Okay, so I needed to get a passport to go to Vietnam. I’m from the US, and I heard it was a bit of a hassle, so I decided to just do it all online.
First thing I did was check if I actually needed a visa. Turns out, yeah, US citizens definitely need one for either visiting or business. There’s some list of countries that don’t need a visa, but the US ain’t on it. Bummer.
So, I started looking into the requirements. The main thing was my passport. It needed to be valid for at least six months after I planned to arrive in Vietnam. Good thing mine was pretty new, so I didn’t have to worry about that.

Next, I found out there were a couple of ways to get the visa. One was to go through the Vietnam Embassy, which sounded like a pain. The other was this e-visa thing, which you could apply for online. That sounded way easier, so I went with that.
I started filling out the online application. It asked for all the usual stuff – name, passport details, travel dates, that sort of thing. They also wanted a digital photo of me and a scan of my passport’s info page. I had all that on my computer, so it was pretty straightforward.
After I filled everything out and uploaded the documents, I had to pay the visa fee. It wasn’t too bad, and I just used my credit card. Then it was just a waiting game.
- Checked my email like a hawk for a few days.
- Finally, I got an email saying my e-visa was approved!
- They sent me a PDF of the visa, which I printed out.
Now, I’ve got my e-visa all set for my trip. It was definitely easier than I thought it would be. Just a few clicks and some waiting, and I was good to go. Glad I didn’t have to deal with going to an embassy or anything.
One thing I did notice is that there’s also a “visa on arrival” option, but it looked a little more complicated. You have to get some kind of approval letter beforehand, and then you get the actual visa when you land in Vietnam. I figured the e-visa was simpler, so I’m happy with my choice.
All in all, getting the Vietnam e-visa online was a breeze.
Just make sure your passport is good, fill out the online form, pay the fee, and wait a bit. Now I can finally start planning the fun parts of my trip!