Correction (September 15, 2026): When this article was first published, it stated that the pre-arrival declaration would \"become mandatory nationwide from July 1, 2026.\" That was incorrect. It confused the declaration with the health declaration rules that took effect on July 1 (Decree 165\/2026). The title and the body have been corrected.<\/p>\n
At Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, a pilot of the pre-arrival declaration for foreign visitors, \"Pre-Arrival Information (PAI),\" began on April 15, 2026, and in June it spread to the airports in Hanoi, Da Nang, Phu Quoc and Nha Trang (Cam Ranh). Register in advance on your phone and receive a QR code, and you can show it at immigration to move through the process.<\/p>\n
PAI is a system in which foreign visitors entering Vietnam register their passport details, flight and where they will stay in Vietnam online in advance. Registration is possible from three days before the scheduled date of entry. The official site (prearrival.immigration.gov.vn) also has guidance in Japanese, and there is no fee. Once registration is finished a QR code is issued, so show it at immigration as a screenshot on your phone or as a printout. The steps are covered in detail inHow to register for the digital arrival card<\/a>.<\/p>\n The claim that \"everyone entering the country must file a declaration from July 1\" appears to be a mix-up with the health declaration under Decree 165\/2026, which took effect on July 1. Just before it took effect, the Ministry of Health explained that the health declaration is not something required of everyone at all times. For details, seeThe \"health declaration for everyone\" was a misunderstanding<\/a>.<\/p>\n The notices differ on whether PAI itself is mandatory. In its May announcement the Ministry of Public Security described the rollout at Tan Son Nhat as \"voluntary, not mandatory,\" and the Embassy of Japan in Vietnam (June 1 and June 10) and the Consulate-General of Japan in Da Nang (June 17) also say it is \"not mandatory,\" covering Hanoi and Da Nang. On the other hand, the U.S. Embassy said in its June 17 notice that Vietnam was extending a \"mandatory pre-arrival declaration\" to all airports, and for Phu Quoc there is a report (DTiNews) and a notice from the Polish Embassy describing it as \"mandatory.\" That said, the Vietnamese-language edition of the same D\u00e2n tr\u00ed report says the local head of immigration called it \"strongly encouraged,\" so the accounts differ even among news outlets.<\/p>\n In the materials published by the Vietnamese government and the Ministry of Public Security that we were able to check up to September 15, we have not found any announcement of a nationwide requirement. Registration is free, though, so registering whichever airport you arrive at means you do not have to worry about the differences between the notices.<\/p>\nDid it become mandatory in July? \u2014 A separate system from the health declaration, and the notices differ on whether it is mandatory<\/strong><\/h2>\n