Vietnam Visa News

When will electronic visa (e-visa) be issued in Vietnam?

• About e-VISA
• How to apply Vietnam visa

At the national conference on tourism development (took place on 9 August in Hoi An), the Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has confirmed that Vietnam will issue electronic visa (E-visa) from 2017 January 1.

According to the General Department of Tourism (Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism), simplifying entry procedures is the general trend of the world, including electronic visa (E-Visa) becoming a popular trend worldwide nowadays.

Base on the report on the degree of openness concerning visa of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in 2015, the percentage of international tourists need visa to destinations worldwide decrease from 77% in 2008 to 61% in 2015.

In Asia – Pacific area, approximately 20% of the global population don’t need visa, 23% can be granted a visa at the border and 11% can be granted electronic visa in 2015.

The countries have a visa policy at the gate and electronic visa (E-visa) is very convenient for travelers. Destinations competing with Vietnam tourism have liberal visa policies.

The National Administration of Tourism also defined improving the competitiveness of international openness, especially improving the visa restrictions on entry is an effective way to create favorable conditions for international travelers into Vietnam.

E-Visa (shorten for “Electronic Visa”) is legal license allowing foreigners to immigrate at the border and tourism inside the country. Currently, E-visa is the latest form of visa.

According to the research done by The National Administration of Tourism, the E-Visa has several advantages, including the ability to ensure better security, compatibility information, suitable for multi-purpose usage and being easy to share between the relevant authorities in cases of necessity. Management system is transparent, updated, both finance and information reducing the negative phenomenon, annoying, negatively affecting the image of national tourism destination.

The E-Visa allows visitors to apply for a visa through the Internet, expand the range of consular services outside the Embassy and Consulate, and use multiple languages. This procedure ensures fast, economically and environmentally friendly because of paperless and simple convenient procedures.

Since 1996, Australia has been the first country to apply the E-Visa. This system has played an important role in controlling security ahead of the rise in tourists mutations occur during the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. And then, the E-Visa have been issued successively in many countries such as Saudi Arabia, Armenia, Bahrain, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Turkey…

In fact, the E-Visa has significant contribution in solving the visa registration documents for large numbers of tourists in the short term, creating favorable conditions for tourists reach the destinations, and also supporting implementation of tourism promotion programs to promote tourism to key markets.