Job Discussion Forums

[pooroldedgar]

I have been trying to get an approval letter for a visa on arrival but apparently my card won't work in Vietnam. So I'm going to try to go to the NYC consulate and get a tourist visa. Ideally, it will work like this: I arrive in the morning, pay a reasonable (ie under 200 bucks) and leave that day with a 3 month (6??) tourist visa already stamped into my passport.

Has anyone gotten their visa this way? Is what I described possible? Reading online, it actually looks like the consulate is a helpful, efficient place.

[sigmoid]

In my experience at the VN embassy in Vientiane, Lao PDR, bring a photo and $70 to get a 3-month tourist visa back the next day in the evening about 5:30 pm. They also give the option of paying $65 for 2 working days and $60 for 3.

You have to specify the date of arrival and you can't enter before that date. It's printed on the visa, which is a full-page sicker. The validity of the visa also starts from that date whether you have entered the country or not.

If you're there in the morning, maybe you can get it back the same day. I've always gone in the afternoon.

Of course, what they do in NYC may be completely different. Anyway, if that's the one nearest you, then go there.

[LettersAthruZ]

You'd really best have a speak with the financial institution that issued your credit card. I remember when I had resided in The States, there were many banks as well as credit unions that blocked transactions from Viet Nam and several other nations (especially Thailand, for some reason) as well. Request that your financial institution remove the block on Vietnamese transactions.

The visa-on-arrival had been very reasonable when I had resided in Viet Nam (*THINK* it was a forty dollar USD service charge to the agent and a $25USD "stamp fee" in cash at the counter - this was, perhaps, four years ago), and when I had attempted to obtain a tourist visa for a visit at the Consulate in San Francisco, it was almost $200+ for three months!!!!!!

Basically, in Lao and Campuchia, the Viet embassies and consulates are reasonable with their Visa fees.....in DEVELOPED nations, however, they really tend to gouge you.

[TRH]