Vietnam has eight legal ways to enter or stay in the country in 2026, and picking the wrong one either wastes money or forces an unplanned border run. Staying under 45 days? Citizens of 24 countries walk in visa-free. Longer trip, remote work, or multiple visits inside 90 days? The e-visa is the default, costing $25-$50. Working for a Vietnamese employer, investing, married to a Vietnamese citizen, or classified as high-skilled talent? Each of those has its own dedicated visa track, and none of them substitute for one another.
I live in Da Nang and help people sort exactly this question every week, so here’s the actual decision tree, not a copy of the immigration department’s homepage.
| Option | Who it’s for | Max stay | Cost | Renewable without leaving? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 45-day visa exemption | Citizens of 24 countries (France, Germany, UK, Russia, Japan, South Korea, and 19 others) | 45 days, multiple entry | Free | No - exit and re-enter to reset |
| 90-day e-visa | Any nationality | 90 days, single or multiple entry | $25 single / $50 multiple | No - must exit and reapply |
| Visa on arrival | Group tours, urgent travel with a pre-approval letter | Same as approval letter | $25 stamping fee + service cost | No |
| Work Permit + LD2 visa | Employees of a Vietnam-registered company | Up to 2 years, tied to the permit | Permit itself ~$100-300 depending on province | N/A - separate visa layered on top |
| TRC (Temporary Residence Card) | Work permit holders, investors, spouses/dependents | 1-10 years depending on category | ~$145-320 new issue, ~$10 renewal | Yes, for its own duration |
| Investor visa (DT1-DT4) | Anyone with registered capital in a Vietnamese company | 1-5 years depending on capital tier | Government fee + registration costs | Tied to visa tier |
| 5-Year Visa Exemption Certificate | Overseas Vietnamese (Viet Kieu) and their foreign spouse/children | Up to 180 days per entry, 5-year certificate | ~$20-50 | No - re-enters within the 5-year window |
| UD1/UD2 talent visa (new July 1, 2026) | High-skilled tech/finance professionals and their family | Up to 5 years | Government fee, capped 3-day processing once approved | Yes, matches visa duration |
How Long Can I Stay in Vietnam Without Getting Any Visa at All?
Citizens of 24 countries get 45 days visa-free, multiple entry, at no cost. The original list - France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland - got the exemption renewed under Resolution 44/NQ-CP in March 2025. A second group of 12 (Czech Republic, Switzerland, Poland, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Greece, San Marino) was added under Resolution 229/NQ-CP, running through August 14, 2028.
This exemption is the right call for a genuine short trip. It’s the wrong call the moment you plan to stay past 45 days or you’re not from one of those 24 countries - you’ll need the e-visa instead, and there’s no way to convert a visa-free entry into a longer stay from inside the country. That’s the exact moment our visa run service from Da Nang picks up - getting the e-visa or border reset arranged before the 45 days actually run out.
What Visa Do I Need for a Longer Trip, Remote Work, or Multiple Visits?
The 90-day e-visa is open to every nationality, costs $25 for single entry or $50 for multiple entry, and takes about three working days to process officially. It covers 83 airports, land borders, and seaports, which is why it’s the default for digital nomads and anyone doing remote work from Vietnam - there’s still no standalone nomad visa here. A full breakdown of what a visa run actually costs, border by border, is in my visa-run cost guide.
The catch that trips people up: an e-visa can’t be extended or renewed while you’re in the country. When the 90 days run out, you leave Vietnam and come back on a fresh one. That’s the whole reason visa runs to Laos or Cambodia exist as a category of travel. This is where I usually get involved - I run the border crossing to Laos and back as a single-day trip, pay the government e-visa fee on a card the portal actually accepts (it rejects a lot of foreign cards), and get people re-stamped without losing two days to a DIY attempt. If that sounds easier than fighting the portal yourself, message me on Telegram with your dates and I’ll walk you through it.
What Visa Do I Need If a Vietnamese Company Is Employing Me?
If you’re on payroll with a Vietnam-registered employer, you need a Work Permit paired with an LD2 labor visa. Since Decree 219/2025 took effect on August 7, 2025, processing dropped to 10 working days, and the application has to go in 10-60 days before your start date. Fifteen categories are exempt from needing the permit at all - investors, project managers, licensed foreign lawyers, and staff in a handful of priority tech roles among them.
Once you have the permit, you can apply for a TRC good for up to two years, renewed alongside the permit. Skip the Work Permit step and you’re working illegally on a tourist e-visa, which is a real risk during any audit or workplace inspection. I laid out the full Work Permit vs. TRC vs. investor visa comparison, with the fee tiers, in a separate breakdown.
What Visa Do I Need If I’m Investing in a Vietnamese Business?
Capital contribution decides your tier. DT1 (VND 100 billion or more, or a priority sector/region) gets a 5-year visa and a TRC valid up to 10 years. DT2 (VND 50-100 billion) still gets a 5-year visa but a 5-year TRC.
DT3 (VND 3-50 billion) drops to a 3-year visa and TRC. DT4, under VND 3 billion, only gets a 1-year visa with no TRC option and no family sponsorship - you renew annually and can’t bring dependents on the same basis. That gap between DT3 and DT4 matters more than the headline “investor visa” label suggests: a small shareholding gets you a visa, but not the long-term residence card that makes life administratively simple.
Am I Eligible for the 5-Year Exemption? (Overseas Vietnamese and Spouses)
If you’re Viet Kieu - a Vietnamese national living abroad - or the foreign spouse or child of one, you can apply for a 5-Year Visa Exemption Certificate. It costs roughly $20-50 and lets you stay up to 180 days per entry, extendable around six more months with a local sponsor.
The certificate itself stays valid for five years of multiple entries, and it’s the cleanest long-term option in this whole list if you actually qualify - no annual renewal, no employer sponsorship required. I compared it head-to-head against the TRC and the plain e-visa in this guide.
What’s New for Vietnam Visas in 2026?
Two changes actually matter this year. First, UD1 and UD2 visas launch July 1, 2026, under Law No. 118/2025/QH15 - UD1 targets high-quality tech, finance, and research talent plus key investors, UD2 covers their spouse and children under 18, both valid up to five years.
The top IFC-linked UD1 tier carries a TRC up to 10 years. Second, overstay penalties got sharply heavier: a decree effective December 15, 2025 doubled the maximum fine to VND 40 million (about $1,520) for overstays past a year - I broke down the full fine-by-day schedule here, with deportation risk starting at just 16 days over. I tracked every other rule change for 2026, including the pre-arrival form below, in one place here.
The One Step Everyone Forgets: the PAI Pre-Arrival Declaration
Regardless of which visa or exemption you’re using, Vietnam now requires a free Pre-Arrival Information (PAI) declaration submitted online at prearrival.immigration.gov.vn up to three days before you land.
It became mandatory at Tan Son Nhat (Ho Chi Minh City) on April 15, 2026, at Phu Quoc on June 1, 2026, and has been expanding to Hanoi and Da Nang through the rest of the year. Skip it and you can be held up at immigration even with a perfectly valid visa.
How Do I Actually Decide Which One Fits Me?
Answer these in order: How many days total? Under 45 and your passport is on the exemption list, you’re done, no paperwork. Over 45, or your country isn’t listed, or you’ll re-enter multiple times - e-visa. Getting paid by a Vietnamese company - Work Permit and LD2, not a tourist visa.
Putting money into a Vietnamese business - investor visa, tiered by capital. Vietnamese by blood or married in - check the 5-Year Exemption first, it’s usually the least paperwork. None of these fit and you’re a senior tech or finance specialist - UD1 might, starting mid-2026.
Sorting through eight visa categories to find the one that actually fits your situation is exactly the kind of thing I do daily for people landing in Da Nang. If the 90-day e-visa is your path and you’d rather not fight with a payment portal that rejects half the foreign cards it sees, book directly on danangvisarun.com, send me your dates on Telegram, or reach out on WhatsApp if you’re not on Telegram - I’ll tell you honestly which of these eight options is worth your time before you fill out a single form.
Frequently asked questions
Can I switch from a tourist e-visa to a Work Permit without leaving Vietnam? No. The Work Permit and its LD2 visa are issued through your employer’s application, and in most cases you still need to exit and re-enter on the LD2 once it’s approved - you can’t convert an existing e-visa in-country.
Does the 45-day exemption reset if I leave and come back the same day? Yes, technically each entry gets a fresh 45 days, but immigration officers do watch for obvious back-to-back border runs on the exemption and can question the pattern, unlike a standard e-visa visa run which is an accepted, established practice.
Do I need the PAI declaration if I already have a visa-exempt stamp? Yes. PAI applies to every foreign national regardless of visa type, including the 45-day exemption and the 5-Year Certificate - it’s a separate requirement, not a visa substitute.
What happens if my TRC expires while I’m still in the country? You become an overstay case under Decree 282/2025 the same as any other visa, with fines starting around $19 for the first two weeks and climbing toward $1,520 plus deportation risk the longer it runs.
Is there any legal way to work remotely for a foreign company on a tourist e-visa? There’s no dedicated digital nomad visa in Vietnam yet, so most remote workers use the 90-day e-visa and treat the 90-day cycle as a built-in visa run - legally you’re a tourist, not employed by a Vietnamese entity, which is the distinction immigration actually cares about.
Can a DT4 investor visa holder ever move up to DT3 or higher? Yes, if the registered capital in the company increases past the VND 3 billion threshold at the next renewal, you can reapply at the higher tier and pick up TRC eligibility you didn’t have before.
