Vietnam restores pre-pandemic visa-free policy

The Vietnamese government on Tuesday restored pre-pandemic immigration procedures for foreigners and overseas Vietnamese.

Visa exemption is resumed from March 15, the Government Office said in a release. March 15 is the day when Vietnam fully reopened its tourism market to international tourists.

Specifically, visa exemption is applied to citizens of Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Russia, Japan, South Korea, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Belarus.

Citizens of these countries are allowed to enter Vietnam for a period of 15 days, regardless of passport type and entry purpose. This policy will be effective from March 15, 2022 to March 14, 2025, with extension to be considered.

Vietnam unilaterally exempted these countries from visas from the end of 2019 to the time the pandemic broke out over two years ago.

Before the Covid-19 outbreaks, it exempted visas unilaterally for 13 countries and bilaterally for 88 countries and territories. In 2020, the country put a halt to this mechanism as an anti-pandemic measure.

The government assigned the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to develop immigration policies applied to partners having bilateral and multilateral relations with Vietnam.

The ministry will also negotiate with other countries on the recognition of each other’s vaccine passports, and issue guidelines for the application of foreigners' vaccine passports in Vietnam.