The Vietnam e-visa application has one field that quietly decides whether your border day works: the port of entry. Everything else on the form can be corrected with a re-read and a fresh upload. This one cannot, at least not cheaply. Choose the wrong gate, and the officer at re-entry has every right to wave you away, and the fee you already paid does not come back.
People in Da Nang meet this problem on the Lao Bao road. The city sits about 290 km from the Lao Bao border crossing in Quang Tri, the natural same-day visa run for anyone living here on a 90-day e-visa. The morning starts with a 04:00 to 06:00 pickup, a drive over the Hai Van Pass, a Vietnam exit stamp, a short walk into Laos at Densavan, and then the return. That return stamp is where the entry port field bites. You show up at Lao Bao expecting a fresh 90 days, the officer opens your e-visa, and the declared entry gate is Noi Bai, or Moc Bai, or Da Nang airport. That is a mismatch the system logs, and it is the single most common reason a same-day run turns into a problem at the window.
This page covers what the field actually asks, why Lao Bao must be the port listed for anyone running from Da Nang, what a wrong selection costs in money and days, and how the rule interacts with the two ways e-visa holders come back over the border on run day. If you already applied with the wrong port, the fix is covered too, along with the one honest shortcut that works when you are already at the border.
The good news: getting it right takes one careful minute during the application, before you pay. Most of the travelers we drive to Lao Bao every week never look at the port field twice. This page is for the ones who want to understand it once, so they never have to.
Vietnam's e-visa is valid for up to 90 days and costs 25 USD for a single entry or 50 USD for multiple entries, paid by card on the government portal at evisa.gov.vn. The fee is non-refundable if the visa is not granted, which matters more than most people think once you understand the port rule.
The application asks for two border gates: the port where you plan to enter and the port where you plan to leave. The system treats them differently. The entry port is strict. You must actually enter through the gate you declare, because the officer at that gate checks your e-visa against the port on it before stamping. The exit port is more forgiving. If your plans change and you leave through a different authorized gate, that is normally accepted, as long as the gate is on the approved list.
And only approved gates count. Since Resolution 127/NQ-CP took effect on 15 August 2023, e-visa holders may enter and exit only through international checkpoints the government has designated. That list covers airports, seaports and land gates. Lao Bao Landport in Quang Tri is on it, which is the legal foundation for every visa run from Da Nang. Exit to Laos, turn around, re-enter at the same checkpoint, and the whole loop is lawful on one multiple-entry e-visa or a fresh single-entry one.
So the practical rule for Da Nang is simple: if your e-visa is for a stay where a border run is likely, list Lao Bao as the entry port. A traveler who flies into Da Nang airport once and never leaves can list the airport. Anyone on a run cycle, using Lao Bao every 90 days or so, should put Lao Bao on the form from the start. That one choice keeps every future re-entry clean.
Say you applied for the e-visa in a hurry, picked Da Nang airport out of habit, then booked a land run because a friend said it was cheaper. At the border the sequence is normal until the re-entry window. Vietnam exit stamp, Laos side at Densavan, back over on foot, and then the officer scans your e-visa and sees an entry port that is not the one you are standing at. What happens next depends on the officer, and none of the outcomes are good.
The most common result is a refusal to stamp you in. The officer points at the port, you have no argument that changes the system's record, and you are sent back toward Laos. That means the run failed, you are on the Laos side of the border with your bags, and your 90-day clock never restarted. Less common but worse: an officer with time and suspicion can log the mismatch as a failed entry attempt, which is exactly the kind of note you do not want on your file when repeat runs are your plan.
Fixing it is not a form correction. Once an e-visa is approved, the port cannot be edited, and the immigration department does not refund fees for applications that cannot be used. You file a brand new application at 25 or 50 USD, wait the processing time again, and the old visa is dead weight. From Da Nang the real cost is not just the fee. Standard processing runs three to four working days. If you only discover the mistake on run day, you are stuck outside Vietnam until the new visa lands, unless you pay for expedited handling through a service that can file and chase it same day.
The border itself is open 07:00 to 19:00 Vietnam time, with the Laos side running an hour behind. A same-day run arrives around 10:30 to 11:30 and clears comfortably before the afternoon lull. A refused entry burns those hours fast, and there is no second window to fix paperwork at a land checkpoint. Cash matters at Densavan too: the Laos visa on arrival runs about 30 to 35 USD and it is cash only, in decent bills, no cards at the checkpoint.
E-visa holders come back over Lao Bao in one of two ways, and both depend on the entry port field.
First, the multiple-entry e-visa. If you hold the 50 USD multiple-entry version and it lists Lao Bao as the entry port, re-entry on run day is a clean stamp. You exit, spend twenty minutes on the Laos side, walk back, the officer scans your e-visa, the port matches, and you get a fresh entry mark inside the same 90-day window. This is the smoothest rhythm for anyone running regularly, and it only works when the port was right from the start.
Second, the new e-visa filed from the border. Single-entry holders, and anyone whose multiple-entry visa lists a different gate, cannot legally step back into Vietnam through Lao Bao on that document. The standard move is to apply for a fresh e-visa while on the Laos side, with an entry date of today and Lao Bao as the entry port, then cross back once the approval lands. Rush processing can turn that around in a few hours, which is why same-day runs are still possible for single-entry travelers. This is also the moment of maximum risk: a rushed application with the wrong port burns the fee and the day together, because there is no time left to file again before the border closes.
Either way, the entry port on the document you actually use must say Lao Bao. The officer does not care what the old visa said, only what the current one declares. People who apply for the fresh e-visa from home a week early, then run on the day it arrives, need to double check one thing before pickup: which port did you type in. In our experience across hundreds of Lao Bao runs, that check takes ten seconds and prevents almost every border failure we see.
The full border sequence, exit stamp to re-entry, is written out step by step on our Lao Bao visa run guide, and the how to do a visa run page covers what to carry.
The application lives at evisa.gov.vn. Use that address and ignore the paid lookalikes that charge triple for the same form. Under travel information you reach the two dropdowns: intended border gate of entry and intended border gate of exit. For the entry one, open the land border section of the list and pick Lao Bao, which appears under Quang Tri province. Do not grab an airport by accident; airports and land gates sit in the same list, and Noi Bai or Da Nang airport are easy fat-finger choices.
Before you click pay, run this checklist. The port of entry says Lao Bao. The name on the form matches your passport biodata page exactly, no nicknames, no reordered names. The passport number is right, because a single mistyped digit fails the same way a wrong port does. The photo is recent, on a white background, no glasses glare, and the passport scan shows the full page including the ICAO line. Your passport has at least six months of validity left and two blank pages, which the border checks at Lao Bao and Laos checks again on its side.
Then pay the 25 or 50 USD and wait. Standard processing is three to four working days, so apply at least a week before the date you need, longer around Vietnamese public holidays. When the approval letter arrives as a PDF, print it. Carry the paper copy; officers at Lao Bao expect to scan the barcode from a printout, and a phone screen is a slower conversation you do not want at 11:00 with a van waiting. Print two copies if you tend to lose things.
If you already applied and the port is wrong, do not travel to the border hoping for kindness. File the new application with Lao Bao listed, pay again, and time it so the approval lands before your run. Same-day filings from the Laos side exist, but they cost more and leave zero margin for error, which is why most Da Nang residents sort the port out at home, once, and then never think about it again. For the full cost picture and how the e-visa fits a long stay, our 90-day e-visa guide and the digital nomad page walk through the same cycle.
It is the border gate you declare on the application at evisa.gov.vn as the place where you will first enter Vietnam. The officer at that gate checks your e-visa against the declared port before stamping, so it must match your real travel plan.
Officially no. The entry port is strict and you must enter through the gate you declared. Officers at other gates can refuse the stamp. The exit port is more flexible, and leaving through a different authorized checkpoint is normally accepted.
You risk being refused entry at the border. An approved e-visa cannot be edited, and the 25 or 50 USD fee is not refunded. The fix is a new application with the correct port, which means paying again and waiting for processing.
Yes. Lao Bao Landport in Quang Tri province is on the government's list of international checkpoints that accept e-visa entry and exit, under Resolution 127/NQ-CP which has applied since 15 August 2023. It is the port every Da Nang visa run uses.
Yes, if you plan to keep running. Each re-entry through Lao Bao is checked against the port on your e-visa. A multiple-entry visa listing Lao Bao makes every run a clean stamp. One listing an airport forces you to file a fresh visa at the border instead.
Yes. Exit ports are flexible: you may leave through any approved international checkpoint, even if it differs from your entry port. Entering at Lao Bao and flying out of Da Nang airport on the same e-visa is a normal combination.
Standard processing takes three to four working days, so apply at least a week before your run and longer around holidays. Same-day processing from the Laos side at Densavan exists but leaves no margin, which is why the entry port must be right before you pay.
Do not go to the border hoping the officer is lenient. File a new application listing Lao Bao immediately and arrange expedited handling so the approval can land in time, or reschedule the run. A refused entry at the checkpoint costs the fee, the day, and leaves you on the Laos side.
Booking a run or need help filing the e-visa with the right port: message WhatsApp at +84 33 410 3857 with your passport country, pickup area and date. Pickup runs 04:00 to 06:00 across Da Nang.
