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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.
    – Robert Columbia
    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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