We are headed to Vietnam in December. I thought I might share the various missteps I made regarding our visas.

We have been to Vietnam several times, all pre Covid. My memory is that we were able to get visas on arrival. We are also going to Cambodia. I started filling out the Cambodia visa application first. It requires travel insurance. That sent me down the trail of acquiring insurance for Vietnam. I had read online that it is required. I now read above that I don't need it. Regardless, by the time I secured the insurance, I didn't return to getting a Vietnam visa. I assumed (wrongly) that I could get it on entering the country. But I saw another FTer post in the Park Hyatt Saigon thread that he hadn't paid attention, learned there was no way to get a visa on entering the country, and had to pay a lot of money to get one quickly in advance.

Fortunately we were still between 2 and 3 weeks out. I applied for the visa using this link:

https://evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn/trang-chu-ttdt

There was a $25 fee per person. It was to be a 3 day turnaround, but it was 5 or 6 days. I realized after applying that it was a single entry visa. We are going Vietnam - Cambodia - Vietnam. I wrote and asked within minutes of applying but got no response. Sure enough, it was issued as a single entry. I then applied for a second visa to cover the entry from Phnom Penh. I had to supply my entry and exit points, and the visa does include that information. My second visa application was filled in 2 days.

So, from my experience:

1. American citizens must get visas in advance
2. These visas are single entry. You must have a visa for each entry into the country.
3. Travel insurance does not seem to be required though it is for Cambodia
4. We were not required to supply our vaccination information for Vietnam though we had to do so for Cambodia.

I hope this helps someone else avoid my near catastrophic mistakes.