ThingstodoDanang
A passport open at the visa pages
45 days visa-free · or a $50 90-day e-visa

Do You Need a Visa for Vietnam? Pick Your Passport (2026)

12 nationalities: 45 days freeEveryone else: $50 e-visa, 90 daysNo nomad visa, no retirement visa
Photo: The government of the United States of America.
Quick answer
WORTH IT Straightforward for a holiday. Genuinely awkward for anything over 90 days

Three routes, and almost everyone is on one of the first two. Twelve nationalities get 45 days visa-free — the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, South Korea, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Belarus — with the exemption extended to 2028. Everyone else, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, takes the 90-day multiple-entry e-visa at $50, applied for online before you fly. Beyond that it gets messy: there is no digital nomad visa and no retirement visa, so long-stayers run on border hops, agent-assisted renewals or a sponsored business visa. The proposed Golden Visa is a draft, not law.

45 days free · 12 countries90-day e-visa · $50No nomad or retirement visa
Pick your passport

Which Vietnam visa route are you on?

Every rule below is written out in full whichever passport you choose — the selector just filters. Rules checked August 2026; the underlying regime has been stable since August 2023.

Pick a passport, or read all three routes.

NO VISA

45 days visa-free — twelve nationalities

Turn up with a passport and a return or onward ticket. No application, no fee, no paperwork. The exemption has been extended through to 2028, which is unusually long notice by Vietnamese standards.

  • 45 days from the date of entry, single or multiple entry depending on your nationality's terms.
  • Passport valid for at least six months beyond entry, with blank pages.
  • You may be asked for proof of onward travel at check-in rather than at immigration — airlines enforce this more than Vietnam does.
  • If you need longer than 45 days, apply for the $50 e-visa instead before you fly. You cannot upgrade an exemption to a visa after you land.
  • The exemption is for tourism and general visits. Working locally on it is not permitted, whatever your laptop is doing.
All 12 nationalities on this list

United Kingdom · Germany · France · Italy · Spain · Japan · South Korea · Denmark · Sweden · Norway · Finland · Belarus

Compare flights to Da Nang ↗
E-VISA $50

The 90-day multiple-entry e-visa — nearly everyone else

The standard route, and it works well. $50, up to 90 days, multiple entry, applied for online before you travel. Since August 2023 it has been open to citizens of every country, which makes it the default answer for most visitors to Da Nang.

  • $50 (about 1,275,000₫) for the 90-day multiple-entry version. A cheaper single-entry option exists; the multiple-entry one is worth the difference if there is any chance of a side trip to Laos, Cambodia or Thailand.
  • Apply online, before you fly, through the government portal. Processing is usually about three working days — allow a week.
  • You need a passport scan, a passport-style photo, your intended entry date and your intended port of entry. Da Nang International (DAD) is an approved e-visa port.
  • Print the approval letter or keep it accessible offline. Immigration will ask for it.
  • Use the official government site. A wall of lookalike agency sites charge $80–150 for the same $50 application, and they rank above the real one on some search terms.
  • Overstaying is fined at the airport on departure and creates a record. Do not improvise with it.
A sample — the e-visa is open to all nationalities

United States · Canada · Australia · New Zealand · Ireland · Netherlands · Belgium · Austria · Switzerland · Portugal · Poland · Czechia · India · South Africa · Brazil · Mexico

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IT GETS MESSY

Staying longer — and why there is no easy answer

This is Vietnam's structural weakness as a long-stay destination and the honest reason Da Nang has not simply taken Chiang Mai's crown. There is no digital nomad visa and no retirement visa. Everything below is a workaround.

  • The border run. Ninety days on the e-visa, then a land crossing into Laos or a cheap flight to Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur, then a fresh e-visa. This is how most of Da Nang's long-stay population lives, and it is called visa churn for a reason.
  • Reported crackdowns on serial visa-runners. Residents describe increased scrutiny of repeat entries, and there is no guarantee of re-entry — the decision is the border officer's. Treat a fourth or fifth consecutive run as a real risk, not a formality.
  • Agent-assisted renewals. Local agencies handle in-country extensions and conversions. Costs and outcomes vary and the rules move; get a current quote rather than trusting a forum post from last year.
  • Business visa via a sponsor. A Vietnamese company sponsors the application. Legitimate, common, and it requires an actual sponsoring relationship.
  • The DT investor visa requires a capital contribution starting around $115,000 and rises in tiers from there.
  • Work permit plus temporary residence card (TRC) is the only fully clean long-stay route for someone working here. It is also the only route that lets you convert a driving licence.
  • The Golden Visa is proposed, not law. A drafted 5–10 year residence scheme with Da Nang among the pilot cities has been widely reported. It has not been enacted. Say "proposed" every time you read otherwise, and do not plan around it.
Long-stay travel insurance ↗

Immigration rules are the one thing on this site you should verify against the official government portal on the day you apply — they change without much notice and this page was checked in August 2026. Nothing here is legal advice.

The e-visa in practice

How the $50 e-visa actually goes

It is one of the more painless visa processes in Southeast Asia, and the only real trap is which website you land on.

Apply about two weeks before you fly. Processing is normally around three working days, but the queue lengthens before Tet and through the summer peak. You will need a scan of the photo page of your passport, a plain passport-style photograph, your intended entry and exit dates, and the port of entry — Da Nang International is on the approved list, so you can fly straight in.

Use the government portal, not an agency. The genuine application costs $50. Agency sites reproduce the form, charge $80–150, and add nothing except an email. Several of them outrank the official site on common search terms, which is exactly why so many travellers overpay.

Print the approval. Immigration at DAD wants the letter and your passport, and the queue at 01:00 after a long-haul connection is not where you want to be hunting for a PDF on a dead phone. If you want to skip that queue entirely, airport fast-track sells from about $23.

Compared

The three routes, side by side

Costs at 25,500₫ to the dollar, checked August 2026.

RouteLengthCostVerdict
45-day visa exemption45 daysFreeWORTH IT
90-day multiple-entry e-visaUp to 90 days$50 (about 1,275,000₫)WORTH IT
Single-entry e-visaUp to 30 or 90 daysCheaper than the multiple-entry versionDEPENDS
Border run and re-entryAnother 90 days, if they let you inA flight or bus, plus a fresh $50DEPENDS
Business visa via a sponsorMonthsAgency and sponsor feesDEPENDS
DT investor visaYearsFrom about $115,000 investedSKIP
Work permit plus TRC1–2 years, renewableEmployer-dependentWORTH IT
Proposed Golden Visa5–10 years, if it becomes lawUnknown — it is a draftSKIP

The Golden Visa row is included because you will read about it elsewhere as though it exists. It is a drafted scheme, with Da Nang named among the pilot cities, and it has not been enacted. Nothing about it is bookable, applicable or plannable in 2026.

Before you fly

The three things to sort before the visa is even relevant

None of these is the visa. All three are things people arrive without and then pay more for at the airport.

Our pick
Kiwi.com
Flights into Da Nang (DAD)
See live fares one way, from
Book the onward or return leg before you apply — both the 45-day exemption and the e-visa expect you to be able to show it, and airlines check it at the gate more often than Vietnamese immigration does. DAD handled 7.8 million passengers in 2025 across 18 international routes.
Compare fares ↗
Airalo
Vietnam eSIM
See live plans data only, from
Install it before you land and you walk out of arrivals straight into a Grab at 70,000–120,000₫ rather than negotiating with the taxi touts who intercept people at the door. Data is what makes this city cheap.
Compare plans ↗
SafetyWing
Travel medical insurance
See live quote per month, from
Vietnam does not require proof of insurance for the e-visa, which is not a reason to skip it. Serious treatment means an evacuation flight to Ho Chi Minh City or Bangkok, and riding a scooter without a licence Vietnam recognises voids most policies outright.
Check cover ↗
Questions people actually search

Vietnam visa FAQ

Do I need a visa for Vietnam?

It depends on your passport. Twelve nationalities — the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, South Korea, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Belarus — get 45 days visa-free, and that exemption runs to 2028. Everyone else, including US, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and Irish citizens, needs the e-visa, which is $50 for 90 days multiple entry.

How much is the Vietnam e-visa?

$50, about 1,275,000₫, for the 90-day multiple-entry version, applied for online before you travel. A cheaper single-entry version exists. Agency websites charge $80–150 for the identical application and add nothing — use the official government portal.

How long does the Vietnam e-visa take?

Usually about three working days, but apply roughly two weeks ahead. Queues lengthen before Tet and through the June–August peak. You need a passport scan, a photo, your dates and your port of entry — Da Nang International is an approved e-visa port.

Is there a digital nomad visa for Vietnam?

No. There is no digital nomad visa and no retirement visa as of 2026, and this is the single biggest structural weakness in Da Nang's case as a long-stay base. What exists is the 90-day e-visa plus a border-run culture, agent-assisted renewals, sponsored business visas, the DT investor visa from about $115,000, and a work permit with a residence card.

What is the Vietnam Golden Visa?

A proposed 5–10 year residence scheme, with Da Nang named among the pilot cities. It is a draft. It has not been enacted, no application process exists, and nobody can tell you what it will cost or who will qualify. Treat every article about it as speculation about a bill, not a route you can take.

Can you do visa runs from Da Nang?

People do, constantly — a land crossing into Laos or a cheap flight to Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur, then a fresh 90-day e-visa. Two honest caveats: residents report crackdowns on serial visa-runners, and re-entry is at the border officer's discretion. There is no guarantee, and a run that has worked three times can fail on the fourth.

Can I extend a visa inside Vietnam?

Extensions and conversions exist and local agencies handle them, but the costs and the outcomes vary and the rules shift. Get a current quote from an agency in Da Nang rather than relying on a forum thread. Do not plan a trip on the assumption that an extension will be granted.

Do I need proof of onward travel for Vietnam?

In practice the airline asks, not immigration. Both the 45-day exemption and the e-visa are issued on the understanding that you are leaving, and check-in staff at your departure airport are the ones who enforce it. Have a return or onward booking ready to show.

Keep deciding

Continue planning

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