SOUTH AFRICANS - air ticket and visa questions

Hi Michelleto,

I'm not South African passport holder but in my opinion, you should apply for visa at Vietnamese Embassy or Consulate General in South Africa because you have a plan for arriving in Viet Nam (volunteer work) and it would be more convenient in terms of procedure while arrival visa is often granted for tourists or people on short-term business (7 days or less). Regarding work permit, you should ask for support from agency you intend to offer your voluntary work for documents, files etc which would be included for application. Initially you'd better connect with Vietnamese Foreign Service in South Africa for more concrete information. I hope this could help more or less.

Hallo Michelle,

Hope you well

I am also coming to volunteer in Vietnam in Feb as well and the organizer told me that they provide the documentation needed before hand and when you get to the airport your Visa is issued based on the invitation. It seems like the standard procedure. I am waiting to for a reply on the flight ticket issue.

If I hear anything I will post here and if you get more information, please let me know.
Kind Regards,
Jaco

Hi Jaco,
Thanks for your input. The info I have received is quite different, I am being told that you need to apply for a visa before you depart SA and the work permit is what you will apply for before you arrive. Also still unsure on the ticket situation. I can only buy a 3 month return ticket but planning to stay longer than 3 months, so very confused... Let me know if you find out anything else? Thanks. Michelle

This return ticket does not mean return to SA, if needed just buy ticket to Bangkok or somewhere else. If they want "return" ticket it would be just out of Vietnam...

And if you plan to use visa on arrival then you need print out of that letter what say you have visa waiting for you at airport.

Hi guys, the issue is that it is not easy to get a volunteer Vietnam visa. I would recommend you to check with your organization first, if not possible to get one, you could enter with a tourist visa. About return ticket, no, they dont ask for it in Vietnam