Travels With Birds

Visa for Vietnam

    We will be heading off to Vietnam in February for an exciting birding adventure and we needed to obtain a visa for entry into that country.

    There is no shortage of companies on line offering to obtain visas for you for a fee as high as $150.00 per person. I am sure that these visa service companies rely on travellers having an inherent fear of "not doing it right"  and being unable to secure the documents they need.

    I telephoned the Embassy of Vietnam in Ottawa and received the friendliest of advice from a very helpful person who told me everything I needed to know in order to get our visas. I followed her instructions, mailed off the application along with the required payment and our passports were back in our hands in less than a week with the visa affixed inside.

    I cannot speak too highly of the efficiency of the embassy and I would advise people requiring a visa to do it themselves. There is absolutely no need to enlist the services of any other agency and you can save yourself a lot of money.

    Kudos to the staff of the Embassy of Vietnam for cheerful, friendly help and wonderfully fast service. Now I can't wait to visit their country!