Is it still possible for foreigners to obtain a Vietnamese visa at Hekou? What's the price, what's the duration and what's the delivery time?

Cheers!

Good question for the consulate. Here is their number. It is best if a chinese speaker talks to them rather than an english speaker because their chinese is much better then their english.

www.hugoyunnantravel.com/des_VIETNAM.asp

Or better yet a Vietnamese speaker as their Vietnamese is better than their Chinese.

However, unless you are a national of a visa exempt country (such as Norway, Russia etc.) it's unlikely a visa-on-arrival has ever been possible at Lao Cai or any other Vietnamese border checkpoint (apart from pre-approved visas on arrival for air arrivals at international airports only). There it's not "still" possible, it has never been possible - get your visa in advance.

I'm not talking about visas on arrival, I want to get one in Hekou.

My understanding has always been that you need to get in KM first. Even most Chinese tourists do this.

Apparently the visa office in Hekou just walks into Lao Cai with your passport, gets a visa and then returns it to you in two hours time. It's the fastest service and costs around 400 RMB. They can only do 1-month visas, though. I'll try it (with some days to spare in case everything goes tits up) and let you know.

Good luck. That would be a great service to have in Hekou if it works. It costs 385rmb at the consulate in Kunming anyways for 1 month, and that was well over a year ago, probably costs more now.

I'm back now and am happy to report that it is possible. There are plenty of agencies in the border area that'll do the visa for you.

I did a little write-up of how to get it on my blog.

www.worldofnonging.com/[...]

When you get the stamp for entering Vietnam, try to check into the area which the officials sit inside to notice a cardboard box. Thats where Chinese and Vietnamese have to throw their bribes, or otherwise they wont enter as easily - or it can at least be a slower process. To get over smoothly, it can be a matter of targeting the cardboard box with a nice bill.

Foreigners (Westerners) are mainly excluded from this practice. A big target for bribes these days are Chinese travellers and it goes along just about every border around China, including Nepal where there is a lot of fuss among Chinese backpackers.

yup, it's everywhere in SEA. When entering Cambodia, Vietnamese nationals are also supposed to pay a little extra.