Vietnam Visa for Philippines Citizens: 90-Day E-Visa Guide

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A Vietnam visa for Philippines citizens is only required once a trip runs past 21 days. Under the ASEAN mutual exemption, a Philippine passport lets you enter Vietnam visa-free for short tourism or business stays, with no form to submit and no fee to pay. Once your plans go beyond that window, or you simply want an approved document in hand before you fly, the e-visa is the route, and the 90-day option is the one built for exactly this case.

Below, you will find the exemption rules, the e-visa requirements and fees, an urgent processing option for trips departing soon, and the Vietnamese Embassy details if you would rather apply in person in Manila. Expats and foreign residents in the Philippines who do not hold a Philippine passport are covered too, since the 21-day exemption does not extend to them.

Vietnam visa for Philippines citizens in brief:

Do Philippines Citizens Need a Visa for Vietnam?

No, not for a short trip. Philippines citizens can enter Vietnam visa-free for up to 21 days under the ASEAN mutual exemption agreement, which covers both tourism and business visits. Your passport still needs at least 6 months of validity beyond your exit date and two blank visa pages, and immigration counts the 21 days from your actual arrival date, not from your booking date.

The exemption stops applying in a few common situations:

• Your total stay in Vietnam will run longer than 21 days.
• You need to enter and exit Vietnam more than once during the same trip.
• You are traveling for a purpose the exemption does not cover, such as work.

In any of these cases, you need a Vietnam visa for Philippines citizens, and the e-visa is the fastest way to get one. It replaces the old sticker visa for almost every traveler and, unlike the exemption, it can be arranged for a stay of up to 90 days.

What Happens If You Overstay the 21-Day Exemption?

Overstaying, even by one day, triggers a fine and a note on your immigration record, and repeat overstays can lead to a temporary entry ban on future trips. Vietnam's Immigration Department calculates the fine per day over the limit, collected at the airport or border checkpoint when you leave.

If your plans are uncertain, apply for the e-visa before you travel rather than relying on the exemption and hoping the trip stays under 21 days. A 30-day or 90-day e-visa costs the same government fee whether you use every day of it or not, so there is no financial downside to holding one as a buffer.

What Is the Vietnam E-Visa for Philippines Citizens?

The Vietnam e-visa is an electronic entry document that a Philippine passport holder applies for and receives entirely online, with no embassy visit required. It comes in two validity lengths, 30 days or 90 days, and each length is available as single entry or multiple entry. For a Philippines citizen whose trip runs past the 21-day exemption, whether that is a longer holiday, a multi-city itinerary, or a return visit within the same month, the 90-day multiple-entry e-visa removes the need to reapply mid-trip.

Vietnam's Immigration Department issues the e-visa itself; vietnamvisa.com is an independent service that prepares, checks, and submits your application on your behalf, and it does not replace or represent the government. You still pay the same government fee either way. What changes is the support: your form gets checked for the two most common rejection causes, a cropped passport scan or a photo that fails the size and background rule, before it is submitted.

30-Day vs 90-Day E-Visa: Which Should Philippines Citizens Choose?

Pick the length that matches how the trip could change, not just how long you plan to stay on day one. A short, fixed itinerary fits the 30-day e-visa, while anything with more moving parts is safer on the 90-day option.

The government fee for multiple entry (USD 50) costs more than single entry (USD 25), but reapplying mid-trip costs more in time than the difference in fee. If there is any chance you will leave Vietnam and come back within the same 90 days, apply for multiple entry upfront.

How to Apply for a Vietnam Tourist Visa as a Philippines Citizen

The Vietnam tourist visa Philippines citizens apply for once their trip outgrows the 21-day exemption is, in practice, the same e-visa used for business travel, just selected with a tourism purpose on the form. Applying takes three steps and no in-person appointment.

Vietnam E-Visa Requirements for Philippines Citizens

Before you start the form, gather the following:

• A passport valid for at least 6 months beyond your planned exit date, with two blank pages.
• A clear scanned copy of your passport bio page, in .jpg format.
• A passport photo, 4x6cm, white background, no glasses, taken within the last 6 months.
• A temporary address in Vietnam, such as a hotel booking or a relative's address.
• A valid credit or debit card for the government fee payment.

How to Apply for the Vietnam E-Visa

1. Complete the online application form and upload your passport bio page and photo.
2. Choose 30-day or 90-day validity and single or multiple entry, then pay the government fee.
3. Receive your approval letter by email, print it, and present it on arrival with your passport.

Note: Standard processing runs 5-7 working days. Vietnam's Immigration Department does not count the day you submit the form as a processing day, so build that into your travel date.

Common Reasons a Vietnam E-Visa Application Gets Rejected

Most rejections trace back to a small, avoidable set of mistakes rather than anything about the applicant's background. Knowing these in advance saves the days it takes to reapply.

• The passport photo has a colored or shadowed background instead of the required white background.
• The passport scan is blurry, cropped, or missing a corner of the bio page.
• The passport has fewer than 6 months of validity left, or fewer than 2 blank pages.
• The applicant's name or passport number was typed incorrectly on the form.
• The chosen port of entry does not match the airport on the actual flight ticket.

None of these require a lawyer or a second trip to fix, just a careful read of the form before submitting. This is also the specific reason vietnamvisa.com reviews every application before it goes to the Immigration Department: catching a cropped scan before submission is faster than catching it after a rejection.

Vietnam E-Visa Fees and Processing Time for Philippines Citizens

Every e-visa carries the same government fee, but the total time to approval depends on which speed tier you choose. The government's own processing runs on a fixed 5-7 working day schedule with no faster option, which is why a separate rush service exists for travelers who cannot wait that long.

Match the tier to how much lead time is actually left, not to how the trip feels. A departure three weeks out has no reason to pay for Super Urgent when Standard finishes with days to spare, while a departure tomorrow has no other realistic option. Between those two extremes, the 2 working days and 1 working day tiers cover the common case of a trip confirmed a week or two out, where Standard's 5-7 working days would cut the margin too thin.

The government fee stays USD 25 for single entry or USD 50 for multiple entry regardless of speed. Faster tiers add a service fee on top, since the work is the same document review compressed into a shorter window: a Super Urgent application still needs its passport scan and photo checked, just within 2.5 hours instead of 5-7 working days, and that turnaround requires a team available outside normal office hours. The government fee itself is non-refundable at the Immigration Department, but applying through vietnamvisa.com means that if your application is declined for a reason other than incorrect information you supplied, we refund the full amount you paid, including the government fee, as our money-back guarantee.

Urgent Vietnam Visa for Philippines Citizens: When You Need It Fast

An urgent Vietnam visa for Philippines citizens exists for the trip that will not wait 5-7 working days: a flight booked for tomorrow, a family emergency, or a business meeting that came up with no notice. Apply on vietnamvisa.com and you can choose Same day processing, delivered in 4-8 hours, or Super Urgent, delivered in as little as 2.5 hours. We have processed Vietnam e-visa applications since 2002, with a 99.9% approval rate, so the speed does not come at the cost of accuracy.

Three simple steps: submit your passport scan and photo online, pay by card, and receive the approval letter by email; no passport mailing and no embassy visit at any point. See the urgent visa options for every rush tier, or apply online now if your departure is already close.

Vietnam Visa on Arrival and Embassy Options for Philippines Citizens

The e-visa is not the only route out of the Philippines, though it is the one most travelers end up using. Visa on arrival works only for air travel, and the Vietnamese Embassy in Manila still issues a sticker visa for the cases the e-visa does not cover, such as certain visa categories tied to work or study.

Vietnam Visa on Arrival for Philippines Citizens

Visa on arrival is applicable to air travel only, which fits every Philippines citizen since there is no land route into Vietnam anyway. The process still starts online, then finishes at the airport counter rather than by email.

1. Submit an online form for a pre-approved visa letter, the same core information as the e-visa form.
2. Receive the approval letter by email, typically in 5-7 working days (in urgent cases, in a few hours).
3. Present the letter, two photos (4x6cm, white background, no glasses), and the visa stamping fee in cash at the airport counter on arrival.

Note: The visa stamping fee is paid separately from the government fee and only in cash. Because the e-visa now covers the same nationalities at a fixed, all-in cost with no airport queue, most Philippines citizens choose it over visa on arrival unless a travel agent has already arranged the letter as part of a package.

Vietnamese Embassy in Manila

The Embassy of Vietnam in Manila is the single mission covering the entire Philippines, so it handles requests from Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao alike.

Applying in person still means preparing a passport valid for at least 6 months, two photos (4x6cm, white background, no glasses), a completed application form, and the visa stamping fee in cash, then waiting 5-7 working days for the sticker visa to be issued. For a standard tourist trip, this takes longer and costs more effort than the e-visa for the same result, so most travelers reserve the embassy route for visa categories the e-visa form does not list, such as certain long-term or work-related visas.

Note: Consular hours can shift around Philippine and Vietnamese public holidays, so call ahead before visiting in person.

Entering Vietnam From the Philippines by Air

The Philippines has no land border with Vietnam, so every trip, whether under the 21-day exemption or on a full e-visa, enters by air. When you fill out the e-visa form, select the exact port of entry you will land at, such as Tan Son Nhat in Ho Chi Minh City or Noi Bai in Hanoi. If your itinerary might change after you apply, choose multiple entry rather than filing a second application later.

Manila has direct flights to both major gateways, so most Philippines citizens do not need a connecting flight at all. Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific, Vietjet, and Vietnam Airlines all fly nonstop from Manila to Ho Chi Minh City in around 2 hours 42 minutes, and the same carriers plus Philippines AirAsia fly nonstop to Hanoi in around 3 hours 25 minutes. Book the port of entry that matches whichever city your flight actually lands in, since the e-visa is tied to that specific airport.

Vietnam Visa for Foreigners and Expats Living in the Philippines

If you are a US, UK, Australian, Chinese, or Indian citizen based in or visiting the Philippines, the 21-day exemption above does not apply to you, it is specific to Philippine passport holders. Your visa requirement follows your own nationality's rule, not the country you are currently living in. Most expats in this position still qualify for the same online e-visa, using the same requirements and processing tiers described above, and can apply from anywhere in the Philippines without visiting an embassy.

A common mix-up happens with mixed-nationality families: a Filipino spouse or child in the same travel party may be visa-exempt for 21 days while a foreign spouse in the same booking is not. Each traveler's visa need is decided by the passport they hold, not by the household or the itinerary they share, so check every passport in the group individually before you book.

Frequently Asked Questions