​Vietnam will expand e-visa to most countries

Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son said that Vietnam currently grants e-visas or e-visas to citizens of 80 countries, and will expand to almost all countries in the future.

On the afternoon of May 27, the National Assembly discussed at the group the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on exit and entry of Vietnamese citizens and the Law on entry, exit, transit and residence of Vietnamese citizens. foreigners in Vietnam.



Foreign Minister Bui Thanh Son agreed to amend these two laws, because it will create favorable conditions for Vietnamese citizens to go abroad to study, work and live. Citizens of foreign countries are increasingly going abroad

After the Covid-19 pandemic, people went to study and workers started to increase again.

In addition, the country's economy is very open, so there are many foreigners entering Vietnam to live, work, and travel...
The Minister expressed his support for the expansion of e-visa, especially when our country is in the process of digital transformation. Currently, countries are also expanding the area of ​​e-visa, creating favorable conditions for citizens from all over the world.
 
The Minister of Foreign Affairs also agreed with the regulation to increase the visa duration to 3 months, valid for many times, and then increase the residence time for those entering the category of unilateral visa exemption to 45 days.

In countries with a shortage of labor, if they want to attract tourists, they always adjust their immigration policies. For example, in Canada, if there are children studying there, the Canadian side is willing to grant long-term visas so that relatives can go back and forth many times, so do other countries.

Talking about the benefits of this, when extending the length of stay and visa, foreign guests will have more time in Vietnam.
 
Regarding the draft Law on entry, exit, transit and residence of foreigners in Vietnam, the Minister proposed amendments to allow overseas Vietnamese representative missions to decide on visa issuance for some foreign nationals. necessary or urgent foreign affairs. However, this grant still follows the principle that overseas Vietnamese representative offices must be responsible for themselves and must notify the Immigration Department (Ministry of Public Security).

Vietnam's expansion of international relations has very special cases, such as urgent humanitarian assistance, aid, or unexpected close to the new visa application date, if done correctly, it will take a long time.
 
Representative Nguyen Manh Hung (Can Tho City) said that it is late to change the visa policy until now, and the sooner the better.
In fact, in 2019 - the time before the Covid-19 epidemic, Vietnam reached 19 million international visitors, while Thailand was 25 million. In 2022, Vietnam set a huge target of 5 million international visitors to recover from the epidemic, with the result only reaching 60%. But Thailand reached 11 million, Malaysia more than 9 million. That is, Vietnam's tourism recovery is very slow.

Since last year, Thailand has many policies to extend visas, extend stay or facilitate entry for visitors via online form... while Vietnam has not yet implemented these things.

In the first 3 months of this year, the number of international visitors to Vietnam reached 3.7 million international tourists, but the target of 8 million visitors this year is a challenge.

The draft law assigns the Government to detail the list of countries that can extend the duration of stay and apply for an online visa.