Vietnam visa for transit
Normally, you do not need a visa to enter or re-enter Vietnam if you do not cross passport control when catching connecting flights. Please double check carefully with your travel agencies and airlines for specific requirements at your transit airports, for example whether you have to take luggage and re-check in for the connecting flight.
Vietnam visa is not necessary at all if you satisfy each of the following five guidelines:
1. You must be transiting to a third country within 24 hours (for example, from Bangkok to Hanoi to Singapore – you cannot “transit” back to the country you started in, like Bangkok to Hanoi to Phuket);
2. You must have a valid onward ticket;
3. You cannot leave the international transit area of the airport;
4. You must have a valid entry document to your final destination;
5. You must be traveling on a full-service airline (low-cost carriers like Vietjet and Jet Star will not transport you without a visa, even if you are quickly connecting to a third country)
So please double check with your travel agencies and the airlines to make sure:
– Your flight is an international flight;
– The flight is issued in the same ticket and same airlines;
– Your connection time is not over 24 hours
Once you arrive in Vietnam, simply follow the transit signs. In Ho Chi Minh City, the signs take you to a central immigration hall where you can collect your boarding pass for your connecting flight then re-clear security and proceed upstairs to the departure gates.
In case, you are not sure if your flight meets the requirements to transit without a visa in Vietnam, you should order a visa approval letter which cost 12 USD, this will be backup just in case visa is required and it will save your trip at the last minutes!