Your UAE residence visa, Golden Visa included, counts for nothing at Vietnam's border, because Vietnam decides by passport. A British passport gets 45 days visa-free and a Filipino one 21 days, while Indian, Pakistani, Egyptian, Sri Lankan and Nepali passport holders need an eVisa, which you apply for online from Dubai like anyone else.
Passport, Not Residency: Why Your Emirates ID Doesn't Count
Vietnam's nationwide visa-free deals are all written as lists of citizenships. Resolution 44/NQ-CP of March 7, 2025 gives 45 days to citizens of 12 countries, the UK, Germany and France among them, until March 14, 2028. None of these deals mentions where a traveler lives.
The eVisa works the same way. Citizens of every country and territory have been able to apply for one since August 15, 2023, and the application form asks for your "Current nationality", not your residence permit. An Indian engineer with a Golden Visa applies exactly like an Indian tourist flying in from Mumbai, and a British teacher in Sharjah gets the same 45 days as one flying from London.
⚠️ Dual nationals: declare both passports and travel on one. The form asks "Do you have multiple nationalities?" and "Have you ever used any other passports to enter into Viet Nam?" If one of your passports is on the visa-free list and the trip fits its limit, you can travel on that one and skip the eVisa. Whichever you choose, enter and leave Vietnam on the same passport.
Your Passport at a Glance: Who Needs What
Where the answer is an eVisa, it can be valid for up to 90 days, single or multiple entry.
| If Your Passport Is... | What You Need | Stay |
|---|---|---|
| British citizen | Nothing: see British passport holders' 45-day visa-free entry | 45 days, any purpose |
| German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, South Korean, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian or Finnish | Nothing | 45 days, any purpose |
| Belgian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Hungarian, Luxembourgish, Dutch, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian or Swiss | Nothing for tourism, an eVisa for business | 45 days, tourism only |
| Filipino | Nothing: see Filipino passport holders' 21-day visa-free entry | 21 days |
| Indian | eVisa | Up to 90 days |
| Pakistani | eVisa | Up to 90 days |
| Bangladeshi | eVisa, but call us before paying | Up to 90 days, if approved |
| Egyptian | eVisa | Up to 90 days |
| Sri Lankan or Nepali | eVisa | Up to 90 days |
| Emirati | eVisa: see Vietnam visa rules for Emirati citizens | Up to 90 days |
The two 45-day groups aren't the same deal. Resolution 44 covers any purpose. The second group, under Resolution 229/NQ-CP, covers tourism only and runs until August 14, 2028, so a Dutch or Swiss resident flying in for a client meeting needs an eVisa. For visa-free entry under either one, your passport needs at least 6 months of validity left when you arrive.
A few passports need one more line:
- British National (Overseas): BN(O) passports aren't covered by the UK exemption, so use a passport that is covered or get an eVisa.
- Pakistani: no Vietnamese invitation letter is needed, because the eVisa has been open to every nationality since August 15, 2023.
- Bangladeshi: the eVisa is open to you, but Bangladeshi media reported from January 2025 to April 2026 that Vietnam had largely stopped approving Bangladeshi applications, Vietnam has announced nothing either way and the government fee isn't refunded on refusal, so call us before you pay.
- Egyptian: four-part names are common, so copy yours from the two machine-readable lines at the bottom of the photo page, which is the version the portal checks.
Indian Passports: No Exemption and a Phu Quoc Catch
India isn't on any of Vietnam's exemption lists, so an Indian passport means an eVisa whether you live in Karama or Kochi. Photo rules, fees and the rest are in the full guide for Indian passport holders.
The exception Indian residents ask about is Phu Quoc. You can visit Phu Quoc island visa-free for up to 30 days, flying in direct or connecting through another Vietnamese international airport, as long as you stay in the transit area. If you clear immigration in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City instead, you've entered Vietnam and need a visa, so check with your airline before you book. The exemption also covers the island only: going on to the mainland without a visa can bring a fine of VND 3 to 5 million.
⚠️ Get the eVisa even for an island-only Phu Quoc trip. In April 2026, India's Embassy in Hanoi advised Indian nationals to get a Vietnam visa before traveling to Phu Quoc, because some had to reach the mainland for medical treatment or onward travel and ran into delays without one.
Applying From the UAE: The Form Fields Expatriates Get Wrong
A few boxes read oddly when your passport and your home are in different countries.
- Full name. Type it exactly as it appears on the ICAO lines, the two machine-readable rows at the bottom of the photo page, in capital letters. If your passport shows only one name, the form says to put it in the given-name box.
- Addresses. The form asks for a "Permanent residential address" and a "Contact address". Your Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah address can go in both.
- Issuing Authority/Place of issue. Copy what's printed. A passport renewed at your consulate in Dubai or Abu Dhabi was issued in the UAE, and that's what the box wants, not your home city.
- Photo. The portal asks for a newly taken 4x6 cm JPG or JPEG under 2MB: straight face, no hat, no glasses, formal clothes, white background. It publishes no exception for religious head coverings, so if you wear one, contact us before you apply.
- Passport validity. Vietnamese law requires your visa to end at least 30 days before your passport expires. The UK government advises at least 6 months after the date you arrive and at least 2 blank pages, and the airline decides whether you board, so treat 6 months as the target.
How to Apply From Dubai: Cost, Speed and the PDF
Vietnam Visa by BDA is a private company. We're not affiliated with the Vietnamese government. You can apply yourself at evisa.gov.vn, the government's own site, and pay only the stamp fee of $25 for single entry or $50 for multiple entry.
Our eVisa prices start at $54 per applicant for a 1-month single-entry eVisa, with the Vietnam Immigration stamp fee included; 1-month multiple entry is $84, 3-month single entry $94 and 3-month multiple entry $104. Everything is charged in US dollars, and your card provider converts from dirhams at its own rate. Speed is a separate choice, per applicant: Normal takes 5 to 10 business days and is included, Urgent takes 2 business days for $45 more and Super Urgent takes 1 business day for $85 more.
The clock starts when your application reaches Vietnam Immigration, normally within 2 business hours of payment, not at checkout. By law, Vietnam Immigration has 3 working days to decide an eVisa once it has the complete application and the fee, and Tet and public holidays push that further. Processing times are set by Vietnam Immigration. We can file, chase and correct; we can't move an approval up the line.
Your eVisa is a PDF file from Vietnam Immigration's site, and we email it to you. Vietnam's immigration law describes printing it, so carry a printed copy and keep one on your phone. If you're flying within 24 hours, phone +84 832 320 320 before paying so we can tell you whether it's doable; the line is open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Vietnam time, seven days a week. Vietnam is 3 hours ahead of the UAE, so that's 5 a.m. to 6 p.m. in Dubai.
Flights From the UAE: Two Nonstop Cities and a Bangkok Stop
From Dubai, Emirates flies nonstop to Hanoi 7 times a week in 6 hours 45 minutes and to Ho Chi Minh City 7 times a week in 7 hours 25 minutes. From Abu Dhabi, Etihad launched its Hanoi route on November 2, 2025 with six flights a week.
Da Nang is the trap. Emirates' Dubai to Da Nang service, launched on June 2, 2025, flies via Bangkok: 4 times a week, 9 hours 35 to 9 hours 50 minutes in total. If that's your flight, Da Nang is your entry point on the eVisa; Bangkok is only a stop.
Wherever you land, the eVisa only works at border gates on the government's list, and Vietnam accepts eVisa holders at 83 border crossings: 17 airports, 27 land border gates and 39 seaports. Pick the gate you actually plan to use when you apply. For other routings, there's more on flights to Vietnam.
UAE School Holidays and Tet: When to Fly and When to File
The UAE Ministry of Education's 2026-2027 academic calendar sets the windows most families plan around:
- National Day holiday: December 2 to 4, 2026
- Winter break: December 14, 2026 to January 1, 2027
- Eid Al-Fitr holiday: March 8 to 12, 2027
- Spring break: April 5 to 9, 2027
- Eid Al-Adha holiday: May 15 to 18, 2027
Both Eid holidays depend on moon sighting, so treat those dates as provisional.
Vietnam's side of the calendar matters more for the paperwork. Its civil service, the Immigration Department included, gets 7 days off for Tet starting Thursday, February 4, 2027, and goes back to work on Thursday, February 11. If you're flying over the March Eid break, file before February 4 or from February 11, not in between.
⚠️ Count business days, not calendar days, around Tet. Normal processing is 5 to 10 business days, and the 5 weekdays of the Tet closure don't count. A Normal-tier application filed at the end of January can land after the holiday instead of before it.
Vietnam's Mission in the UAE: Abu Dhabi, Not Dubai
You never need to visit an embassy for an eVisa. If you need one for something else, Vietnam's embassy is at Villa 147, Salama Bint Butti Street (Street 23), Al Mushrif, Abu Dhabi. Its phone is +971 2 4496710 and its email is vnemb1@emirates.net.ae.
People still search for a Vietnam consulate in Dubai, and there was one. Vietnam opened a consulate in Dubai in October 1997 and its embassy in Abu Dhabi in January 2008. Vietnam's Foreign Ministry runs a website for the Abu Dhabi embassy, and we found no Dubai consulate on its mission sites, so don't trust an old directory listing that sends you to one.
Visa on Arrival: Legal, Narrow and Rarely the Easier Route
Visa on arrival still exists, but only in specific cases and only with a pre-approval letter from Vietnam Immigration. The law lists six, from a tour run by a Vietnamese international travel company to a relative's funeral or serious illness. Another is departing from a country with no Vietnamese visa office, which a flight from Dubai or Abu Dhabi doesn't fit, since Vietnam has an embassy in Abu Dhabi.
Each case needs a sponsor in Vietnam to get Immigration approval first. The visa is then stamped at the border against that approval, and you pay the same government fee of $25 for single entry or $50 for multiple entry. We don't process visa-on-arrival letters, and for a holiday from the UAE the eVisa is simpler. Egyptian passports get no exception: same six cases, same sponsor.
A Few Parting Notes
Watch the end date on your eVisa or entry stamp. Overstay under 16 days and the fine is VND 500,000 to 2,000,000; at a year or more it's VND 30,000,000 to 40,000,000, and from 16 days you can also be deported. The UK government warns that overstayers can be kept from leaving until they pay the fine.
On a visa-free entry, check the stamp before you leave the airport: the UK government tells British travelers to make sure the date given is 45 days from arrival, because Immigration won't change it later. On an eVisa, give yourself one to two weeks and the speed tiers stop mattering.