Vietnam Visa questions (I went with Vietnam Visa Pro)

I applied for the visa approval letter yesterday with Vietnam Visa Pro (http://vietnamvisapro.com/). I received
the three-page letter today but have I few questions on it. The service was super fast, with no problems (well,
as I obviously haven't been to Vietnam yet, I can't say that for sure) but ...

1. The approval letter has me as part of a group of 17 people (strangers to me) from around the world. I wasn't
   really expecting my personal information (full name/birth date/nationality/ passport number) to be shared in this way. Is this common for getting one of these approval letters?

2. The email from Vietnam Visa Pro gave me a link to download an entry/exit form necessary for going through
   immigration. This form asks for the permanent residential addresses of family members. I don't even know that! (There is no mention about family members traveling with you, so I assume they want to know regardless).
   Finally, the form asks for the following information:
   Hosting organisation/individual in Vietnam
   Name of Hosting organisation
   Address
   Hosting Individual (Full name)
   Address
   Relationship to the applicant

How do I fill that section out? I went through "Vietnam Visa Pro" but that does not appear anywhere on the
letter that I got. Instead, it says "vvp international touris co. ltd. danang branch" with no address or names given.
And I assume it's not a problem that I am not even going to danang.

Thanks for any replies to this.

There is no problem if your name is on the 17-name list, just because sometimes they do the visa service for many individual tourists at the same time

@JuliaLuther - Thanks for that reply, no I didn't think I might have a problem. It's kind of the other way around, I kind of have a problem with my information being shared (and I wasn't aware of it beforehand). Maybe it's my fault for not having done the research correctly or asking first.

Don't think it's your fault. It happened to me too when I first applied for a visa to Vietnam

The pre-approved visa letter (often called VOA) was originally started years ago to accommodate tour groups. So, they listed all the group members on the same approval form and they still do that. There are visa services that will give you your own individual letter for an additional fee. The information on the letter is pretty useless because it isn't tied to your home address and in most countries your passport number changes when you renew.
You can just mark the family residency and hosting fields as "NA" or leave them blank. I've used the pre-approved visa letter system many times and never had a problem.

@cmburns - Thanks for that reply. What about the entire section asking about the "hosting organisation"
on the form? Can I leave that entire section blank as well?

I assume you're applying for a regular TOURIST visa (30/90 days) rather than some other longer term visa. You can mark all of the "hosting" section (para/section No. 17) as NA or leave it blank.
Unless you are traveling with a family group you can mark Section No.11 as NA also.

@cmburns - Yes, I am applying for the regular tourist visa (30 days). Thank you for your time and replies.

The same thing happened to me today, I also got a letter with 17 other peoples details on it! I actually wrote back to them and asked if this was a very safe way to continue in the future as noone likes their details shared with complete strangers! (Imagine if you are on my list from today lol) I haven't had a reply but I think its a silly practice to continue with. My friend said its still a bit of a nightmare on arrival because of course this letter doesn't get you any further up the queue so its still apparently a lot of lining up and filling out more forms then waiting for your name to be called etc.

@tasha_nz - Thanks for your reply. I knew I wasn't alone though, as I have the personal information of 16 other people now. What exactly do you mean about it being a nightmare to queue on arrival? In my email reply I received from
Vietnam Visa Pro, there was a link provided to download the necessary form needed on arrival, so I plan to do that and have it filled in beforehand (hoping it will save a bit of time). Also, Vietnam Visa Pro offers a quick service that allows you to skip the lines (supposedly someone is there to meet you when you get off your flight) but it seemed rather expensive to me. I will be arriving after 1 a.m. the morning.

Guess Ill get to see how it goes next week when I arrive but my friend wrote this to me today when I asked her how the visa on arrival went for her and her family - "yes we showed the letter, i had assumed this would jump us to a different queue or speed things up but no. Queued then realised we were in wrong queue. Had to fill in more forms, queue and pay. Then sit and wait for name to be called. Then pick up payment. Then join actual queue. I was very confused because had done the pre application but it made no difference to speed when you arrive" Maybe someone else on this forum can enlighten us?

You don't seem to understand how Vietnamese visas work. The only way you, as a New Zealander, can avoid waiting in two lines is to get your visa in New Zealand before departure and pay a LOT more. If you have a visa in your passport then you go directly to the immigration line. But if you have a pre-approval letter you must first get a visa before going to the immigration line and the process is as you describe above. As suggested, print the forms and complete them before arrival and have $25USD (or $50 for multi-entry) in U$D CASH for the stamping fee. Turn in your letter and completed form at the windows to the left (in Saigon)wait to be called then pay at the cashier window and THEN go to the immigration line. However; CHECK to be SURE your visa is correct before going to the immigration line. The people typing the visas are working fast and they DO make mistakes! It's a simple process but if you get in the wrong line, don't do the form in advance, or try to pay in other the U$D then, of course, it can take much longer.

@cmburns - Thank you for that additional information in post #11. After reading that carefully, I was also under a different impression as to how the process would work in Vietnam, so I'm glad you wrote that. What do you mean exactly by check to make sure the visa is correct and that they may make a typing mistake? Don't they stamp the visa into the passport? Or do they type up a sticker that is stuck in your passport, or do they hand you a different sheet of paper that must then be submitted to immigration before you receive the visa stamped into your passport? I'm not sure where the typing mistake would be.

I will definitely have the forms completed beforehand, along with $25 US cash ready, and passport size pictures as well.

Thanks.

Oops, I forgot to put bring photos on my "to do" list, good catch.
The actual visa is a full page sticker with the relevant information typed in. You need to check that the dates and visa type(single/multi-entry....) match your pre-approval letter. If you find an error you MUST get it fixed BEFORE going to immigration. AND, you MUST have at least one FULL blank page in your passport for the full page sticker. They also like you to have blank space on the adjacent page for entry/exit stamps.

Oh, you need to listen VERY carefully when they call names because they often really mangle the pronunciation!

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