Vietnam visa has wrong dates, ending too early

Question

I have a Vietnam visa (U.S. citizen) valid from April 17 - May 17. I applied for the visa months ago, and didn't realize the visa was only good for those dates, and my plans changed. I entered Vietnam on May 3, and noticed the dates on the visa. I'd like to stay for 3 weeks, taking me past the May 17th end date.

Does anyone know if this will be an issue?

I checked the travel.state.gov site and didn't see the usual mention of penalties for overstaying. Is the visa valid from the day I enter or from the date on the visa?

Is there a way I can get the dates changed on my visa, without having to pay for a new one?

Answer 1

Yes, it WILL be an issue, unless you're very, very lucky.

The whole point of a visa is that the government of that country has taken into account who you are and where you are from, and issued a set of days that it's happy for you to be in its country for. Flouting those, due to ignorance, accident, or even (some would say unfairly) conditions out of your control, like flooding or breakdown can cause you to be fined, charged or imprisoned. In most cases, it'll merely be a fine.

In some situations, violating visa rules can cause you to get barred from entering the country again, and if you have to put that on visa applications for other countries can cause you to have restrictions on visas for those.

I've seen people be deported for going to the govt and asking for an extension after theirs was up, and being barred from coming back - we had a police guard at our hostel while his flight was being sorted. I've seen a Canadian marched off the Trans-Siberian because he didn't realise the border crossing was after midnight, and therefore was considered an overstayer. And I was getting very stressed in Uzbekistan when I crossed the border to Tajikistan with 8 hours left on my visa :)

It's one of those rare cases where it's easier (and cheaper) to ask permission than forgiveness. Apply for either a visa extension, or what I did for Tajikistan - apply for a second visa. They didn't mind - just as when you have two trips coming up to a country you may want two visas, I just scheduled the two back-to-back.

It did cause a bit of confusion at the border, but once they worked it out, no problem. And legal confusion is far preferable to illegal overstaying and fines, or worse :/

Some more links of use:

• Apparently, according to the embassy in Hanoi, up to 48 hours is considered ok, anything longer and you're in trouble. However someone on the same page heard of 500,000 dong fines for 48 hours.

• GuidetoVietnam points out that with 1 week to go, for 18-35USD you can get a visa extension.

• "How to extend an Overstayed Vietnam visa" also claims the 48 hour rule, and goes into some more detail on other options.

• And this page, one answerer writes that they overstayed by 10 days, their travel agent paid a fine of 1 million dong, but still got them another 3 month visa. So it seems in Vietnam like it's probably just a matter of money in the end.

Answer 2

If you leave after your visa has expired, you will be "fined" but allowed to leave the country. Depending on the situation and where you are leaving the country (eg, airport v's overland) the "fine" may be an actual fine, or it could just be a border official taking the money for themselves.

In general, expect somewhere around US$5-20/day as the "fine".

The better option is apply for a visa extension. These can be processed by most travel agencies (especially those in HCMC), at a cost of around US$40. A friend of mine went through this process a few years ago and said it was easy and pain-free. Not only will this avoid any issues at the border, it'll mean that you'll remain "legal" for the full time that you're in the country (Remaining legal can be important for things like travel insurance, which might not cover you if you are out of legal status in the country)

A good source for information on issues like this is your own countries embassy in the country that you're in. Although they will not be able to give you any official information they will know how things normally play out.