When you find the Vietnam e-visa website not working, check the address first: since November 11, 2024, the government portal has run at evisa.gov.vn and thithucdientu.gov.vn, not the old evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn. If your payment failed, search your app no. first. Or let Vietnam Visa by BDA, a private company, file the application for you from $54 per applicant, government fee included.
Our Normal service delivers in 5 to 10 business days, counted from when we submit to Vietnam Immigration, which sets that pace and makes the decision. To keep trying yourself, work through these checks in order.
At 8 a.m. Vietnam time (GMT+7) on November 11, 2024, the e-visa portal moved to evisa.gov.vn and thithucdientu.gov.vn, and the Immigration Department tells applicants to use those addresses to apply and to check results. The old evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn still loads, but it now opens with the Immigration Department's notice sending you to the new ones, and its link for applicants leads to the form on evisa.gov.vn.
That notice catches people following links they'd reasonably trust. The UK government's travel advice for Vietnam and the e-visa page on vietnam.travel, run by the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism, both still point to evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn. A notice where you expected a form looks like a broken site.
The second address isn't a look-alike: thị thực điện tử is Vietnamese for electronic visa, and the Immigration Department names thithucdientu.gov.vn beside evisa.gov.vn. Vietnamese authorities advise using only websites on the .gov.vn domain.
Sometimes the portal really is down. It has a built-in maintenance page, last used to announce "essential maintenance and upgrades" with the system expected back by 11 a.m. on December 3, 2024. While that notice is up, nothing can be submitted or paid for. The Immigration Department runs no public status page, so the notice is your answer: wait and try later. If the site loads but one step fails, keep reading.
The form checks both images as you upload them. Your portrait has to be a recent 4x6 cm JPG or JPEG under 2 MB, facing straight ahead on a white background, in formal clothes with no hat or glasses. The passport image is the data page only: one clear page, no corners cut off, with the machine-readable lines at the bottom (the MRZ) fully visible.
Each error names its problem. "Image size exceeds 2mb" and "The image quality is too low" mean the file needs replacing. "No MRZ detected in the passport image" means the system couldn't read those bottom lines, "Portrait photo was captured from another source" points to a photo of a photo or of a screen, and "The portrait and passport photos have a low match rate" means it can't match your face to your passport picture.
Several warnings add "Your application may be rejected" and still let you carry on. Treat that as a stop sign and replace the image. The portal also reads the passport image to fill in your passport fields. Can't read it, can't submit: one poor scan blocks the whole form.
The portal collects the $25 single-entry or $50 multiple-entry government fee through Vietcombank's payment gateway. You pick a payment method, enter your card, confirm the payment terms, then verify a one-time password (OTP) from your card issuer. The screen shows an exchange rate and the amount in U.S. dollars and Vietnamese dong, so a VND figure is normal.
If the OTP step doesn't complete, the payment doesn't go through, and the portal shows "PAYMENT FAILED" and "Please check your information" with a link to try again. It won't say why. Your bank can, so call the number on your card and ask whether it declined the charge or never sent the OTP.
Some applicants are then told to recreate their profile. Don't, until you've searched for your app no. on the portal's Search tab. If you switch to us instead, paying Vietnam Visa by BDA is a separate card payment in U.S. dollars, set out in our guidelines on paying us by card.
Keep the app no. the portal shows when you apply. Vietnam Immigration's status search needs it, along with your email, your date of birth and a security code. There's no passport-number search on evisa.gov.vn, so a site offering one isn't Vietnam Immigration's.
If the result says Unpaid, Vietnam Immigration hasn't received your application. By law, Immigration has 3 working days to decide once it has the complete application and the fee, so an unpaid file hasn't started that clock. The Unpaid result comes with a link to edit and pay for that same application, which beats filing a fresh one. If you do start over, note the new app no. and check your card statement before paying again, so you don't pay twice for one trip.
For anything still stuck, use the portal's support form. Its issue types are Wrong application information, Pay failed, Don't remember registration code and Others, so a failed payment and a lost app no. each have a box. The U.S. Embassy in Vietnam sends applicants to that same form and says it can't assist, because Vietnamese visa matters are at the Vietnamese government's sole discretion.
If the portal still refuses, have us file your e-visa instead.
Vietnam Visa by BDA is a private company. We're not affiliated with the Vietnamese government, and Vietnam Immigration, not us, issues the e-visa. Our part is the work the portal makes hard. We review, correct, submit and follow up. As for who qualifies, citizens of every country and territory can apply for a Vietnam e-visa, and we file them for tourism, family visits, conferences and short-term business, not work or study.
Once you pay, we check your details and images before anything goes to Vietnam Immigration. If we spot a typo, a mismatch or a photo problem, we email you to fix it, at no extra cost. That check matters: once Vietnam Immigration issues the e-visa, any amendment is charged separately. Our how-to-apply page lists what we need from you, and up to 10 applicants can go in one order with no group surcharge.
Applying yourself at evisa.gov.vn costs only the government fee, $25 for single entry or $50 for multiple. Our prices include that fee: a 1-month single-entry e-visa is $54, so $29 goes to us, and a 1-month multiple-entry is $84, so $34 does. The 3-month visas are $94 single entry and $104 multiple, and you can see our fee next to the $25 government fee on our pricing page.
The clock starts when your application reaches Vietnam Immigration, normally within 2 business hours of payment, not at checkout. Urgent delivers in 2 business days for $45 more per applicant, and Super Urgent in 1 business day for $85 more. Processing times are set by Vietnam Immigration: 3 to 5 working days is what usually happens, and Tet and public holidays push it further. We can file, chase and correct; we can't move an approval up the line. Give yourself one to two weeks and the speed tiers stop mattering.
If you fly within 24 hours, call +84 832 320 320 before paying so we can tell you whether it's doable; if it isn't, we'll say so upfront and refund. The line is staffed 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Vietnam time (GMT+7), seven days a week.
Refunds have an exact scope. You get a full refund if you cancel within 5 to 10 minutes of applying, if we find a problem such as an invalid passport before we submit, if we can't help because we expect Vietnam Immigration to deny the application, or if we can't deliver on time. Once Vietnam Immigration issues the e-visa, there's no refund, no-shows included, and none for incorrect or false information. Approval is Vietnam Immigration's decision, and it keeps its own fee when it refuses an application.
It can be. The portal goes offline for planned maintenance, as it did in December 2024, and shows a notice while it's down. There's no public status page. A notice on evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn just means you're on the retired address, so go to evisa.gov.vn. If the site loads but one step keeps failing, fix that step.
The portal's own notices and messages point to four causes: the retired address, a maintenance notice, an image that fails its photo or passport checks, or a card payment stuck at the OTP step. If none of those fits, describe the problem on the portal's support form under Others.
The government portal is evisa.gov.vn, also reachable at thithucdientu.gov.vn; both have been in use since November 11, 2024, and the older evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn now carries a notice sending you to them. This site, vietnamvisa.govt.vn, belongs to Vietnam Visa by BDA, a private company that files applications for a fee.
If the form and your card cooperate, apply on the government portal at evisa.gov.vn and pay only the $25 single-entry or $50 multiple-entry fee. If the portal keeps failing you, or you want someone to check everything before it goes in, we'll file it for you from $54 per applicant, that fee included.