How to Spot a Fake Vietnam E-Visa Website (and Check the One You Are On)

The Vietnam e-visa is one of the most searched-for visas in Asia, and that attracts copycats. Vietnam's Immigration Department has publicly warned about websites that pass themselves off as the official e-visa service - Viet Nam News reported one such warning in October 2022 - and the sites have not gone away.

You will meet three kinds of site:

1. The official portal, run by the Immigration Department.
2. Private agencies that apply on your behalf for a fee. They are legal, and useful when they are open about who they are. We are one.
3. Sites built to mislead: copying the government's look, hiding who runs them, or charging for something you do not need.

This guide is about recognising the third kind.

The only official addresses

Address	What it is
evisa.gov.vn	The official e-visa portal
thithucdientu.gov.vn	The same portal under its Vietnamese name - thị thực điện tử means electronic visa
prearrival.immigration.gov.vn	The free pre-arrival form, which is not a visa

Every one ends in .gov.vn. An older address, evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn, still turns up in search results; it now tells applicants to use the two portal addresses above.

A site ending in .com, .org, .net, or .vn without "gov" in front of it is private, however many flags and emblems it shows.

Nine warning signs

1. It looks like the government, but the address does not end in .gov.vn. National emblems, "Vietnam Immigration" in the logo, phrases such as "official application" or "government portal". An honest private agency has no reason to dress up as the state.

2. You cannot find out who runs it. No company name, no registration number, no country, no address. Look in the footer, the About page and the terms. If the only name anywhere is the website's own, that is your answer.

3. The price appears late, or grows. A low headline figure, then a "processing fee", "service charge" or "government tax" at the last step. An honest site shows the full price before you type in your passport number.

4. It charges for something free. The pre-arrival form is free on the government's site, and so is checking your e-visa status. A fee for either, or for an "eligibility check", buys nothing.

5. It sells a visa without asking whether you need one. Citizens of 39 countries can enter Vietnam visa-free for 14 to 90 days, and any nationality can visit Phu Quoc for 30 days without a visa. A site that takes your money without asking your nationality, or without mentioning the exemption, is not on your side. Check your passport.

6. It promises what nobody can. "Guaranteed approval." "Visa in one hour" on a Saturday. Vietnam's Immigration Department decides every application, and it works on weekdays only.

7. It wants an unusual payment. A bank transfer to a personal account, cryptocurrency, gift cards, or a payment link sent over chat. Paying by card through a recognised processor keeps your right to dispute the charge.

8. Its emails come from a free address. A Gmail or Outlook address for a business that handles passports.

9. You only found it through an ad. Being at the top of the results proves nothing - advertisers pay to be there. Read the address, not the headline.

Check any site in two minutes

1. Read the address bar. Is it exactly one of the official addresses? If not, the site is private.
2. Find the company. Look for a legal name and a registration number, then look the number up on that country's official register - ABN Lookup in Australia, Companies House in the UK, the state business registry in the US.
3. Find the total. Can you see the full price, government fee included, before you enter your passport details?
4. Read the refund policy. What happens if the visa is refused, or arrives late?
5. Send a question. A real agency answers it in plain words.

You can run the same checks on us. MyVietnamVisas is a trading name of SS Visa and Travel Group Pty Ltd, ABN 65 679 999 243, registered in Adelaide, Australia. We are not the government, our about page says so, and you can apply yourself on evisa.gov.vn for the government fee alone. Applying yourself or using an agency: how to decide.

If you have already paid a site you now doubt

• Ask for the e-visa application number. A genuine one can be checked on the Search page of evisa.gov.vn, together with the email address on the application and your date of birth. How to check your e-visa status.
• Check what you received. A real e-visa carries your name, passport number, the visa's number and its validity dates, and the same result shows on the official Search page.
• Call your card issuer if you were charged for something you did not get, or more than you were shown. Ask about a chargeback, and do it quickly.
• Do not fly on a document you cannot verify. If your flight is close and you cannot confirm the visa, apply again on the official portal or through a registered agency.
• Report the site to your country's scam or consumer authority - Scamwatch in Australia, Action Fraud in the UK, the Federal Trade Commission in the US.
• Remember it holds your passport scan. If you believe the site is fraudulent, ask your passport office what to do next.

Paying more is not the same as being scammed

A private agency that tells you who it is, shows its price and does the work is not a scam because it costs more than the government fee. You are paying for a service. The problem is sites that hide what they are.

Frequently asked questions

What is the official website for the Vietnam e-visa?

evisa.gov.vn, which is also reachable at thithucdientu.gov.vn. Both belong to Vietnam's Immigration Department.

Is a Vietnam visa website ending in .com official?

No. Only .gov.vn addresses belong to the Vietnamese government. A .com site may be a legitimate agency, but it is not the government.

Is the Vietnam pre-arrival form free?

Yes, on prearrival.immigration.gov.vn. A site charging for it is a third party. How to complete the pre-arrival form.

Is MyVietnamVisas the official website?

No. We are a private visa agency, registered in Australia, that lodges e-visa applications on the official system for a fee. Our prices include the government fee and are shown on each visa page, for example the single-entry e-visa.

How can I tell if my e-visa is real?

Look it up on the Search page of evisa.gov.vn with the application number, the email address used on the application and your date of birth. If the portal does not find it, it was not issued.

Can a site be private and still legitimate?

Yes. Plenty of agencies, ours included, apply on travellers' behalf. The test is openness: who runs the site, what you pay in total, and what happens if the visa is refused.