Post covid19, Vietnam had a variety of suitable visas for categories such as tourist visa, work visa, investment visa, relative visit visa, and business visa. Foreigners who enter Vietnam for short-term work or long-term work, the most suitable type of visa is a business visa – DN symbol.
The most important and initial process for foreigners to visit Vietnam is to have an invitation letter from an enterprise, company, or agency and should be issued by the Vietnamese Immigration Department.
In this article, GPO will provide information on the process of business visas for foreigners coming to work or for business in Vietnam.
Let’s understand the step by step process as follows:
Procedures for applying for a business visa for foreigners.
- Foreigners and enterprises in Vietnam confirm the date of entry into Vietnam
- Foreigner workers and foreigner investors need to prepare the application for the business visa mentioned below.
- Business sponsors for foreigners will then receive a confirmed letter of entry for immigration authorities to get the visa stamped on the passport
- Processing time is 3-5 business days
- The confirmed entry letter can be shared either by Email or fax to the foreigner by the enterprise. Both are acceptable by the Vietnamese Immigration
- The entry letter mentions clearly where the visa stamp would be done it should be either at the respective Vietnamese embassy/consulate in your country or at arrival at the Vietnamese International airport
Here are the documents required for application of business visa:
1. The Foreigner who work at the representative office of foreign companies or for a Vietnamese business in Vietnam.
A. Requirements for business office and foreigner
- The Business office should be operational in Vietnam at the time of application for the invitation letter and with valid foreigner hiring business license
- Foreigner’s passports must have an above of 6 months validity before expiry/passport renewal date and are not subject to any entry ban
B. Visa application from business office
- An legalised copy of the business operating license
- A NA16 registration form with business seal and signature of the director
- In case new visa, fill out the Application Form (NA2) for Vietnam Immigration for foreigners
- In case reissuing of visa, fill out the NA5 visa application and extension form
- If having existing Work permit or work permit exemption documents
- A letter of recommendation for the business office and should send a office staff to complete the procedure
C. Verification and issuing of visa approval letter to the applied business office.
- The applied document as mentioned above is to be submitted in set of one to the Immigration Department.
- All the submitted documents with visa approval letters would be returned by the Immigration Department after 05 working days.
2. Foreign investor need to prepare the following documents:
- Business license / Investment license of the business registration in Vietnam with legalised notarized copies
- Enterprise seal registration certificate, also known as notice of posting information about the enterprise’s seal sample
- Form NA16 – Registration of seal and signature of the legal representative of an organization operating in Vietnam
- NA5 Form – Application form for visa, visa extension, temporary residence extension for foreigners in Vietnam
- Original passport still valid with 6 months+ duration of the application of visa.
- Temporary residence registration according to regulations.
Now let’s understand the types of Business Visa for Vietnam
There are 6 types of Vietnam business visas which are categorized with a combination of validity and the number of entries.
- 1 month single entry visa;
- 1 month multiple entry visa;
- 3 months single entry visa;
- 3 months multiple entry visa;
- 6 months multiple entry visa; and
- 1 year multiple entry visa.
The business visa fee depends on the place of visa stamping on your passport as well as number of pax visiting together, which are as follow:
- Visa on arrival: please see the table below.
- E-visa: Not available for business visa.
- Visa at the embassy: Please contact the local embassy of Vietnam in your country for the procedure.
| Table 1 : The fee for each type of Visa on arrival |
| Type of visa | 1 pax | 2 pax | 3+ pax | Stamping fee |
| 1 month single entry | $119 | $114 | $108 | $25 |
| 3 months single entry | $140 | $133 | $126 | $25 |
| 1 month multiple entry | $119 | $114 | $108 | $50 |
| 3 months multiple entry | $146 | $139 | $135 | $50 |
| 6 months multiple entry | $361 | $344 | $333 | $95 |
An additional fee would be applicable for process faster, which are as below:
- US $30/pax for 3 working days processing;
- US $50/pax for 2 working days processing.
The two options for getting visa stamped on your passport are:
- Visa on arrival:
- For this type of visa, you need to bring the emailed scan copy or faxed confirmed entry letter from Vietnamese immigration office and two recent passport sized photos.
- On arrival at the airport you would have to fill an application form of immigration with more details on your purpose of visit, then submit this application form along with your passport, photo and most important confirmed letter of entry from Vietnamese immigration office.
- Once all this is submitted you need to pay the fee and wait for a few minutes at the airport, as it would depend at the time of your arrival. There are no fixed waiting hours for getting the visa stamped, but normally it is around 15 minutes.
- Business visa at the embassy/consulate:
- The documents required here are the same as that required for a visa on arrival, the only difference is, that you won’t have to wait at the airport, as once the visa is stamped on your passport it’s confirmed that you can enter Vietnam. The only difference would be the fee, as generally it is higher compared to visa on arrival.
HOW GPO CAN ASSIST
Hopefully this article was helpful in your research relating to FDI in Vietnam. And we at GPO can assist you by providing market research as per your requirements. We can also assist you in recruiting an freelancer to generate revenue before setting-up office in Vietnam and if everything goes as per your expectations we can also assist with business visa process as well as business legal advice for getting your business registered in Vietnam and then offer our core service of been your HR business partner in Managing your daily HR activities, as we are an HR business consultancy firm in Vietnam. So, please do connect with us and let us be your long-term partner in Vietnam.
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