The Vietnam e‑visa application portal is the government website at evisa.gov.vn, the only official place where you upload a passport scan and a portrait, fill in one form, pay by card and wait for an emailed decision. The fee is $25 for single entry or $50 for multiple entry, and the decision normally lands within 3 working days. I file these applications for travellers every week, and the form itself is the easy part. Payment, waiting and the missing phone line are where people lose days.
How do you apply on the Vietnam e‑visa portal, step by step?
Open evisa.gov.vn, choose the option for foreigners and work through four screens: uploads, personal and passport details, trip details, payment. With your files ready it takes around 20 minutes. Once the form is complete the portal shows a registration code, and that code is the only key to your application status later.
- Type evisa.gov.vn into the address bar yourself and choose the option for foreigners.
- Upload a scan of the passport photo page and a plain portrait taken straight on, without glasses.
- Enter passport details, occupation, home address, arrival and departure dates and the entry checkpoint.
- Copy the registration code the portal shows. It also arrives by email, but the screen comes first.
- Pay by card: $25 for single entry, $50 for multiple entry, and neither is refunded if the application is refused.
What should you have ready before you open the form?
Have four things on hand: a passport valid for at least 6 months from your entry date, a sharp scan of its photo page, a straight-on portrait and a card the portal will accept. Ten minutes of preparation saves a failed upload or a bounced payment.
A phone photo is fine for both uploads if the light is even and the passport page is flat. Glare across the laminated page is what ruins most phone scans, so I shoot it near a window and not under a lamp. The portal asks for no studio picture. A screenshot cropped from the passport photo is a classic mistake that ends in a refusal. The exact photo rules are in my note on what photo the Vietnam e‑visa accepts, and the fields that cause most refusals are listed in where people go wrong on the e‑visa form.
Which website is the real Vietnam e‑visa portal?
The official portal runs on evisa.gov.vn and on a second domain, thithucdientu.gov.vn, both operated by the Immigration Department. The older evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn address still works. Any address that does not end in .gov.vn is a middleman that adds a markup to the same government fee.
Search ads for “Vietnam visa” are full of lookalikes, so I type the address myself every time. My checklist for the rest is in how to spot a fake Vietnam e‑visa website.
What happens after you press submit?
After payment the file moves to Processing and the Immigration Department decides within 3 working days. You check the result on the portal’s search page with the registration code, the application email and your date of birth. The status page can show Granted earlier than the notification email arrives, so look there first.
In one documented case from early 2023, an application filed on a Friday evening before a Monday public holiday was approved the following Thursday. That is under six calendar days and still inside the 3-working-day promise. Weekends and holidays do not count, and refreshing the page more often changes nothing about the queue, so I never tell anyone to book a non-refundable flight less than a week after filing. The full routine for reading each status is in how to check your Vietnam e‑visa application status.
Where does the portal leave applicants stuck?
The portal offers a support form but no phone line, so a file sitting on Processing or a card that bounces has nobody to call. The two real traps are payment and photos: the gateway declines many foreign cards, and a blurry scan or a cropped screenshot can end in a refusal with the fee already spent.
For a traveller with a flight in a few days that is expensive, because a second application means a second fee and another 3 working days. I take this step over at BestBus Vietnam: I fill the form from your passport scan, pay the government fee with a card the portal accepts and check every field against the passport before submitting. What is included and how long it takes is on our Vietnam e‑visa 90 days page.
If a payment already failed on you, here is how to fix a failed e‑visa payment. If you would rather not retry it yourself, message me on WhatsApp with your passport details and travel dates.
Should you file the e‑visa application yourself?
File it yourself if your flight is weeks away and your card works on the portal: the form takes about 20 minutes and the fee goes straight to the government. Hand it over when the date is close, because a refusal that burns the fee and a week of waiting is the one outcome you cannot undo.
Once the status says Granted, download the PDF the same day and compare every letter with your passport. If you want a second pair of eyes on the application before it goes in, send me your travel dates on WhatsApp and I will tell you what is realistic to finish before you fly.
Frequently asked questions
How much does the Vietnam e‑visa cost on the official portal?
The official fee is $25 for a single-entry e‑visa and $50 for multiple entry, paid by card at the end of the form. The fee is not refunded if the application is refused, so check the passport details before you pay. Anything above those amounts on another site is a service charge.
Is there a phone number to call about my e‑visa application?
The portal has a support form, not a call centre I can point you to. Quote your registration code in any message, because without it nobody can find your file. Agents cannot move your application up the queue either, so be wary of anyone who claims to.
The status search says "No result found". Is my application lost?
Almost always it is a typo. Re-check the registration code character by character, use the same email as in the application and enter the date of birth in the format the form asks for. The application itself is not lost.
Do I need to print the e‑visa?
Yes, I carry a printed copy as well as the PDF on my phone. Airlines check the e‑visa at check-in, and a printout covers you if a phone dies or the airport network is slow.
