Yes, you can stay in Vietnam longer than your eVisa or visa-free days allow, but you can't arrange it yourself and there's no self-service online form. A sponsor in Vietnam, either a registered company or a close Vietnamese relative, files with Vietnam Immigration, which decides within 5 working days of a complete file, and the government fee is $10 to extend your stay or $25 and up for a new visa, plus whatever the filer charges.
What people call a Vietnam visa extension is really two procedures with two prices, filed in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi or Da Nang depending on who sponsors you. If you haven't left home yet, start with the full Vietnam visa guide instead.
Two Procedures, One Name: A New Visa or a Longer Stay
Strictly, nothing gets added to the eVisa you arrived on. Vietnam's immigration law offers two other things, both sold as an extension. Under Article 35, a sponsor can ask Vietnam Immigration to extend your permitted stay, the period the border officer gave you on arrival. Under Article 19, a sponsor can ask for a new visa for someone who's already in the country. Each is decided within 5 working days of a complete file, and both go in on form NA5, the application for visa issuance or stay extension, in the version in force since July 1, 2026.
The difference shows up on the bill. Circular 28/2026/TT-BTC charges $10 for each extension of stay, while a new visa costs ordinary visa rates: $25 for single entry, $50 for multiple entry up to 90 days and $95 for multiple entry over 90 days up to 180 days. Because one form covers both, ask whoever files which one they're requesting and what it costs at government rates.
| Detail | Extension of Stay | New Visa Issued in Vietnam |
|---|---|---|
| Legal basis | Article 35 | Article 19 |
| Government fee | $10 per extension | $25 single; $50 multiple up to 90 days |
| Paperwork | Form NA5 and your passport | Form NA5, your passport and a 4x6 cm photo if the visa is loose-leaf |
Have that photo ready: the procedure for a visa issued in Vietnam asks for one recent 4x6 cm photo when the visa comes as a separate loose-leaf sheet. What neither route does is change why you're here. A visa's purpose can't be switched inside Vietnam except in four listed cases, one of which is an eVisa holder who has since obtained a work permit or an exemption from one. A tourist who just wants more vacation stays a tourist.
The Sponsor: Who Files for You, and Why It Can't Be You
A foreigner who wants more time has to ask an inviting or sponsoring agency, organization or individual to file. The Ministry of Public Security's stay-extension procedure narrows that to two kinds of filer: an organization already registered with Immigration, or a Vietnamese citizen who is your grandparent, parent, spouse, child or sibling, with papers to prove it. You'll need a valid passport, a visa unless you're exempt, the stay certification you got at the border and no ban on entry or exit.
Registration is a one-time step: before an organization sponsors its first foreigner, it files a certified copy of its establishment license and a letter introducing its seal and authorized signature. That's why a tourist without family in Vietnam goes through a registered, licensed Vietnamese agency or law office, and why Canada's travel advice names certain local travel agencies as one place to ask. Their charges sit on top of the government fee and vary, so ask to see the government part separately. A Vietnamese spouse or parent filing for you pays only the fee.
Your own embassy won't fill the gap. The US Embassy and Consulate no longer issue visa extension letters and can't sponsor Americans, and the British Embassy says it won't assist with visa extensions. Vietnam Visa by BDA is a private company. We're not affiliated with the Vietnamese government, and we don't handle extensions or act as anyone's sponsor. Our FAQs on extensions and what we do and don't handle spell out the line.
Your eVisa and Passport: Four Things to Check First
Two dates decide what's possible, the end of your permitted stay and your passport's expiry, and any sponsor will ask for both.
- Your permitted stay. With an eVisa, you can stay until the end date on the eVisa, so that date is your deadline. A tourist (DL) visa from an embassy works differently: if it's valid for more than 30 days, you get 30 days on arrival, and the rest needs an extension.
- Single or multiple entry. A single-entry eVisa is spent once you leave. A multiple-entry one lets you come and go until its end date, which matters if leaving is on the table.
- The border gate. An eVisa only works at border gates on the government's list, which now holds 83 gates. If you plan to leave and come back on the eVisa you hold, use a gate on that list, and stick to the one you named when you applied.
- Your passport's expiry. Any visa must end at least 30 days before your passport does, so a passport close to expiry can cap or block a new visa. And if you renew your passport mid-trip, Canada's travel advice notes that a visa in an expired passport isn't valid and has to be transferred to the new one. The transfer costs $5. Lose your passport and an emergency one won't fix it: the eVisa portal doesn't issue visas for emergency or temporary passports.
⚠️ Check the date stamped in your passport before you leave the immigration desk. UK travel advice warns that if the expiry date written in your passport is wrong, you could be accused of overstaying. Every extension is measured against that date, so raise a wrong stamp on arrival day, not departure day.
Visa-Free Arrivals and Certificate Holders: Your Own Routes to More Time
Visa-free doesn't mean stuck. Vietnam exempts some nationalities on its own: 12 countries, including the UK, Germany, Japan and South Korea, for any purpose, and 12 more European countries for tourism. Citizens of those countries get a 45-day stay on each entry and may be considered for a visa or an extension of stay, through the same sponsor-filed procedure, with the same 5 working days and the same fees.
Holders of a 5-year visa exemption certificate, the document for overseas Vietnamese and the foreign spouses and children of Vietnamese citizens or overseas Vietnamese, run on their own track. Each entry on the certificate earns a 6-month stay, and a holder sponsored in Vietnam with a legitimate reason can be considered for an extension of up to 6 months. A provincial police procedure for that extension adds two things worth checking early: a passport with at least 1 year of validity left, and the same $10 fee.
Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Da Nang: Where the Paperwork Goes
Where the file goes depends on who's sponsoring and where they're registered. Vietnam Immigration takes central-level files at its two head offices, and city police immigration offices run the same stay-extension procedure at the provincial level, also within 5 working days, for organizations registered with that office. The US Embassy says foreigners extending a visa or resolving an overstay must appear in person at the immigration office for the area where they live.
- Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Immigration: 333-335-337 Nguyen Trai, Cau Ong Lanh ward
- Ho Chi Minh City, city police immigration office: 196 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, per the US Embassy
- Hanoi, Vietnam Immigration head office: 69 Mac Thai To, Yen Hoa ward
- Da Nang, immigration office: 78 Le Loi, Hai Chau, per the US Embassy
For questions before you go, Vietnam Immigration's site lists a hotline, 1900 0555 15, and an email address, contact@immigration.gov.vn. Your sponsor still does the filing.
⚠️ Don't take a taxi to 44-46 Tran Phu. Some Ministry of Public Security procedure pages, including the one for stay extensions, still give that as the Hanoi office. Vietnam Immigration's own site lists 69 Mac Thai To, and that's the address to trust.
Timing: 5 Working Days, Saturday Mornings and Tet 2027
The 5 working days are Vietnam Immigration's, and they start from a complete file, not from the day you first ask. An agency can prepare and chase a file, but the decision and its date belong to Immigration. At the central level, files are accepted Monday to Saturday morning and results come back Monday to Friday, except during Tet and public holidays, so Saturday intake doesn't mean Saturday results. The same page lets a sponsor file in person, online with the passport posted in, or by post.
Count back from your stamp date and leave room for your sponsor to gather papers before the 5 working days even begin. Two closures ahead already have dates: government offices close on Tuesday, November 24, 2026 for Vietnamese Culture Day, and for Tet from Thursday, February 4 through Wednesday, February 10, 2027.
⚠️ Treat Tet 2027 as 7 dead days. By our count, a complete file handed in on Monday, February 1, 2027 gets two working days before offices close for Tet and isn't due back until Monday, February 15. If your permitted stay ends in February, get the file in during January.
A New eVisa Isn't an Extension: It Only Starts at the Border
It's tempting to buy a second eVisa from your hotel room. It won't add a day to this stay. The eVisa is issued to foreigners who are abroad and want to enter Vietnam, not to those temporarily staying there, and UK advice says that if you get an eVisa while in Vietnam, you must exit and re-enter to start it. Visa-free visitors are in the same position: switching to an eVisa means leaving and coming back in on it.
So a new eVisa lines up your next entry, not your current one, and that's the fair comparison with an extension. Vietnam Immigration's own fee is $25 for single entry or $50 for multiple if you apply yourself at evisa.gov.vn. Through us, eVisa prices with the stamp fee included run from $54 for a 1-month single-entry eVisa to $104 for a 3-month multiple-entry one. Either way, add the cost of the trip out. If that's your route, how an eVisa application works walks through each step, and the gate you name should be the one you'll really use to come back.
When It Goes Wrong: Refusals, Overstays and the Fine Schedule
A refusal costs you the fee. Government visa and residence fees aren't refunded if you turn out not to qualify or refuse the result, so the $10 or the $25 is spent either way. That's one more reason to get the dates, the passport and the sponsor's papers right before anything is filed.
Run past your permitted stay and the fines come from Decree 282/2025/ND-CP, Article 21, in force since December 15, 2025. A few days over lands you in the first band: VND 500,000 to 2,000,000 for an overstay under 16 days. Day 16 is the cliff. From 16 to under 30 days the fine is VND 5,000,000 to 10,000,000, and the bands keep climbing to VND 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 for a year or more.
From 16 days, deportation can be added to the fine, and a deportation bars you from Vietnam for 3 years. UK advice adds that overstayers can be stopped from leaving until they pay. If the date is close and nobody has filed, leaving on time costs less than any line on that list.
Extend or Leave: A Few Parting Notes
Extending keeps you in place for $10 in government fees plus the filer's charge, but it needs a sponsor and 5 working days nobody can hurry. Leaving and returning on a new eVisa needs no sponsor and costs from $25 at evisa.gov.vn or $54 through us, plus a trip across a border and back.
The calendar usually settles it. With two weeks in hand and a relative or registered company ready to file, extending is the calmer option. With days left, or Tet in the way, leaving on time and coming back on a fresh eVisa doesn't depend on anyone else's paperwork.