30 days at the border, and the rest needs an extension. The eVisa is its own type under Article 8, coded EV, so that cap doesn't apply to it.
The 45-day group is really two lists. Resolution 44/NQ-CP covers 12 countries, including the UK, Germany, France, Japan and South Korea, for any purpose until March 14, 2028. Resolution 229/NQ-CP covers 12 more, including the Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland, for tourism only until August 14, 2028. Bilateral deals set their own periods: Filipino travelers get 21 days with a return or onward ticket, per Vietnam's Foreign Ministry.
⚠️ Read the stamp before you step away from the counter. The UK tells visitors to check the date written in the passport before leaving border control, because a wrong date can lead to an overstay accusation, and to confirm a visa-exempt stamp shows 45 days from arrival. Vietnam Immigration won't change it once you've left the airport or land border.
Lines and Wait Times: When the Counters Back Up
The airport and the hour decide your wait more than the officer does. Da Nang's international terminal handled 6.8 million passengers in 2025, against a design of 4 million. Arrivals there bunch into two daily windows, late morning through early afternoon and late evening, when VnExpress reported waits stretching close to two hours.
Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat handled 42.1 million passengers in 2025, against the 50 million it can take since its T3 terminal opened in April 2025. Its busy windows are predictable: in a December 2024 report, border police put the peaks at 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m., with 60 takeoffs and landings an hour. The same report carried Japanese businesses' complaint that some residence-card holders were processed as tourists and given incorrect visa dates, which is the stamp check above happening for real.
The week to avoid is Tet. The Tet 2027 public holiday runs seven days, from Thursday, February 4, to Wednesday, February 10, 2027, and in February 2026 Tan Son Nhat was packed as overseas Vietnamese flew home for Tet. If your dates can move, land outside that week. A fast-track service gets you a priority lane in those windows, not a way around the officer; ours is listed at $35 per applicant on our pricing page.
Where You Clear Immigration: Connections and Long Thanh
Your first Vietnamese airport is your entry point, even when it isn't your destination. Transfer from an international flight to a domestic one in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City and you go through immigration and enter Vietnam there, even if your final stop is abroad. So a trip from Sydney to Da Nang through Hanoi needs an eVisa that works at Noi Bai, and that's the airport to choose when you apply. Connect airside at Tan Son Nhat or Noi Bai to another country and you don't need a visa, as long as you stay in the transit area. Our transit guide covers when a connection counts as transit.
Phu Quoc is the exception. You can fly there direct, or connect through another Vietnamese international airport as long as you stay in the transit area, and get 30 days on the island without a visa. Going on to the mainland without one breaks the rules and can bring a fine of VND 3 to 5 million.
Ho Chi Minh City's new Long Thanh airport, 40 kilometers east of the city, is on the eVisa gate list but isn't open yet; its operator is aiming for late December 2026. Under the plan reported in July 2026, long-haul flights to and from Europe and the Americas, among others, move to Long Thanh from March 28, 2027. Check the airport on your ticket, not just the city. The eVisa form's gate list doesn't offer Long Thanh yet, so if a rebooking moves you there, check with your airline before you fly.
Customs: Cash, Medicine and What to Declare
Customs comes after baggage claim. Cash over 15 million dong or 5,000 US dollars, or the same value in other currencies, has to be declared, in either direction. Prescription medicine goes in your hand luggage with a copy of the prescription, and if its total import value is more than 100 US dollars, you declare it.
One medicine rule catches people out. For addictive and psychotropic medicines, the UK Foreign Office says it's illegal in Vietnam to carry more than seven days of a prescribed supply. Carry the prescription with the medication and a letter from your doctor stating how much you need for the trip.
After the Airport: Pickups, Hotels and Your Passport
⚠️ A sign with your name on it isn't proof of anything. The Government of Canada's travel advice says travelers have been robbed by drivers who greeted them on arrival with a placard showing their name. Arrange pickup with your hotel before you land, or use the authorized airport taxis.
Unbooked rides are the other trap. The UK Foreign Office warns that bus transfers to hotels offered at no charge may be scams unless you organized them in advance. If you booked a pickup, get the driver's name and phone number before you fly, so you can check who's holding the sign.
At check-in, expect the desk to ask for your passport. Your stay has to be reported to the local police under Article 33 of Vietnam's immigration law, and commercial accommodation will generally file that declaration for you. The pre-arrival form can't replace this temporary residence registration. Some hotels want to hold the passport until you leave, and Canada says there's no legal reason for that, so let them record it and ask for it back. If you're staying in a private home, ask your host how they'll register you, because no front desk will. For the rules that apply once you're through the doors, from drugs to drones, read Vietnamese laws every visitor should know.
Leaving Vietnam: The Exit Counter Does the Math
Departure immigration at Noi Bai, Tan Son Nhat or any other gate is the arrival check in reverse. According to the UK Foreign Office, Vietnamese authorities require you to enter and exit on the same passport, so if you renew yours mid-trip, transfer the visa before you head home. Keep your eVisa copy with you too: it only covers entry and exit through gates on the Vietnamese government's list, and your exit counts.
Stay past your date and Decree 282/2025/ND-CP sets the fines: VND 500,000 to 2,000,000 for an overstay under 16 days and VND 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 for 16 to under 30 days, rising from there. At 16 days or more you can also be deported, and a deportation bars you from Vietnam for three years. The UK Foreign Office adds that overstayers can be kept from leaving until they pay the fine.
If you need more time, act before the stamp runs out: extensions are done from inside Vietnam, through a sponsor applying to Vietnam Immigration, which takes up to five working days to decide. We don't handle extensions.
A Few Parting Notes
Save the eVisa PDF and the PAI QR code to your phone before you board, and put your stamp's end date in your calendar the moment you're through.
Vietnam Visa by BDA is a private company, not the government. We prepare, check and file eVisa applications; Vietnam Immigration issues the visa, and an airline or border officer can still refuse boarding or entry if the documents don't line up. For anything this page didn't cover, our eVisa FAQs answer the questions we hear most.