How to Get a Vietnam Visa for Irish Passport Holders 2026

We are a private visa service, not the Vietnamese government or an embassy. The Vietnam Immigration Department decides every visa. You can always apply for an e-visa yourself on the official portal evisa.gov.vn for the government fee only. Facts checked in November 2026.

Do Irish passport holders need a visa for Vietnam?

Yes. Ireland is not on Vietnam’s visa exemption lists, and the DFA advice (updated 12 November 2026) puts it plainly: “Irish citizens require a visa to visit Vietnam.” The exceptions that apply to everyone, such as Phu Quoc island and airside transit, are explained in our Vietnam visa requirements for Irish citizens, together with the airport steps, customs and leaving the country.

Which Vietnam visa should Irish passport holders get?

Irish passports are in price group 3 on our form, which means all three routes are open:

For a trip of two or three weeks, a 30-day single-entry e-visa is enough. Choose a 90-day multiple-entry e-visa for a longer stay or a tour that also takes in Cambodia, Laos or Thailand. Leave a margin on the dates, because the DFA warns that “Tourist visas cannot be extended.”

How to apply for the Vietnam e-visa on evisa.gov.vn, step by step

1. Have your passport book to hand, a portrait photo and a scan of the data page, plus your dates and your first hotel address.
2. On evisa.gov.vn, upload the two images and work through the form; for Irish passports the trickiest fields are the name and the phone number (tips below).
3. Check the summary, pay by card with the one-time code your bank sends, and write down the e-Visa app no.
4. Allow at least 3 Vietnamese working days, which skip weekends and Vietnamese public holidays.
5. Look up the result on the portal and print the e-visa once it says “Approved”.

The portal’s eight sections and its photo checks with their warning messages are explained once, in detail, in our guide to every field of the evisa.gov.vn form; what each status means is in our Vietnam e-visa status guide. What follows is only what changes with an Irish passport.

Tips for Irish passport holders

• Passport book, not the Passport Card. “Passport cards cannot be used,” the DFA says. The card works only for trips inside the EU and the EEA, to Switzerland and to the UK.
• Names with a fada. The two machine-readable lines at the foot of the data page print names without accents, so Seán becomes SEAN. Type the name the way those lines show it, not as printed in the field above.
• Children. Under S.I. No. 414/2008, a child’s passport lasts 3 years under age 3 and 5 years from 3 to 18. The e-visa has to end at least 30 days before the passport does, so look at the expiry date first.
• Six months on arrival. The DFA advises that passports “should have at least 6 months validity on arrival and should be in good condition”.
• Temporary passports. The DFA tells holders to “contact your nearest Vietnamese Embassy for advice before travelling”, because a visa may not be possible.
• Phone number. Write 353, a hyphen, then your number without the leading 0.
• A British passport as well. British passports get 45 days visa-free under Resolution 44/NQ-CP. The DFA requires you to “enter and depart Vietnam using the same passport”, and an e-visa for the Irish passport cannot be used with the British one. Holders of Vietnamese citizenship too should ask the Embassy which passport to use.

Checking your status

On the portal, the search needs your e-Visa app no., email address and date of birth; our e-visa status page works too. If it is still processing and you fly soon, see speeding up an e-visa you already submitted. The Embassy of Ireland in Hanoi “is unable to contact Vietnam Immigration on behalf of citizens”, according to the DFA, which gives contact@immigration.gov.vn for questions about an application.

Common Vietnam e-visa mistakes for Irish citizens and how to avoid them

• Applying with the Passport Card instead of the passport book.
• Typing the fada in the name field, which then no longer matches the machine-readable lines.
• A child’s passport that runs out less than 30 days after the e-visa end date.
• Counting on an extension. The DFA says tourist visas cannot be extended, so the e-visa dates must cover the whole holiday.
• Mixing two passports: an e-visa for the Irish passport, but a British passport at the border.

Errors that have nothing to do with Ireland are collected in the form guide and in Vietnam e-visa mistakes.

Apply through visa-vietnam.hk

If you would rather not fill in the portal yourself, apply through us: our online form asks each traveller only for the name, sex, date of birth, passport number and expiry date and the two images, with one email for the order; the remaining official fields are completed from your passport scan. You upload your portrait and passport scan as they are. Our team adjusts the size, crop and background to the official technical specifications of the government portal. We never change your appearance.

With an Irish passport, every e-visa type is open to you through us (one month or three, one entry or several, holiday or business), as are the 15-day visa on arrival letter and VIP Arrival Support on landing. You pay with PayPal, which takes Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover, or with Alipay.

Our prices and order-by times in Irish time

Ireland changes its clocks and Vietnam does not. Vietnam is 7 hours ahead in Irish winter time, which lasts until 28 March 2027, and 6 hours ahead in Irish summer time (from the last Sunday of March to the last Sunday of October, Directive 2000/84/EC). The prices below are for one traveller and a 30-day single-entry tourist e-visa, with the government fee already in them:

• Order the evening before in Ireland; only the afternoon slot of the 4-hour service falls in your morning (07:00 in winter).
• Friday evening in Ireland is Saturday in Vietnam, so an order placed then starts on Monday.
• Weekends and Vietnamese public holidays: email our partner at info@vietnamimmigration.org. For anything faster, the choices are on the Vietnam urgent visa service page.

Status and support. Applied through us? Email us and we will tell you the status; customer email support is 24/7.

Refund. If Vietnam Immigration refuses your e-visa, we refund 95% of your payment (the 5% PayPal transaction fee is not refundable), under our refund policy. There is no refund when the refusal is due to a past violation of Vietnamese law or an overstay.

Applying at the Vietnamese Embassy in Dublin

Until March 2026, Irish residents had to deal with the Embassy in London. Vietnam opened its own Embassy in Ireland on 26 March 2026 (VietNamNet). You need the Embassy for what an e-visa cannot give you, such as a work visa or the 5-year visa exemption certificate. The Irish Diplomatic List of 27 July 2026 records:

• No published visa procedure yet. The list has no phone number or opening hours, and we found no official page describing the Embassy’s visa process, so email first and ask which documents to bring, the fee and when to come.
• Fees: under Circular 163/2026/TT-BTC, one entry costs USD 25, several entries within 3 months USD 50, and a child under 14 USD 25. For urgent processing, ask the embassy or consulate for its official fee.
• Irish holidays to plan around: 25 and 26 December 2026, New Year’s Day, St Brigid’s Day on 1 February 2027 and St Patrick’s Day on 17 March 2027 (Citizens Information); on the Vietnamese side, Tet from 4 to 10 February 2027 (VietnamPlus).

Visa on arrival approval letter

A visa on arrival is not issued on evisa.gov.vn. It needs an approval letter from the Vietnam Immigration Department, which a sponsor in Vietnam requests; our service arranges it. At the airport, seaport or land border, the officers check your passport against the approval letter and issue the visa.

Through us, the letter is for 15 days, one entry, tourism only; a business trip or a longer stay needs the e-visa. Bring the NA1 form, a photo and USD 25 in cash for the stamping fee to the counter. Latest order times, in Irish winter time (add one hour from 28 March 2027):

What happens at the counter is in our Vietnam visa on arrival guide.

Before you fly

Print the e-visa or the approval letter and keep it with the passport book. The pre-arrival declaration is mandatory for foreign travellers at every international airport in Vietnam. Complete it for free on prearrival.immigration.gov.vn before you leave home, up to 3 days before you land, because Wi-Fi and mobile data at the arrival airport can be slow. If you travel on a visa on arrival, you complete it at the airport, after the visa counter.

For the airport, customs and departure, read the Vietnam visa requirements for Irish citizens; the entry procedure guide takes you through arrival step by step.

For travel agencies, tour operators and companies

Sending a group from Ireland, whether a tour or a company trip? Email us at info@visa-vietnam.hk with your expected number of travellers per month to receive our partner rates.

FAQ: how to get a Vietnam visa for Irish passport holders

Can I use my Irish Passport Card for Vietnam?

No. The DFA says passport cards cannot be used; apply with your passport book and travel on it.

How do I write a name with a fada on the form?

Without the accent, exactly as the machine-readable lines at the bottom of your data page show it.

Is there a Vietnamese Embassy in Ireland?

Yes, since 26 March 2026, at 52 Northumberland Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4. Write to vnemb.ireland@mofa.gov.vn first.

When is the latest I can order an urgent e-visa from Ireland?

The evening before. In winter the 1-day service closes at 01:00 Irish time, because Vietnam is 7 hours ahead.

I hold Irish and British passports. Which one should I use?

The British one gives 45 days without a visa (Resolution 44/NQ-CP). Whichever you pick, the DFA requires you to enter and leave Vietnam on that same passport.

Checked on 13 November 2026: the DFA travel advice for Vietnam (updated 12 November 2026), the DFA Passport Card page, S.I. No. 414/2008 on passport validity, the Irish Diplomatic List of 27 July 2026, VietNamNet on the Embassy’s opening, Citizens Information on public holidays, Directive 2000/84/EC on summer time, VietnamPlus on the 2026–2027 holidays, evisa.gov.vn; Resolution 44/NQ-CP; Circular 163/2026/TT-BTC; Official Letter 1474/CACK-TSN; and our Apply form. Rules change, so confirm with the official sources before you travel.