Vietnam mandates digital arrival card filing within 72 hours of landing

What the Digital Arrival Card requires

Vietnam made a digital pre-arrival immigration declaration mandatory for most foreign passengers landing at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, effective April 15. The form replaces the old paper arrival card and generates a personal QR code that immigration officers scan at the counter.

Travelers submit the declaration through the Vietnam Immigration Department's pre-arrival portal at prearrival.immigration.gov.vn within 72 hours before landing. The form is free. Immigration law firm Fragomen confirmed the rule in an April 21 advisory, noting the three-day submission window.

The card doesn't replace a visa or visa-exemption documentation. Standard e-visa fees of $25 for single entry and $50 for multiple entry still apply through the separate e-visa portal.

Who has to file

The declaration applies to anyone entering SGN on a foreign passport, including tourists on e-visas or visa exemptions, business travelers, remote workers entering as tourists and long-term expats re-entering on work visas or temporary residence cards. Overseas Vietnamese using a 5-year visa-exemption certificate are also covered.

Vietnamese citizens traveling on a Vietnamese passport are exempt, as are transit passengers who stay airside. Diplomatic passport holders may also be exempt, though the public portal doesn't spell this out.

Nomads who hop in and out of Vietnam on tourist entries will need to repeat the filing before every arrival at SGN.

Filing the form

The portal asks for passport details, a passport scan, flight number, originating country, first-night accommodation address, planned departure date and visa type and number. An OTP sent to the traveler's email verifies the submission, then the system issues a confirmation voucher with the QR code.

Save the QR code to a phone or print it. Officers at SGN scan it alongside the passport and visa.

A few practical notes:

• The form can't be filed earlier than 72 hours before arrival.
• Several third-party sites are charging $20 to $30 to file the same free form. Use only the official prearrival.immigration.gov.vn site.
• Travelers who skip the filing will be sent to complete it on arrival, which means delays at immigration.

Read our full Vietnam guide for the complete picture and check our visa updates for more changes across the region.