Can I get a 5 year visa for Vietnam?

Can You Get a 5-Year Visa Exemption for Vietnam?

The answer to whether you can obtain a 5-year visa exemption for Vietnam is nuanced. While the concept of a long-term visa-free stay might seem desirable, a 5-year visa exemption certificate isn’t a standalone document granting entry for five years. Instead, it’s tied to the validity of your passport.

Crucially, this “5-year” period refers to the length of time you can remain in Vietnam visa-free, not to the duration of the certificate itself. A five-year visa exemption certificate is actually a document granting a set amount of time visa-free entry, contingent on your passport’s validity. It effectively functions as an endorsement of your passport’s visa-free travel privileges for the duration stipulated on your passport. This validity period is intrinsically linked to your passport’s expiry date, meaning it expires six months before the passport does.

Essentially, if you hold a passport valid for five years, you could receive a certificate allowing visa-free travel to Vietnam for up to five years. However, if your passport expires in 3 years, this is the maximum duration your visa-free entry will be valid for. The document itself doesn’t extend your passport’s validity; it simply grants visa-free travel during the period your passport remains valid. So you still need a passport that’s valid for the intended length of your stay.