Visa waiver for five European countries extended

The Government on June 30 inked a Resolution to extend a visa waiver program benefiting citizens of five Western European countries, which ended on the same day, as the policy has proved to be successful after one year in effect.

Under Resolution No. 56/NQ-CP, citizens of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy who enter Vietnam with temporary residence duration of no more than 15 days from the date of entry, regardless the type of passport or immigration purposes, and fully meet the conditions prescribed by the Vietnamese law, will have the visa requirement waived for one more year, until June 30, 2017.

According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the previous visa waiver program has increased arrivals from the five above-mentioned countries by 15 percent to 681,000 after 11 months in effect. In the first five months of this year, tourist arrivals from the five countries topped 342,000, up 20 percent over the same period last year.

This Resolution takes effect on the date of its signing.

Source: vietnamlawmagazine.vn