Do Gabonese passport holders need a visa for Vietnam?

Yes, and it is straightforward. Gabon is not on any Vietnamese visa-exemption list, but since 15 August 2023 Vietnam has issued its e-visa to citizens of every country and territory, Gabon included. It runs up to 90 days, comes as single or multiple entry, and is applied for entirely online. There is one route that skips it: Phu Quoc island admits any nationality arriving directly from abroad for 30 days.

Visa required

Yes, a Vietnamese e-visa obtained before travel

Open to all nationalities

Yes, since 15 August 2023

Maximum stay

Up to 90 days

Fee

25 US dollars single entry, 50 multiple

Phu Quoc island

30 days visa-free if you arrive there directly from abroad

Yellow fever certificate

Required. Gabon is a transmission-risk country

Passport validity

At least six months beyond arrival

Entry requirements

• A Gabonese passport valid for at least six months beyond your arrival, with blank pages.
• An approved Vietnamese e-visa, unless you are flying directly to Phu Quoc and staying on the island.
• A valid International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis for yellow fever, because Gabon is a transmission-risk country.
• A digital photograph and a scan of the passport data page for the application.
• Proof of onward travel and an address for the stay.

How to apply for a Vietnamese e-visa from Gabon

Apply on the official immigration portal. Vietnam runs the e-visa itself and the fee is 25 US dollars for a single entry or 50 for multiple, paid online; agency sites charge a markup for the same application.

Enter your name exactly as the passport machine-readable zone has it, not as you would ordinarily write it. Gabonese passports are issued in French and compound surnames and multiple given names are common, and the approval is checked character by character against the document at check-in. A mismatch is resolved by applying again, not by explaining at the airport.

Allow more than the published three working days. That is the official processing time and it is often met, but four to seven is common enough that booking a non-refundable flight against three days is a bad trade for the sake of a few days.

Get the yellow fever vaccination at least ten days before arrival and carry the international certificate. It is checked at the health desk, which sits before passport control.

Good to know

• Vietnam opened the e-visa to every nationality in August 2023, and that is more recent than most published advice about African passports assumes. Before that the list was limited and Gabonese travellers were pushed towards a visa on arrival with a pre-approval letter, an arrangement full of agencies charging for the letter. That route is no longer the sensible one: the e-visa is issued directly by the government, costs 25 dollars, and needs no sponsor or intermediary. If a page is telling you to buy an approval letter, it predates the change.
• Vietnam times its yellow fever rule from your journey, not just your nationality. The requirement bites when you arrive within six days of leaving or transiting a transmission-risk area, which is a narrower and more specific test than the blanket "arriving from an endemic country" wording used elsewhere. In practice a direct routing from Libreville is inside it. Since a full-dose certificate is valid for life, holding one is simpler than reasoning about each itinerary.
• There is no Vietnamese mission in Libreville, which is precisely why the online route matters here. Anything requiring a physical visa stamp would mean dealing with whichever embassy is accredited to Gabon from another country. The e-visa removes that problem for ordinary travel, and it is the reason this trip is now an online form rather than a logistical exercise.
• Ninety days is the ceiling on the e-visa, not a default. You choose single or multiple entry at application, and the multiple-entry version at 50 dollars is what you want if the trip includes a hop to Cambodia or Laos and back. Buying single and then leaving means a second application from outside the country, which is a slower problem to solve mid-trip than it is to avoid at the start.

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

• Do Togolese citizens need a visa for Indonesia?
• Check visa requirements for any passport

Other passports for Vietnam

• Indonesia passport holders visiting Vietnam

Sources

Every fact on this page was checked against the official sources below on 25 August 2026.

• Wikipedia, Visa policy of Vietnam (raw source checked 2026-08-25) — Gabon appears in no exemption list; the e-visa has been issued to citizens of all countries and territories since 15 August 2023, single or multiple entry up to 90 days, at 25 or 50 US dollars (en.wikipedia.org, citing the Vietnam Immigration Department portal)
• Vietnam Immigration Department, National Web Portal on Immigration — the official e-visa application route (evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov.vn)
• Wikipedia, Visa policy of Vietnam — Phu Quoc Island carries a 30-day visa exemption for all foreign visitors arriving directly by air or sea from outside Vietnam, passport valid six months (en.wikipedia.org)
• NaTHNaC and Vietnamese Ministry of Health guidance — a yellow fever certificate is required where the traveller arrives within six days of leaving or transiting a transmission-risk area; WHO certificates are valid for life after a full dose (travelhealthpro.org.uk)

Entry rules change without notice and the official source is always the authority. Confirm with the embassy or immigration portal before you book.