Applied during Tet holiday season. Big mistake. Processing took almost two weeks. The portal status showed “processing” the entire time with no explanation for the delay. Office was probably understaffed or had backlog. Should have applied much earlier. Now I submit applications three weeks before any trip during holidays. Buffer time is essential.

Status changed to approved but the download link wasn’t working. Just spinning loader. Tried different browsers, different devices. Finally worked on my phone of all things. The PDF downloaded there when desktop wouldn’t load it. Emailed it to myself and printed from computer. Strange technical issues with the portal are common from what I’ve read.

Applied for business visa thinking it would be faster. It wasn’t. Same processing time as tourist, maybe slightly longer actually. The status page shows the visa type but no estimated completion difference. Went with tourist for my next trip since that’s what I actually needed. Less paperwork too. The portal treats both types the same…

The status portal switched to Vietnamese randomly one day. Couldn’t find the language toggle at first. It was in the top corner, tiny link. Clicked around until I found “English” option. The status information displayed the same way in both languages. Just text that says processing or approved. No detailed explanation in either language.

Couldn’t find my application reference number. It was in an email I accidentally deleted. Tried the “forgot reference” option on the portal. Didn’t work with my details. Ended up applying again with different email. Lost the processing time from the first application. Now I screenshot everything immediately after submitting. Reference numbers, confirmation pages, all of…

Applied for multiple entry since I planned two trips within a month. Processing took longer than single entry, about five working days. The status page looked the same throughout. No indication that multiple entry takes extra time. Just longer waiting. Eventually approved though. Saved me from applying twice and paying twice. Worth the extra wait…

Live in California. Vietnam is fifteen hours ahead. When it’s midnight here, their offices are opening. Status updates seem to happen during their business hours, not ours. Set my alarm for 4am once just to check as soon as they opened. Still said processing. Approval came through during my afternoon, their middle of the night.…

Entered my arrival date wrong on the first try. Used the American format instead of day-month-year. Application got flagged and I had to start over. The form doesn’t auto-correct or warn you about format mismatches. Double-checked everything the second time. Passport number, dates, spelling of my name exactly as it appears. Small mistakes cause real…

Kept waiting for an email saying my visa was approved. It never arrived. Checked spam, checked promotions folder, nothing. Turns out you have to manually check the status portal. The approval was there for two days before I noticed. Almost missed downloading the letter in time. Now I check the portal directly instead of waiting…

They say three working days for processing. Mine took five. Not counting the weekend. So really seven calendar days from submission to approval. Cutting it close with my flight. Some people online say they got approved faster. Others waited longer. There’s no guarantee either way. The status just sits on “processing” until it doesn’t. No…