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Airports: the one destination that simultaneously inspires both joy and dread. If you’re feeling intimidated by your first trip to Vietnam, let us put your anxieties to rest with this handy-dandy survival guide for the Tan Son Nhat/Ho Chi Minh airport. First up: the international terminal. Stay tuned for the domestic edition.

Fast Facts

Tan Son Nhat International Airport (airport code: SGN) is the largest airport in Vietnam and one of the three main gateways into Vietnam for many international visitors. The airport is only 8 kilometers north of District 1, a short ride away from downtown Saigon. Comprised of two terminals, Domestic Terminal 1 and International Terminal 2, the airport welcomed 35 million guests in 2016. The numbers will rise with the increasing popularity of Vietnam as a tourist destination. The international terminal is less than a decade old, opened in September 2007.

Fresh Off The Runway

Visa on Arrival

Upon touching down in Ho Chi Minh airport, you’ll be greeted by fairly new facilities and clear-cut directions to the immigration desks. Count the good signage as a blessing. The immigration process is notoriously slow and chances are if you are arriving at the same time as other international flights with non-Vietnamese passengers, you’ll be in line for quite some time. Pick up your heels and try to take a potty break prior to deboarding as a pitstop to the bathrooms before will more or less determine how long you’ll be waiting in line.

Note: If Ho Chi Minh isn’t your final destination and you have a transfer either to another domestic airport or international flight, all you have to do is follow the appropriate arrows and signs.

Visa to Vietnam

Make sure you have your passport ready

As of August 2016, citizens of 79 countries are exempt from pre-arranged visas and/or visas in general, albeit the cap on travel days. Most citizens of the Asian continent (Japan, South Korea, Russia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, The Philippines, Brunei, Myanmar) and Western Europe (Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, France, Germany, Spain, The United Kingdom, Italy, Germany) can enter the country without a pre-arranged visa. However, the duration of stay is variable depending on nationality.

More Exemptions

• If you are an overseas Vietnamese or child of an overseas Vietnamese, you can stay without a visa for no more than 6 months.

• Same goes for foreigners whose spouses are Vietnamese citizens.

• And if you are traveling to Phu Quoc Island, you don’t need a visa for a stay less than 30 days.

Just A Head’s Up

The visa rules are always changing so always double-check. Also, the waiver agreements between many of the Western European countries and Vietnam will expire in June of 2017 and may/may not be extended so if you’re planning your visit after that date, figure out the status of your exemption before booking accommodations.

Visa on Arrival

An empty queue

Visa on arrival (VOA) can only be procured with a pre-arranged approval letter issued by a third-party. You need to apply for a letter of approval in advance. Remember, this letter of approval is NOT a full visa! Word of advice: try organize this at least a month before your departure. The penalty for arriving without an approval letter is steep so don’t try your luck (a Canadian friend arrived in Vietnam having to pay $350 USD without a visa letter… yikes!)

The visa on arrival is a much cheaper, legitimate alternative to a visa issued by the Vietnamese embassy or consulate. However, the downside is that visas on arrival take a very long time to issue if you’re not the first in line. If you choose to go this route, you’ll be paying a fee to a VOA agent to request a letter beforehand for you and then another fee at the airport to process your visa. The fastest way to pay at the airport is in $USD and in exact change. Research in advance what the fee is.

Another tip to make this process go by quicker is to have the application form already filled out instead of wasting time filling it out at the counter. If you queue up with your processing fee in exact change and $USD, a filled-out application form, and two passport-sized photos, it’s very likely you’ll be cutting down the wait time by almost half. After that, make your way to a second set of lines for the immigration desks.

You also need to submit a passport size photo of yourself that is recent (taken no longer than 6 months before). If you do not have a photo with you, they will lean you up against a white wall and take one, but you will have to pay 5USD just for that single photo. Plus this is kind of inconvenient as sometimes there are group tours waiting for their visa and it takes absolutely FOREVER.