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Passports and Visas
Your passport is an important document and under Vietnamese law foreigners can be required to produce their passport to local authorities at any time. It is a good idea to keep your other forms of identification separate from your passport. This minimises the risk of losing all your identification at once.
Lost, misplaced and stolen passports
If your passport is lost, misplaced or stolen , it should be reported to the police office in charge of the area where the loss has taken place. That office should issue a police report. You should endeavour to obtain one copy of the police report as evidence for your claims against the relevant insurance companies/airlines and also for your application for replacement visas with the Vietnamese Immigration Department. If you experience major difficulties obtaining a loss report from the police, please proceed directly to the Embassy or Consulate-General where you can make a Statutory Declaration for the same purposes - except for visa application. The Immigration Department has advised that they only accept passport loss reports issued by a Vietnamese police office.
To apply for an Emergency Passport, bring two identical passport-sized photos and as many personal identification documents containing your signature and photo as possible (eg. a current Australian Driving Licence) to the Consular Section of the Embassy or Consulate-General. You will be required to complete "Australian Passport Application - Overseas" (Form PC8). Emergency passports usually take one working day to issue if all requirements are met. The passport application fee (and lost passport fee applicable from 1 July 2005) must be paid in full in US dollars cash at the time of lodging the application (cheques, credit cards and other currencies cannot be accepted) – check the appropriate fee payable with the Embassy.
Detailed passport information.
The Embassy or the Consulate-General will issue you with a letter to the Vietnamese Immigration Department requesting their assistance with issuing a replacement visa for your new passport.
After obtaining a new passport in Hanoi, you will need to proceed to the Vietnamese Immigration Department at 40A Hang Bai Street, Hanoi to apply for a new Vietnamese exit visa. The Immigration Department might ask you to lodge your application through your sponsoring organisation in Vietnam. If your sponsor is unknown (experience has shown that this is common for independent tourists), you should lodge your application through a travel company which will provide sponsorship for you and will charge you a fee for this service. The Immigration Department advises that fees for the re-issue of lost visas are double the usual fees. Experience has shown that a new visa normally takes 3-4 days to be issued.
This procedure above is the same for those who need to transfer valid Vietnamese visas from a previous passport into a new one (or if necessary, to change exit points for departing the country). Normal visa extensions, additional exit points issue and temporary stay permits issue are handled at the Hanoi Immigration Office at 89 Tran Hung Dao Street, Hanoi - Telephone 9423076.
In Ho Chi Minh City, you should report the loss of your passport to the police at 161 Nguyen Du Street, District 1 - Telephone 8299398 or at 73 Yersin Street, District 1 - Telephone 829 7643. After you have been issued with a new passport by the Consulate-General (same procedures as above) you should proceed to the Immigration Department of the Office of the Ministry of Police, 254 Nguyen Trai, District 1 - Telephone 835 5801 or 8330365, Facsimile 8355941 to arrange appropriate visa formalities.
If you lose your yellow “Vietnam Arrival - Departure Card” this must be re-issued before your departure from Vietnam. This re-issue can be arranged at the exit ports with the Immigration (Frontier) Police and may involve a replacement fee.
NB: travellers have advised that this may not always be a straightforward process.