No Visa for Vietnam??

Posted in: Forums > Travel Yunnan • 12 posts • Newest

• • nicefreak
    January 21, 2009
    9 posts
  • A Chinese friend just told me, that you do not need a visa for Vietnam, if you stay only for 7 days. Your Chinese visa kind of counts as a visa for Vietnam.
    Sounds a bit strange to me. Has anybody made experiences?

    Thanks a lot for you comments

• • WeiXue
    January 21, 2009
    17 posts
  • I think that only works for Chinese people and maybe only in border regions. I could be wrong, but I have been there several times and have always needed an actual visa (fairly easy to get and straightforward. Just need a few days and 350RMB, I think).

• • Yuantongsi
    January 21, 2009
    169 posts
  • Unless you are Finnish then you need a visa for Vietnam

• • kunming tiger
    January 21, 2009
    29 posts
  • I agree with Wei Xue's post but a quick trip to the travel agent at the entrance to the Camelia hotel or log onto the Vietnamese embassy or consulate in China itself will clear up the matter.

• • nicefreak
    January 22, 2009
    9 posts
  • Thanks for all your responses. I got my visa today: 450 RMB

• • peace
    March 26, 2009
    2 posts
  • just Korean and japanese no need to get visa(2wks since 2007)

• • Sasha
    March 26, 2009
    3 posts
  • Thai citizen also can stay in Vietnam up to 60 days without visa.

• • piers
    March 26, 2009
    147 posts
  • You can get a visa in Hekou. There are hundreds of travel agents around the border crossing. 99% sure that your china visa is invalid for vietnam.

    If you're planning to travel to Hanoi and have taken the overnight bus to Hekou you have plenty of time to sort out your visa there and then get the evening train to Hanoi. If you want to take the morning train you need to get thru the border and move fast. It's easy to get caught in queues and miss the train. Lao Cai is a dull place to kill time.

• • Sheena
    April 7, 2009
    13 posts
  • how bout for filipino like me having a Philippine Passport..

• • piers
    January 20, 2010
    147 posts
  • Any updates on countries that don't require Vietnamese visas? I'm going to Vietnam for less than 2 weeks and have been told that some Europeans don't require visas (i.e. visa waiver). I'm travelling on a UK passport. The consulate don't answer their phone.

• • PerNordin
    January 21, 2010
    50 posts
  • For Scandinavians (from the Vietnam embassy website in Stockholm):
    Citizens of Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway will be exempted from entry visa to Vietnam if:

    - The intended period of stay is up to 15 days;
    - The travelers hold valid passports of the above countries, with validity of at least 3 months from the intended date of entry into Vietnam;
    - The traveler possesses, and could present upon request, a valid outbound ticket from Vietnam within 15 days of the arriving date;
    - The traveler has not been banned from entering Vietnam.

    As for UK passport-holders: I looked at the Vietnamese Embassy page in UK. You need a visa.
    Curiously... for some reason it seems necessary for them to point out the following in the list as to visa-application:
    "Abusive language and behaviour towards the Embassy's staff will not be tolerated and will affect the applications of the persons concerned." It seems there are some hot-headed Brits around, frequently enough for the embassy to need to point this out. :D
    The info on what you need, can be found on the VN embassy page for UK:
    http://www.vietnamembassy.org.uk/[...]

    But notice... the legalities may be different when applying for the visa from China, even though you are UK citizen. But this gives you the grit of what you need.

    Hope it helps.

• • mingdao
    August 9, 2010
    40 posts
  • piers wrote: "You can get a visa in Hekou. There are hundreds of travel agents around the border crossing."

    Have you actually done this, or someone just told you?

    How much did it cost?

    How long does it take?

    Would not want to kill time in Hekou, either.

    We have been to Hekou and walked into Vietnam several times, but always got our Visas in Kunming. We're going again this week, and it would be nice to know if cheaper/faster in Hekou ... though seriously doubt that.

    (We are American citizens.)

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