Vietnamese abroad on foreign passports can get a 5-year visa exemption

A Vietnamese family that has taken another nationality, by investment or otherwise, and spends long stretches in Vietnam does not travel on one document. Members with a valid Vietnamese passport enter on it.

Vietnamese abroad with only a foreign passport, and foreign spouses and children, may hold a visa exemption certificate. Foreign parents, spouses and children of a citizen permanently residing in Vietnam may also hold residence cards and, after three years’ continuous temporary residence, be considered for permanent residence.

Who uses which document

Members who kept a valid Vietnamese passport

A Vietnamese citizen may enter on an intact, still-valid exit-entry document under Article 34 of the Law on Exit and Entry of Vietnamese Citizens, which sets no visa or exemption requirement for citizens.

Article 5(2)(c) obliges citizens to use documents issued by Vietnamese authorities to leave and enter, and the 2026 application form for the certificate repeats that duty.

Under Article 5(4) of the Nationality Law, added in 2025, a citizen who also holds a foreign nationality is recognised on Vietnamese territory only as Vietnamese in dealings with Vietnamese authorities, unless a treaty provides otherwise. A separate article explains that naturalising abroad does not itself end Vietnamese nationality.

The decree on the certificate does not say in terms that a holder of a valid Vietnamese passport is excluded.

The Vietnamese Embassy in the United States, on an undated page, states that such a person is not eligible; an answer on the foreign ministry’s question-and-answer page, to a question dated 24 April 2025, says the same. This indicates that the duty in Article 5(2)(c) is a statutory footing for that practice.

The visa exemption certificate

Article 12(5) of the Law on Entry, Exit, Transit and Residence of Foreigners exempts from visas Vietnamese residing abroad who hold a passport issued by a foreign authority, their foreign spouses and children, and the foreign spouses and children of Vietnamese citizens, “as regulated by the Government”. The regulation is Decree 82/2015/NĐ-CP.

The Ministry of Justice’s national legal database (record updated 18 April 2026) lists it as in force, with no instrument ending it in part or in full, and its record in the official gazette lists no amending instrument.

The Nationality Law, in its consolidated text of July 2025, defines Vietnamese residing abroad as citizens and persons of Vietnamese origin living long-term abroad; the latter are people who once held Vietnamese nationality determined at birth by descent, and their children and grandchildren, living long-term abroad.

Proof is a certified copy of a birth certificate, a decision releasing the person from Vietnamese nationality or a certificate of its loss, or another paper that states Vietnamese nationality or proves the person once held it; the application form in use since 1 July 2026 also accepts papers such as an expired Vietnamese passport or an identity card.

Foreign spouses and children prove the relationship. Where a person has no proof of being a Vietnamese residing abroad, the decree lets the mission weigh papers stating that the person is of Vietnamese origin and decide whether to accept the file.

The passport must be valid for at least one year, and the applicant must not fall under the law’s grounds for refusing entry or suspending exit. The certificate is valid for up to five years and must end at least six months before the passport. It is issued for visits to relatives and private matters; each person has one, and a child on a parent’s passport shares the parent’s.

At each entry, border control grants a six-month stay, or the certificate’s remaining validity if that is shorter. A holder who needs to stay longer, has a sponsor in Vietnam (an agency, organisation or individual) and a legitimate reason may be granted an extension of no more than six months.

A mission abroad sends the list of applicants to the Immigration Department within one working day of a complete file, the department answers within three, and the mission issues the certificate within one working day of the answer. A person already staying in Vietnam files at the department, which decides within five working days.

The Ministry of Public Security’s procedure page lists online filing for that route, with the passport still sent by public post; abroad, the foreign ministry’s online declaration only prepares the form, which is lodged at the nearest mission.

The certificate is withdrawn if the holder is found not to be eligible or falls under the law’s grounds for refusing entry or suspending exit; the fee is not refunded.

TT visas and residence cards for relatives of citizens

A foreign parent, spouse or child of a Vietnamese citizen falls in the TT visa category. The law limits children to those under 18 only for the children of foreign visa holders. This means that the text sets no age limit for a child of a Vietnamese citizen.

A TT visa runs for up to one year. A TT-eligible foreigner staying in Vietnam may instead hold a temporary residence card, which replaces the visa, for up to three years and at least 30 days less than the passport’s remaining validity. The opening of VNeID accounts to foreigners without residence cards is covered in a separate article.

The sponsor files at the immigration office where the individual sponsor resides, and the immigration authority decides within five working days.

Article 45(1)(c) gives the right to sponsor a foreign parent, spouse or child for a residence card or permanent residence to a Vietnamese citizen permanently residing in Vietnam. This indicates that a citizen relative who lives abroad would first need to reside permanently in Vietnam to act as sponsor.

For comparison, an e-visa runs for up to 90 days, and citizens of countries Vietnam exempts unilaterally receive a 45-day stay. Investor residence cards (ĐT1 to ĐT4) are a different route, covered in another article.

Permanent residence through a Vietnamese relative

Under Article 39(3), a foreigner may be considered for permanent residence when sponsored by a parent, spouse or child who is a Vietnamese citizen permanently residing in Vietnam. Article 40 requires lawful accommodation, a stable income that ensures a living in Vietnam and, for this category, at least three years’ continuous temporary residence.

The Ministry of Public Security’s Circular 31/2015/TT-BCA, in its 2015 text, counts those years from entry and exit stamps as a total stay of at least three years within the four years before filing.

Three later amending circulars were identified. Two were read, 06/2025 and 70/2026; according to their texts, neither touched that count. The third, 65/2022, was not opened.

The file includes a criminal record from the country of nationality and a diplomatic note from that country’s mission asking Vietnam to grant permanent residence. The Minister of Public Security decides within four months of a complete file, a period that may be extended by no more than two months.

Permanent residence has no time limit and the card replaces a visa, but the holder must exchange the card at the provincial police every ten years. The consolidated text indicates that the only permanent-residence article Law 118/2025 changed is Article 43, on exchanging and reissuing the card.

Fees since April 2026

Circular 28/2026/TT-BTC has set the fees since 1 April 2026, when Circular 25/2021/TT-BTC ceased to apply. A visa exemption certificate, new or reissued, costs USD 10; a temporary residence card USD 145 for up to two years, USD 155 for over two to five years and USD 165 for over five to ten; a stay extension USD 10; and a permanent residence card, new or reissued, USD 100.

Fees set in US dollars may be collected in dollars or in dong at the converted rate. No line was found in the circular for the ten-year exchange of a permanent residence card, and the Ministry of Public Security’s page for that procedure shows no fee.

Circular 81/2026/TT-BTC, in force since 1 July 2026, changed the APEC business travel card fee and none of the amounts above, and Circular 149/2026, in force from 23 November 2026 and read on the national legal database only, amends four other fee circulars and leaves these amounts unchanged.

At missions abroad, the consular fee schedule, Circular 264/2016/TT-BTC in its 2022 consolidated text, lists USD 10 for a certificate.

Official pages that lag the texts

Official pages read on 13 October 2026 differ from the texts above on four points:

• The Ministry of Public Security’s procedure pages for the certificate, for residence cards and for permanent residence at provincial level, undated, cite Circular 25/2021 as the basis for fees. The amounts on the first two match Circular 28/2026; the permanent-residence page shows an office name where the fee should be.
• The Immigration Department’s page on permanent residence filed at the department, undated, asks applicants in the merit and expert categories for a sponsor’s guarantee; the law ties the guarantee to family-sponsored applicants.
• The Vietnamese embassy in the United States says on its page that the passport must be valid for at least six months from entry; the decree and the Ministry of Public Security’s procedure page say at least one year.
• The foreign ministry’s answer to the April 2025 question gives a stay of 180 days per entry, extendable by up to 180 days; the decree sets six months.

What this article has not established

Circular 65/2022/TT-BCA, which amended Circular 31/2015, was not opened, and no consolidated text of Circular 31/2015 was found.

The status of the consular fee circular on the national legal database was not checked, and what each mission charges today was not established.

Whether missions other than the embassy in the United States apply the same exclusion of valid-passport holders was not checked, and who may obtain an e-visa was not researched.

Whether a citizen who enters on a foreign passport faces a penalty was not researched, and neither was what registering permanent residence in Vietnam requires of a citizen relative who would act as sponsor.

Three laws of 2026 that amend several statutes at once (Laws 14/2026, 20/2026 and 21/2026) were not opened.

The 2026 application form says it is submitted in person, while the Ministry of Public Security’s portal lists online filing; how the two fit was not established.

Tax residence during long stays was not researched. A separate article explains that a second passport does not decide Vietnamese tax residence.