Russia allows 30-day visa-free stays on Vietnamese ordinary passports
Michael Mai
The decree covers ordinary-passport holders from 15 October 2026 to 15 October 2027 inclusive, excludes work, study and residence, and leaves the regime of stay to Russian law.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed Decree No. 730 on 12 October 2026, allowing citizens of Vietnam to enter Russia, stay up to 30 days and leave without a visa on an ordinary passport. By its own terms the decree entered into force on 15 October 2026 and applies until 15 October 2027 inclusive.
Under the decree, Vietnamese citizens holding an ordinary passport need no visa to stay in Russia for up to 30 days on a guest or business visit, as tourists or at a scientific, cultural, socio-political, economic or sports event. Transit through Russia is covered as well. Entry for work, study or residence is excluded.
What the decree says
The decree is titled “On the temporary procedure for entry into the Russian Federation and exit from the Russian Federation of citizens of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam”. It cites Part 1 of Article 24 of Federal Law No. 114-FZ of 15 August 1996 as its basis.
Its four paragraphs read as follows, in an unofficial translation from the Russian:
- Paragraph 1: until 15 October 2027 inclusive, citizens of Vietnam may enter Russia and stay for no more than 30 days on a guest or business visit, as tourists, or to take part in scientific, cultural, socio-political, economic or sports events, and also to travel in transit through Russia and leave Russia, all without visas, on the ordinary passport of a citizen of Vietnam.
- Paragraph 2: the procedure does not apply to citizens of Vietnam entering Russia to work, including as journalists, to obtain an education or to reside.
- Paragraph 3: the regime of stay in Russia of those who enter under the decree is determined by Russian legislation.
- Paragraph 4: the decree enters into force on 15 October 2026.
The Kremlin announced the signing on 12 October, and the decree was entered the same day in the official publication record under number 0001202610120031.
What the text leaves open
- Migration card and registration of stay: the decree mentions neither, and no official statement on either was found; the Russian Interior Ministry and Border Service were not searched.
- Work: the decree allows a business visit and attendance at economic events but excludes entry for work. It does not define work or say where a business visit ends and work begins.
- After 15 October 2027: the decree says nothing about extension or renewal, or about a stay under way on that date. Its title calls the procedure temporary.
- Counting and repeat trips: the decree gives no counting rule, no yearly limit and no number of entries.
- Other passports: the decree names the ordinary passport and does not mention diplomatic or official ones.
What the Russian Embassy adds
In an explainer, the Russian Embassy in Hanoi says the 30 days are counted from the day the Russian border is crossed. Citizens of Vietnam entering under the decree may stay 90 days in total in a calendar year, it adds, with no limit on the number of entries. The decree itself contains no such limit, and the Embassy’s Vietnamese-language page says the same on both points.
The arrangement covers entry from third countries and through all border checkpoints open to passenger traffic, the Embassy says. Medical insurance is not a condition of entry, and the Embassy describes documents showing the purpose of the trip as recommended.
Entry can still be refused or restricted under Articles 26 and 27 of the 1996 federal law, the Embassy notes. Territories, organisations and facilities that require a special permit for foreigners, listed in Government Resolution No. 754 of 11 October 2002, fall outside the arrangement.
What Vietnam has said
Vietnam’s Foreign Ministry said at its regular press briefing on 15 October that Vietnam welcomes Russia’s visa-exemption policy for Vietnamese citizens holding ordinary passports under Decree No. 730 of 12 October 2026. The Ministry cited as background the joint statement of General Secretary and President To Lam’s state visit to Russia, which spoke of simplifying entry procedures and moving towards visa exemption for ordinary-passport holders.
Vietnam’s separate exemption for Russians
Vietnam’s own exemption for Russian citizens is a different, unilateral instrument. The Foreign Ministry’s list of exemptions, published on 30 June 2025, says that under Government Resolution 44/NQ-CP of 7 March 2025, Russian citizens enter Vietnam without a visa for a stay of no more than 45 days, from 15 March 2025 to the end of 14 March 2028.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said at a briefing on 16 October that Russia had decided to give Vietnamese citizens the same possibility that Russians have in Vietnam. The terms differ, with 30 days against 45, and the decree does not make its regime conditional on Vietnam’s exemption.
Before the decree: the statements of 9 September
After talks with President To Lam on 9 September, Putin said Russia was working to introduce a visa-free regime for Vietnamese in the near future, according to the Kremlin transcript. The joint statement of the same day spoke of simplifying entry and exit procedures for Vietnamese citizens entering Russia, with the prospect of a visa-free regime for holders of ordinary passports.
What this article has not established
The consolidated texts of Article 24 of Federal Law No. 114-FZ, which the decree cites, and of Article 5 of Federal Law No. 115-FZ on the stay of foreigners could not be read because the official legal-information site did not respond. The legal basis for the Embassy’s 90-day statement is therefore not established.
No official statement on a migration card or on registration of stay was found, and the Russian Interior Ministry and Border Service were not searched.
No official definition of work, or of the activities allowed on a business visit, was found.
No source says whether the arrangement will be extended after 15 October 2027 or what happens to a stay under way.
Other instruments covering diplomatic and official passports were not examined.
No Vietnamese official guidance on preparing for a trip to Russia was found.
Whether Resolution 44/NQ-CP was amended after the Foreign Ministry’s list was published on 30 June 2025 was not verified.
Only the Russian-language text of the joint statement of 9 September was read.
Related reading
Other visa-free destinations for Vietnamese passport holders: Where can Vietnamese passport holders travel without a visa?
Lead photo: Kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0.
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