passport time stamp question help!!

[r0yalflush 0]

I've went to Vietnam twice already, and i just noticed there are no time stamps in my passport. What's going on??? many got their time stamps on their passport but i don't. Aren't this part of the requirement proof for my K1?

[luckytxn 2,263]

I don't have one either. I asked about this once and was told that I needed to ask for them to do so. I was worried about the proof of being there but they seem to have taken the boarding passes getting there and leaving there as proof.

[toddandhien 2]

It happens in VN when you get a single entry visa that is not affixed to your passport. They stamp the visa and keep it. I did this on my first visit and decided that I did not like it so I got multi-entry after that.

With most multi-entry visas there, they will affix it to your passport and then stamp a page coming in and going out. My first two multi-entry visas were affixed but my last multi-entry was a loose paper which they stamped each time on the back (not in my passport) but since it was a multi-entry, they did not keep it. It will expire soon but I have it in my possession to photocopy for the interview.

Multi-entry visas to VN are expensive but they will ensure that you have the visa in your possession and, more importantly, the stamps.

[Melrose Plant 1]

If you get the type of visa where you send off your passport to the Vietnamese embassy or consulate (which, not so long ago, was your only option), you will get a stamp in your passport.

[toddandhien 2]

If you get the type of visa where you send off your passport to the Vietnamese embassy or consulate (which, not so long ago, was your only option), you will get a stamp in your passport.

Not necessarily with single entry visas in VN. The only country I have been to that issues visas (even from the embassy) not affixed to the passport. As I mentioned earlier, my first visa was single entry from the embassy. It was not affixed, it was kept upon my departure and they did not stamp my passport. My current multi-entry visa (again from the embassy) is not affixed and they have not been stamping my passport. I have been in and out of VN 7 times with it and they only stamp the back of the visa paper. But it thankfully is in my possession.

[hieumin 2]

HCM time the stamp on your visa AND visa should RELINQUIST before you depart back to US, you must make a COPY before you go back to US.

[luckytxn 2,263]

Luckily Royal the embassy knows this and I got the visa. Just have the proof you went there by the boarding passes and other stuff.

[Melrose Plant 1]

OK, I've gotten three visas, and all of them have been permanently affixed to my passport. The first two were single entries and the last one was a multi. Where are you getting visas that aren't glued in? I know there are more options now than there used to be. I physically sent my passport to San Francisco each time. Sorry for the stupid question.

An afterthought: Could this be a difference between POEs? I've always come in through Noi Bai Airport just outside of Hanoi. Them Commies up there LOVE stamps. I can't imagine they would pass up the opportunity to stamp your passport, permanently affixed visa or not.

Edited February 15, 2009 by Melrose Plant

[toddandhien 2]

OK, I've gotten three visas, and all of them have been permanently affixed to my passport. The first two were single entries and the last one was a multi. Where are you getting visas that aren't glued in? I know there are more options now than there used to be. I physically sent my passport to San Francisco each time. Sorry for the stupid question.

An afterthought: Could this be a difference between POEs? I've always come in through Noi Bai Airport just outside of Hanoi. Them Commies up there LOVE stamps. I can't imagine they would pass up the opportunity to stamp your passport, permanently affixed visa or not.

I have gotten 4 visas to VN since October, 2007. All of them through the embassy in San Francisco where I sent my passport. The first was a single entry and was not affixed. The next two were multi-entry and were affixed, which at the time I thought explained the difference. Then I got my last multi-entry in October, 2008. That one was not affixed.

I can't understand what is driving the difference, and honestly after Hien gets her visa I won't care. But for now, I will continue to get multi-entry visas just to be sure that they do not take it when I leave VN. The worst part of the loose visa is the constant worry that I will lose it somehow.

I always enter VN through Ho Chi Minh so maybe they handle the visas differently? I think we here in America tend to look for the logic in everything. If I have learned anything in the last 16 months it is not to look for everything in VN to make sense. It just is. Maybe they happened to run out of self-stick visas when my last one went through so they used an old paper one? Who knows?!

[luckytxn 2,263]

Mine was a self stick visa. When I entered they stamped it. I remember when I left I handed it to the lady and she was doing something and she handed it back and I placed it in my front jacket pocket and moved on. When I got to Seould and had a day to sight see I went through customs there and noticed there was no stamp in it from VN. (I went through HCMC.) I have been to many countries in my lifetime and never not had a stamp in my passport even going through a pass through if staying long enough to leave the airport.

I asked my Fiancee's Uncle and he said that they usually do not unless you ask for them to. He also told me that the embassy could always ask the VN to look up if I had been there and they will send part of that visa to them. (Do they really do this? I don't know and he may have talking out his azz)

Anyway I just sent the certified main page of the passport along with my other proof of meeting and I seemed to be ok. The embassy seems to be aware of them doing this so all should be fine. It is not like one has no other proof to show. Somehow I was able to pull all of this off and get a visa and if I can do it then most others can also.

[toddandhien 2]

Mine was a self stick visa. When I entered they stamped it. I remember when I left I handed it to the lady and she was doing something and she handed it back and I placed it in my front jacket pocket and moved on. When I got to Seould and had a day to sight see I went through customs there and noticed there was no stamp in it from VN. (I went through HCMC.) I have been to many countries in my lifetime and never not had a stamp in my passport even going through a pass through if staying long enough to leave the airport.

I asked my Fiancee's Uncle and he said that they usually do not unless you ask for them to. He also told me that the embassy could always ask the VN to look up if I had been there and they will send part of that visa to them. (Do they really do this? I don't know and he may have talking out his azz)

Anyway I just sent the certified main page of the passport along with my other proof of meeting and I seemed to be ok. The embassy seems to be aware of them doing this so all should be fine. It is not like one has no other proof to show. Somehow I was able to pull all of this off and get a visa and if I can do it then most others can also.

Just curious if you got a landing visa or if you got it from the embassy in San Francisco?

[luckytxn 2,263]

I made a copy of my passport and gave it to my travel agent who booked my flight. He got the visa and when I came to get the flight tickets he placed it in the visa himself. Not sure which one he went through.

Edited February 15, 2009 by luckytxn