Vietnam Digital Arrival Card: The Pre-Arrival Declaration Now Required at Tan Son Nhat

Since April 15, 2026, most foreign travelers flying into Ho Chi Minh City have a new step to deal with before they land. Tan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN) now requires a pre-arrival declaration filled out online, and you carry the QR code it generates through immigration.

The official name is the Vietnam Digital Arrival Card. It is free, it takes about five minutes, and it replaces the paper arrival card that used to be handed out on the plane. You fill in your passport details, your flight number, and where you are staying, submit it on the government portal at prearrival.immigration.gov.vn, and the system emails you a confirmation with a QR code. The officer scans that code at the counter instead of typing your details in by hand.

This matters to anyone arriving at SGN, which is most first-time visitors to Vietnam and most expats flying back into the country. It also matters if you are doing a fly-out visa run and returning to Saigon by air, because the QR code applies on the way back in, not just the first time. The land border at Moc Bai does not require it yet, and neither do Hanoi or Da Nang airports, though the system is expected to expand.

One thing to get straight early: the Digital Arrival Card is not a visa. If your nationality needs an e-visa, a visa exemption certificate, or a temporary residence card, you still sort that out separately. The arrival card is the electronic version of the form you used to scribble on during the flight, not permission to enter the country.

This page covers who must file, who is exempt, the 72-hour window the system allows, the four steps to complete it, what happens at the counter, and what the whole thing means for a visa run based in Saigon.

Who Needs the Digital Arrival Card (and Who Doesn't)

The requirement covers most people clearing immigration at Tan Son Nhat. The short rule: if you pass through passport control at SGN, you file the declaration. The exceptions are narrow.

Required:

• All foreign nationals entering Vietnam, whether they need a visa or enter visa-free under one of the exemption agreements
• Overseas Vietnamese entering on a foreign passport with a valid Vietnamese visa

So a US citizen on a visa-exempt 45-day entry files it. A British citizen arriving on a new e-visa files it. An Australian on a temporary residence card files it. The declaration does not care which entry document you hold, only that you are a foreign passport holder going through immigration.

Exempt:

• Vietnamese citizens traveling on a Vietnamese passport
• Transit passengers who never pass through immigration, such as someone flying Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City to London on one ticket with luggage checked through

One trap worth flagging: connecting through SGN to a domestic flight does not get you out of it. If you land at SGN from abroad and then fly on to Da Nang or Nha Trang, you clear immigration in Ho Chi Minh City first, so the declaration applies. Only a true international transit that skips passport control is exempt.

Children and infants each need their own declaration, using the child's passport details. Parents or guardians can fill it in for them. The portal also lets you submit one form covering a group, which is handy for families and tour groups.

The 72-Hour Submission Window

Timing is the part that catches people out, because you cannot fill the form whenever you like. The portal only accepts submissions within 72 hours of your scheduled arrival time, and it will not let you pick an arrival date further out than that.

Say your flight lands at SGN on the 25th. The earliest you can submit is just after midnight on the 23rd. Submit earlier and the system simply will not take it.

In practice the best habit is to treat it like online check-in. Fill it out the night before you fly, when you are at home with stable internet, your passport in front of you, and your hotel address in your notes. You need your passport number and expiry date, your visa or entry document number if you have one, your flight number, and your accommodation address. Typing all of that into a phone in an airport lounge is doable, but it is not a good use of your last hour before boarding.

If you land without submitting, you are not automatically refused entry. QR codes linking to the form are displayed in the immigration arrival area at SGN, and you can complete it there. It just costs you time in a queue after a long flight, and immigration lines at SGN are already known for running long in the evening peaks.

One more edge case: if your flight is delayed or rescheduled and your arrival date changes, your existing QR code may no longer match your travel. In that case you resubmit with the updated flight and arrival date once the new schedule falls inside the 72-hour window. Cheap insurance is to check the code still matches your actual flight before you line up.

How to Fill Out the Form: Four Steps

The form on prearrival.immigration.gov.vn is a four-step process and takes under five minutes with your details handy.

Step 1: Passenger information. This screen collects your personal and passport details plus information about your entry document. Fields include your expected arrival date, passport number, expiry date and place of issue, full name, gender, date of birth, nationality, phone number, and email. You also pick your entry document type, such as e-visa, visa exemption certificate, ABTC card, temporary residence card, or visa exemption by country, and enter its number and dates. Uploading a passport image is optional but pre-fills some fields.

Step 2: Travel information. Here you enter your country of departure, purpose of travel (tourism, business, study, work, or other), mode of transport, and flight number. You add your point of entry, accommodation type such as hotel or private residence, the full address down to province and district, workplace information where relevant, and your planned departure date from Vietnam.

Step 3: Review and OTP verification. You see a summary of everything you entered. Check it against your passport and booking, because inaccurate details can slow you down at the counter. Once you confirm, the system emails you a six-digit OTP code. Enter it to validate the declaration. The email address needs to be one you can actually access, since the code goes there.

Step 4: QR code confirmation. After validation, the portal assigns a file number and generates a downloadable confirmation bearing your QR code. Save it to your phone, screenshot it, and print a paper copy if you can. On arrival you show the code to the immigration officer, who scans it to pull up your declaration.

If you lose the QR code, all is not lost. Officers can look up your declaration by file number or passport details, it just takes longer. That is why the screenshot plus printed backup habit pays off.

At the Airport: QR Code, Screenshots, and Backup Plans

With the declaration done, the airport part is simple. You show your QR code, digital or printed, when the officer asks for it, they scan it, and your details come up on their screen. Since your data is already in the system, entry tends to be faster than the old manual entry, which matters at an airport where evening arrival queues have been known to stretch past an hour.

A few real-world notes from travelers using it:

Bring the QR code in two forms. A screenshot on your phone covers most cases, but phones die and screens crack. A printed copy costs nothing at a hotel front desk and removes the single point of failure. The official guidance is the same: save it, screenshot it, print a backup.

Match your details to your documents. The officer can see the passport number, visa number, and flight you submitted. If you typed a digit wrong or used a different passport, the scan pulls up a declaration that does not match your actual documents, and that is exactly the kind of mismatch that earns a trip to secondary screening.

Do not rely on submitting at the airport. It is possible, via QR codes in the arrival hall, but you do it standing in a queue while your fellow passengers stream past. Complete it before you fly.

Remember the arrival card is not your visa. At the counter you still present your passport and your e-visa, visa exemption certificate, or other entry document as usual. The QR code is an extra layer on top, not a replacement for any of it.

Digital Arrival Card vs E-Visa: They Are Separate

The most common misunderstanding about the Digital Arrival Card is that it replaces the e-visa. It does not. They are separate requirements, and most foreign travelers need both.

The e-visa is the permission to enter Vietnam. The arrival card is the form that tells immigration you are coming. One is a decision, the other is paperwork.

A visa-exempt traveler, say a UK citizen on the 45-day exemption, only needs the arrival card. A US citizen, who gets no visa exemption, needs both the e-visa and the arrival card. The e-visa is what lets them in; the arrival card is the declaration that goes with the entry.

If you are doing a visa run by air, the same logic applies on the return leg. You fly out, get a new e-visa, fly back to SGN, and on arrival you present the new e-visa plus a Digital Arrival Card for that return flight. The declaration is per arrival, so each inbound flight needs its own.

The cost picture does not change because of the arrival card. E-visa fees stay at USD 25 for single entry and USD 50 for multiple entry, processing is still officially three working days, and a Moc Bai border run remains far cheaper than a round-trip flight if you only need to renew.

What It Means for Visa Runs from Saigon

Most of the site's visitors do visa runs overland to Moc Bai, and for them this new requirement changes nothing at the border. Moc Bai does not require a Digital Arrival Card, and neither do the other land crossings. You still drive to Tay Ninh, stamp out, cross into Bavet, and come back through the Vietnamese gate with your fresh stamp. The paper arrival card never applied to land crossings, and the digital one does not either, at least not yet.

Where it bites is the fly-out visa run. If you fly from SGN to Phnom Penh or Bangkok, spend a night, and fly back into Tan Son Nhat with a new e-visa, the return leg now includes the Digital Arrival Card. File it within 72 hours of that return flight, save the QR code, and present it with your new e-visa at the counter. This applies every time you fly back in, so a repeat fly-out runner builds the declaration into the routine just like checking in online.

Two groups should note the airport angle even if they never fly out. First, first-time arrivals: many e-visa holders fly into SGN once, do land runs afterward, and leave by air later. That first landing needs the declaration. Second, anyone connecting through SGN to another city in Vietnam needs it, because they clear immigration in Ho Chi Minh City.

The expansion question is worth watching. The official portal already includes fields for land and sea entry points and for provinces outside Ho Chi Minh City, which points to a nationwide rollout. Hanoi (Noi Bai) and Da Nang are not covered yet, and there is no announced date. If you fly into HAN or DAD in the coming months, check the portal before your trip in case the rules have spread.

For most Saigon residents the practical answer is simple: overland runs, no declaration needed. Any arrival at SGN by air, declaration needed, every single time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Guides

Air arrivals and border runs are two sides of the same visa question. These pages fill in the rest:

• Visa runs with an e-visa: how re-entry works
• Saigon to Phnom Penh fly-out visa run
• How to do a visa run from Saigon
• Decree 286/2026: what changes September 15
• How many visa runs can you do in Vietnam?
• Visarun.vn: border run network
• NamVisa: full Vietnam immigration services
• HCMC Visa Run: sister service