Emergency Same-Day Vietnam Visa: What to do wehn your visa has an error

Apr 6

Hey Amigos,
I just wrapped up nearly two months of travel, and while you saw all the dreamy highlights and mouthwatering food, I also made plenty of mistakes. The biggest? Realizing my Vietnam visa had the wrong birth year… on the day of my flight.

Wrong Birthyear on my vietname visa

Fun fact: Vietnam isn’t one of the many countries North Americans can walk into visa-free. Knowing this, I applied for mine about a week and a half before departure. I even got email notifications about it, but I ignored them—big mistake.

Fast forward to 5 AM, I'm already in line trying to rebook a missed flight from Colombia to San Francisco (where my Asia-bound flight would start). I finally checked my visa and—BOOM—wrong birth year. Panic set in, but I had no time to spiral. My flight to Vietnam was at 11 PM that same day.

A frantic Google search led me to this site offering same-day Vietnam visas (for a pricey $210 USD). Desperate times, desperate credit card swipes. They promised delivery by 9 PM—one hour before check-in. I had no choice but to trust the process, especially since I’d be offline most of the day while flying.

Everything went smoothly: quick re-application, email confirmation, and some back-and-forth to verify details (including proof of payment, which felt sketchy but was noted on their site). Arriving in San Francisco with six hours to kill, I took a quick detour to see the Golden Gate Bridge (10/10 recommend—story for another blog).

flIGHT lAYOver in San Francisco - Golden Gate Bridge

By 8:55 PM, still no visa. Cue deep breaths and positive affirmations. At 8:59 PM, I got the golden email: “We are pleased to inform you that your eVisa has been sent.” Relief flooded in, and minutes later, I was at the check-in counter, boarding pass in hand.

Moral of the Story?

Check your visa the moment you get it. I could’ve saved half that $210 and stress-tax if I’d caught the error sooner. But hey, we live and learn! And if you ever find yourself in a visa crisis—same-day services do exist. Vietnam Same-Day Visa
Now, enjoy some snapshots from my time in Vietnam! 📸✨
Catch you later Amigo <3