OK thanks for the quick response. I only make short, but regular trips to Vietnam these days.

I got a friend in VN to double check - she said agencies (such as the one I usually use and Vietnamstay) can't do 6 month tourist visas either at the moment.

It's a real pain. Apart from the extra expense and inconvenience (bad service in the London embassy, no embassy in Taiwan), I can't add pages to my UK passport so now every 3 months or so I lose another page plus stamps elsewhere. (A 48-page UK passport costs £90.50.)

It's funny - for years my VN friends justified not giving visa-free access to Europeans on the basis of reciprocity. At least when they go to the UK a 6 month visa is fairly standard.

[rant over]