[Navy salad]

Anyone have experience in getting a Vietnam visa (in our case for one month)? We applied via a legitimate-looking online site that turned out to be a scam! Since the nearest Vietnamese embassy is in San Francisco, we're hoping to do the whole process online. We don't leave until May, so we have a fair amount of time. Thanks!

[Malachai Constant]

We went to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand last October. You can apply for a single entry Vietnam visa at the airport. We took a bus to Phnom Penn and had to get Visa at border and a small bribe was required. Thailand does not require a visa for a short stay. You can also apply for an eVisa online for Vietnam. If you leave Vietnam and return I.e. trip to Cambodia or Laos a multiple entry visa must be obtained when you first enter or it will be very expensive. We had friends who went to Cambodia with us and tried to renter and lost their flight and had to return to the US by way of Quatar for thousands $. We used a travel agency which was up on all this. Cheapest tickets are out of Thailand. Do not try to travel overland from Cambodia to Thailand as there have recently been border conflicts. Always check with US and Canadian State departments before traveling internationally. Sometimes one or the other may conceal problems due to politics.

[Navy salad]

Malachai -- Thanks for the info. We will be in Vietnam only, so at least we don't have to worry about crossing borders or "paying a small bribe" . I think the choice boils down to getting an eVisa online (using a Vietnamese sight linked to directly from the US State Dept website, which seems unlikely to be fraudulent), or going to a Passport/Visa agency (we're considering Travel Pro Visa in Pioneer Square).

[sarbar]

I never used travel agents till recently. Met a great one in Alaska 2 summers back. We use her all the time now - she's young (30's) and is into adventure travel. She does all the hard work for us and I have to say, that has been awesome when traveling out of the US.....so something to consider. But you have to pick carefully to say the least.

[Navy salad]

We tried the Vietnam evisa site that the US State Dept links to on their website, figuring that at only $25 per e-visa, it wasn't a big risk and it worked! Turnaround time is 3-4 business days. Website is: https://evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn/en_US/web/guest/khai-thi-thuc-dien-tu/cap-thi-thuc-dien-tu Just be careful to submit a photo in compliance with their specs (the main reason applications are rejected) and remember all dates are DD/MM/YYYY! Triple check everything, because you only get one chance to get it right.