How to Apply for Vietnam Visa From North Korea: Steps, Timing and Payment

How to apply for Vietnam visa from North Korea is done online: North Korean citizens apply for the e-visa, valid for up to 90 days, pay by card, upload a passport page and a photo, and receive a PDF by email. North Korea appears on a Vietnamese exemption list, but only for diplomatic, official and official-purpose passports, not for private travel. This page covers the steps, what to prepare, timing in Pyongyang time, paying from North Korea and the mistakes North Korean applicants make. For prices in US dollars and the full cut-off table, see our guide to the Vietnam visa for North Korean citizens. When you are ready, you can apply for your e-visa.

eVisaVietnam.com is a private visa service operated by TK VIET NAM., JSC, not the Vietnamese government. You can apply yourself at evisa.gov.vn for US$25.

How to apply from North Korea at a glance:

How to apply for Vietnam visa from North Korea

You apply for a Vietnam visa from North Korea in five steps with us, and the steps are the same wherever in the country you are.

1. Fill in the form: Enter your passport details, trip dates, entry gate and the speed you want. The price and the delivery time update as you choose.
2. Pay by card: Pay in US dollars. The price at checkout is the price we charge.
3. Upload your files: Add the passport data page and the portrait photo. You can upload any time after paying.
4. We check and submit: A person looks at the photo and scan, and contacts you if a file has a problem, before submitting on evisa.gov.vn.
5. Receive the PDF: The approved e-visa arrives by email. Check your name and passport number against your passport, and print one copy.

You can also apply yourself on the government e-visa site; our guide on how to apply covers that route screen by screen. To follow an order with us, use the e-visa status tool.

What to prepare in North Korea

A Vietnam e-visa application from North Korea needs four things ready:

• A North Korean passport: Valid for at least 6 months from your entry date, with two blank pages.
• A data page image: The page with your photo, all four corners in view, and the two code lines at the bottom sharp, without glare.
• A portrait photo: Recent, facing the camera, white background, no glasses. The photo requirements guide shows examples that pass and fail.
• A card and an emergency contact: A card enabled for online payments to a foreign merchant, and the name, address and phone of a contact at home.

Copy your name from the two code lines at the bottom of the data page, in capital letters, including middle names. The form also asks for the address of your first night in Vietnam.

When to apply from North Korea

Apply at least two weeks before you fly if you choose Standard, because 5 to 7 working days can stretch over weekends and Vietnamese public holidays. Pyongyang is 2 hours ahead of Vietnam. Pyongyang keeps the same time all year, so the gap does not change.

For Same day delivery, order between 10:00 and 16:15 in Pyongyang, on a day that is a working day in Vietnam. Because Pyongyang is ahead of Vietnam, the Vietnamese working day falls in your afternoon and evening. An order placed before 10:00 waits until Vietnam opens at that hour. Our guide for North Korean citizens has the full table of cut-offs, and the urgent e-visa page covers every speed.

Paying for your e-visa from North Korea

You pay in US dollars by credit or debit card. A Standard single-entry e-visa costs $47, government fee included.

North Korea has no market exchange rate we can quote, so prices are quoted in US dollars. Your card is charged in US dollars. See the full price table for every speed.

On evisa.gov.vn the government fee alone is US$25. If a payment fails, check that your card allows online payments to foreign merchants and retry, rather than starting a second application.

Mistakes North Korean applicants make

The first two points below are specific to North Korean applicants; the last two apply to everyone.

• Thirty days is the exemption, not the e-visa: The 30-day figure on North Korea's row belongs to the official categories. The e-visa you apply for as a private traveler allows up to 90 days, single or multiple entry, at no extra cost compared with 30 days.
• Mixing up passports: If you hold more than one passport, apply with the one you will present at the border and use the same one on the form, the scan and the flight booking.
• A look-alike website: The government site is evisa.gov.vn. Private services, including ours, say that they are private; leave any site that does not say who runs it.
• A gate you will not use: Choose the airport or border gate you will really enter through, and check the ports of entry list.

If you already filed a faulty application, read about e-visa problems first. Ready? Apply for your e-visa and a person checks your files before they go in.