Vietnam Tourist Visas
Despite being well organized and over planning every detail, I messed up the entry date on our Vietnam visas. 🤯
Other travelers confirm that Vietnam is super strict with visas and they won’t let you enter if you get something wrong. The immigration department is impossible to contact to change any visa details so you basically have to apply for a new one and wait if you make a mistake.
Here’s the rundown-
Apply on their official website. There are other sites who charge extra fees so only go through the official one.
You must be outside Vietnam when you apply and the visa is electronic so no need to visit any immigration office or embassy.
Be sure your entry date is correct! You can enter after the entry date but not before. This is where I went wrong and we had to stay in Thailand an extra week to wait for the entry date to arrive. It turned into a happy mistake because we got more time in Chiang Mai, but we lost money on non-refundable hotels and flights.
Triple check all details on the application, name, passport number etc. You can’t update these after the visa is processed and you’ll need to apply for a new visa.
Pay the fee.
Single entry is $25 USD and multiple entry is $50 USD.
I highly recommend the multiple entry visa if you will be in Asia a while. This way you can return to Vietnam without applying for a new visa. Tourist visas are valid for 90-days of travel. We entered Vietnam in December and were able to leave and reenter as many times as we wanted until March using the multiple entry visa. If you get single entry, you can stay 90-days but the visa will be “used up” once you leave Vietnam and you’ll need to apply for a new one if you want to come back.
Ensure you’re entering by one of the allowed entry points. If you’re a tourist, it’s likely that you will be, but check these details anyways. Info is on the official visa website.
We got our visas approved within 1 week. They send you an email confirming your application. And another email once the visa is approved.
Print your visa. You’ll need to show this to the airline when you check in for the flight. We saw people denied checking in if they had an electronic version of their visa so print it out!
Check the details on your visa again!! I’ve highlighted the entry date below plus other important details that you should triple check before travelling.
Note: the “date of expiry” is your passport expiry date, not the visa expiry date.
Last tip for Vietnam…pay for the express immigration! You can Google this and there are lots of companies who offer the service. They basically let you skip the immigration line, which can take 2 hours or more. We paid $35 USD per person and got through immigration in 30min.
We used-
https://www.vietnamfasttrackservice.com
Cambodia Tourist Visas
Apply on their official website-
You must be outside Cambodia to apply. Just like Vietnam, everything is done electronically.
Visa photo-
I used the photo on my passport and it was accepted.
Pay the fee.
$30 – $35 USD
They send you a confirmation email and another email with the actual visa.
We had ours approved in 3 days. Only single entry is available you can stay up to 30-days.
Print out the visa!!
We were stopped many times at the Siem Reap airport asking to see our visa. I heard from locals that the immigration officers used to take bribes from tourists who didn’t have a proper visa. It was a big problem when they had visa on arrival because some officers would pocket the visa money for themselves.
There’s no entry date on the Cambodia visa, but it’s valid for 3-months from the issue date. So don’t apply too far in advance or it will expire before you travel.
The visa says to print 2 copies so you can attach 1 in your passport, but we got a visa sticker on arrival.
Visa confirmation-
Visa sticker in passport-
Cambodia requires you to fill out an arrival card electronically which can be found on their official website here-
We didn’t print ours and an electronic version was accepted.
These rules and requirements change constantly so it’s best to check these above websites for current information.
Final tips-
Download WhatsApp before you travel. It seems most people in Asia use it and you can contact companies, your hotel, etc using it.
Also download the grab app! It’s the Uber of Asia.
Happy travelling!
Angela Killian 
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