Taipei, Aug. 15 (CNA) The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Tuesday welcomed a decision by Vietnam to open up an e-visa scheme to Taiwanese visitors.
On Monday, Hanoi announced that citizens of all countries and territories, including Taiwan, would be allowed to apply for US$25 single-entry 30-day e-visas online from Tuesday.
The change means that Taiwanese passport holders will no longer have to apply for a letter of approval from the Vietnamese government before visiting Vietnam, MOFA spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) said.
Liu reminded Taiwanese travelers that the e-visa online application requires three working days to be processed.
Previously, Taiwanese travelers needed to get an approval letter issued by Vietnam Immigration Department to enter and exit Vietnam for a given time period then apply for a landing visa.
With the approval letter, travelers could collect a visa upon arrival at one of three international airports in Vietnam, namely, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.
Though landing visas cost only US$25, the fee for the approval letter could be as high as US$200 and could only be processed via a certified travel agency.
The costly visa application could be the reason for the significant drop in Taiwanese visitors to Vietnam this year.
Tourism Bureau statistics show that Taiwanese travelers made 321,000 visits to Vietnam from Oct. 2019 to Jan. 2020, prior to the pandemic, when approval letters were not an entry requirement.
Between Oct. 2022 to Jan. 2023, however, this number was only 118,000, according to the Tourism Bureau.
