The long one
90-day Vietnam e-visa extension
Adding a fresh 90 days is not an extension of the visa you already hold. The e-visa cannot be extended from inside Vietnam, so the exit is the mechanism: your desk files the new application the moment Moc Bai stamps you out, and the 90 days start when the officer stamps you back in.
The guide covers the document list, the processing tiers and what each one actually buys, the government fee of 25 USD for a single entry against what the desk charges, and the four pre-departure mistakes that send people back to Saigon without a stamp.
Read the extension guideWhere to start
If this is your first run
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1.
The step-by-step walkthrough: pickup at 4:30 am, the exit stamp between 8:30 and 9:15, and the drive home. The border takes 45 minutes; the four hours on QL22 are the day.
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2.
What a run costs in 2026: the car is 2,000,000 VND for up to four travellers, and the visas are priced per person on top of that.
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3.
The Cambodia visa at Bavet: 30 USD on arrival for most passports, what the counter asks for, and who should file online instead.
The crossing itself
Moc Bai border crossing guide: the layout of both buildings, the walk across no man's land, the queue at the Bavet window on a weekday morning, and what the touts between the gates are selling. No sales pressure on that page. It is there for people who just want to know what the place looks like before they commit a day to it.
Choosing how to travel
- Flying to Phnom Penh instead: about 4,200,000 VND and 11 hours door to door against 5,300,000 VND and 12 hours on the road. The price gap is smaller than people expect; the flexibility gap is the real one.
- Bus and shuttle options: where the door-to-door shuttle collects in District 1, Thao Dien, Thu Duc and Phu My Hung, and what the public coach from Ben Xe Mien Dong adds in time.
- The cheapest version of the trip: motorbike, coach, shared van and private car ranked by what they really cost once the border fees are counted.
- Doing it on a motorbike: the QL22 route through Cu Chi and Trang Bang, the pre-dawn start, and why the bike stays parked on the Vietnam side.
When to go
Weekday beats season. A Tuesday in July clears the Bavet window faster than a Saturday in December, because the coaches arrive in a block from mid-morning and that is when the queue forms.
The two dates that genuinely break the plan are Tet and Khmer New Year. Tet 2027 falls on 6 February with roughly a seven-day break, and e-visa approval slows to a crawl on both sides of it.
Month by month, and what the monsoon does to the driveWho does not need this
A Vietnamese passport holder never needs a visa run. If you are travelling on a British passport and using the 45-day exemption, you can take two exemption entries in a row and most people switch to the 90-day e-visa after that.
Anyone who can file their own e-visa on the government portal for 25 USD should do exactly that and book only the car. The extension guide explains where the extra money goes if you would rather not.
How the rules differ by passport