How to renew a 1 month tourist visa to 3 months

Hello Guim,

In the Guide of expatriate life in Vietnam, I found the following information:

Visa Renewal
Once in Vietnam it is easier to get your visa extended or renewed as most travel agencies offer this service. It can take from 48 hours to 5 days to get this done but the agency will handle everything for you. Prices can vary so ask around but typically a 3 month visa renewal costs about $85 USD. Travel agencies are not officially entitled to issue any visas other than 30 day or 90 day, though some will try and tell you different. Also 90 day visas can cost anything from $85 to $185 USD through a travel agency, (although they only officially cost $50 USD) so they try and get as much as possible as their "service fee". So it is advisable to check around for current prices.

In most cases now (May 2010) you can only get a 3 month visa extended once for another 3 months while in country. Thereafter you are expected to leave the country and go through the whole process again. In actual fact, any good visa agent, rather than any old travel agency, can get renewals for you.


Hope this helps!
Arlette

You can do a visa extentsion by cross to Cambodia, travel someday and then you come back to vnam and your visa is renew.
 
[Moderated]

ms911vn wrote:

You can do a visa extentsion by cross to Cambodia, travel someday and then you come back to vnam and your visa is renew.

Perfect example of Vinglish.

You can get it done in town for VND700,000 wholesale rates.

Used the service 3 months ago.

Want the number?

P.S. Photocopy your passport data page and the visa page before you send it in. VN law doesn't require you to carry your passport.

Just too lazy to explain the same thing again and again, but if you want to do it the cheapest way: do it yourself. Timewise, it is easy: 10 min queuing at the 161 Nguyễn Du, D1, phòng quản lý xuất nhập cảnh, office of immigration. You come back after 1 week to pay, which takes another 10 min queuing.

Fee: 30-40 usd the first time you do it. 10 usd the next time since they (the immigration office) already have you on file.

You do need to have a Vietnamese to sponsor you. He/she only needs to go to his/her ward police office to obtain a stamp certifying that he/she lives there.

Go to the Nguyen Du office to have them explain/get the form or download it from here
http://csdl.thutuchanhchinh.vn/content/ … -%2006.doc

If you find all of this too much, go to Pham ngu Lao area, there are plenty travel agencies there who are willing to help you for a fee.
I don't have a name to recommend.

Anatta wrote:

Just too lazy to explain the same thing again and again, but if you want to do it the cheapest way: do it yourself. Timewise, it is easy: 10 min queuing at the 161 Nguyễn Du, D1, phòng quản lý xuất nhập cảnh, office of immigration. You come back after 1 week to pay, which takes another 10 min queuing.

The theory sounds great, unfortunately the practicality is a little different to people who have no VN language capability.

Now they have changed their hours of accepting and delivering applications.

Given the line-ups/queues that are common, it is often more efficient to use an agent.

A rejected claim from an in-person application is often resolved by a $10 pension donation by an agent. I don't like bribes but rather than a border run it's better to accept the inevitable.

WHY don't you reformat your post slightly and post it in the Latest Articles section?

Jaitch

I was there 3:15 PM yesterday and they were still open then. Did not pay attention, but their opening hours should be the same as the normal opening hours for governmental offices, starting no later than 8AM, if not 7:30AM.

Just go to the entrance nearest the CMT8 street, turn left after entry and push for queue ticket for visa extension from the machine 5 m from the entrance. I believe it is clearly stated in English, but am not sure. Any away, the people going there are people who either will go abroad or foreigners/VK, so most (if not, some) of them should be able to speak (some) English to help.

I have never been a fan of Vietnamese efficiency and bureaucracy, but to be fair to them, this process is very simple, apart from the Vietnamese sponsor thing.
 
Queue time has been consistently 2-3 persons in front of me, which should make the theoretical waiting time around 5 minutes. However, the travel agency people consistently just jump the queue without any regard to others or bothering even getting a queue ticket. Therefore, I have made the practical waiting time to 10 minutes.

>WHY don't you reformat your post slightly and post it in the Latest Articles section?

Where is the Latest Articles section and what is it for? is it sort of FAQ section?

"Where is the Latest Articles section and what is it for?"

I can't find it either.