Proposal on 30-day Vietnam Visa Exemption for UK Citizens for 5 Years

UK citizens are currently entitled to 15-day Vietnam visa exemption. However, this policy will expire on June 30, 2016 after 1 year of implementation. What will happen then?

With positive responses from this policy indicated via increasing number of foreign arrivals in Vietnam in the past 10 months, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism submitted a proposal on extending visa exemption for UK citizens as well as citizens of other 4 countries (Spain, France, Italy and Germany) to another five years.

In addition, based on feedbacks of many travelers saying that 2 weeks would be not enough for them to discover Vietnam, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism also propose to extend exemption validity for these citizens to 30 days from the current 15 days.

If this proposal is approved, it will become a great encourage for UK citizens as well as citizens of Spain, France, Italy and Germany to travel to Vietnam.

At the moment, all UK citizens are allowed to enter and stay in Vietnam for 15 days without a visa if:

  1. Their passport is valid for at least 6 months since their arrival date;
  2. Their arrival date is not within 30 days from exit date of the last stay in Vietnam with visa exemption.

Otherwise, they need a visa for Vietnam. And if this is the case, a Vietnam visa for UK can be obtained in two ways:

  1. Apply for visa at Vietnam embassy in UK or in a third party;
  2. Apply for Vietnam visa on arrival.

For more information about these two ways for visa application for UK citizens, refer to the link: http://vietnam-visa.co.uk/.