Vietnam visa fees to be cut in November to boost tourist arrivals

Starting November 23, the single-entry visa will go down US$25 instead of the current US$45, whereas the fee for multiple-entry visas valid for up to 3 months will reduce from US$95 to US$50, according to Circular 157 by the Ministry of Finance.

The multiple-entry visa valid for above three and up to six months remains US$95 per person, and US$135 per person for between six months and a year.

The fee for a visa valid for between one and two years is US$145, and from two to five years, US$155.

“The visa fee adjustments are intended to boost tourism,” an official from the Ministry’s tax policy department told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Tuesday. “We have referred to the visa fees in other regional countries to decide on the new rates for Vietnam.”

For those who are exempted for Vietnam visa, if they wish to re-enter Vietnam within 30 days of their departure, they will pay only US$5 instead of US$45 as currently charged, the official added. In fact, many tourists first visit Vietnam then they travel to Laos and Cambodia and come back to Vietnam to return to their home countries because Vietnam is now connected to more international flights than the other two countries.

This policy will encourage more travelers to visit Vietnam on a typical three-country package, they told Tuoi Tre.

Up to now, Vietnam applies one-way free visa policy to eight countries, including Japan, South Korea, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, Belarus, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and the UK. In addition, Vietnam also has a visa-free policy for nine Southeast Asian countries, including Brunei, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines.

Vietnam is making the effort to win back foreign visitors, after international arrivals dropped continuously for 13 months from May 2014.

Source: Tuoi Tre News