As far as you know, Vietnam e-visa – a newly launched method of getting Vietnam visa since 2017 – is eligible for citizens of 80 countries entering Vietnam for tourism purposes within 1 month (30 days) only. What if foreigners come to Vietnam with a Vietnam evisa, but still want to stay longer when their Vietnam visa is about to expire? Then the Vietnam evisa extension is a must. Let’s see how we get the Vietnam e-visa extension successfully done via the following post updated by Vietnam-visa.
1. Overview of Vietnam e-visa extension
Before carrying out Vietnam evisa extension, please well prepare and have a look at some important notes as below:
- Foreigners who entered Vietnam after March 1, 2020 and stuck in the country due to COVID 19 are granted automatic Vietnam visa extension until March 31, 2021.
- Foreigners in Vietnam extend e-visa is probable; however, it’s requested that there is an individual or a guaranteeing organization who will sponsor for the applicants and to make the process as smooth as possible. Therefore in this case, if you can’t find any guarantor, ask for help from Vietnam-visa;
- There are some cases that foreigners can’t extend their Vietnam e-visa including either they reach the allowed number of Vietnam e-visa extension, or the fee for Vietnam extend e-visa is higher than their current budget;
- The validity of Vietnam visa extension depends much on the original Vietnam visa that foreigners used to enter the country. If the Vietnam e-visa is used for entry, the Vietnam extend e-visa can be up to 3 months only;
- There are 3 offices of the Vietnam Immigration Department that receive and process your Vietnam e-visa extension application located in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Danang.
Some might have heard about Vietnam visa extension and Vietnam visa renewal, so is there any difference between those two?
Both of them allow foreigners to extend their legal stay in Vietnam, but Vietnam renewal will grant the applicant a new Vietnam visa sticker and stay duration stamp while Vietnam visa extension is just an extension stamp on your original passport indicating new duration permission. One more advantage of visa extension is that applicants can get it done without leaving Vietnam while Vietnam visa renewal requests foreigners to leave and then re-enter the country with a new visa sticker.
2. Why should we do the Vietnam evisa extension?
Normally foreigners have more than 1 option to extend their legal stay in Vietnam when their original Vietnam visa is about to expire. However, let’s find out reasons why you should do the Vietnam evisa extension during this period.
- Only via Vietnam evisa extension that foreigners don’t need to leave the country, especially during the COVID 19 which doesn’t allow anyone to cross the border as free as normal;
- Staying in Vietnam while doing those visa procedures also means foreigners can save a great amount of costs for traveling, visa paperwork, etc.;
- Doing Vietnam evisa extension for legal stay also help foreigners avoid being fined by the Vietnam Immigration Department for overstaying in the country;
- Foreigners don’t have to interrupt their business activities due to leave the country for Vietnam visa run, or Vietnam visa renewal, or can’t come back Vietnam during COVID in particular;
3. How to extend Vietnam e-visa
To process Vietnam evisa extension, applicants first of all are required to well prepare the documents as follows:
- Original passport (at least 6 months in validity from the time of extension;
- Request form for Vietnam evisa extension (Form NA5);
- 02 photos (4x6cm);
- Copy of passport data page, Vietnam visa used for entry, and Immigration stamp;
When all documents are ready, bring them to one of these 3 offices of the Vietnam Immigration Department to submit. Detailed addresses are mentioned below:
- Hanoi: 44-46 Tran Phu, Ba Dinh District
- Da Nang: 78 Le Loi, Thach Thang, Hai Chau
- Ho Chi Minh City: 196 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Ward 6, District 3
Working hours:
- Monday-Friday (Morning from 7:00 to 11:30; Afternoon from 13:30 to 17:00); and
- Saturday (Morning time only)
Normal processing time for Vietnam evisa extension is about 8 working days. The e-visa holders are highly recommended to submit the application documents to the Immigration Department at least 2 working days before the e-visa’s expiry date to avoid any fine for overstaying.
Hope you will have no difficulty doing the Vietnam evisa extension procedures via the above guides. Should you need any further consultation, feel free to let us know.