Vietnam E-Visa Documents: What the Official Portal Asks For and Flight Ticket Rules

Vietnam made life much simpler for Indian visitors in August 2023, when it opened its e-visa to every nationality and stretched it to 90 days. The whole application now happens online: you upload a photo and your passport page, pay, and wait a few working days. What surprises many people is how little the official sources say about flights. This guide shows what the e-visa portal and Vietnam's official channels actually ask for, what they don't, and where a flight reservation is useful or pointless.

Vietnam e-visa: key facts

Who needs a visa for Vietnam?

If you hold an Indian passport, you need a visa, and for tourism the obvious choice is the e-visa. India does not appear on the visa exemption list published by Vietnam's national tourism authority.^[3]

Plenty of other travellers can skip the visa for shorter trips. Vietnam's tourism site lists citizens of 13 countries who can stay up to 45 days without one: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the UK, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Belarus.^[3] On top of that, a separate resolution gave 45-day visa-free stays for tourism to citizens of Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland, from 15 August 2025 to 14 August 2028, on a passport valid at least six months.^[4] Several ASEAN neighbours, including Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, also appear on the exemption list.^[3]

If you're visa-exempt but want to stay longer than your exemption allows, the e-visa is open to you too. A British traveller planning eight weeks across the north and south, for instance, would run past a 45-day exemption, so applying for a 60-day or 90-day e-visa before leaving home is the cleaner option. Whichever passport you use, the e-visa is linked to that passport's number, so apply on the exact passport you will carry through immigration, not an old one due for renewal.

What documents does the e-visa ask for?

Very few. The immigration portal's instructions to applicants ask you to upload:^[1]

1. an image of your passport data page, clear and readable;
2. a portrait photograph, looking straight at the camera, without glasses.

Then you fill in the online form and pay the fee: USD 25 for a single-entry e-visa or USD 50 for multiple entry. The portal says applications are processed in three working days, and warns that missing, incorrect or unidentifiable information means the application will not be accepted.^[1] Read your passport number and date of birth twice before you submit. A typo here costs you the fee and the time.

That's it for documents. No bank statements, no hotel booking and no flight ticket appear in the portal's application notes we reviewed.

What does the official source say about flight tickets?

Nothing, as far as we could find. The e-visa portal's application notes, the tourism authority's visa page and the Vietnamese embassy notice on visa exemption don't mention a flight ticket, a reservation, or proof of onward travel.^[1][3][4]

We also tried to confirm whether Vietnam's entry law sets a return-ticket condition for visa-exempt visitors. We could not reach the consolidated legal text on an official database in October 2026, so we are not stating a rule either way. If you are visa-exempt and planning a long stay, that is worth checking with your airline before you fly.

So for the e-visa itself, you don't need any flight document. Don't buy a reservation from us, or anyone, just to apply for a Vietnam e-visa. It would add nothing to the application.

Will anyone check your onward ticket for Vietnam?

Possibly the airline, rather than the e-visa portal. Airlines must be satisfied that you can be admitted at your destination before they board you, and their check-in staff may ask how and when you're leaving, especially on a one-way booking. We have not found an official Vietnamese source that sets out an onward-ticket check at the border, so we can't tell you exactly what an officer at Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City will ask.

What we can say: the e-visa itself sets the limits. It shows the period you may stay and whether it is single or multiple entry, and you must enter through a port that accepts e-visas. Vietnam's tourism authority lists 13 international airports, 16 land border gates and 13 sea border gates for e-visa holders.^[3] If you're crossing overland from Cambodia or Laos, check your gate is on the list before you pick the route.

Our general advice for any trip: fly with the real ticket for your departure from Vietnam, or for your next country. It answers the airline's question in seconds. Our guide to airline check-in versus immigration checks and the list of countries that require proof of onward travel explain how this varies around the region.

Small e-visa mistakes that cost time

Because the e-visa is so short, most problems come from details rather than missing documents. These are the ones we would double-check before pressing submit.

• A blurry or cropped passport image. The portal needs to read the data page. Photograph it flat, in daylight, with all four corners showing.
• A portrait with glasses or a tilted head. The instructions ask for a straight-on photo without glasses.^[1] A selfie against a busy wall is a common reason for a second attempt.
• Names in the wrong order. Enter them exactly as the passport's machine-readable zone shows them. Your airline booking should use the same spelling.
• Dates that don't cover the trip. If your flight home is on day 31 of a 30-day e-visa, you have a problem. Build in a day or two of margin.
• Single entry when you need multiple. Planning a side trip to Siem Reap or Luang Prabang and back? Choose multiple entry at the start.

Here is a quick example. Say you fly Delhi to Hanoi on 4 January, cross into Laos on 15 January, and fly back into Ho Chi Minh City on 19 January before going home on 27 January. That is two entries into Vietnam within one trip, so a multiple-entry e-visa covering 4 to 27 January (with a little margin) is the right choice. A single-entry e-visa would end the moment you crossed into Laos.

e-visa versus visa exemption: what the official sources ask

When a flight reservation makes sense for a Vietnam trip

Honestly, less often than for most countries. Here is where it does fit:

When another embassy needs your whole route. Say you're an Indian traveller applying for a Schengen or Japan visa, and your trip passes through Vietnam on the way. That embassy may want to see every leg, including Delhi to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City onwards. A multi-city reservation lets you show the full plan without paying for flights before the bigger visa is decided.

When you're living in Vietnam and applying elsewhere. Residents applying from Vietnam for other countries' visas use reservations for the same reason. Our page for Vietnamese travellers covers that side.

Where it doesn't fit: the e-visa application, which asks for no flight document. It also doesn't fit as your only evidence at check-in when the airline wants an onward ticket. A held reservation may not satisfy an airline agent, and by the travel date it may have lapsed anyway. Buy the real ticket out.

Applying for a Vietnam e-visa, step by step

1. Confirm you need it. Indian passport: yes. Others: check the exemption list first.^[3][4]
2. Choose single or multiple entry. If you're popping over to Cambodia or Laos and coming back, multiple entry saves a second application.
3. Prepare two images: your passport data page and a straight-on portrait photo without glasses.^[1]
4. Check your port of entry accepts e-visa holders.^[3]
5. Apply on the official government portal and pay USD 25 or USD 50.^[1]
6. Wait about three working days, then download and print the e-visa.^[1]
7. Book real flights that fit inside the e-visa dates, and carry your exit or onward ticket.

If another embassy wants your Vietnam leg on paper

Our reservations are genuine held bookings with a PNR in your name, which you can check on the airline's "Manage booking" page. They are not paid tickets and can't be used for travel.

You pay per passenger, the same for one way or return; for multi-city itineraries, each pair of legs is priced separately. Razorpay handles payment by UPI, card or netbanking, the reservation lands in your inbox in roughly 10 minutes, and the tracking page shows its status. Before paying you'll see the hold window, so book close to the embassy appointment. Details are on the price page, and our verification guide shows how to check the PNR yourself.

Vietnam visa and flight ticket FAQ

More guides in this set: Singapore visa documents, Turkey visa routes and Dubai and UAE visas. For the wider region, see Thailand entry, onward tickets for Bali and proof of onward travel. Also useful: the country requirements table, our onward ticket service, hotel bookings for visas, our explainer on reservations used in visa files, the Schengen visa page, and our main site.

Sources

All sources last checked: October 2026.

1. Vietnam Immigration Department, National portal on Immigration, Foreigner apply for e-visa (application notes, fees, processing). Current portal address: evisa.gov.vn.
2. Government of Viet Nam, Resolution No. 127/NQ-CP (14 August 2023, effective 15 August 2023), as summarised by the Embassy of Viet Nam in Singapore and the Vietnam National Authority of Tourism's official guide to e-visas.
3. Vietnam National Authority of Tourism, Vietnam visa requirements.
4. Embassy of Viet Nam in Japan, Visa exemption for citizens of 12 European countries (15 August 2025 to 14 August 2028).