According to recent news article, Vietnam now offers free 15 day visas to people from Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain. It also previously waived off visa requirement for visitors from four Nordic countries, and Russia, Belarus, Japan and South Korea.

More info at www.ibtimes.com/[...]

However, be warned it's not always easy to get Chinese visas in Hanoi.

Can't get ibtimes page link to load.. Great Firewall?

Thanks for the info though!

Not blocked link. m.english.vietnamnet.vn/[...]

Great news for passport holders of those countries. I'm still stuck paying 400rmb. Wish Laos was closer.

Thanks Alex.

So would it be possible to enter Vietnam at Hekou without any fees or documents if you are from these countries? Anyone tried it yet?

what do you mean no documents. important question not nit pickin

I think he means is this a visa on arrival and if so what is needed to get it. I.e you get to the border and they stamp you in for your 15 days with no documents, only a valid passport. Some countries ask for return tickets, hotel bookings, proof of allowance etc - Belarus, Benin etc. However some countries just want to see the passport, like the system in Bahrain, Zimbabwe, Turkey etc.

No, that is a visa waiver. A visa on arrival is something that you buy at the port of entry into a country, and it still is a visa and subject to rules and your possible non-eligibility for it. In Vietnam, the only visa on arrivals are currently handed out upon presentation of an invitation letter at one of the country's two main international airports (i.e. Noi Bai in Hanoi or Tan Son Nhat at Ho Chi Minh City).

Still waiting for Belgium to be on the list. Given the level of our cooperation, it's hard to believe we still haven't got visa exemption.

We do not recognize international frontiers" - Danny the Red (Daniel Cohn-Bendit), on BBC interview, May 1968

"So would it be possible to enter Vietnam at Hekou without any fees or documents if you are from these countries?"

Bring your passport, just in case...

Not to be nit picky but the visa waiver is an American programme for visitors to The USA requiring documents to be filled in on the plane or online/ by post before departure. As far as I know only America has something called a Visa Waiver Programme.

A visa on arrival is what happens when you get to an airport/boarder and they give you a stamp in your passport upon the presentation of particular documents or a passport in agreement with the destination country's immigration policy.