Any updates on all this? I'm flying to Nam on the 6th and need to sort one out.

I'm pretty sure you pay a fee for the VOA service, then pay another "stamping fee" at the airport. These fees look to depend primarily on the visa type you have. It's $10 for a single-entry one month, plus a $25 stamping fee. The Multiple Entry 3-Mo is a $50 fee plus a $50 stamping fee.

As an example (and fees seem to vary): http://www.tuntravel.com/vietnam-visa-application.html

Anyone have more info?

Correct. Fees vary for the VOA services as you note.

What else do you want to know?

Getting the Visa on arrival probably takes 15-20 minutes. More hassel than mailing your passport to the Embassy? Guess it depends on the person.

There had been some discussion about if the three-month entry was real. Was hoping for a confirmation.

When you search online for Vietnam Visa on arrival there's a mission companies doing it. I was wondering if they are all legit as they all look like the same site with Live Chat and things. I checked a bit on the Thorntree and found this link

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntre...64856&start=15

Several folks including some with lots of posts recommend http://www.vietnamstay.com/service/ and they happen to be about the cheapest, so that's who I'm going with.

Cheers!

I was unable to get a 3 month pre-arranged multi entry Visa when I applied in August.

Depends on how many airlines landed before you. When I did mine, the whole process took over 45 min - with the added hassle of arriving late at night and not being able to head to your hotel immediately.

Any reason given? I just received confirmation from Vietnamstay.com:

Now I am having your visa processed. Soon after I get the approval letter I will scan and send you a copy via mail or fax.

That isn't a yes, but I'm sure they do millions of these daily and would have said if it was a no.

I'll post my results.

One company probably doesn't even get a hundred per week.

Good luck with the multi-month all the same.

It all depends on how quickly you can get them to initially take your materials. Sometimes there are lines lingering around the windows with no clear idea what the line is for. The same windows are used for dropping off your materials and picking them up.
I found that by printing out the application ahead of time and having it filled out with my photo already attached saves significant time. My typical turn around time from dropping off to picking up is only about 10 minutes.

You've done well. I've always had the form/photo ready and have generally waited at least 20 minutes. On one occasion there were no other pax there. They took the forms and did nothing with them for a while, still managing to take 20 minutes. The general air of non-urgency and disorganisation makes a poor first impression of Vietnam.

But whether it adds to your overall delay through SGN is another matter. When I've waited 20mins, I've subsequently gone straight through immigration (no queues) and picked up my baggage immediately. When I'm not doing visa on arrival, I'm typically first at the immigration counter (no queue) but then wait 5-10 minutes for my priority tagged baggage to arrive.

Economy pax will often face 10 minute or longer queues at immigration anyway.

In summary, my view is that VOA will delay you if you are in business class or you are in economy but multiple flights come in together. Otherwise you might find it makes little difference overall - just you are waiting for your VOA instead of waiting at immigration/reclaim.

Is there any reason I would not want to do Visa on Arrival as a US citizen? From what I can tell the visa on arrival is considerably cheaper than a traditional visa in advance. Is that correct?

Certainly cheaper than using the UK embassy.

Personally I think the main reasons for NOT doing it are emotional:

1) Some people just like the reassurance that they have the visa in their passport before they leave.

2) Some people find the process at SGN frustrating. No clearly defined line. No funny looks from "commie" officials ambling around without a sense of urgency.

It is true, though, that by doing VOA you are slightly delaying your arrival. Worse case, I'd say 30 minutes. Best case little or no delay at all (because the wait at VOA is mitigated by shorter queues at immigration/waiting in reclaim).

I've done it both ways and I really feel the VOA is a better choice given the significant savings in cost and not having to be without your passport for a few days.

Being a US Citizen will play no part in your obtaining a Pre-Arranged Visa.

I've done the VOA as an Australian citizen twice and would definitely recommend it over heading into an embassy (especially considering mine is on the other side of the country)

Someone travelling with me the first time even managed to pack their visa letter, forms and photos into his luggage which of course was on the other side of immigration...he just paid them $5 USD and they took a photo of him there and sorted it all out :-)