days, not 45
The island cap, whatever passport you hold
airport or seaport
Arriving by land does not qualify
fees, no forms
No application, no fee, no photos at the counter
rule that breaks it
Set foot on the mainland and the stamp is void
The island's own rule
Two visa rules, and only one of them applies here
Phu Quoc sits closer to Cambodia than to the Vietnamese mainland, and the government treats it that way. Since Decision 80/2013/QD-TTg took effect on 10 March 2014, the island has run its own visa exemption: 30 days, every nationality, no fee, no paperwork at the counter. The version most travelers meet today is the one reaffirmed on 1 July 2020.
The confusion starts because Vietnam's mainland exemption is longer. Britain, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and a dozen others get 45 days when they arrive at a mainland airport, and plenty of travel pages quietly hand that 45 to Phu Quoc as well. It does not apply. Land on the island and you get 30 days, even with a passport that would earn 45 in Hanoi.
So the exemption is generous and narrow at the same time: it is the only entry rule in Vietnam open to every nationality, and it comes with a geographic leash. Once you understand where the leash ends, you can work out whether you need a visa run at all. Most island visitors do not. Some do, and they usually find out late.
On paper
The five conditions, in plain language
Miss any single line in this table and you are not in the exemption scheme. There is no partial version, and the officer at the counter has no discretion to bend it.
| Condition | What you need |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Any country. There is no list. |
| Passport | Six months of validity from arrival, plus two blank pages |
| Entry point | Phu Quoc airport (PQC) or the island seaport. Air or sea only. |
| Transit | A mainland connection is fine if you stay airside and never clear immigration |
| Length of stay | 30 days from arrival. The arrival day counts. |
| Where you go | Phu Quoc only. The exemption does not travel with you. |
| Onward ticket | Proof of departure from Phu Quoc to somewhere outside Vietnam within 30 days |
| Cost | Nothing. No fee, no form, no photo |
| Extension | None available on the island |
The onward ticket line is the one that ends trips at the check-in desk rather than at immigration. Airlines carry the passenger back if a destination refuses entry, so they check for the exit booking before you board, and some will not accept a screenshot with no confirmation number. Book the way out before you book the way in, and keep the confirmation somewhere you can open without wifi.
Where it breaks
Three ways travelers lose the 30 days
The rule trips people in the same three places every season. None of them are obscure, and all of them are decided before you land.
You clear immigration on the mainland
Connecting through Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi is allowed, but only inside the international transit zone. Step out to collect a bag, visit a lounge landside or catch a domestic flight, and you have entered Vietnam on whatever your passport allows, not on the island's exemption.
Check this with the airline before booking. Some self-transfer itineraries do not qualify at all.
You arrive overland from Cambodia
The exemption is for air and sea arrival at Phu Quoc. Crossing at the Ha Tien (Xa Xia) border gate and travelling to the island does not qualify you, because you entered Vietnam at a land border, not at the island.
If you are coming from Kampot, you need a proper visa in hand before you reach the window.
You are already in Vietnam
A domestic flight to Phu Quoc does not reset anything. If you entered Vietnam on a 45-day mainland exemption or an e-visa, immigration reads your entry record, not your current location, and no new 30 days appear.
This is the mistake that sends people to Ha Tien on a bus at 5am.
Which one applies to you
Exemption, e-visa or visa run
Pick your row. The exemption wins on simplicity and loses on length, because a 90-day e-visa covers three times the stay for US$25.
| Your plan | What to use | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| 30 days or less, island only, arriving direct | Island exemption, no application | Free |
| Phu Quoc plus any mainland city | E-visa, up to 90 days | US$25 single |
| Leaving and re-entering Vietnam mid-trip | Multiple-entry e-visa | US$50 |
| Three months on the island, no mainland trips | 90-day e-visa, not the exemption | US$25 single |
| Already here, stamp nearly out, staying longer | Exit and re-enter on a fresh e-visa | From 1,600,000 VND plus the e-visa fee |
A visa run makes sense in one situation: your 30 days are nearly gone, you want to stay, and you have no approved visa to re-enter on. You cannot buy that visa at the border, and you cannot apply for one from inside Vietnam. File the e-visa online first, print it, then do the run. On this coast that means the morning ferry to Ha Tien and the Xa Xia gate, which the Xa Xia route guide walks through hour by hour.
The honest answer
Can the 30 days be extended?
Not at an immigration office on the island, because there is not one that handles foreigner extensions. Phu Quoc's exemption has no renewal mechanism written into it, and the officers at the airport cannot convert your stamp into a longer one.
What does exist is the agency route. Licensed agents in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Da Nang take your passport and apply to convert or extend the stay. It takes five to seven working days and costs somewhere between US$40 and US$80 depending on urgency. Send the passport off a week before your stamp expires, not three days before, because the processing clock does not care about your flight.
One more wrinkle: an approved e-visa sitting in your inbox does not automatically extend the exemption you entered on. It becomes active when you cross a border and re-enter, which is why exit-and-return is the reliable version and an "extension" is the one that depends on an officer.
If your stamp runs out in the next week
- Read the stamp in your passport rather than your itinerary. The date written there governs everything.
- File the e-visa now at evisa.gov.vn. Three to five working days is normal, longer over Tet and public holidays.
- Print two copies. Land border windows prefer paper, and a dead phone at a border window is a bad afternoon.
- Book the ferry for a sailing early enough to reach the gate and come back the same day. Morning out, early afternoon home.
- Carry cash in US dollars and dong both. The Cambodia visa on arrival is paid at the window.
Send your nationality and the date stamp on your entry to WhatsApp and we will tell you whether you are exempt, overstaying, or already past the point where a run still works.
The expensive part
What overstaying the island's 30 days costs in 2026
Vietnam tightened this in December 2025. Decree 282/2025/ND-CP took effect on 15 December, replacing the 2021 rules, and it roughly doubled the top penalty. There are seven brackets now instead of five, and the two new ones at the top cover stays of six months and beyond.
The fines are set by bracket, not multiplied per day, which is why a one-day slip and a two-week slip land in the same range. The real cliff is at 16 days: that is where deportation stops being theoretical and becomes a penalty the authorities can add on top of the fine.
| Days overstayed | Fine (VND) | Deportation risk |
|---|---|---|
| Under 16 days | 500,000 to 2,000,000 | None |
| 16 to under 30 days | 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 | Possible |
| 30 to under 60 days | 10,000,000 to 15,000,000 | Possible |
| 60 to under 90 days | 15,000,000 to 20,000,000 | Possible |
| 90 to under 180 days | 20,000,000 to 25,000,000 | High |
| 180 days to under a year | 25,000,000 to 30,000,000 | Very high |
| A year or more | 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 | Near certain |
Two things worth knowing before you treat a fine as a fallback plan. First, the fine is collected when you leave Vietnam, at the exit window, and it does not repair your immigration record. Second, deportation procedures were updated separately by Decree 59/2026/ND-CP, effective 1 April 2026, and the harsher brackets can carry an entry ban on top of the money.
Compare that with the cost of a run: 1,600,000 VND for the transport leg on our booking form, plus a US$25 single-entry e-visa. Staying legal is cheaper than staying late, and it is not especially close. Our cost page breaks the whole chain down in dong and dollars.
New in 2026
The pre-arrival declaration now applies to Phu Quoc
Vietnam rolled out an online pre-arrival declaration in April 2026 and extended it to Phu Quoc International Airport from 1 June 2026. It is free, it is filled in before you fly, and it produces a QR code. Airlines may ask to see that code at the check-in desk, so the form is no longer something you can leave until you are standing in the arrivals hall.
Fill it in through the official government portal rather than a paid lookalike. The entry-type list now includes a Phu Quoc visa exemption option, which is the one to choose if the island's 30 days are what you are entering on. Keep the QR as a saved image and a printed copy, because the arrivals hall wifi is the arrivals hall wifi.
Traveling on an e-visa instead? Same form, different entry type. Get the declaration and the visa paperwork both in order before you board, and neither window will hold you up.
Exemption questions
Quick answers on the island's 30 days
What is the Phu Quoc 30-day visa exemption?+
A separate entry rule for the island, created under Decision 80/2013/QD-TTg and in force since 10 March 2014. Any nationality, no fee, no application, up to 30 days, provided you arrive at Phu Quoc International Airport or the island seaport and stay on Phu Quoc.
Does the mainland 45-day exemption apply on Phu Quoc?+
No. The 45-day exemption is for a country list (UK, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea and others) and carries a 30-day gap between visits. The island's exemption is open to every nationality and capped at 30 days. An EU or UK passport arriving at PQC gets 30 days, not 45.
Can I extend the Phu Quoc visa exemption?+
Not on the island, and an approved e-visa does not convert the exemption you entered on by itself. Exit and re-enter on the new e-visa, or hand your passport to a licensed agent in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi or Da Nang five to seven working days before your stamp expires. Expect US$40 to US$80.
Can I fly to Phu Quoc to reset a mainland stay?+
No. The exemption applies to people entering Vietnam from abroad. If you are already in the country on a mainland exemption or an e-visa, a domestic flight to the island does not trigger it and does not give you 30 fresh days. Immigration reads how you entered, not where you are standing.
What happens if I overstay the 30 days?+
You pay a bracketed fine under Decree 282/2025/ND-CP. Under 16 days is 500,000 to 2,000,000 VND. From 16 to under 30 days it jumps to 5,000,000 to 10,000,000 VND, and from 16 days onward deportation becomes a possible penalty as well. A year or more runs 30,000,000 to 40,000,000 VND.
Do I need a visa run if I only stay on Phu Quoc?+
No. A trip of 30 days or less entirely on the island is covered by the exemption and there is nothing to book. The run matters when you are here on an expiring e-visa, you want to stay past 30 days, or your plans reach the mainland.
Keep reading
Where the island rules stop and the mainland ones start
Everything above is local to Phu Quoc. The moment your plans include the mainland, you are in a different rulebook: the 45-day exemption list, the 90-day e-visa and the Moc Bai corridor that Saigon runs use instead of Ha Tien. The Ho Chi Minh City visa run side covers that route in detail, and the overstay brackets in this page are national, so the fine table applies whether you overstay on the island or in Da Nang.
If you are weighing corridors rather than reading rules, the network hub at visarun.vn compares them side by side, and a specific city page often answers the question a nationality page cannot. For the overstay numbers in more depth, including what changes past the 16-day line at an airport, the Da Nang team wrote it up at danangvisarun.com.
Island exemption terms, declaration rules and overstay fines all changed during 2026, and the numbers on this page were checked against the current decrees when it was written. Confirm your own nationality and dates with immigration or with us before you book flights.