How to Apply for a Vietnam Visa in Los Angeles : visasupply.com

Los Angeles is America’s second most populous city after New York. Greater Los Angeles—which includes Los Angeles County, San Bernardino County, Riverside County, Ventura County, and Orange County—has a population of nearly 19 million people. Known for its endless freeways and commercial sprawl, Greater Los Angeles is the largest metropolitan region in the United States by land area and includes over 200 cities such as Santa Monica, Pasadena, Culver City, Glendale, Long Beach, Carson, Irvine, Anaheim, and Inglewood. Sitting on the edge of America, Los Angeles is an important Pacific Rim city with strong ties to East Asia. Los Angeles has the busiest seaport in the United States and the most flights to Asia than any other U.S. city. Los Angeles and Southern California have a huge population of Vietnamese Americans. Numbering well over 300,000 residents, Greater Los Angeles has the largest population of Vietnamese outside of Vietnam. A large segment of this population is concentrated in the Orange County towns of Garden Grove and Westminster, which is home to the most famous “Little Saigon” in the country. This area has over 200 Vietnamese restaurants and dozens of Vietnamese coffee shops, bakeries, supermarkets, banks, and television and radio stations.

Vietnam is a country in Southeast Asia with a population of 97 million people that is about four-fifths the size of California by land area. It has a huge coastline stretching 2,140 miles along the South China Sea and Gulf of Thailand. The country’s long coastline, abundance of natural resources, and geographic location have made it a target of invasion and dominance from major foreign powers including China, Japan, France, and the United States. Despite its recent turbulent history, Vietnam is a nation on the rise and has an economy that has been growing steadily the past three decades ever since Bill Clinton lifted America’s trade embargo in 1994. Vietnam is now a major trade partner for American companies seeking to establish manufacturing capacity outside of China (called the China Plus One strategy). The seaports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are jam-packed with shipping containers full of products made in Vietnam—a testament to the country’s growing economic strength. Vietnam’s tourism industry has also been expanding rapidly thanks to its cultural attractions, swanky hotels, and lively food scene in cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Other tourist attractions include beach destinations like Nha Trang, Hoi An, and Phu Quoc Island, which all have a variety of luxury 5-star resorts.

Obtaining a Vietnam Visa from Los Angeles

There are three ways of getting a visa for Vietnam: 1) Get an e-visa 2) Get a traditional visa sticker 3) Or get a loose-leaf visa.

Vietnam e-visas are issued by the Vietnam Immigration Department in Vietnam and can be obtained through the following website: Vietnam evisa - National portal on Immigration (xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn). The government fee for the e-visa is $25 and the processing time is usually 3 business days.

Traditional sticker visas (the visa placed in one of the pages of your passport) for Vietnam are issued by the Vietnamese government in the United States. The government of Vietnam is represented by their embassy in Washington, D.C. along with three consulates located in San Francisco, New York, and Houston.

To apply for the traditional visa sticker from Los Angeles, you can fill out the visa application and ship your original passport and supporting documents to the embassy by FedEx, UPS, or USPS. Here is the address:

Embassy of Vietnam, Consular Division
1233 20th Street NW, Suite 400
Washington, D.C., 20036

It is important to review the requirements for visas on the Vietnam embassy website and ensure your application and all supporting documents are accurate. Here is the link to the embassy website with detailed information: Visa | Embassy of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in the United States (vietnamembassy-usa.org)

Traditional sticker visas generally take about a week to process through the embassy and the government fee for U.S. citizens is $70 for the single-entry visa that allows for a 30-day stay, $100 for the single-entry visa that allows for a 90-day stay, $125 for a multiple-entry visa valid for 30 days, $150 for a multiple-entry visa valid for 90 days, $165 for a multiple-entry visa valid for 6 months, $200 for a multiple-entry visa valid for 12 months. Please note that the Customs and Border Protection Authority at the port of entry into Vietnam determines the length of each authorized stay.

Be sure to include a self-addressed FedEx prepaid envelope and make note of the tracking number so the embassy can return your passport and visa to your home or office. You can also use the United States Postal Service (USPS), however, FedEx is the preferred method for shipping important documents like a passport. If you decide to use USPS, please use their express mail service where a tracking number is provided.

To obtain the loose-leaf visa, you will email the following documents/information to the embassy in Washington, D.C: Completed visa application form, Scan of the data page of your passport, passport style photo (in digital format), return shipping address (so the consulate can ship the visa to you by FedEx), and completed credit card authorization form. Please review the embassy's website for more information: https://vietnamembassy-usa.org/page/apply-email-and-receive-loose-leaf-visa-mail

Other things to consider:

All U.S. citizens require a visa to enter Vietnam and they must have a valid passport that does not expire within six months of their date of entry into Vietnam. However, visitors to Phu Quoc Island do not require a visa if they stay less than 30 days and have a round-trip ticket coming from another country. For example, a round-trip flight from Bangkok, Thailand to Phu Quoc International Airport would not require a visa.
U.S. citizens must obtain a visa in advance and should not attempt to obtain a visa on arrival.
The E-visa can only be used to gain access to Vietnam through specific entry points. Please review the list of entry points on the E-visa website: c774e24b-1ab8-4fb6-9ac1-dcdfaccecf8e (xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn)
The government of Vietnam is now developing plans to re-open their country to foreign visitors. For the latest news published by the government, please visit this site: Latest guidelines for 2nd phase of pilot program to welcome international tourists (baochinhphu.vn)
For the latest updates regarding the virus situation, please review the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam website: COVID-19 Information - U.S. Embassy & Consulate in Vietnam (usembassy.gov)
It is recommended to purchase travel insurance before any international trip in case of medical emergencies. We advise getting the Geo Blue Voyager Single Trip Plan.

Emergency Assistance for Vietnam Citizens in Los Angeles

If you are a citizen of Vietnam living in the Los Angeles area with an emergency or require urgent assistance, you can reach the consulate in San Francisco by calling 415-910-5787 or 415-481-9030 or 415-601-9239 (the telephone numbers for general inquiries are 415-922-1707, 415-922-0707, and 415-922-1238). The consulate’s email address is info@vietnamconsulate-sf.org. If you need to renew your Vietnam passport, you can apply in person at the consulate. Please review their website for more information: https://vietnamconsulate-sf.org/en/2017/05/11/thu-tuc-cap-ho-chieu-lan-dau-cho-cong-dan-viet-nam-dinh-cu-tai-hoa-ky/

We Can Help if You Need Assistance

If you live in Los Angeles or anywhere in Southern California and have difficulty applying for a Vietnam visa or require assistance with any part of the visa process, please give our office a call at 404-682-5445 or schedule an appointment with our company. We are a private agency in Atlanta providing Vietnam visa services for Americans and other U.S.-based residents. Our number one goal is to ensure your application documents for a visa are submitted accurately to the Vietnamese government. Our services eliminate delays and give you the peace of mind to focus on your travel plans.

We provide the following Vietnam visa services for our customers Los Angeles:

Vietnam Tourist Visa (E-visa, loose-leaf visa, or sticker visa)
Vietnam Business Visa (E-visa, loose-leaf visa, or sticker visa)
Vietnam Official Visa (sticker visa)
Vietnam Diplomatic Visa (sticker visa)
Vietnam Student Visa
Vietnam Work Visa
Vietnam Exemption Certificate (Viet Nam 5-year visa)
Vietnam Packaged Tours
Vietnam Hotel Accommodations