Vietnam Visa for China Citizens: Best E-Visa Guide 2026

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A Vietnam Visa for China Citizens is required for every trip, since China does not appear on Vietnam's visa-exemption list. The e-visa is the standard route: you apply online, pay the government fee, and receive an approval letter to print before you fly. It stays valid for up to 90 days, with a choice of single or multiple entry.

This guide covers the requirements, fees, and processing times for the standard e-visa, how it applies to tourist, business, and transit trips, and what to do if your departure is only days away.

Vietnam e-visa basics for China citizens in brief:

Do Chinese Citizens Need a Visa to Enter Vietnam?

Yes. A visa is required for every visit, regardless of trip length or purpose. China is not on Vietnam's visa-exemption list, unlike some neighboring Southeast Asian countries, so Chinese passport holders cannot enter visa-free even for a short tourism trip.

One narrow exception exists: overseas Vietnamese nationals living in China, along with their spouses and children, can apply for a separate 5-year visa-exemption certificate at a Vietnamese embassy or consulate. This certificate is unrelated to the standard tourist or business visa, and it does not apply to ordinary Chinese citizens.

For everyone else, the e-visa is the fastest and simplest way to meet this requirement. You apply online, upload your passport and photo, pay the government fee, and receive an approval letter by email. Visa on arrival and an embassy sticker visa remain available too, but most travelers now choose the e-visa because it needs no in-person visit and no passport submission by mail.

The e-visa system has been open to Chinese passport holders since Vietnam extended it to all nationalities in 2023, and it is now accepted at every international airport, land border gate, and seaport in Vietnam. Before that update, some border checkpoints only accepted a subset of visa types, which occasionally caused confusion for travelers entering by land from Guangxi or Yunnan province. That restriction no longer applies, so an e-visa approved this way works at any port you select on the application form.

What Are the Vietnam E-Visa Requirements for Chinese Citizens?

The Vietnam e-visa requirements for Chinese citizens cover your passport, a recent photo, and a few application details. Meeting these before you start the online form keeps your application moving without a review delay.

Passport and Photo Requirements

• A passport valid for at least six (06) months from your entry date, with two blank pages.
• A clear, scanned copy in .jpg format of your passport's bio (data) page.
• A passport-sized photo in .jpg format (4x6cm, white background, no glasses), taken within the last 6 months.

Documents Needed for the Application

• A valid international credit or debit card for the government fee payment.
• A temporary address in Vietnam, such as a hotel, homestay, or a relative's address.
• Your intended port of entry and exit (airport, land border gate, or seaport).

Note: If your passport's bio page shows your name in Chinese characters alongside the ICAO lines, enter the name exactly as printed in the ICAO lines on the application form. A transliteration mismatch between the form and your passport is one of the most common causes of delay.

The application form itself asks for standard details: full name, date of birth, passport number, nationality, and your planned dates of entry and exit. You also select single or multiple entry at this stage, so decide before you start whether your trip includes a side visit to Cambodia or Laos and a return into Vietnam, since that requires multiple entry rather than single.

How Much Does a Vietnam Visa Cost for China Citizens?

This visa has two separate costs: the government fee paid to Vietnam's Immigration Department, and a service fee if you apply through an agency such as vietnamvisa.com for faster processing.

Note: The service fee rises with each faster processing tier, since Same-day and Super Urgent both require priority handling on our side. See the current visa fee schedule for exact pricing by speed.

Each tier is available for either 1-month or 3-month validity, and for single or multiple entry. Multiple entry and Super Urgent processing both add to the total, so a single-entry Standard application remains the lowest-cost way to get this visa if your travel dates are still weeks away.

If you choose visa on arrival instead of the e-visa, you also pay a visa stamping fee in cash at the airport counter upon arrival, separate from the amounts above. This makes the total cost of visa on arrival harder to predict than the e-visa's fixed, paid-in-advance total.

How Long Does It Take to Get a Vietnam Visa for China Citizens?

Processing time for this visa ranges from 2.5 hours to 7 working days, depending on which tier you choose:

• Standard: 3-7 working days.
• 2 working days: for travelers with a moderate lead time.
• 1 working day: for a trip roughly a week out.
• Same-day (4-8 hours): for departures within 1-2 days.
• Super Urgent (2.5 hours): for same-day or last-minute travel.

The Standard tier processes only on working days, so an application submitted on a Friday evening will typically not begin review until Monday. The urgent tiers now run on weekends and public holidays as well, which matters if your trip falls around a Chinese public holiday period, when standard queues at the Immigration Department tend to lengthen.

Same-day and Super Urgent processing both rely on a direct submission channel rather than the queue that Standard applications go through, which is why they can complete in hours instead of working days. Same-day still depends on when in the day you submit, since a request placed late at night may roll into the next morning's batch, while Super Urgent is built specifically for the traveler who is already packing.

How Do Chinese Citizens Apply for a Vietnam E-Visa Step by Step?

1. Complete the online form with your passport details and intended port of entry.
2. Upload your passport bio page scan and passport photo (4x6cm, white background, no glasses).
3. Pay the government fee of USD 25 for single entry or USD 50 for multiple entry.
4. Receive your approval letter by email within your selected processing time, then print it before you fly.

Note: If an officer flags your application for review, you may receive an email request for additional information. Check your inbox, including the spam folder, during processing so a reply does not slip past you.

What Is the Vietnam Tourist Visa for China Citizens?

The vietnam tourist visa China citizens apply for is simply the e-visa selected with tourism as the travel purpose, valid for up to 90 days with single or multiple entry. It differs from a business visa mainly in the purpose you declare on the form, not in the application process itself.

A vietnam tourist visa China citizens select through the e-visa system covers most short trips, including family visits and holidays. If your trip mixes tourism with a work meeting, choose business as the declared purpose instead, since Vietnam's Immigration Department can decline a tourist visa used for business activity, or question it at the port of entry.

If a trip extends past the 90-day validity, a tourist visa cannot simply be renewed online; you would need to exit and re-enter Vietnam on a new e-visa, or work with a guaranteeing agency inside Vietnam for a longer-stay visa category. For a standard holiday or family visit, though, the 90-day tourist e-visa comfortably covers the length of most trips, and multiple entry lets you leave for a side trip to Cambodia or Laos and return on the same visa.

Is There an Urgent Vietnam Visa for China Citizens?

If your flight is only days, or even hours, away, standard processing may not fit your timeline. An Urgent Vietnam Visa for China Citizens is available through vietnamvisa.com, with approval delivered in as little as 2.5 hours.

We have processed Vietnam e-visa applications since 2002, with a 99.9% approval rate across more than two decades. Before we submit your application, we check it for the two most common problems, a cropped passport scan or a photo that fails the requirements, so they do not delay this urgent application. Visit vietnamvisa.com and apply as a visitor, or go straight to apply now if your documents are ready. See our urgent visa options for the full list of same-day and Super Urgent tiers.

Urgent processing now runs on weekends and public holidays too, not just working days, so an application submitted on a Saturday still moves the same day rather than waiting until Monday. This matters most around Chinese public holidays, when standard applications through the Immigration Department can back up, but the urgent channel keeps running.

Is the Vietnam Visa Fee Refundable If Your Application Is Declined?

The government fee is non-refundable at Vietnam's Immigration Department, so a declined application does not return the USD 25 or USD 50 you paid there directly. If you apply through vietnamvisa.com and your application is declined, we refund 100% of what you paid, including the government fee, as our money-back guarantee. This does not cover declines caused by incorrect information you supplied yourself, so check your passport details and photo before you submit.

The guarantee applies the same way across every processing tier, including the urgent option, so choosing a faster tier does not reduce your protection if the Immigration Department declines the application for reasons on our side rather than yours.

What Else Should China Citizens Know Before Traveling to Vietnam?

A few extra details help your application go smoothly and make the trip itself easier to plan.

Vietnamese Embassy and Consulates in China

Vietnam operates one embassy and four consulates-general across China, more consular coverage than most countries have, so an in-person visa is a realistic backup if you ever need one.

Note: You only need to visit one of these offices if you specifically need a visa label affixed inside your passport, or a visa category the e-visa does not cover. For a standard tourist or business trip, the e-visa is faster and skips the queue entirely.

Flights from China to Vietnam

Direct flights connect several major Chinese cities to Vietnam. Vietnam Airlines, VietJet Air, China Southern, China Eastern, and Air China all operate routes from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Kunming to Hanoi, and from Beijing and Guangzhou to Ho Chi Minh City. The Guangzhou to Hanoi route is typically the shortest and cheapest, at about 2 hours 40 minutes, while Shanghai to Hanoi takes around 3 hours 40 minutes, and Beijing to Ho Chi Minh City runs about 5 hours nonstop. Choose your port of entry on the e-visa form to match whichever city your flight lands in.

If your city is not on the direct-route list, connecting through Guangzhou or Hong Kong generally adds the least time, since both hubs run frequent onward flights to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Confirm your connection has enough layover time before you book, since the approval letter states a specific port of entry, and a diverted or rebooked flight into a different airport can require an amended application.

Common Reasons Chinese Applicants Get Rejected or Delayed

• A photo that does not match your current passport photo page.
• A name or passport number entered with a transliteration mismatch from the ICAO lines.
• Applying during a Chinese public holiday travel surge, such as Golden Week or the Spring Festival, when processing queues at the Immigration Department lengthen.
• A passport with fewer than two blank pages, or less than six (06) months of validity remaining at entry.

Note: Most of these causes are avoidable by checking your documents against the requirements list above before you submit, rather than after a delay notice arrives.

Frequently Asked Questions