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How can I get a legitimate visa-on-arrival letter or visa for Vietnam? I am Canadian but am in Ecuador, which does not have a Vietnamese embassy. This means that I cannot apply in person. I am also not comfortable mailing my passport internationally.

There are many sites (for example, this one) which claim to charge to obtain the visa-on-arrival letter but after trying several times on 3 different sites, they just do not work. The last step - after they collected all my personal information - dies with an error saying that onepay.vn cannot be reached. I also just realized this might be a phishing scam since the URL ends in govt.vn rather than gov.vn, but I cannot find any site that seems legitimate. Two guidebooks I own do not have any specific info on what to do when you do not have access to an Vietnamese embassy.

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    Could be that onepay.vn is blocked in Ecuador, since you get the same result from multiple websites. I have not personally used these services, but some of my customers have, with success. Are you working with a tour company for your trip in Vietnam? Most tour companies in Vietnam can arrange a VOA Letter for their customers.
    – user13044
    Dec 12, 2016 at 2:44
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    @Tom I just tried to access onepay.vn from the USA and it timed out. The site might be down or busy, or perhaps it can only be accessed from within Vietnam. Dec 12, 2016 at 5:29
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    That would be a shame for a site whose only purpose is to sell letters for visas for vietnam!
    – Itai
    Dec 12, 2016 at 6:02
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    Onepay is a major player in online payments for Vietnam based businesses. It definitely is not Vietnam use only, more likely they are having a major tech issue.
    – user13044
    Dec 12, 2016 at 6:42
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    @Tom Should offer them to fix it in exchange for a trip (with visa), I used to work computing the price of money :)
    – Itai
    Dec 12, 2016 at 6:45

1 Answer 1

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Vietnam visa is an agency approved by the Vietnamese immigration Department, and they issue approval letters for a visa on arrival for USD 17. A friend of mine has reported success with them.

You fill out the form online, selecting the airport where you'll enter Vietnam, and within 2 working days you'll be issued (by e-mail) the letter necessary to board the flight to Vietnam.

If you have any issues with the form, contact them at [email protected], or chat with them during office hours

ANOTHER agency is Vietnam Visa Pro, which costs USD 10. Again, you fill out the form and get the letter by e-mail within 2 days.

Upon arrival at the airport, show your passport and approval letter at the visa desk, and the visa goes in your passport. Then clear immigration and voilà, you're in.

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  • When you say issued, do we get the letter electronically or they mail it from Vietnam? Also, how do you know it is approved, is there a place where we can verify the validity of this claim?
    – Itai
    Dec 12, 2016 at 3:25
  • @Itai By e-mail, says so on the websites.
    – Crazydre
    Dec 12, 2016 at 3:35
  • That's a relief because postal service is extremely slow here. We an envelope mailed from Canada and it took over 3 months.
    – Itai
    Dec 12, 2016 at 5:27
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    It seems Vietnam Visa Pro uses the same payment system, so will call support tomorrow and report back. Thank you!
    – Itai
    Dec 12, 2016 at 5:28
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    Source on Vietnam Visa being approved by the immigration department? My understanding is what while the bizzare pre-approved visa-on-arrival systems seems to work, the Vietnamese government refuses to say which agencies are legitimate or not.
    – CMaster
    Dec 22, 2016 at 10:27

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