Differences between Vietnam tourist and business visa

Are you planning to visit Vietnam? Also are you in the dilemma that what difference between Vietnam tourist and business visa is?In this article, we will clarify your difference by pointing out some aspects to be compared including purpose, validity, processing time, visa fee, requirement and extension in the hope of solving your confusion.

Purpose

Tourist visa: generally is granted for the purpose of leisure, sight-seeing. However, it is also accepted to be used in some circumstances such as: friend/family visiting, medical tourism.

Business visa: generally is permitted for traveler to engage business related activities: conveying market research, meeting business partner, taking part in conference, etc.

However, it can be exchangeable between Vietnam tourist visa and business visa. In the words, having tourist visa does not prevent you from conducting business in Vietnam.

Validity

1 month and 3 month are available to business and tourist purpose. When it comes to maximum of validity, 3 month is the longest duration you can obtain, no matter of which visa type you wish to get. Exclusively, USA citizen are granted with 6 month or 1 year for both tourist and business purpose.

Visa Fee

Vietnam visa cost involves two kind of fees: Visa service fee and stamping fee. Stamping fee is mandatory and fixed amount that you need to pay at the airport while service fee can be changed as per to your nationality, visa type, processing time and duration.

Compared to business visa, tourist visa is less expensive than business visa in regard to service fee.

Type of visa	Tourist Visa (estimated servicing fee)	Business visa (estimated servicing fee)
Single entry - 1 month	18 USD	70 USD
Multiple entry - 1 month	23 USD	75 USD
Single entry - 3 month	28 USD	95 USD
Multiple entry - 3 month	43 USD	110 USD
Multiple entry -6 month	…	320 USD

Requirement

There are very similar requirements between tourist visa and business visa.

Requirements for both type of visas generally includes:

• A passport which must be valid for at least 6 months from the departure date.
• Passport must have 01 blank page left for visa stamp
• 02 Passport size photos (4*6cm)
• Vietnamese visa application

Tourist visa may require more:

• Proof of round trip ticket
• Hotel or tour booking

Business visa (ONLY for business visa sponsored by a company in Vietnam)

• A set of documents signed and stamped by a sponsoring company including: company’s business license, introduction letter, guarantee letter, NA2, N16 and working schedule.

Note: Holding temporary passport or travel document is not accepted.

Procedure

To apply for tourist or business visa, you need to choose where you would like to pick up you visa. Generally, you can directly obtain visa at the Vietnam Embassy or visa on arrival.

Vietnam Embassy:

• Access the Vietnam Embassy’s website to download visa application then fill it out. A passport sized photo should be attached to this form
• Travelling to Vietnam Embassy in person with completed documents. In case you cannot visit there, you can put all documents into envelope and send by post the Embassy. Do not forget to mention your address in order to return your passport and visa.

Visa on arrival:

Step 1: Submit online your visa application at: https://vietnamvisavoa.com/en/apply-online. For business visa, please send your passport copies and detailed inquiry to our email at support@vietnamvisavoa.com.

Step 2: Make payment for visa service fee with your credit/debit card. Other payment method: Bank transfer, Western Union or PayPal is accepted.

Step 3: Wait for a visa approval letter delivered to your email. Standard processing is 2 working days for tourist visa and 5-7 working days for business visa.

Step 4: Bring a copy of visa approval letter, Vietnamese visa application form (entry-exit form) glued with 1 passport sized photo. Then, present those documents with stamping fee to the Immigration Counter in order to receive visa stamp.

Note: Vietnam E-visa is also known as another option to get a visa for Vietnam. However, it is only available on tourist visa with single entry (maximum of staying: 30 days). For business visa, you are not allowed to acquire it through E-visa system.

Processing time

After complete the application form online on Vietnam visa VOA, you will receive Vietnam visa approval letter roundly 2 working days (normal service) or 1 day/ 4 hours/ 1hour (rush service). Otherwise, when it comes to applying on Vietnam Embassy, it takes longer time in process because there are many steps of procedure, about 5 working days and the postal delivery time if you send your passport by email.

Compare to Tourist visa, Business one need a little more request, thus regarding Visa On Arrival, you will wait to receive Vietnam Visa approval letter after 5-7 working days. As for applying on Vietnam Embassy, the actual processing times can vary, please contact the Embassy for the details.

Extension

You are on either tourist or business visa, you are allowed to get it extended while you are staying Vietnam and wish to prolong your duration. It’s highly worthy to note that going with visa extension for both types always costs you a lot more than getting a new visa. Typically you are anticipated to spend more to extend another 3 month visa (if possible) if you have tourist visa (DL),compared with business visa (DN).

Extension cannot help you to change or switch your current type of visa which remains unchanged till you exit Vietnam.

Get some advices

• Abiding to Vietnam visa regulation is a must-do to avoid related problem, which possibly ends up with putting yourself in penalty or blacklist due to misleading or misusing visa type. Therefore, to prevent from this scenarios, you need to get appropriate visa for your travelling purpose.
• When you are in Vietnam, do not overstay your visa as the result of paying fine or detention. Keep in mind your visa validity and leaving Vietnam before your visa is expired give you peace of your mind.

Now to apply for any of two type of visas and fully understand all requirements and procedures, please contract VOA visa experts to assist you. The experts assist you from comprehending the requirements, filling out your visa application and acquiring your visa approval letter easily. For more information related Vietnam tourist or business visa, contact through website: Vietnamvisavoa.com; hotline + 84 969 551 151 or email: support@vietnamvisavoa.com