As Vietnam officially reopens to international tourists today, the Vietnamese Government agreed to resume its unilateral visa exemption policy for citizens from 13 countries.
According to the newly-issued Resolution No.32/NQ-CP, the waiver exemption policy applies to citizens from Belarus, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, and the UK. It means citizens from the aforesaid countries don't have to apply for a visa if the duration of stay does not exceed 15 days since the date of arrival, regardless of entry purpose and passport and visa types they’re currently holding.
This will allow foreign travelers to come to Vietnam without having to book tour packages in advance.
The policy is valid from today until March 14, 2025, and possibly considered for extension. As for further extension, suspension, or termination of the unilateral visa exemption policy specified in the Resolution, the government tasked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to assess, evaluate and come up with recommendations.
Since March 2020, Vietnam has closed inbound tourism and stopped granting visas for foreign tourists. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, as well as the business sector and travel operators have many times asked for the government to revive the visa policy like the pre-pandemic times.
Just as Vietnam is approaching the reopening date, the COVID-19 infections are at their peak. In fact, the highest daily average reported is now at 256,482 new infections each day. Overall, there have been 6,377,438 infections and 41,477 COVID-related deaths reported in the country since the start of the pandemic.