If you are a foreigner living in Hoi An, Vietnam, then you are surely aware that your stay in the country is very limited. So if you plan to stay in Hoi An a little bit longer, you need to get your visa extended.
Hoi An is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Vietnam, and it’s easy to see why. This well-preserved ancient town serves as an important trading port during the 15th century. Today, you can still find wooden Chinese shophouses and temples, as well as colorful French colonial buildings dotting the town’s lantern-filled streets.
Foreigners who are living in Hoi An have the option to extend the validity of their Vietnamese visa, allowing them to stay in Hoi An for a much longer time. The Vietnamese visa extension can be applied directly from the Vietnam Immigration Office in Da Nang, which is the nearest Immigration Office in Hoi An.
A visa extension refers to the process of extending your visa’s validity. For instance, you are holding a tourist visa that’s good for 30 days but you realize that you wanted to stay longer in Hoi An and 30 days would not be enough. In this case, you can request Vietnam Immigration to extend your visa. But take note that you cannot extend your visa for more than its validity period. So if you’re holding a 30-day tourist visa, then you cannot extend it for more than 30 days. A visa extension is a good option for foreigners who wanted to extend their stay in Vietnam without having to apply for a new visa.
When you apply for a visa extension in Vietnam, you will be required to submit certain requirements. To give you an idea, here are the requirements that you need to prepare:
👉 Passport – you will be asked to submit your passport to the Immigration Office when applying for a visa extension. Your passport should be valid for at least six months from the date you applied for the visa extension. The passport should have blank pages for the new visa stamp.
👉 NA5 form – to apply for a visa extension, you need to fill out the application form known as the NA5 form. This form is available online to download, although you can also get this directly from the Vietnam Immigration Office. Fill out the form completely and provide all the important details that are being asked of you. Form NA5 for visa extension
👉 Visa copy – you must submit a copy of the visa that you need to be extended. In most cases, the visa is already attached to the passport. But some visas are a separate piece of paper, so you need to submit them separately.
When you fill out the form, you will be asked to indicate for how long you need your visa to be extended. So indicate the number of days but make sure that it will not exceed the validity of your existing visa. In addition, you are only allowed to extend your visa up to two times.
Depending on your nationality and immigration status, the Vietnam Immigration Office might ask you to submit more requirements aside from those that were already mentioned above. So call the Immigration Office ahead to determine what other requirements you need to submit.
Once you have all the requirements available, you can go to the Vietnam Immigration Office and start applying for your visa extension. Here’s how
👉 1. Go to the Vietnam Immigration Office in Da Nang City, which is around 45 minutes away from Hoi An. When you arrive at the office, tell the staff you need a visa extension and they will ask you to fill out the NA5 form. Fill out the form completely and double-check to ensure that the spelling is correct.
👉 2. When you’re done, give it to the staff along with your passport and other requirements. They will check the application form to ensure that everything is complete. If they need more requirements from you, they will ask you to submit it before they can process your visa extension request.
👉 2. After about a week or two, the Vietnam Immigration authorities will call you to inform you of the status of your Vietnam visa extension. If they approve your request, they will stamp your passport for the new validity.
To make the process of extending your Vietnamese visa in Hoi An City much easier and faster, consider getting assistance from a local agency. If you will use their service, all you need to do is to fill out the application form and give them your passport and other requirements. They will take charge of processing the visa extension. If you want the process to be expedited since your visa will already expire in a few days, the agency can request a rush processing of your visa extension for an added fee.
If you are a foreigner living in Hoi An, Vietnam, then you are surely aware that your stay in the country is very limited. So if you plan to stay in Hoi An a little bit longer, you need to get your visa extended.