First tourist arrives in HCMC on e-visa

By VnExpress February 4, 2017 | 05:39 am PT

Vietnam's brand new e-visa system has had a rocky start with reports of difficulties accessing the application websites.

A British national has become the first visitor to arrive in Vietnam on an electronic visa less than a week after the country launched the online application system.

Officials from the Immigration Department and Ho Chi Minh City’s Tourism Department welcomed British citizen Richard Kenneth Wilson at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on Saturday, VietnamPlus reported.

Wilson’s e-visa was granted on February 1, the launch date of the new system which allows visitors from 40 countries to apply for 30-day tourist visas online.

Under a government directive released in late January, citizens from China, Japan, South Korea, the U.S., the U.K., Germany and Sweden, all major target markets for Vietnam’s tourism sector, are eligible to apply for e-visas to Vietnam. For the full list of eligible nationalities, click here.

To apply for e-visas, foreign citizens can access the websites http://www.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn or http://www.immigration.gov.vn.

The new electronic visa system for foreign tourists did not, however, have a smooth start as many reportedly had difficulties accessing the websites.

Applicants are required to complete a form available on two separate websites (one in Vietnamese and the other in English) run by the Ministry of Public Security. They will receive an application code and will be asked to pay a non-refundable fee online.

It takes three working days for tourists to find out if their applications have been approved or not, according to the directive.

> Apparent technical issue hits Vietnam’s e-visa system on launch date