Egyptian passport holders need a visa to enter Vietnam, and the Vietnam visa for Egyptian travelers on a holiday, family visit or short business trip is the eVisa: filed online, valid for up to 90 days, from $54 with the $25 government fee included. Here's what Vietnam Immigration asks for, what it costs, how long it takes and the two details on an Egyptian application (the name and the photo) worth checking before you pay.
Yes, you need a visa. Egypt isn't on either of Vietnam's 45-day exemption lists. Resolution 44/NQ-CP of March 7, 2025 covers 12 countries, from Germany and the UK to Japan and South Korea, for any purpose. Resolution 229/NQ-CP of August 8, 2025 adds 12 more European countries, for tourism only. Egypt isn't among the 15 countries with bilateral visa-free agreements either, which run from 14 days for Brunei to 90 days for Chile and Panama.
What you can get is the eVisa. Since August 15, 2023, citizens of every country and territory can apply for one, and it can be valid for up to 90 days, single or multiple entry. Egypt carries no restriction flag in the eVisa system's nationality list, so Egyptian applicants fill in the standard form, without the extra mandatory boxes it adds for the three flagged nationalities.
The eVisa works at 83 border crossings: 17 airports, 27 land border gates and 39 seaports. Two of those airports, Long Thanh and Gia Binh, are on the list but not open yet.
One exemption does reach Egyptians: Phu Quoc island is visa-free for up to 30 days, for the island only. The route from Cairo decides whether it works for you, which the questions below cover.
No embassy trip, no visa-on-arrival line. The Embassy of Vietnam in Cairo sits in Zamalek, but an eVisa never goes near it: you apply online, Vietnam Immigration decides, and your eVisa is a PDF file you download from Vietnam Immigration's eVisa site. Visa on arrival still exists in law, but only in narrow cases with a sponsor's pre-approval (the questions below explain why it rarely fits a trip from Egypt), and we don't process visa-on-arrival letters.
Vietnam Visa by BDA is a private company. We're not affiliated with the Vietnamese government. You can apply yourself at evisa.gov.vn and pay only the stamp fee. What we add is a second set of eyes before anything is filed: we review, correct, submit and follow up, which matters most on the name field of an Egyptian passport.
Have these ready before you start:
⚠️ Emergency and temporary passports don't qualify. Vietnam Immigration's eVisa portal doesn't issue visas for emergency or temporary passports. If you've lost your passport and are traveling on a replacement document, get a full passport issued before you apply.
| Option | Validity | Our fee (per applicant) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Month Single Entry | 30 days from arrival | $54 |
| 1 Month Multiple Entry | 30 days from arrival | $84 |
| 3 Month Single Entry | 90 days from arrival | $94 |
| 3 Month Multiple Entry | 90 days from arrival | $104 |
All prices include the Vietnam Immigration Department's stamp fee. See the full fee breakdown.
Here's the arithmetic. The government stamp fee is $25 for a single-entry eVisa and $50 for multiple entry, the same figures published on evisa.gov.vn. Our fee is the difference: on a 1-month single-entry eVisa, $54 minus $25 leaves $29 for our work, and on a 1-month multiple-entry eVisa, $84 minus $50 leaves $34.
Vietnam Immigration doesn't refund its fee if the application is refused. Our own refund terms are narrower than a money-back promise: a full refund if you cancel within 5 to 10 minutes of applying, if we spot a problem before we submit, or if we can't help because we expect Immigration would deny the application, or can't deliver on time. Once the eVisa is issued, it's non-refundable. Traveling with friends or colleagues? Up to 10 applicants fit in one order, with no group surcharge.
Pick a speed when you apply. Each is per applicant:
Each tier is counted from the moment your file lands with Vietnam Immigration, normally within 2 business hours of payment, not from checkout. Immigration's own legal deadline is 3 working days once it has the complete application and the fee; 3 to 5 working days is the usual reality. Holidays stretch that. Vietnam's civil servants, Immigration staff included, take Tet from Thursday, February 4 to Wednesday, February 10, 2027, so a February trip from Cairo wants an application filed in January.
The pace is Vietnam Immigration's to set: we file, chase and correct, but we can't push an approval up the line. Apply one to two weeks before you fly and the speed tiers stop mattering. Leaving within 24 hours? Call +84 832 320 320 before you pay and we'll tell you whether it's doable.
Decide by the shape of the trip, not the label. If you'll leave Vietnam and come back on the same visa (a side trip to Cambodia, Laos or Thailand, say), you need multiple entry. A connection in Dubai on the way home doesn't count, because you only leave Vietnam once.
When in doubt, choose multiple entry. It costs $30 more on a 1-month eVisa ($84 against $54) and $10 more on a 3-month eVisa ($104 against $94), and the government's own fee is $50 instead of $25 within those prices. Check the side-trip country's own entry rules for Egyptian passports too; a Vietnamese eVisa says nothing about them.
The eVisa form's upload note sets the photo rules, and they're short:
⚠️ Wear a headscarf or other head covering for religious reasons? The portal's photo rule says "no hat" and publishes no religious exception. Don't guess: contact us before you apply, at support@vietnamvisa.govt.vn or +84 832 320 320.
Our form takes under 10 minutes and needs no account. Our application walkthrough shows each screen; here's the order:
The realistic routing from Cairo is one stop through a Gulf hub. Through Dubai, Emirates' sample itineraries take 12 hours 50 minutes to Hanoi and 13 hours 30 minutes to Ho Chi Minh City, connection included. The Dubai legs each run seven times a week: 6 hours 45 minutes to Hanoi and 7 hours 25 minutes to Ho Chi Minh City.
Use one of the border gates on the government's eVisa list to enter and leave, and pick the gate you actually plan to use when you apply. Flying on to Da Nang or Phu Quoc after landing? Connecting to a domestic flight means clearing immigration where you first land, so that airport is the gate to name.
Your permitted stay runs to the end date on your eVisa, so hold it up against your return booking before you pay for the flight. Miss it and Decree 282/2025/ND-CP, in force since December 15, 2025, sets the fine by how late you leave:
⚠️ Past 15 days, the fine stops being the worst outcome. At 16 days or more the decree also allows deportation, and a deported traveler is refused entry to Vietnam for three years. The UK government adds that overstayers can be stopped from leaving until the fine is paid.
If your plans change mid-trip, an extension goes through a sponsor in Vietnam applying to Vietnam Immigration. We don't handle extensions, so sort it out before the end date, not after.
Only in narrow cases. Vietnamese law allows a visa at the border in six situations, such as a relative's funeral or a tour run by a Vietnamese international travel company, and only after a sponsor in Vietnam gets Immigration's approval. One case covers travelers departing from a country with no Vietnamese visa office, and Egypt has a Vietnamese embassy in Cairo. We don't process visa-on-arrival letters; here's how visa-on-arrival approval letters work.
Vietnam waives the visa for 24 countries for 45 days: 12 under Resolution 44/NQ-CP for any purpose and 12 under Resolution 229/NQ-CP for tourism only. Another 15 have bilateral agreements of 14 to 90 days: nine Southeast Asian neighbors plus Belarus, Chile, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia and Panama. Egypt is on none of these lists. See which nationalities are visa-free in Vietnam.
Not for the island alone, but check your connection from Cairo. The exemption covers arrivals who fly in direct or stay in the transit area of another Vietnamese international airport. If your connection means clearing immigration on the mainland, you need the eVisa. Leaving the island without one breaks the rules too, with a fine of VND 3 to 5 million.
Vietnam Immigration keeps its fee when it refuses an application, so a second attempt means a second fee. Our check before filing exists to stop a weak application going in at all: if we expect Immigration would deny it, we tell you and refund what you paid rather than submit. If a filed application is refused, call +84 832 320 320 before you reapply.
Up to 90 days, single or multiple entry. We file two lengths, 30 days and 90 days from arrival. Whichever you choose, leave by the end date on the eVisa, and make sure your passport stays valid at least 30 days beyond it.
Elsewhere in Africa: Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia.
Also applying for the eVisa: China, Taiwan, United States, India, Australia, Canada.
Not listed? The eVisa has been open to every country and territory in the world since Resolution 127/NQ-CP in August 2023 - check your nationality on the full list →