Vietnam E-Visa: The 90-Day Visa and Vietnam Visa Runs

Vietnam’s e-visa is one online visa for stays of up to 90 days, and every nationality can apply. On a US passport you get no visa-free stay, so you need the e-visa or another Vietnamese visa. The choice that matters is single or multiple entry, because a single-entry e-visa ends the moment you leave. Here is what each costs as of October 2026, where to apply, which ports count and how a visa run works.

What the Vietnam e-visa covers and who can apply

The e-visa is a Vietnamese visa issued online by the Vietnam Immigration Department through its electronic system. It is valid for up to 90 days, as a single-entry or a multiple-entry visa, and since 15 Aug 2023 citizens of every country can apply for one (Government of Viet Nam).

Two parts of that rule decide how you plan. The applicant has to be outside Vietnam, which is what turns staying longer into a visa run. And a refusal keeps the fee, so apply with enough time before your flight to fix a mistake and pay again.

Do US citizens need a visa for Vietnam?

Yes. The United States is not on any of Vietnam’s visa-exemption lists, so a US passport holder needs an e-visa or another Vietnamese visa. Visa-free entry covers specific nationalities only, and 24 mostly European countries get 45 days under 2 government resolutions (Government of Viet Nam).

Passports	Visa-free stay	In force
Germany, France, Italy, Spain, UK, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland	45 days from entry	15 Mar 2025 to 14 Mar 2028 (Resolution 44)
Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland	Up to 45 days	15 Aug 2025 to 14 Aug 2028 (Resolution 229)
Brunei, Myanmar, Philippines, Cambodia, Indonesia, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Chile, Panama	Visa-exempt; check the length for your passport	Listed by Vietnam’s national tourism authority
United States	None	Not on any exemption list

If you hold one of the 45-day passports and want a longer stay, the e-visa is one route to up to 90 days with multiple entries (GOV.UK). Every passport without an exemption, the US included, needs the e-visa or another visa.

Vietnam e-visa cost and single vs multiple entry

As of October 2026, a single-entry e-visa costs US$25 and a multiple-entry e-visa costs US$50, each valid for up to 90 days (US Embassy in Vietnam). The extra US$25 pays only for the right to leave Vietnam and come back while the visa’s dates last.

	Single-entry e-visa	Multiple-entry e-visa	45-day exemption
Who can use it	Every nationality	Every nationality	The 24 listed passports only, not US
Longest stay	Up to 90 days	Up to 90 days	45 days
Entries	1	More than 1, inside the visa’s dates	Counted from each entry
Leave and come back on it	No, it ends at your first exit	Yes, through your chosen ports	No visa to reuse; each arrival is a new visa-free entry if you meet the entry conditions
Fee	US$25	US$50	No visa fee

If you will leave Vietnam and come back inside your dates, buy multiple entry. Single entry fits one arrival and one departure with no border crossing in between.

An invented sample. Dana travels on a US passport and buys a single-entry e-visa for US$25, valid 1 Nov 2026 to 29 Jan 2027, with Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City as her entry and exit point. She flies in on 1 Nov. On day 40, 10 Dec, she flies out of Tan Son Nhat for a trip to Cambodia, booked to fly back on 15 Dec.

Date	Day of the e-visa	Single entry, US$25	Multiple entry, US$50
1 Nov 2026	1	Enters Vietnam; the 1 entry is used	Enters Vietnam
10 Dec 2026	40	Exits; the e-visa ends here	Exits; the e-visa stays valid
15 Dec 2026	45	Cannot re-enter on it; needs a new e-visa	Re-enters through Tan Son Nhat
29 Jan 2027	90	Days 41 to 90 of the first e-visa are lost	Last day of the e-visa; she leaves

On single entry, Dana needs a second e-visa approved before her 15 Dec flight: another US$25, so US$50 in total, the same as multiple entry from the start. The second e-visa can be dated for up to 90 days from 15 Dec, so the same money can reach further into 2027. But she waits outside Vietnam on an application that can be refused, with the fee kept. On multiple entry she pays US$50 once and needs nothing else, and her 5 days in Cambodia still count inside the e-visa’s dates.

Which website is the official Vietnam e-visa portal?

The official portal runs on 2 domains: evisa.gov.vn and thithucdientu.gov.vn. The Vietnam Immigration Department moved the portal there at 08:00 on 11 Nov 2024, Vietnam time (GMT+7), and the notice announcing the move is posted on the older address, evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn.

Commercial agencies also sell Vietnam e-visa applications, and an agency is not the government portal even when its address contains “evisa”, “gov” or “vietnam visa”. Only those 2 domains run the Immigration Department’s e-visa portal. Typing evisa.gov.vn into your browser yourself is the simple way to be sure you are paying US$25 or US$50 to the government and not a service fee on top.

The US Embassy cannot help with an application. It says Vietnamese visa matters are at the sole discretion of the Vietnamese government and directs e-visa questions to the Immigration Department.

How to apply for a Vietnam e-visa

You apply yourself, online, from outside Vietnam. Settle the shape of the trip first, because the entry type and the ports are fixed once the e-visa is issued.

Applying for a Vietnam e-visa

1. Decide on single or multiple entry, using the rule above: any border crossing inside your dates means multiple.
2. Choose the airport, land gate or seaport you will enter through and the one you will leave through, from the e-visa port list.
3. Type evisa.gov.vn or thithucdientu.gov.vn into your browser and start an application as a foreigner outside Vietnam.
4. Enter the details of the passport you will travel on, since you must enter and leave Vietnam on the same passport.
5. Pay the fee online: US$25 for single entry or US$50 for multiple entry, not refunded if the application is refused.
6. Check the result on the official portal with the code sent to you by email, then print the e-visa to show at the border.
7. Read the leave-by date in your entry stamp before you walk away from the immigration desk.

Vietnam e-visa ports of entry

An e-visa is tied to ports. It restricts you to the entry and exit points you select when you apply (GOV.UK), and the US Embassy says e-visa holders use designated international border gates, including all international airports. The published port list names, among others:

• Airports: Noi Bai (Hanoi), Tan Son Nhat (Ho Chi Minh City), Da Nang, Cam Ranh, Phu Quoc, Cat Bi (Hai Phong) and Phu Bai (Hue).
• Land gates to Cambodia: Moc Bai and Xa Mat in Tay Ninh province.
• Land gates to Laos: Lao Bao and Cau Treo.
• Land gates to China: Huu Nghi, Mong Cai and Lao Cai.
• Seaports: among them Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Nha Trang and Hai Phong.

Check the current list on the official portal when you apply, since only a gate named there counts. Two airport rules are worth knowing before you land:

• Domestic connections. If you land in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City and connect to a domestic flight, you clear immigration and enter Vietnam at that first airport, even if your final destination is outside Vietnam. That airport is your port of entry.
• Arrival card at Tan Son Nhat. Since 15 Apr 2026, arrivals at Tan Son Nhat are encouraged, not required, to fill in a digital arrival card online before landing.

Vietnam visa runs

How a visa run works on an e-visa

Visa runs in Vietnam are not about restarting a visa-free clock, because a US passport has none to restart. A run here is a new e-visa plus a new entry: you leave before your current e-visa ends and come back through a gate named on the next one.

Two rules set the timing. The portal’s conditions are written for applicants outside Vietnam, and the UK government adds that an e-visa issued while you are still in Vietnam only starts once you exit and re-enter. Either way, a new e-visa starts at your next entry, not while you are still in the country.

Each run means a new application that can be refused, and a new entry decided by the officer at the desk. A multiple-entry e-visa with dates left over is the one case where a short trip out needs no new application at all.

Land border runs and air runs

Land runs use the gates on the e-visa list. From Ho Chi Minh City, Moc Bai and Xa Mat lead into Cambodia. In central Vietnam, Lao Bao and Cau Treo lead into Laos. Your current e-visa has to name the gate you leave through, and the new one the gate you come back through, so a run out by Moc Bai and back by the same gate needs Moc Bai on both e-visas.

Air runs work the same way with airports: fly out from an airport on your current e-visa and back into one named on the next. Whatever the route, the country on the other side applies its own entry rules to you.

Visa runs to Thailand, Bali or the Philippines

A run can also be a stay somewhere else between Vietnam e-visas. For a US passport, as of October 2026:

Country	Stay on entry	Add days without leaving	Worth knowing
Vietnam	E-visa, up to 90 days	Only a new visa, with an inviting or guaranteeing sponsor in Vietnam	Single entry ends at your first exit
Thailand	30 days visa-free	Up to 30 days at the officer’s discretion, 1,900 baht	2 visa-exempt land entries per calendar year
Indonesia (Bali)	Visa on arrival, 30 days, IDR 500,000	Once, by 30 days, 60 days in total	A new visa on arrival only after leaving Indonesia
Philippines	30 days visa-free	29 days through a visa waiver, PHP 3,030	Later extensions run 1, 2 or 6 months

Thailand buys less time than it did a year ago. Since 15 Sep 2026 a US passport gets 30 visa-free days there instead of 60, and a Thailand visa run over a land border counts toward a cap of 2 visa-exempt land entries per calendar year (TAT).

Bali’s visa on arrival gives 30 days for IDR 500,000 and can be extended once by 30 more, so a stay there between Vietnam e-visas can run to 60 days.

Doing a visa run out of Vietnam

1. Find the end date on your e-visa and the leave-by date in your entry stamp, and plan to exit on or before the earlier one.
2. Check the entry rules of the country you are visiting on the run.
3. Budget for extra nights on the other side in case the new e-visa is slow to come or is refused.
4. Leave through the exit gate your current e-visa names.
5. Apply for the next e-visa on the official portal, naming the gate you will come back through, and choose multiple entry if you will cross a border again inside its dates.
6. Carry the printed new e-visa with the passport you applied on.

Staying longer than 90 days in Vietnam

The e-visa’s 90 days are its ceiling. The Immigration Department’s own notes give an e-visa holder inside Vietnam one route to a new visa without leaving: being invited or guaranteed by an agency, organization or individual in Vietnam, under the law on foreigners’ entry and exit.

That is a different system from the Philippines, where a visa-free visitor applies to the Bureau of Immigration for a 29-day extension on top of the first 30 days. In Vietnam, extending or renewing a visa, or resolving an overstay, means appearing in person at the immigration office for the area where you live. The US Embassy says it cannot sponsor you, write a letter in support or ask for special treatment.

For stays well past 90 days, that leaves a run and a new e-visa, or a different visa arranged with a sponsor in Vietnam. Work or study needs its own visa or permit, so check which one with the Immigration Department.