The story posted on Insider tells the story of Jill Schildhouse's costly and time-consuming entry into Vietnam.
After 33 hours of traveling from Phoenix (USA) with connecting flights in Dallas (USA) and Tokyo (Japan) to Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Jill was tired but still excited.
"It's been 6 months since my last trip to Vietnam, I'm always looking forward to exploring new cities in this beautiful country," the female tourist said.
Upon landing, she went straight to passport control, bringing her personal passport and a printed copy of her visa, which had been registered and issued more than a month earlier. Jill submitted the two documents and waited for the entry stamp, but the customs officer returned the result with the answer: "Refused".
"At that time, I was really confused. I had traveled to 46 other countries and had never encountered such a thing," Jill said.
After wandering around the airport and waiting, the American girl found someone to help her check her passport and visa for any problems. It turned out that the information in Jill's middle name did not match. The passport had a middle name but the visa did not.
A visa application can be rejected if the name does not match the passport, and Jill did not notice this discrepancy. The customs officer gave her two options: Either fly back to Japan (her previous destination, Vietnam) or pay a very expensive fee to urgently apply for a new visa.
Flying back to Japan was out of the question because she had booked a cruise in Vietnam in less than 12 hours. She was relieved to learn that the visa fee was $130. But then she was shocked again because customs only accepted cash, and she only had $20 on her and a credit card. After some deliberation, everything was settled, and the American girl was re-issued a visa to enter and travel to Vietnam.
According to aviation industry statistics, in 2023 and the first 6 months of 2024, the number of international passengers arriving in Vietnam who were denied entry at airports across the country increased sharply. In 2023, there were 886 cases of international passengers being denied entry; and in the first 6 months of 2024 alone, there were over 600 cases.
This number increased sharply compared to 506 cases in 2020; 5 cases in 2021 (due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, very few international commercial flights to Vietnam), and 404 cases in 2022.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, the increase in cases of passengers being denied entry causes damage to carriers, puts pressure on airports (where passengers are managed to return to their departure point); and also poses risks to security, safety, and order at airports and on airplanes.
Therefore, airlines operating regular international flights to Vietnam are advised to check the flight documents of passengers entering and transiting the country.
From the rare experience of traveling around the world, Jill learned the lesson of carefully checking the data when entering in the visa application, making sure all information matches with the passport, even the smallest detail. This incident also gave her the experience of never traveling without carrying cash with her.
