Reviews Uncategorized

My successful experience getting a Vietnam Visa on Arrival

a glass of drink on a balcony overlooking a city

We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.


My successful experience getting a Vietnam Visa on Arrival

I can’t tell you how many times I searched for reviews on getting a Vietnam Visa on arrival and couldn’t find anything that really broke down the experience.  There are TONS of stories about people getting sold fake E-Visas, letters of approval, but not much in the way of successful experiences. In the end, I rolled the dice and thought I’d give it a go. It was super easy, albeit a little time consuming, but it was successful and saved a lot of cash. Here’s a how-to guide on getting a Vietnam Visa on Arrival.

If you live in a city ( D.C., San Fran, or New York) that has an embassy you can have them processed there. Unfortunately, Los Angeles does not have one. You can also have them processed in a foreign country and people have had successful experiences having them done same-day. I didn’t want to risk that in Taipei on New Years Eve.

You need a letter of approval prior to entering the country.  I used vietnam-evisa.org – it cost $30. BTW – Landing visas and arrival visas are one in the same.

And no I don’t have any sort of relationship with them…it just worked. If you use a visa processing company like Travisa you can end up paying LOADS more, and shipping fees.
screen-shot-2017-01-03-at-12-38-13-am

You will fill out quite a bit of stuff and ultimately receive a confirmation email:

screen-shot-2017-01-01-at-1-02-20-am

24 hours later I received welcome letter which look like this.

There is also a private letter that you can pay a surcharge for…I used one that was for group approval. You should know that your name and passport number will be collectively reported on one approval letter. If that makes you uncomfortable, pay the extra charge for a private – it’s nominal and honestly had I known all passport numbers were collectively reported I’d have opted for that.

screen-shot-2017-01-01-at-1-02-41-am

You need the following as well items as $135 straight CASH for a US, 1 year, multi-entry visa.

They will not issue anything but this at the airport, and they will not take anything other than cash. The pictures aren’t a big deal. I happened to have a extra set of passport photos that I brought, but my buddy Dave just paid the $5, which is in fact, considerably cheaper than getting them in the states.
screen-shot-2017-01-01-at-1-01-48-am

When you get to Vietnam, at least in Saigon, you’ll see this:

screen-shot-2017-01-03-at-12-23-41-am

Immediately to the left you’ll see the Landing Visa or Arrival Visa counter.

screen-shot-2017-01-03-at-12-23-55-am

The lines are NOT short.

We got in at roughly noon and had to wait a little less than an hour. Immediately after us a HUGE wave of people came in. I’d say we were pretty lucky to get processed in that short of time, but it was very simple. We did have our paperwork filled out ahead of time and that will more than likely save you a solid 10 minutes.

Here’s a list of other prices.

screen-shot-2017-01-03-at-12-24-05-am

Get in a cab, check-in, and then go to SAIGON SAIGON and enjoy yourself a Passionfruit martini and watch the mind-bending traffic of motorbikes cut and weave with chaotic precision.

screen-shot-2017-01-01-at-12-58-11-am


This review is a part of the Trip Report: Miles Traces his roots in Southeast Asia

Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.

a blue credit card with blue lines and white text

Learn More

 Affiliate link 

Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card


4.8
4.8/5
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott.

Welcome Offer

60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months

Annual Fee

$95

Points Earned

Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards

  • 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
    • Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
  • 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
  • 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
  • 3x on select streaming services
  • 3x on online grocery purchases
    • (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
  • $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
    • The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
  • 2x on all other travel
  • 10% Anniversary Bonus
    • Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
  • Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
  • Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
  • Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
  • No foreign transaction fees
  • Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
    • Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
  • Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2024
  • $95 Annual Fee

We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.

Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.

Main Cast: 

Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.

Supporting Cast:

Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on. 

The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.

If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex℠and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners

Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.

The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.

16 Comments

Leave a Reply to Andrew Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.