What Vietnam's New Long-Term Visas Mean for Digital Nomads

Vietnam has been on a visa hot streak! In the last few years, it has opened e-visa access to every nationality on earth, extended stays to 90 days, expanded entry points, and consistently come up with new ideas for attracting long-term visitors. So when headlines started dropping last week about two brand new long-term visa categories launching on 1 July 2026, it felt like Vietnam might finally be joining the countries actively courting the remote work crowd.

The reality is a bit more complicated than that. And since most of the coverage got quite excited without reading the fine print, here is the honest version.

What Are the UĐ1 and UĐ2 Visas?

The UĐ1 and UĐ2 are Vietnam's two newest visa categories, introduced under Law No. 118/2025/QH15 and effective from 1 July 2026. They are genuinely new, they are in law, and they represent the longest standard visa duration in Vietnam's immigration framework at up to five years with multiple entry. For professionals working inside Vietnam's International Financial Centre (IFC) in Ho Chi Minh City, the duration extends to ten years, with priority immigration lanes and a pathway to permanent residency for qualifying investors and scientists.

The UĐ2 covers the spouses and dependent children under 18 of UĐ1 holders, on matching terms. Processing is capped at three working days, which by Vietnamese immigration standards is genuinely remarkable.

These are real visas on a confirmed timeline. Vietnam has a track record of announcing things that take a while to materialise, so the fact that these are already in law and already live is worth acknowledging.

Who Actually Qualifies

This is the part that got lost in most of the coverage, so it is worth being direct..

The UĐ1 is not a digital nomad visa. It is not for remote workers employed by foreign companies. It is not for freelancers who work from coffee shops in Hoi An. The eligibility is deliberately narrow: key investors, senior executives, specialist researchers, and highly skilled technical professionals employed by organisations headquartered at the International Financial Centre in Ho Chi Minh City or Da Nang.

If your work involves a laptop and a client or employer who does not have IFC-registered operations in Vietnam, this visa was not written with you in mind. The application does not go through the standard e-visa portal at evisa.gov.vn. It runs through the IFC's own governing authority and requires employer sponsorship. There is no way to apply independently.

The good news is that for most people reading this, the practical option already exists and it is better than anything Vietnam's neighbours were offering five years ago.

What Most Nomads Can Actually Use in Vietnam Right Now

The 90-day multiple-entry e-visa is open to citizens of every country on earth. Single entry costs $25 USD. Multiple entry costs $50 USD. You apply online at evisa.gov.vn, upload a passport scan and photo, and receive approval within around three working days. That is it.

The multiple-entry version is almost always worth the extra $25 if you plan to travel around the region, since it means you can hop to Cambodia or Laos and return without starting the whole process again. Vietnam also expanded its e-visa acceptance to 83 border gates in 2026, including the new Long Thanh Airport once it opens.

Some nationalities get even more flexibility. Citizens of the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, South Korea, and a number of other countries qualify for 30-day visa-free entry, no application needed.

What Vietnam does not yet offer is a clean, affordable, extended-stay option for nomads who want to be based there for six months, a year, or longer without the border run arithmetic. The border run itself, typically to Cambodia or Laos, is widely practised and broadly tolerated, but it sits in a legal grey zone that Vietnam has not resolved. It works in practice. It is not officially endorsed.

For a full breakdown of how Vietnam compares to other Asian visa options, the Digital Nomad Visas guide for the Americas and Asia is worth reading before you decide where to base yourself.

Why Vietnam Is Still Worth Your Attention

None of the above means Vietnam is not worth considering. It absolutely is.

A comfortable month in Da Nang or Hanoi runs between $900 and $1,200 USD including rent, food, transport, and a coworking membership. Ho Chi Minh City sits slightly higher, around $1,200 to $1,400, mostly on accommodation if you want to be in a decent district. Street food is $1.50 a meal. A decent apartment outside the city centre starts at $250. Fast internet is standard in most coworking spaces and cafes, and the coworking scene in all three cities has grown significantly in the last few years.

Vietnam is also simply one of the more interesting places in the region to spend time. Three thousand kilometres of coastline, highlands, river delta, ancient towns. The food alone is a reason to keep coming back. It rewards patience and longer stays in a way that a two-week holiday cannot capture.

If you are trying to decide whether Vietnam belongs on your rotation, the best digital nomad destinations in 2026 breakdown covers the cost and lifestyle comparison across the most popular options.

How Vietnam Compares to Its Neighbours Right Now

Southeast Asia is competitive on this front, and that is worth being honest about.

Thailand's Destination Thailand Visa offers five years of multiple-entry access for remote workers. The requirement is a bank balance of roughly $14,000 USD, no employer verification, no sector restriction. Malaysia's DE Rantau pass covers technology professionals earning at least $24,000 USD per year and offers up to three years. Indonesia's remote worker visa gives employees of foreign companies two years.

Against that, Vietnam's current offer for nomads is a 90-day e-visa and a long-term talent visa that most of us do not qualify for. That gap is real, and Thailand and Malaysia are actively targeting the audience Vietnam is not yet serving.

Vietnam knows this. The UĐ1 and UĐ2 are the clearest signal yet that it is thinking seriously about what comes next. They are the first step in a longer move rather than the final destination.

What to Watch For

Vietnam's immigration story has a habit of developing faster than expected when the political will is there. The IFC framework and its associated visa structure show that the government is willing to build proper infrastructure around foreign talent, not just float ideas. Whether that eventually extends to a broader nomad or remote worker category depends on how the IFC programme develops and how aggressively Thailand and Malaysia continue to compete.

Two or three years from now, Vietnam may well have a credible long-term option for the wider nomad community. For now, the 90-day e-visa is the realistic answer, and it is a genuinely good one for most travel patterns.

On the practical side, before any long stint in Vietnam it is worth sorting your banking, tax situation, and travel insurance before you go. The digital nomad banking guide and the tax guide for remote travellers are worth reading if you have not already!

Ready to go location-independent? The Escape Plan is Stella's step-by-step guide to making your first €1,000 online, so you can actually afford to be somewhere like Vietnam. It's €17 and you can get it at stellasentiero.com/escape.

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SOURCES

• Vietnam Immigration Department: https://immigration.gov.vn/

• Official Vietnam e-visa portal: https://evisa.gov.vn/

• KPMG Vietnam IFC guidance (February 2026): https://kpmg.com/xx/en/our-insights/gms-flash-alert/2026/flash-alert-2026-042.html

• Asia Unmasked (independent analysis): https://asiaunmasked.com/opinion/vietnams-new-talent-visas-what-they-mean-and-who-they-actually-apply-to/

• eVisa Vietnam breakdown: https://evisasvietnam.com/blog/vietnam-to-introduce-new-visa-types-from-july-1-2026-ud1-ud2/

• Vietnam Visa News: https://www.vietnamvisanews.com/blog/from-1-july-2026-vietnam-adds-two-new-visa-types-for-foreigners.html