First tourist arrives in HCMC on e-visa

A British national has become the first visitor to arrive in Vietnam on an electronic visa less than a week after the country launched the online application system.

Officials from the Immigration Department and Ho Chi Minh City’s Tourism Department welcomed British citizen Richard Kenneth Wilson at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on Saturday, VietnamPlus reported.

Wilson’s e-visa was granted on February 1, the launch date of the new system which allows visitors from 40 countries to apply for 30-day tourist visas online.

Under a government directive released in late January, citizens from China, Japan, South Korea, the U.S., the U.K., Germany and Sweden, all major target markets for Vietnam’s tourism sector, are eligible to apply for e-visas to Vietnam.

To apply for e-visas, foreign citizens can access the websites http://www.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn or http://www.immigration.gov.vn.

The new electronic visa system for foreign tourists did not, however, have a smooth start as many reportedly had difficulties accessing the websites.


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