From 1.01. 2009, in accordance with the decision of the head of the Government of Vietnam, Russian citizens can enter the country without a visa. True, only for up to 15 days. Therefore, Russian tourists can go for a couple of weeks to see the sights of Vietnam, only with a passport and return tickets home.
If you plan to stay in this country for more than 15 days, then you need a visa. At the same time, a visa to Vietnam for Russians is issued according to a simplified system. It can be issued immediately upon arrival in the country, and it costs about $ 20.
However, to enter the country without a visa, you must meet a number of conditions:
- A citizen of Russia is not included in the list of persons who are prohibited from entering Vietnam.
- A Russian citizen has a valid passport with a validity period of at least three months from the date of arrival in the country.
- A Russian citizen should have a return ticket to any country.
To determine if you need a visa to Vietnam, you need to understand that the day of arrival in the country is considered a whole day, as well as the day of departure. Therefore, except for the day you arrived and are planning to leave, you have 13 days left to stay in Vietnam. But border guards do not particularly find fault if you, for example, do not leave on the 15th day, but a day later, although taking risks is not recommended.
It is worth noting that if you have a diplomatic or service passport, a visa to Vietnam is also not required and the stay in this case is not limited to 15 days. But not everyone has service passports, so you need to apply for a visa to stay in the country for a long time.
In order to get a visa to Vietnam, you must submit the following documents to the visa center:
- international passport;
- two color photographs measuring 3 * 4 cm;
- a certificate from work or from a place of study;
- completed application form.
A visa to Vietnam is issued within seven days.
When applying for a visa, a consular fee of 5 to 25 dollars is charged. The amount depends on the type of visa, the length of stay in the country and the purpose of the trip. Additionally, you may need information about points of entry and exit from the country, as well as the availability of tickets in both directions. In addition, the account entering Vietnam must have enough money for the entire period of stay in the country.
A visa to Vietnam can be issued upon arrival at the airport. To do this, you must have a passport with you, valid for at least three months from the moment of arrival, a passport photo and a completed application form.
For Phu Quoc Island , a visa exception applies to residents of any country. That is, a foreigner, if he follows only to this island (for a period of less than 15 days), can stay in Fukuoka without a visa. If a tourist stays on the island longer than the established period, he can get a visa right on the spot.
For those who decide to stay longer in Vietnam, there is the possibility of extending the visa for 30 days (and not only in large cities, but also in the provinces). To do this, you must provide a passport, a completed application form and two passport photos to the local department of entry and exit into the country. Visa extension services are also provided by Vietnamese travel agencies.