Do Russian citizens need a visa to Vietnam

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Vietnam visa

Russian citizens can visit Vietnam without a visa for up to 15 days. If you need to stay for more than 15 days, you must apply for a visa in advance or on arrival (see for more information on how to apply for a visa to Vietnam).

A visa-free stamp for Russians on the border of Vietnam should be placed both at airports and at land border crossings. To obtain it, you must comply with several simple conditions::

• A citizen of the Russian Federation is not on the list of persons prohibited from entering Vietnam
• A citizen of the Russian Federation must have a passport valid for at least 6 months
• A citizen of the Russian Federation must have a return ticket to the Republic of Belarus or to a third country
• At least 30 days have passed since the last departure from Vietnam (the condition entered into force on 01.01.2015)

How is the number of days of stay counted

The 15 days of stay include the full day of arrival and the day of departure, regardless of the hour of your arrival. For example, if you cross the border on the 1st of the month, you will have to leave the country no later than the 15th, i.e. in fact, you have 13 full days left to stay. Upon entry, the passport will be stamped with the deadline when you are due to leave Vietnam, and if you go through Exit passport control later than that date, it will be considered a violation.

For violation of the period of stay, a fine of 5 US dollars is provided for each day of delay, but in practice it also happens that border guards may not pay attention to the excess at all, or on the contrary they will extort a bribe of several tens of dollars. Whatever it was, it is better not to violate this term. Unfortunately, it is impossible to extend the visa-free stay in any legal way.

Important! On some sites on the Internet, you can still find information that to extend a visa or visa-free stay, citizens of the Russian Federation and Belarus can leave Vietnam for a neighboring country, and return back to receive a stamp for 15 days of visa-free stay. This information is not true. Starting from 2015, you can enter Vietnam without a visa no earlier than 30 days after the last departure.