Vietnam Visa for Canadian Citizens

Vietnam visa for Canadian citizens is required before almost every trip, since Canada does not appear on Vietnam's unilateral visa-exemption list. Ordinary Canadian passport holders need either a Vietnam e-visa or a visa on arrival, and both can cover a single entry or multiple entries of up to 90 days.

The e-visa is processed entirely online and works for arrivals by air, land, or sea, while visa on arrival applies to air travel only and is built around a pre-approved approval letter that gets stamped at the airport counter when you land. Neither option outranks the other. The right pick depends on your entry point, how far ahead you are booking, and how comfortable you are handling part of the process in person.

Unlike travelers from a small number of APEC economies, Canadians have no Business Travel Card shortcut into Vietnam, since Canada is not an APEC member. There is also no short-transit exemption available to Canadian passport holders. Every ordinary trip, tourism, business, or family visit, needs one of the two visa types described on this page.

This page gives you the full picture, what a Vietnam visa is, which type to choose, and roughly what it costs and how long it takes, before you move on to the detailed guides on requirements, fees, processing time, the step-by-step application, and practical tips linked throughout.

Last updated: September 17, 2026

Vietnam visa for Canadian citizens in brief:

Do Canadian Citizens Need a Visa to Enter Vietnam?

Yes. Canadian citizens need a visa to enter Vietnam, because Canada is not on Vietnam's list of nationalities that can travel visa-free. This applies to tourism, business trips, and most transit that goes beyond a short airside layover.

Canada also falls outside the two shortcuts that help travelers from some other countries skip the process. There is no APEC Business Travel Card option, since Canada is not an APEC member economy, and there is no island-only transit exemption that covers Canadian passport holders. That means the general rule applies with no carve-out: every Canadian traveling to Vietnam needs a valid e-visa, a visa on arrival, or a sticker visa issued by an embassy or consulate before boarding.

This is not unusual. Vietnam runs a short list of visa-exempt countries, made up mostly of ASEAN neighbors and a handful of Nordic and Western European nations, and Canada sits outside it, alongside most of the rest of the world.

What Is a Vietnam Visa and Who Needs One?

A Vietnam visa is official permission to enter Vietnam, issued either as an electronic document (the e-visa) or as a physical stamp placed in your passport (visa on arrival, or a sticker visa from an embassy). It confirms your identity, your travel purpose, and the length of stay you are approved for, and it must be presented alongside your passport at the port of entry.

Anyone who is not on Vietnam's exemption list needs one, regardless of age. Children travel on their own passport and need their own visa, even if they are listed on a parent's travel documents for other purposes. The visa itself does not guarantee entry; immigration officers still check your passport, your visa, and your onward travel details at the border.

What Types of Vietnam Visa Can Canadian Citizens Choose Between?

Canadian citizens can choose between two main routes: the Vietnam e-visa and visa on arrival. Both lead to the same result, a valid visa in hand before you clear immigration, but they differ in how you apply, how you enter, and what you present at the border.

The table below compares them side by side, without favoring either, so you can match the option to your own trip.

Vietnam E-Visa for Canadian Citizens

The Vietnam e-visa is an electronic visa you apply for online, without visiting an embassy or consulate. You submit your passport bio page and a passport photo, pay by card, and receive the approved e-visa by email once it clears. You can apply directly through the official portal at evisa.gov.vn, or use an assisted service such as vietnamvisa-easy.com if you would rather have someone review your form before it is submitted.

It is valid for up to 90 days and issued as either single entry or multiple entry. Canada is one of more than 190 countries whose citizens are eligible, and the e-visa is accepted at international airports, seaports, and land border checkpoints, of which Vietnam now has more than 30. That range matters less for most Canadian travelers, who arrive by air, but it is worth knowing if a trip includes a side journey overland from Cambodia or Laos.

Vietnam Visa on Arrival for Canadian Citizens

Visa on arrival works differently. You apply online for a pre-approved approval letter, then collect the actual visa stamp at a dedicated counter inside the airport when you land. The approval letter itself is not a visa; it is what allows the immigration officer to issue one on the spot.

Visa on arrival is applicable to air travel only. Since Canada has no nonstop flights to Vietnam, this detail matters more here than it might for a market with direct routes: your final leg into Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City still counts as an air arrival even after one or two connections, so the option remains available. The service fee for visa on arrival starts from $28 per person, with children under 2 years old exempt from that charge, plus a separate stamping fee paid in cash at the airport counter, in either USD or Vietnamese dong.

What Are the General Eligibility and Document Requirements?

At a survey level, both routes ask for the same core documents: a passport with enough validity and blank pages, a compliant photo, and payment for the government and service fees. Canadian passports must be valid for at least 6 months beyond your arrival date in Vietnam and should carry at least 1 blank visa page, a buffer worth checking early since Canadian passports are commonly issued on a 5-year or 10-year cycle and travelers often cut validity close without realizing it.

Photos need to meet the standard specification: 4x6cm, white background, no glasses, taken within the last 6 months. Beyond the passport and photo, you will need a temporary address in Vietnam for the arrival details section, and for visa on arrival specifically, a printed copy of your approval letter to present at the counter.

Canadian applicants also run into a specific set of avoidable mistakes. Name mismatches are the most common, particularly after a legal name change or when a double-barrelled surname gets entered inconsistently between the application form and the passport bio page. Photo uploads are the second-most common snag: many Canadian passport-photo kiosks default to a grey or patterned backdrop rather than plain white, which fails the visa photo spec even though it is perfectly acceptable for a Canadian passport renewal. For the full checklist, exact document formats, and how to avoid each rejection cause, see the visa requirements guide.

How Much Does a Vietnam Visa Cost for Canadian Citizens?

In general terms, a Vietnam visa for Canadian travelers has two separate charges: a government fee, set under Circular No. 28/2026/TT-BTC, and a service fee charged by whichever agency processes your application. Together, total e-visa cost typically ranges from around $47 for standard processing up to $295 for the fastest emergency tier, while visa on arrival starts from a $28 per person service fee plus the stamping fee paid in cash.

Children under 14 pay the same $25 e-visa government fee as adults. Children under 2 are exempt from the visa on arrival service fee, though the airport stamping fee still applies once a visa is issued to them.

This overview intentionally stops at the general range. For the full fee table broken out by every processing tier, government fee, and service fee combination, see the visa fee guide.

How Long Does It Take to Get a Vietnam Visa for Canadian Citizens?

Processing time depends on which tier you choose when you apply, not on your nationality. Standard processing generally takes several working days and suits travelers booking well ahead of their trip, while faster paid tiers exist for departures that are only days, or even hours, away.

At the fastest end, Vietnam visa processing can be completed in as little as 1.5 working hours through a Super Urgent or Emergency service, including weekends and public holidays, for travelers whose plans changed at short notice. This matters more for Canadian applicants than it might elsewhere, because Vietnam's business hours fall overnight across most of Canada; a request submitted late in the Canadian evening may already be well into Vietnam's next working day by the time it lands. Visa on arrival approval letters follow a similar range of tiers, though the stamp itself is always applied at the airport counter once you land, regardless of how quickly the letter was issued.

For the exact tier-by-tier breakdown, including which service level fits a same-day or overnight departure from Canada, see the processing time guide.

How Do Canadian Citizens Apply for a Vietnam Visa?

At a survey level, applying for either visa follows the same three phases: submit your application online, receive your visa or approval letter by email, and present your documents at the port of entry.

1. Complete the online form with your passport details, a compliant photo, and your chosen processing tier, then pay the government and service fees.
2. Receive your e-visa or approval letter by email within the timeframe of the tier you selected.
3. Print the document and present it, together with your passport, at the airport, land border, or seaport when you arrive (visa on arrival additionally requires paying the stamping fee in cash at the counter).

You can start either application at https://www.vietnamvisa-easy.com, where a team reviews your documents before submission and answers questions by WhatsApp or phone at +84 86 99 77 366, or by email at support@vietnamvisa-easy.com, daily from 8:00 to 21:00 GMT+7. The company has processed visa applications since 2012 through H2 Global Travel JSC., and currently supports more than 190 e-visa eligible countries.

For the full walkthrough, with screenshots-level detail on each field, document formatting, and what to do if a step fails, see the step-by-step application guide. If you would rather read practical tips and real traveler experience before you start, see the traveler tips and application guide.

What Else Should Canadian Travelers Know Before Visiting Vietnam?

A visa is only one part of planning a trip from Canada. A few practical details specific to traveling from Canada are worth knowing before you book.

Vietnamese Embassy and Consulate General in Canada

Vietnam maintains a full embassy in Ottawa and a Consulate General in Vancouver serving Western Canada. The Embassy of Vietnam is at 55 Mackay Street, Ottawa, ON K1M 2B2, reachable on +1 613-236-0772 (general line) or the hotline +1 613-882-6699, with the consular service window open Thursday and Friday only, 9:30am to 12:30pm and 2:00pm to 4:30pm, closed on Vietnamese and Canadian public holidays.

The Consulate General in Vancouver is at Suite 800, 605 Robson Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 5J3, on +1 604-629-0189, or by email at consul.vancouver@mofa.gov.vn. Between the two offices, a two-day consular window is the reality for anyone in Canada who needs an in-person visa service, which is one reason most Canadian applicants find it faster to apply for an e-visa or visa on arrival online rather than working around Ottawa's Thursday-Friday schedule.

How Do Canadians Fly to Vietnam?

Canada has no nonstop flights to Vietnam from any city, unlike some other source markets with direct service. Every routing from Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, or Calgary connects through a hub city, commonly Hong Kong on Cathay Pacific, Seoul on Korean Air, Tokyo/Narita on Japan Airlines or ANA, or Taipei on EVA Air. Air Canada itself sells itineraries to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, but these are codeshare or connecting routings built on partner carriers, not nonstop Air Canada flights.

Total door-to-door travel time typically runs 20-27 hours depending on the connection, with layovers commonly running anywhere from 2 to 12 hours. Building a comfortable transfer window into your itinerary is worth doing on a trip this long, since a tight connection through Hong Kong or Seoul is one more thing that can go wrong on travel day, especially if your visa documents are only in digital form and you need to print them at the layover.

Time Zone and Best Time for Canadians to Travel to Vietnam

Vietnam runs on ICT (UTC+7) year-round, with no daylight saving. Eastern Time sits 11 hours behind Vietnam for most of the year and 12 hours behind during Daylight Saving Time in Canada, while Pacific Time runs 14 to 15 hours behind. In practice, that means Vietnam's working day is largely Canada's overnight, which is worth factoring in if you are timing an urgent application around when support teams in Vietnam are actually online.

Winter, from December through February, is generally considered dry and comfortable across much of Vietnam and pairs well with Canadian holiday travel, though it also overlaps the Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday period, when Vietnamese government offices, including embassy and consulate visa services, close for about a week. Booking and applying a few weeks ahead of any trip that lands close to Tet avoids that closure entirely.

Where to Find Deeper Guidance for Canadian Travelers

This page covers the full picture at a glance: whether you need a visa, which type to pick, and what to generally expect on cost and timing. Each of the topics below has its own dedicated guide with the detail this overview intentionally leaves out.

• Full document checklist and eligibility detail: the visa requirements guide
• Complete fee table by processing tier: the visa fee guide
• Exact processing-time tiers and which one fits your departure date: the processing time guide
• Step-by-step application walkthrough: the application guide
• Practical tips and traveler guidance: the application guide and tips

Whether a Canadian citizen chooses the e-visa or visa on arrival comes down to entry point, timeline, and comfort with paying part of the fee in cash. Most travelers arriving by air pick whichever route matches how far ahead they are booking, while anyone entering by land or sea has only one option: the e-visa.

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