Vietnam is taking strong measures to tighten the management of foreigners entering Vietnam. On March 9, 2020, the Prime Minister approved the decision: suspend all visa waiver programmes for the UK and some countries in Europe.

Previously, citizens from 13 countries UK, Germany, France, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Japan, Korea, Russia, Belarus, Italy could enter Vietnam for a maximum 15 days without visa. However, from 3:00 pm on March 9, 2020, the Vietnamese government has decided to stop the visa-free program for UK passport holders and 7 other European Union countries, including Germany, France, Spain, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark. This decision was made to tighten immigration control for foreign tourists in the situation that the nCovid epidemic is constantly increasing. As such, UK passport holders are required to apply for a visa when entering Vietnam, even if the trip is less than 15 days.

UK citizens also need to note: Flights from countries which have many cases of Viruscorona such as Italy, China, Korea, Iran will be considered for isolation 14 days upon arrival in Vietnam. At the same time, medical declaration is required to enter Vietnam.

However, UK citizens should be not too worried. All measures taken by the Vietnamese government aim to keep Vietnam safe during this epidemic. Vietnam is still very safe now, and visitors can come to Vietnam for tourism as normal. At the same time, the policy of stopping the visa waiver programme for UK citizens only applies to the visa exemption, UK passport holders with a Vietnam visa can still enter Vietnam normally. Vietnam visa can now be applied online via the link https://www.vietnamimmigration.com/apply-vietnam-visa/, processing time to get a visa usually about 2 working days. If you need an urgent visa, you can request express service to apply visa quickly. At the same time, the procedure for applying a Vietnamese visa is very simple, without any documents, just fill out the online form and receive the results via email.