Yes, Indians need a visa for Vietnam, and the standard route is the 90-day e-visa: you apply online at the official portal evisa.gov.vn, pay USD 25 (about INR 2,390) for single entry or USD 50 (about INR 4,780) for multiple entry, and the government’s published processing time is 3 working days (Vietnam Immigration Department; Immigration Department e-visa guidance). This guide to the Vietnam visa for Indians walks through every step: whether you need one, the routes available, fees, documents, timelines, status checks, and the two things most guides skip, the agent-scam problem around “visa on arrival letters” and what actually happens to your money if the visa is rejected.
One planning note before the paperwork: your visa gets you into Vietnam, but it carries no medical or trip protection, so most travellers sort their travel insurance for Vietnam in the same sitting as the visa application. This guide is from Zurich Kotak General Insurance, an IRDAI-registered Indian general insurer and part of the Zurich Insurance Group.
Do Indians need a visa for Vietnam?
Yes. Indian passport holders need a visa for Vietnam; India is not on either of Vietnam’s visa-exemption lists, so there is no visa-free entry for Indians (Vietnam National Authority of Tourism). The e-visa is the standard route, it is open to citizens of all countries since 2023-08-15 under Resolution No. 127/NQ-CP, and every traveller needs one, including children on their own passports (Viet Nam Government Portal). If you were hoping the answer had changed, we keep the full picture, including the special cases, in our explainer on is Vietnam visa-free for Indians .
Vietnam visa for Indians: the options for Indian passport holders
There are three routes to a Vietnam visa for Indian citizens: the e-visa, a visa on arrival with a pre-approval letter, and the embassy sticker visa. For tourists, the e-visa is the right choice in almost every case; here is how the three compare.
E-visa: the standard route for tourists
The Vietnam e-visa for Indians is applied for entirely online, is valid for a maximum of 90 days, and is issued as either single entry or multiple entry (Vietnam Immigration Department). There is no embassy visit and no agent requirement: you apply yourself on the official government portal, pay by card, and receive the visa as a PDF to print and carry. E-visa holders can enter through Vietnam’s designated international border gates, which include all the major international airports (Embassy of Vietnam in the USA).
Visa on arrival: pre-approval letter only
Vietnam’s visa on arrival is not a walk-up counter; Indians cannot simply fly in and get stamped. It works only with a pre-approval letter arranged before departure, typically through an agent, and the letter market is a known scam vector with fake letters and inflated fees. We explain how it really works, and when it ever makes sense, in our guide to the Vietnam visa on arrival .
Embassy visa: when it still applies
The embassy or consulate sticker visa still exists for cases the e-visa does not fit, such as longer stays, certain work or study purposes, or travellers who prefer a visa affixed in the passport. For a standard tourist trip of up to 90 days it adds cost and waiting time for no benefit, so most Indian tourists skip it.
How to apply for the Vietnam e-visa
You apply for the Vietnam e-visa yourself at the official portal evisa.gov.vn : fill the online form, upload a passport-page scan and photo, pay the fee by card, and collect the approved PDF from the portal using your registration code. That is how to get a Vietnam visa from India without any agent involved. The full step-by-step walkthrough, including the mistakes that commonly delay Indian applications, is in our guide on how to apply for the Vietnam e-visa .
Vietnam visa fees for Indians
The official e-visa fee is USD 25 for single entry and USD 50 for multiple entry, which is roughly INR 2,390 and INR 4,780 at the 2026-07-09 exchange rate of 1 USD = INR 95.6 (Immigration Department e-visa guidance). The fee is charged in US dollars on the portal, so the rupee amount on your card statement moves with the exchange rate, and anything an agent quotes above the official fee is their service charge, not a government cost. The full breakdown, including what agents add and how to pay from India, is in our page on the Vietnam visa cost for Indians .
Documents you need
For the e-visa you need surprisingly little: a passport valid for at least 6 months beyond arrival with blank pages for stamps, a scan of the passport bio page, a recent passport-style photograph and an international payment card. The Vietnam visa requirements for Indians run slightly deeper once you add accommodation details and entry-exit points on the form; the complete checklist is in our guide to Vietnam tourist visa documents . The photo has its own specification, and getting it wrong is a common rejection trigger; see the exact Vietnam visa photo size and specifications .
How long the visa takes
The government’s published processing time for the e-visa is 3 working days from submission and payment, with results issued Monday to Friday excluding Vietnamese holidays (Immigration Department e-visa guidance; Vietnam Briefing). In practice, Indian applicants should budget a buffer of about a week, and more around Tet (Vietnamese New Year) and peak season. Timelines, delays and what to do if yours is stuck are covered in our page on Vietnam visa processing time .
How to check your visa status
You check your e-visa status on the official portal itself, using the registration code, email and date of birth from your application; when the status shows approved, you download and print the visa PDF from the same screen. No agent or third-party site can check it any faster. The step-by-step lookup, and what each status message means, is in our guide on how to check your Vietnam visa status .
Transiting through Vietnam
If you leave the international transit area, or your itinerary involves separate tickets and a baggage re-check, you generally need a visa even for a short stop in Vietnam. Airside transit on a single through-ticket is treated differently. The rules, and the common Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City transit scenarios for Indian travellers, are in our page on Vietnam transit visa rules .
The agent-scam warning: “visa on arrival letters” and lookalike sites
There are exactly two official Vietnam e-visa domains: evisa.gov.vn and thithucdientu.gov.vn. The Vietnam Immigration Department published that notice itself, effective 2024-11-11, on its National Portal on Immigration (Vietnam Immigration Department). Everything else, however official it looks, is a third party.
The Vietnam visa space has a genuine consumer-protection problem, and it catches Indian travellers in two ways:
· Lookalike websites. Dozens of commercial sites use names, layouts and even domain patterns that imitate the government portal, then charge USD 50 to USD 90 or more for a USD 25 visa. Some are legitimate agencies with poor labelling; some are not. The check is simple: the real portal sits on a domain ending in .gov.vn, and the official fee is USD 25 or USD 50, nothing else.
· “Visa on arrival letter” sellers. Because VoA needs a pre-approval letter, an industry of letter-sellers has grown around it, and with it fake letters, hidden “stamping fee” surprises at the airport, and letters that never arrive. A letter is also not a guarantee of entry.
Three habits keep you safe: type evisa.gov.vn directly rather than clicking an advertisement, treat any site that cannot state the official USD 25/50 fee plainly as an agent, and if you do use an agent for convenience, understand you are paying a service charge on top of a government fee you could pay yourself.
If your visa is rejected: what happens and how insurance helps
If your Vietnam e-visa application is refused, the government keeps the fee: the Immigration Department states plainly that the fee “will not be refunded if the application is refused” (Vietnam Immigration Department). Rejections for Indian applicants are uncommon and usually trace back to fixable errors: a blurry passport scan, a photo that breaks the specification, name fields that do not match the passport, or a previous overstay.
Here is the part most visa guides never mention: the visa fee is an insurable loss. Zurich Kotak’s Smart Travel policy includes a Visa Cost Cover benefit that reimburses the visa fee, not the policy premium, if your visa is rejected or you are denied entry on arrival; note that the retail visa-denial benefit is not available on annual multi-trip policies. Since a policy can be bought as soon as your trip is planned, buying cover before the visa decision means both your trip money and your visa fee have protection while the application is pending. If the visa is refused after the fee is paid, that is the difference between losing INR 2,390 and getting it back.
Travelling to Vietnam? Get covered before you fly. Get a quote for travel insurance for Vietnam before your visa decision, so your visa fee and trip money are protected from day one.
Vietnam entry rules beyond the visa
An approved e-visa is necessary but not sufficient; the immigration officer at the border checks a short list beyond it. As of 2026-07-09, Indian travellers should carry:
· A passport with at least 6 months validity beyond arrival and blank pages for stamps, matching the passport used in the e-visa application; the e-visa is tied to that passport number.
· The printed e-visa PDF, with the entry gate you actually use matching the entry point named on the visa.
· Proof of onward travel and funds if asked. Airlines and immigration can ask for a return or onward ticket, hotel bookings and means of support; carrying printouts avoids a tense conversation at the counter.
· Travel insurance is not a Vietnam entry requirement, but it is the one item on this checklist that pays you back when something goes wrong mid-trip, and going without it on a visa-required trip is a false economy. Whether any country can demand it is a separate question; see the answer on our page on travel insurance for Vietnam .
Entry rules change without much notice. Every fee, validity and processing figure on this page was verified against official Vietnamese government sources on 2026-07-09, and we re-verify at every review date shown at the top of the page.
If Vietnam’s paperwork has you weighing alternatives for a spontaneous trip, our guide to visa-free countries for Indians covers the destinations where an Indian passport walks in without any of this.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Do Indians need a visa for Vietnam?
A: Yes, Indian passport holders need a visa for Vietnam, and the e-visa is the standard route; India is not on Vietnam’s visa-exemption lists (Vietnam National Authority of Tourism). The full answer, including the special cases, is in our explainer on is Vietnam visa-free for Indians .
Q: How much does a Vietnam visa cost for Indians?
A: The official e-visa fee is USD 25 for single entry and USD 50 for multiple entry, roughly INR 2,390 and INR 4,780 at the 2026-07-09 exchange rate; the fee is charged in US dollars. See the full breakdown, including agent markups, on our Vietnam visa cost for Indians page.
Q: How long does a Vietnam visa take for Indians?
A: The official processing time is 3 working days after submission and payment, and budgeting about a week is safer in practice (Immigration Department e-visa guidance). Delays and fixes are covered in our page on Vietnam visa processing time .
Q: Can Indians get a Vietnam visa on arrival?
A: Not as a walk-up option: visa on arrival for Indians works only with a pre-approval letter arranged before departure, and the letter market is scam-prone. How it really works is in our guide to the Vietnam visa on arrival .
Q: What happens if my Vietnam visa is rejected?
A: The government does not refund the e-visa fee on refusal (Vietnam Immigration Department), but travel insurance with visa-rejection cover can reimburse the visa fee itself. If your application seems stuck rather than refused, first check your Vietnam visa status on the official portal.
Q: Is travel insurance mandatory for Vietnam?
A: No, travel insurance is not a Vietnam entry requirement for Indians as of 2026-07-09, but it is strongly advised because your e-visa carries no medical or trip protection. See what a Vietnam policy covers on our travel insurance for Vietnam page.
