You’re in the immigration line at Tan Son Nhat or Noi Bai, bag in one hand, phone in the other, and the officer wants your documents in order - not explained to you one by one. This is the checklist I hand first-time flyers now that the Digital Arrival Card is part of the counter routine: what to have open and ready before you step up, the order it gets checked in, and what actually happens if your QR code, your visa, or your flight details don’t line up.

What the Digital Arrival Card Is - and Isn’t

The Digital Arrival Card, also called the Pre-Arrival Information declaration, is an electronic declaration at prearrival.immigration.gov.vn. It isn’t a visa and doesn’t replace one - your existing visa or exemption requirements stay in force separately. Its job is to collect trip data before you reach the passport counter.

The service is completely free. Vietnam’s Immigration Department separately warned about fake lookalike sites asking for card payment by credit card - the same scam pattern as the fake evisagov.vn clone for e-visas. There’s exactly one official address, no third-party portals involved.

Passport and visa application form on a desk with a laptop and calculator
Filling out the Digital Arrival Card only takes a few minutes online, the same desk work as any other paperwork before a flight.

How to Fill Out prearrival.immigration.gov.vn - Step by Step

The official procedure from the Immigration Department’s notice:

  1. Go to prearrival.immigration.gov.vn or scan the Immigration Department’s QR code.
  2. Pick a language - Vietnamese, English, Chinese, French, and others are available.
  3. Tap “Create and submit declaration,” pass the captcha.
  4. Fill in personal details, visa info (or your exemption basis), and flight details - your flight number needs to match your PNR exactly; that mismatch is the single most common reason a first submission fails.
  5. Submit, and save the QR code you’re issued - keep it on your phone, and screenshot or print it as backup.

You can submit anytime within 3 days (72 hours) before you fly, from any device with internet. The official process doesn’t mention a photo upload requirement - I couldn’t confirm that either way, so assume you won’t need one, but be ready in case the form asks.

In the pilot’s first 15 days at Tan Son Nhat (15-30 April 2026), 161,596 declarations were submitted, with 119,854 confirmed - roughly one in four first attempts didn’t go through, mostly over flight number mismatches.

What a Border Officer Actually Checks

Skip ahead to the counter for a second, because this is the part most people actually want to know. There’s no official list of verbal questions an immigration officer asks, but current practice looks like this: they’ll want your e-visa or exemption basis (printout or screenshot, dates and duration visible), they’ll match your passport against whatever’s on file for you, and - where the card is required - they’ll scan your Digital Arrival Card QR code. Flying in? A return or onward ticket sometimes gets asked for too, but that’s an airline check-in rule, not something Vietnam itself requires - which is exactly why it almost never comes up if you’re crossing on land at Lao Bao or Moc Bai; there’s no check-in counter there to ask.

Nobody’s turned up official data on fines or outright entry denial tied specifically to a missing card. What a handful of independent travel outlets do report is a longer wait and extra questions at the counter - plausible, since the officer ends up typing the same data in by hand, but that’s observed practice, not a published penalty.

One personal data point: on my own arrival at an airport where the card is already officially in force, nobody asked for it at the counter at all. Based on what we’ve seen as of August 2026, that’s not unusual - enforcement in practice varies noticeably by shift and by checkpoint. That’s not a reason to skip filling it out: the requirement is formally in force, and betting on not being asked is the wrong bet - it’s just not something to panic over either way.

Traveler holding a conical hat while taking in a mountain panorama in northern Vietnam
Filling out the Digital Arrival Card takes a few minutes on your phone - the rest of the trip, like this mountain view, is what you're actually here for.

Where It Applies - And Where It Doesn’t (Yet)

This is where most of the confusion is, and I want to be honest about which parts are solid and which aren’t.

Land border crossings are the part that matters most if you’re planning a visa run out of Da Nang, so I’ll lead with that: the official notice is direct - expansion to land border gates is only being studied, jointly with relevant agencies, with no checkpoints named and no date attached. I went looking specifically for news between June and August 2026 on each visa-run crossing - Prek Chak, Ha Tien, Moc Bai, Lao Bao - and came up with nothing: no direct publication confirms any of them is connected. Secondary sources mention Dong Dang (that’s the China border, irrelevant to visa runs out of central or southern Vietnam), but even that lacks an official source behind it. Bottom line for August 2026: crossing on land through Moc Bai or Lao Bao means no Digital Arrival Card needed - the only reason you’d need one is a separate flight through one of the airports below.

Green hills of the Moc Chau tea plantations in northern Vietnam
While you sort out your arrival card, the Moc Chau tea plantations in the north are worth adding to the trip.

Airports are a different story, and the story itself is a little tangled. Da Nang, Cam Ranh, and Phu Quoc got added through mid-2026, Noi Bai in Hanoi followed in June, and it all traces back to a pilot the Immigration Department launched at Tan Son Nhat on 15.04.2026. Here’s the wrinkle: that department’s own notice, dated 13.05.2026, described the Tan Son Nhat pilot as voluntary for air passengers, while the US Embassy’s notice - current as of August 2026 - describes Vietnam expanding a mandatory pre-arrival declaration nationwide. No single document I could find pins down exactly when (or whether, formally) Tan Son Nhat flipped from voluntary to mandatory. Taken together, though, the requirement behaves as mandatory by August 2026 at every airport just listed.

Lantern-lined street with sidewalk cafes in Hoi An’s old town
Hoi An's old town is a common day trip from Da Nang, the starting point for most Lao Bao visa runs.

If You’re on an E-Visa, Not an Exemption

The Digital Arrival Card is submitted regardless of entry type - whether you’re on an e-visa or a visa exemption. If you still need to apply for your actual visa, the only official portal is evisa.gov.vn or the mirrored thithucdientu.gov.vn. The domain evisagov.vn without a dot before “gov” is a scam clone - never enter your passport or card details there.

I handle e-visa applications end to end: take your passport details, pay the official fee myself, and make sure the entry point on your visa matches your actual visa-run route - get that wrong and you’re stuck explaining at the border why you arrived somewhere other than what’s on the document. If you’re running a visa out of Da Nang, here’s the Lao Bao crossing guide with distances and pricing.

Tropical beach with palm trees in Nha Trang
While the border paperwork settles into a routine, Nha Trang stays worth the detour.

If you’d rather have someone else handle both the visa and the Digital Arrival Card instead of juggling two separate government portals yourself - message me on Telegram and I’ll work out the timing for your trip and handle the e-visa and visa-run paperwork.

Frequently asked questions

What is Vietnam’s Digital Arrival Card, and is it mandatory in 2026? It’s an electronic pre-arrival declaration at prearrival.immigration.gov.vn - not a visa, an extra step before you fly. At the covered airports (Tan Son Nhat, Noi Bai, Da Nang, Cam Ranh, Phu Quoc) you’re asked to show it on arrival; for land border crossings used for visa runs, there’s no confirmed official requirement as of August 2026.

How do I fill out prearrival.immigration.gov.vn - step by step? Go to the site or scan the Immigration Department’s QR code, pick a language, tap “Create and submit declaration”, pass a captcha, and enter your personal, visa, and flight details. After submitting, the system issues a QR code - save it on your phone or print it.

Is the Digital Arrival Card free or paid? Free. The Immigration Department separately warned about fake lookalike sites asking for payment - that’s a scam. The official service never charges.

How many days before arrival do I need to submit it? Anytime within 3 days (72 hours) before entering Vietnam, from any internet-connected device.

Does it replace a Vietnam visa? No. It’s a separate information declaration. Your visa or exemption requirements stay exactly the same.

Which airports already enforce it in 2026? Tan Son Nhat, Noi Bai (from June 2026), Da Nang, Cam Ranh, and Phu Quoc, based on available sources. No single official document lists exact rollout dates for every airport, but the US Embassy confirms the expansion covers all Vietnam airports.

Do I need it for a land crossing like Lao Bao or Moc Bai? No confirmation either way as of 12 August 2026. The official notice says land border expansion is only being studied, with no named checkpoints and no date.

What happens if I don’t fill it out before arrival? No official fines or entry denial are documented. A few travel outlets report longer counter waits - that’s practice, not a stated penalty.

How do I tell the real site from a fake one? There’s exactly one official domain - prearrival.immigration.gov.vn. The service is free; any site charging for it isn’t official.

What documents does a border officer actually check? Passport, the Digital Arrival Card QR code where required, e-visa or exemption basis, and sometimes a return ticket for air travelers. There’s no official list of verbal questions.