This is a paid service, not to be included as promotion or free service or any kind of discount. The letter is issued by the Department of Immigration for a fee.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Only citizens of certain countries can visit Vietnam without an entry visa (valid for a visit from 14 to 30 days). Those countries include most ASEAN countries, Korea, Japan and Scandinavians. All other citizens are required to get an entry visa before departure or a pre-approved entry visa (visa is issued on arrival at Vietnam's International Airports). Some nationalities might be refused or charged a lot of money because of the sponsorship is required, typically people from Muslim countries or from Africa (except South Africans).

We recommend that you obtain your entry visa prior to your departure by applying at the nearest Vietnam Embassies and/or Consulates. However, if your particular city does not have a Vietnamese embassy, and/or you wish to avoid procedural delays (anywhere from 4 to 10 days) which sometimes happen with visa approvals at embassies outside Vietnam, we can make this requirement a fairly easy exercise. We provide a list of information the Immigration Department needs below. You fill it out and return to us by email. We will then arrange to obtain the visa approval letter for you. This is most likely the easiest way to obtain your visa without having to chase down embassies, consulates and the like prior to your trip, and is a valid alternative when applying for a tourist visa. The entry visa will be stamped on your passport as you pass through the immigration checkpoint at one of the three international airports: Hanoi's Noi Bai or Saigon's Tan Son Nhat or Danang's Danang airport. Though valid for thirty days, it can be extended once you enter Vietnam. With this type of visa, you only can enter the country by air, not by land, waterways or train.

INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE

We offer this service to the customers who book our guided tours and/or services only, we obtain what is called a "pre-approval visa letter" for you from the Vietnam Immigration Department in Hanoi and then forward you a copy by email.

To get a visa approval letter for you, we need the following information and a copy of your passport page where your photo is on (use a scanner or a digital camera to get it), the purpose is to make sure that the information matches what you sent to avoid any potential mistyping.

1. Your title (Mr./Mrs./Ms.):
2. Your name exactly as it appears in your passport:
3. Date of birth (dd/mm/yy):
4. Nationality:
5. Passport number:
6. Date of issue of your passport (dd/mm/yy):
7. Date of passport expiration (dd/mm/yy):
8. Proposed date of arrival (dd/mm/yy):
9. Flight details (dd/mm/yy):
10. Airport of arrival:
11. Purpose of visit (Vacation/Business/Family visit):

After we have your details, please allow three working days before we can send a copy of the letter. If you want an express one-day service then add 10$US/person. When you have the copy of the letter please see below for how to get a visa on arrival.

Note: The letter usually come with more people and the details of full name, date of birth, nationality and passport number will be printed. If you care about your private information and only want a private letter then let us know so we could advise an additional charge. Normally, our customers don't complain about this but it's always good to mention here.

HOW TO GET A VISA ON ARRIVAL

Please print out the copy of the letter we send you (colour or black & white both good) and show the Immigration officers at the airport on arrival. Copies of the same document will be forwarded by us to Vietnam immigration checkpoints at three international airports, so when you arrive in Vietnam, the Immigration officers have those documents handy and will be able to issue your entry visa shortly.

PRICES

The costs of the pre-approved visa letter depend on the types of visa you apply. A normal 30-day tourist visa stamp costs 45$US.

Pre-approval visa letter (tourist visa) you pay Offroad Vietnam when we meet in Hanoi
One-month single entry: 20$US
One-month multiple entries: 30$US
Three-month single entry: 35$US
Three-month multiple entries: 45$US

Visa stamp (tourist visa) you pay at the air-port to the border police officers
One-month single entry: 45$US
One-month multiple entries: 95$US
Three-month single entry: 45$US
Three-month multiple entries: 95$US

Update (by Daniel Brewster from the U.S.A in September 2009): At Hanoi's Noi Bai International airport, you have to go over to the area at the bottom of the escalators that has a huge red sign that says "Visa Preapprovals" *before* you go stand in line at customs. You'll end up standing in line at customs twice if you don't.

You simply present your pre-approval letter, 45-95$US cash depending on type of visa mentioned above, a passport photo, and a very brief application that you complete. Boom, you're done. You get a visa in your passport.

Note: You need to bring two passport photos with you and your passport should be valid for at least six months.