What is a valid vaccine passport for Vietnam visa application and entry into Vietnam?

Currently, Covid Vaccination Certificate (also known as Proof of Vaccination, or Covid Vaccine passport) or Covid Recovery Certificate has become one of the important documents in the entry process of many countries around the world, including Vietnam.

Vietnam authorities have recently said they agree with the vaccine passport, so an entrant into Vietnam with a vaccine passport (legalized as regulated) will be eligible for a 7-day concentrated quarantine (instead of 14 days of quarantine as before). In addition, the government has also made proposals for vaccine passports when the situation goes as planned, specifically such as:

• No quarantine from January 2022 and can visit other destinations in Vietnam after a 7-day tour in a specified destination upon arrival in Vietnam (Kien Giang, Nha Trang, Da Nang, Quang Nam, Quang Ninh to be expected), and then
• No quarantine and restrictions from April 2022.

So: “Which country’s Vaccine Passport/Covid Recovery Certificate can be used directly in Vietnam? Which country’s Vaccine Passport/Covid Recovery Certificate needs consular legalization to be able to use to enter Vietnam?”.

This article will guide you fully on how to check as well as the administrative procedures to follow.

List of COVID-19 Vaccination/Recovery Certificates accepted by Vietnam

Vietnam currently accepts Covid-19 vaccine passports/Covid recovery certificates of 78 countries and territories (updated on December 9, 2021 on the website of the Consular Department – Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam) that have been recommended to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Vietnam.

Also here are the 8 type of vaccines approved for use in Vietnam, including, AstraZeneca, Gam-COVID-Vac (also known as SPUTNIK V), Vero Cell, Pfizer/BioNTech’s Comirnaty, Spikevax Vaccine (Alternatively Moderna), the vaccine. Janssen vaccine, Hayat-Vax vaccine and Abdala vaccine.

Below is a list of those countries and the accepted certifications:

Canada has introduced a sample of the vaccination certificate to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, but this country has asked to withdraw from the list of recognizing this vaccine passport.

If your form is on the list, you can be directly used for Vietnam visa application and entry. If not, you’ll need to legalize your form following the instructions below.

How to legalize Vaccine Passport/Covid Recovery Certificate

All forms of Vaccine Passport/Covid Recovery Certificate that are not yet approved by the Vietnamese government (not on the list mentioned in Part 1) will need to be legalized in 2 steps as follows:

• Authentication by the competent authority of the origin country, and then
• Legalization by the Vietnam embassy/consulate in the origin country.

The authority competent for authentication in the origin country may vary from country to country, for example:

• It can be provincial and territorial authentication service or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs if your form is issued in Canada;
• It is the Supreme Court of Hong Kong if your form is issued in Hong Kong;
• It is the  Office of Authentications – U.S. Department of State if your form is issued in Hong Kong;

It is:

• the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (for United Kingdom),
• the Department of Foreign Affairs (for Ireland), or
• the Legalization Offices in the UK Crown Dependencies (Jersey, Guernsey, Isle of Man).

We will keep you updated on any new developments about vaccine passports in Vietnam. Let’s follow if you need to get immediately updated on any new development of vaccine passport policy in Vietnam.