Vietnam visa guide for teaching English in Vietnam

English teaching jobs are on demand in Vietnam in recent years. It’s a great opportunity for those who love to teach English, to explore Vietnam’s fascinating cultures while embarking on a journey to discover the marvelous scenery and exquisite cuisine in this beautiful country.

Since it’s generally hard to find teaching jobs prior to coming to Vietnam, most potential teachers decide to come as a tourist. Once they get hired, the next step is to obtain the right kind of visa. So what do you need to do to obtain a visa to teach English in Vietnam? This Vietnam visa guide for potential English teachers is the answer you need.

What kind of Vietnam visa should you apply first when coming to teach English in Vietnam?

If you want to work as an English teacher in Vietnam, you need a work permit and a business visa. You can apply for Vietnam visa on arrival for business purpose before coming to Vietnam since you need it anyway. However, you will have to pay over amount $90 for the approval letter for a 3-month visa and end up paying from $350 -$500 for a one year multiple Vietnam visa.

Getting a tourist visa for maximum of 3 month either at Vietnam Embassy/ Consulate or get Vietnam visa on arrival to collect stamped visa at the airport is also a good option if your job is not yet to secured before going to Vietnam, especially when travelling on tight budget.

A 3 month visa with single entry is commonly advised to apply first when planning up to teach English here in Vietnam. You can also apply for a 3-month multiple-entries visa which allows you to go out and re-enter the country during the 3 months. However, if want to settle down and make sure you don’t spend too much money before getting a job, you should stick with the single entry option.

Good news for USA Citizen is instead of a 3 month visa, you are eligible to obtain 1 year tourist visa in the condition of exiting Vietnam every 3 month. Overall if you are determined to have long-term work in Vietnam, business visa is highly recommended.

Cost of Vietnam visa

For visa on arrival, you need to pay for the visa service to get visa approval letter and the stamping fee at the airport to collect your visa stamp. Depending on nationality, number of applicants and type of visa, cost of visa will vary. Please visit here to see more details about visa fee.

The process of obtaining a Vietnam visa to teach in Vietnam?

Without sponsorship from school

If you are not lucky enough to obtain a sponsorship from a school to teach English, you can get visa on arrival at the airport with details procedure as bellows:

Step 1: Fill out the online application on vietnamvisavoa.com with personal information such as your full name, date of birth, nationality, passport number, date of arrival and type of visa. You have to pay a small service fee. Payment can be processed via PayPal, Western Union, Bank transfer or with credit cards. Please double check the application before submitting.

Step 2: After 2 working for a tourist visa and 5 working days for a business visa, you will get a visa approval letter via email. Print out the visa letter, Vietnam visa application, prepare 2 passport-sized photos and bring them to the airport together with your original passport.

Step 3: Present your required documents above to immigration officials, pay for stamping fee and obtain your visa. The stamping fee varies depending on the types of visa and the length of your stay.

With sponsorship from school

In case you are officially hired for an English teacher by a school, typically, the school or center you work for will help you with work permit and business visa or handle it on your behalf.
You will need to prepare for several documents for the work visa such as work permit application form, a letter for work permission, criminal record, a copy of your teaching certificate and a university degree, health check, a CV and 3 recent passport-sized photos.

After getting the working permit, you need to obtain a business visa. In many cases, you have to do a visa run because your tourist visa will expire after (or even before) the working permit application is done. A visa run requires you to fly to another country and re-enter Vietnam with a visa on arrival, in this case, for business purpose. The application produces for a business visa on arrival is quite similar to a tourist one. However, instead of 2 working days, you have to wait up to 5 working days to get your letter of approval.

You can also do Vietnam visa extension inside Vietnam if you don’t want to fly to another country. A visa extension is quite simple but more expensive. Alternatively, a visa run could be a good chance for you to explore other countries nearby such as Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Malaysia.

All in all, one may find it a bit stressful with a lot of documents and visa procedures to deal with, however, chances are you only have to do it once in several months (depending on your contract and desired length of stay). Plus, it could be a fun experience you will get when you want to teach English in a foreign country.

For any other advices on getting Vietnam visa to teach English in Vietnam, just contact us at:

Website: Vietnamvisavoa.com
Email: support@vietnamvisavoa.com
Phone: +84969255515(Whatsapp/Viber/ Wechat)