Where do I apply for a Schengen visa in Vietnam?

Most missions route through VFS Global and TLScontact centres in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The French, German, Italian, Dutch, Swiss, and Spanish consulates all use external service providers as their submission centres. Always apply to the consulate of your main destination by nights spent — applying to an easier centre when you are clearly flying into Paris or Frankfurt is grounds for refusal.

Do I need a Vietnamese tax filing for a Schengen visa?

Yes, where applicable. The most recent Personal Income Tax (PIT) confirmation is part of the standard documentation alongside payslips and the employer leave letter. For self-employed applicants, the Department of Planning and Investment business registration certificate plus business tax filings serve the same purpose — the tax record is the consulate's cross-check on your stated income.

How many months of Vietcombank or BIDV statements do I need?

Three months is the documented minimum at most submissions in Hanoi and HCMC, but six months is widely recommended — especially if your salary was recently revised or if large credits appear in the last 30 days. Statements should be stamped by your bank or downloaded directly from internet banking with the bank's official header.

How long does my Vietnamese passport need to be valid?

Your passport must be valid for at least three months beyond your planned date of return from the Schengen area, with at least two blank pages, and issued within the last ten years. Applying close to the three-month margin raises the risk of refusal regardless of the rest of the file.

Do I need real flight tickets to apply?

No — a paid, non-refundable ticket is not required. Consulates accept a verifiable flight reservation (a live PNR in the airline's system). Consulates widely flag unverifiable dummy PDFs, and immigration advisors report PNR verification is standard practice at many missions. Submitting an unverifiable reservation can trigger refusal under Article 32(1)(a)(i) of the Visa Code (false or unreliable documents) or Article 32(1)(a)(ii) (purpose and conditions of stay not justified). Best practice is a hold-the-fare reservation or a refundable booking kept live until the decision. The SchengenDoc kit produces the day-by-day itinerary document that accompanies — not replaces — your real reservation. See [why dummy tickets get rejected](/blog/dummy-tickets-schengen-visa-rejected).

Schengen Visa from Vietnam

An embassy-ready document kit — cover letter, day-by-day itinerary, applicant profile, and personalised checklist — formatted for the standards Vietnamese applicants are graded on.

How Vietnamese applicants apply for a Schengen visa

Applications are submitted through VFS Global Vietnam / TLScontact Vietnam.

Build my kit — $29

Final documents are written in formal English regardless of the language you fill the form in — the register Schengen consulates expect to read.

This guide covers short-stay Schengen visas (Type C, up to 90 days). For longer stays you need a national long-stay (Type D) visa issued by your destination country.

What's inside your kit

Formal cover letter
Structured paragraph by paragraph in the register consulates expect, naming the destination mission and trip purpose.
Day-by-day itinerary
Dated plan with hotels, intercity transit, and overnight counts that match the consulate of application.
Applicant profile
Employment, ties, and prior travel summarised in the format reviewers scan for first.
Personalised checklist
Every supporting document the file needs, including the country-specific ones flagged for your situation.

Top Schengen destinations from Vietnam

France Germany Italy Netherlands

Schengen refusal rates for applicants in Vietnam (2025)

In 2025, Schengen consulates in Vietnam took 115,632 short-stay decisions and refused 9.4% — below the worldwide rate of 14.6%.

Schengen states ranked by 2025 refusal rate for applications submitted in Vietnam. Posts with at least 500 decisions only.
#	Schengen state	Refusal rate	Decisions	Consulates
1	Poland	3.6%	961	Hanoi
2	Italy	4.0%	9,744	HO CHI Minh, Hanoi
3	Austria	4.3%	1,686	Hanoi
4	Greece	4.7%	1,570	Hanoi
5	Bulgaria	5.7%	2,593	Hanoi
6	Spain	7.4%	4,160	Hanoi
7	France	8.3%	50,750	Hanoi, HO CHI Minh
8	Netherlands	8.3%	4,915	HO CHI Minh, Hanoi
9	Switzerland	9.5%	4,362	HO CHI Minh
10	Germany	12.5%	24,554	Hanoi, HO CHI Minh
11	Belgium	15.1%	1,544	Hanoi
12	Czechia	17.4%	3,939	Hanoi
13	Hungary	18.1%	2,633	Hanoi, HO CHI Minh
14	Finland	20.8%	1,796	Hanoi

The gap between the lowest and highest refusal rate in Vietnam is 17.2 percentage points — Poland refused 3.6% of the decisions it took, Finland refused 20.8%.

Source: European Commission — Schengen visa statistics for consulates, 2025. Refusal rate = not issued ÷ decisions taken (uniform visas issued + LTVs issued + not issued). Short-stay (uniform) Schengen visas only. Excludes national long-stay visas. Figures are keyed by country of application — where the consulate sits — not applicant nationality. Applying to the consulate with the best odds is only allowed when it is the state of your main destination — jurisdiction rules come first.

See the full interactive ranking →Refusal rates by country →

What Vietnamese applicants need to get right

Vietnamese passport holders submit Schengen short-stay applications through VFS Global and TLScontact centres in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. French, German, Italian, and Dutch missions carry the bulk of the volume, and appointment slots tighten sharply between June and August and around the Lunar New Year (Tết) travel window in January–February.

Three documents drive most refusals filed from Vietnam: a generic cover letter that doesn't tie the trip to a clear return reason in Vietnam, financials that don't reconcile with the itinerary, and missing employer paperwork. Salaried applicants are expected to attach a leave-approval letter on company letterhead with citizen ID copy, the last three to six months of salary credits via Vietcombank, BIDV, or Techcombank, and a recent Personal Income Tax (PIT) confirmation. Self-employed applicants substitute the leave letter with the Department of Planning and Investment business registration certificate and the same tax record set.

Financial proof is read as a coherent story across the last three to six months of Vietnamese bank statements. Consulates compare the daily budget on your itinerary against closing VND balances and against the salary credits visible on those statements at a realistic euro rate. A SchengenDoc kit produces the formal English cover letter, day-by-day itinerary, and personalised checklist Hanoi and HCMC applicants need — with the checklist flagging citizen ID copy, employer leave letter, bank statements, and tax confirmation lined up against the itinerary.

Financial proof benchmark. Three to six months of Vietnamese bank statements with closing balances covering roughly VND 1.7–2.3 million per day of stay (about €65–€90/day) is the working benchmark across Hanoi and HCMC consulates.

Frequently asked questions

For a full personalised document list, use our free checklist builder.

Where do I apply for a Schengen visa in Vietnam?: Most missions route through VFS Global and TLScontact centres in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The French, German, Italian, Dutch, Swiss, and Spanish consulates all use external service providers as their submission centres. Always apply to the consulate of your main destination by nights spent — applying to an easier centre when you are clearly flying into Paris or Frankfurt is grounds for refusal.
Do I need a Vietnamese tax filing for a Schengen visa?: Yes, where applicable. The most recent Personal Income Tax (PIT) confirmation is part of the standard documentation alongside payslips and the employer leave letter. For self-employed applicants, the Department of Planning and Investment business registration certificate plus business tax filings serve the same purpose — the tax record is the consulate's cross-check on your stated income.
How many months of Vietcombank or BIDV statements do I need?: Three months is the documented minimum at most submissions in Hanoi and HCMC, but six months is widely recommended — especially if your salary was recently revised or if large credits appear in the last 30 days. Statements should be stamped by your bank or downloaded directly from internet banking with the bank's official header.
How long does my Vietnamese passport need to be valid?: Your passport must be valid for at least three months beyond your planned date of return from the Schengen area, with at least two blank pages, and issued within the last ten years. Applying close to the three-month margin raises the risk of refusal regardless of the rest of the file.
Do I need real flight tickets to apply?: No — a paid, non-refundable ticket is not required. Consulates accept a verifiable flight reservation (a live PNR in the airline's system). Consulates widely flag unverifiable dummy PDFs, and immigration advisors report PNR verification is standard practice at many missions. Submitting an unverifiable reservation can trigger refusal under Article 32(1)(a)(i) of the Visa Code (false or unreliable documents) or Article 32(1)(a)(ii) (purpose and conditions of stay not justified). Best practice is a hold-the-fare reservation or a refundable booking kept live until the decision. The SchengenDoc kit produces the day-by-day itinerary document that accompanies — not replaces — your real reservation. See why dummy tickets get rejected.

Helpful guides for Vietnamese applicants

Related country guides

Same region or similar consular routing as Vietnam.