HOW TO EXTEND VISA IN VIETNAM WITHOUT LEAVING THE COUNTRY

Friday, 10/04/20

Under the latest entry laws of Vietnam effecting in July 2020, foreigners are allowed to extend their Vietnam visa types without leaving the country and change the purpose of entry or change of visa types inside the country, not to exit then re-enter with a new appropriate visa as the current laws. From 1 July 2020, when the new law is applied, this is good news and beneficial to the foreign community in Vietnam. The visa extension in Vietnam is easier and more convenient than ever. Moreover, the purpose of entry is allowed to change and the most important thing is in accordance with the law, it saves a lot of money and time. They can extend and change their Vietnam visas without leaving the county by using one of two services that visa extension or visa renewal service only.

CONDITIONS TO DO VISA EXTENSION VIETNAM WITHOUT LEAVING THE COUNTRY

In order to match the conditions and requirements for doing visa extension and changing of entry purpose in Vietnam, foreigners need to pay attention to the following issues

Pay attention to the duration of the Vietnam visa that you are allowed to stay, never let the visa expire and pay a penalty for overstaying; this will directly affect the history of your stay in Vietnam as well as the extension of your visa will be limited or even not approved;
Your passport must be valid for more than 6 months from the time of extension and has at least 2 blank pages;
If you combine the visa extension and the change of entry purpose in Vietnam, you should have adequate preparation of documents to prove the change of entry or at least supplement to the extension of your Vietnam visa without leaving the country;
Only a number of nationalities are eligible to apply for a visa extension/renewal in Vietnam, and the requirements change accordingly as well.

THE FASTEST WAYS TO DO VISA EXTENSION IN VIETNAM WITHOUT LEAVING THE COUNTRY

Extending and renewing visa are the only two ways to make your stay in Vietnam longer legally without leaving the country. Both processes require you to submit related documents to officers in the Immigration Department in the local city or province where you are in but not depart to any other places. The staying length is valid from 1 month to 3 months depending on multiple factors like what documents and visa type do you have, your nationality, the time of the year, the visa policies in Vietnam changing from time to time and so on.

For visa extension, a stamp with new remain period will be applied on your passport. With it, you can continue to stay in Vietnam even when the old visa has expired. Also, do note that visa extension means extending your stay permission provided in the current visa so it is always a single entry visa. If you exit the country during this period, new visa must be applied in order to re-enter. This is the most difference between visa extension and renewal, and also what makes extension less costly than renewal. However, only a limited number of nationals that are eligible for extending visa in this way.

For visa renewal, the procedure is nearly the same as for extension except that a new visa sticker will be stamped on your passport. If you would like to upgrade your current visa from duration of 1 month to 3 months, or upgrade the current visa from single entry to multiple entries, you will probably have to go through the visa renewal process. Since there is a new visa sticker, its fee will be charged in addition to the renewal application fee and thus, making it more expensive than extending visa. For the reasons mentioned above, you have the option of applying a new tourist or business approval letter for one month/three month, single/multiple entry visa which can be picked up the new visa at Moc Bai border grossing, where you cross to Cambodia and return instantly. This will certainly be more convenient, cheaper and save you a lot of hassle and time. While this procedure is not well-received by some officials, it is still perfectly legal.

HOW TO EXTEND VISA IN VIETNAM WITHOUT LEAVING THE COUNTRY

If you choose to extend your visa in Vietnam without having to leave the country, there are only 2 options that suit your needs including Extending Visa or Renewing Visa in Vietnam. In the above, we help you to distinguish the difference between these two options and help to make the most appropriate decision on visa extension or visa renewal.

The visa extension or staying extension option is issued a new stay permission stamp, allowing you to stay up from 1 to 3 month with single entry only. Meanwhile, the renewing visa will grant a new visa sticker that can be similar to the visa you granted or different, the new visa term/ duration can be from 1 to 3 months, single or multiple entries. The biggest difference between visa renewal and visa extension is that the fee for visa renewal is more expensive than the extension.

Both solutions demand you to provide some basic documents, including:

Vietnam visa which is still valid and passport with at least 6-month validity and 2 blank pages;
Stamp of entry and name of entry port;
Temporary resident confirmation certified by local police where you currently staying.

Dependent on the type of your visa, these documents should be additionally submitted:

Notarized copy of Business registration certificate or certificate of Representative Office establishment;
Notarized copy of Vietnam work permit or work permit exemption certificate
Notarized copy of household registration book, marriage certificate if you are sponsored by a Vietnamese spouse and birth certificate for children.

Normally the proceeding time of these services are 5-7 working days. Business visa is able to extend up to a year while tourist visa extension is no more than 3 months. Those who enjoy the visa exemption can extend their stay up to 15 days as well.

OTHER ARTICLES OF VIETNAM'S WORK PERMIT, VISA EXTENSION AND RESIDENCE CARD

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HOW TO EXTEND VISA IN VIETNAM WITHOUT LEAVING THE COUNTRY

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