Always a good idea to travel with extra photos in SE Asia. They are easy and cheap to get here, but you never know when you'll need them.:)

I always remember that scene from the 1984 film, The Killing Fields..

I hadn't even been thinking about that.... :D

Thanks very much Jimbo99 !

Your link worked like a charm for only $14.00 as compared to others for $25.00 and with the approval letter arriving within 2 days, the arrival and processing at Tan Son Nhat Airport a few days later was a breeze.

Visa on Arrival
 

You may also want contact the hotel you're staying at to obtain the preapproval letter for a visa on arrival. I obtained the letter for a three-month multiple entry for only US$17 by going through the hotel. Much cheaper than anywhere online! I had the letter in hand within 2 days of my request.

Doing a visa on arrival is saving me about US$65. I'm paying the US$17 + US$50 stamp fee (paid directly to immigration on arrival). Going through the Vietnam Consulate in Hong Kong would cost around US$130 for a similar entry/stay visa.

no privacy !!!
 

Pre-approved visa is legal, obviously, because it is issued by the Immigration Agency of Vietnam. However, the service operators never concern about their clients' privacy. All our information of full names, dates of birth, passport numbers are almost published.
The email addresses of a friend of mine was hacked right after he applied for a visa via this website and how dangerous our personal accounts would be!!! I also called the CSO to complain about this but that poor girl couldn't do anything at all, and we can never get to her manager.

All they can do is to promise that they and other agents will do their best to make some impacts on the Immigration Agency, but I know they never do it and that's the answer to all other complainers. And they will never say it in advance on their websites because it may cause decrease in their revenue.

Also, as staying in Vietnam, I found out that the website www.vietnam-embassy.com is not the website of the Vietnam Embassy at all but of the same company owning myvietnamvisa.com and other visa service website.

Despite all above, getting visa via this service is fast, easy and cheap. I suggest that you should email them about the privacy case before applying.

On the other hand, it is great for those of who live in Southeast Asia (and who are not citizens of an ASEAN country). Consider having to travel to the capital city if you don't live there, submit your passport and part with it for one week and then arrange to return to the city in a week to pick up the passport. That's a lot of time and money spent for a visa. And if there is a problem with the paperwork and you are denied entry, it's not such a big deal but it seems like that is rare.

Do these third-party agencies adhere to Western standards of transparency and business ethics? Probably not. Is that any of my concern? Not really. If most of us had our way, Vietnam would be issuing visas at the airport without having to go through this approval process just like Indonesia does or else would do away with visas entirely.

Nah, I can only assume those embassies are short of business.

These are more than just letters. The approval is given in Vietnam and loaded onto the system. The letter is an instruction to put the visa into the passport and doubles as proof to the airline at check-in that you will be allowed to enter.

If they were not legit, the details wouldn't be loaded onto the system and it would cause a query on arrival.

So my answer is - immigration at Vietnam's airports say they are legit.

Hi Emily, welcome to FT.

I know what you mean, but really it's a cultural/political thing so difficult to get the message across. People just don't have the same sense of privacy. Though annoying sometimes, it has it's upsides - eg I had a couple of mobile phones returned to me by people because they were able to find out who I was and where I lived from the phone number. Personally I regard my passport info (inc DOB, number, address, full name, email address) as public information.

I used to use an agent where they never "bulked together" the names - ie mine was the only one that appeared on the approval letter. A bit more expensive, but his firm closed when he retired.

Ha ha ha I know plenty of UK immigration lawyers/agencies that don't adhere to .. er... Western standards of transparency and business ethics.

FWIW my pre-approval letter includes the full name, date of birth, nationality, and passport number for 21 people.

I am pretty judicious about privacy issues but this letter causes me no anxiety other than it reveals my middle age to strangers. My party consists of the only Americans listed in this letter. The rest are from UK, Canada, Italy, Switzerland, and Ireland.

I used myvietnamvisa.

FWIW, I used http://visa-vietnam.org when I went two years back with no problems. Current pricing is slightly cheaper than http://www.myvietnamvisa.com if you're travelling with a partner or group.

How long is the approval letter valid for once it is issued?

I leave Canada mid September to go travelling for 6 months. I will either be in Vietnam in December or February, can I still apply for an approval letter if I decide to go in say December and want to apply now for a 1 month visa?

As I understand it, there is no expiry on the letter - but the letter does give the required dates for the visa. The restriction is you cannot apply for approval for an entry that starts more than 6 months from the application date. Sounds like you'll be OK.

Bear in mind that everything is done by email. So you could apply whilst travelling provided you can receive an email and print it out.

Visa pre-approval worked like a charm for us. By the time we got the visa and got through immigration our bags were loaded on the baggage claim.