If you hold a Vietnamese passport, the Subclass 600 visitor visa is your only way to visit Australia. You cannot use the ETA (601) or the eVisitor (651). Approval comes down to the genuine visitor test: you have to convince the case officer you will go home when your visa ends. Vietnam sits in a higher-scrutiny tier, so the bar is real, but strong, consistent evidence of your ties to home is what clears it.
The 600 is your only option. Vietnamese passports are not eligible for the ETA or eVisitor. You apply online through ImmiAccount
The genuine visitor test decides it. The case officer is asking one question: will you leave when your visa expires? It is the single biggest reason 600 applications are refused
Biometrics are mandatory in Vietnam. You give fingerprints and a facial photo at a VFS centre in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, or Da Nang, usually within 14 days of applying
Vietnam faces longer waits and a higher refusal rate. The median offshore Tourist stream wait is about 27 days (a UK applicant gets roughly 1 day), and Vietnam's Subclass 600 Tourist-stream refusal rate is about 35%, well above the all-country Tourist-stream average of about 22%
Strong ties to home win. A stable job with approved leave, property, dependent family, and a funded, dated itinerary are what carry a Vietnamese application
Check your profile first: our Country Risk Tool and Visa Time Checker show what to expect for Vietnam
Planning a trip to Australia from Vietnam, to see family, take a holiday, or attend business meetings? The first thing to know is that the easy electronic visas you may have read about are not open to you. Vietnamese passport holders apply for the Subclass 600 visitor visa, and that visa is decided by a real case officer who reads your evidence.
That is not bad news. It just means preparation matters more for you than it does for a traveller from the UK or Japan. This guide walks through exactly how the 600 works for Vietnamese applicants: the genuine visitor test, the biometrics step, the evidence that actually moves a case officer, and how long it takes. It is based on Department of Home Affairs policy, FOI data covering millions of visa decisions, and our experience helping applicants from higher-scrutiny countries.
Can Vietnamese citizens get the ETA or eVisitor?
No. Vietnamese passport holders cannot apply for the Electronic Travel Authority (601) or the eVisitor (651). Both visas are limited to a fixed list of passports, and Vietnam is not on either list. To visit Australia from Vietnam, you apply for the Subclass 600 visitor visa.
This is the most common point of confusion. You may have a friend from Europe who got an Australian visa in minutes on their phone for free, or a colleague from the US who used the AUD $20 ETA app. Those routes are closed to a Vietnamese passport. It is not a judgement on you. It is simply how Australia has structured its visitor program.
The 600 is more work than the electronic visas, but it also does more. You can ask for a stay of 3, 6, or 12 months, the Department can run a full character assessment if you need one, and (if your visa allows it) you can sometimes extend from inside Australia. For a broad overview of every visitor visa option, see our complete visitor visa guide.
Which Subclass 600 stream do Vietnamese applicants need?
Most Vietnamese applicants need the Tourist stream. It covers holidays, visiting family, and recreation, and it is the stream you lodge through your own ImmiAccount. The other streams exist for specific situations, and one of them, the Frequent Traveller stream, is now open to Vietnam.
Here are the streams and who they are for:
Tourist stream: Holidays, visiting family or friends, recreation. This is the default for most Vietnamese applicants. You can apply for it yourself.
Sponsored Family stream: For applicants sponsored by an Australian relative. The sponsor takes on formal obligations, and the Department can ask for a security bond. Waits are longer.
Business Visitor stream: For meetings, conferences, and negotiations, not paid work. Useful if your trip is purely business.
Frequent Traveller stream: For regular travellers with a good visa history who want long validity. Vietnam became eligible on 7 December 2024 when Australia extended this stream to ASEAN countries (except Myanmar) and Timor-Leste. It can grant up to 10 years of validity, with each stay capped at 3 months (AUD $1,845).
Approved Destination Status (ADS) stream: For Chinese citizens in registered tour groups only. Not available to Vietnam.
Tern Tip
If you travel to Australia often for business or family and you have a clean visa history, the Frequent Traveller stream can save you from reapplying every year. Up to 10 years of validity, 3 months per visit. But you still have to pass the genuine visitor test for that first grant, so the evidence work below applies the same way.
What is the genuine visitor test, and why does it decide Vietnamese applications?
The genuine visitor requirement (clause 600.211 of the Migration Regulations) is the heart of every Subclass 600 decision. The case officer has to be satisfied that you genuinely intend to stay temporarily and that you will leave when your visa ends. For Vietnamese applicants, this is where most refusals happen, so it is where most of your effort should go.
The case officer is not trying to catch you out. They are weighing your circumstances and asking whether the picture adds up to someone who will go home. The factors they look at include your job and finances, your family ties, your economic stability, your travel history, and how realistic your itinerary is. Close family in Vietnam who depend on you is treated as a genuine reason to return.
The case officer does not just ask whether you could overstay. They ask whether your circumstances make staying more attractive than going home. Your job is to show that home is where your life is anchored.
One thing to be clear about: a genuine relationship to Vietnam is not enough on its own. It has to be proven on paper. A real job with no employment letter, real savings with no statements, or a real family with no documents all read as gaps to a case officer who has never met you. Evidence is the language the Department speaks.
A quick note on a common myth. Some online guides mention "Direction 106" for the genuine intent test. That direction applies to student visas, not visitor visas. The rule that governs your 600 is clause 600.211. If a guide cites Direction 106 for a tourist visa, treat the rest of it with caution.
Vietnam sits in a higher-scrutiny tier for visitor visas, which means longer processing, mandatory biometrics, and a refusal rate well above the all-country Tourist-stream average. That is not personal and not something you can change, but it tells you the level to prepare at. We show exactly where Vietnam lands in the data section below.
What evidence do Vietnamese applicants need?
A strong Vietnamese 600 application covers four things: your money, your ties to Vietnam, a clear reason for the trip, and identity documents the Department can verify. Each one answers a specific worry the case officer has. The Australian embassy in Vietnam publishes a checklist, and the items below reflect it.
Financial evidence (can you fund the trip without working?):
Bank statements covering the last 3 to 6 months
Pay slips, or for the self-employed, audited business accounts
Tax records
If a relative is helping pay, their financial evidence too
Ties to home (will you go back to Vietnam?):
Employment letter stating your role, salary, approved leave, and your return-to-work date
Business registration if you run your own company
Property ownership or land-use documents
Evidence of immediate family staying in Vietnam (a spouse, children, or parents who depend on you)
University enrolment if you are studying
Travel purpose (what exactly are you doing?):
A dated itinerary you write yourself, showing where you will go and what you will do
Confirmed flight or accommodation bookings are optional: add them if you already have them (refundable bookings are fine, and a hotel reservation helps if you are not staying with family), but they are not required
An invitation letter if you are visiting someone in Australia
Conference or meeting details if you are travelling for business
Identity:
A passport valid for at least 6 months
Any previous visa grant letters
National ID documents
Do documents in Vietnamese need NAATI translation?
For an offshore application, no. NAATI certification is only required for translations done inside Australia. Because you are applying from Vietnam, your non-English documents can be translated by a qualified translator, as long as the translation shows the translator's full name, address, phone number, and qualifications. This is an important difference from the generic advice you will see in many guides, which assume an onshore applicant.
The single fastest way to get refused is inconsistency. If your bank statement, your employment letter, and your application form disagree on your salary, the case officer notices. Read your whole application end to end before you submit, as a sceptical stranger would.
Tern Tip
Higher-scrutiny country? Do not aim for the minimum. Aim to leave no question unanswered. Three to six months of bank statements, an employment letter with approved dates, property documents, proof of dependent family at home, and a dated itinerary. Make the case officer's decision easy.
The list above is an overview, not an exhaustive account. The exact documents that strengthen your file depend on your circumstances: a salaried employee, a business owner, and a retiree each prove their ties to Vietnam differently. In a higher-scrutiny Vietnamese file, nothing should reach the Department unchecked, and that is the real point of applying with Tern. Every document you upload is read and checked in real time against what a case officer looks for. We cross-check your form answers against your documents and flag any mismatch before a case officer sees it. We read your bank statement for the unwritten signals an officer weighs: whether the balance plausibly covers the trip, and whether a large one-off deposit looks like borrowed funds.
Visiting family in Australia from Vietnam
Most people visiting family from Vietnam apply through the ordinary Tourist stream, and a relative's invitation supports the application without replacing your own evidence. A separate Sponsored Family stream exists, but it changes the obligations and usually means a longer wait.
If you are visiting a relative, ask them for an invitation letter that explains who they are, your relationship, why you are visiting, how long you will stay, and where you will stay. If they are helping with costs, include their financial evidence too. This all helps, but it does not do the heavy lifting. The case officer still wants your evidence that you will return to Vietnam: your job, your family here, your property.
The Sponsored Family stream is a different path. Here your Australian relative formally sponsors you and takes on obligations, and the Department can require a security bond, refundable if you comply with your visa. Whether a bond applies, and how much, is decided case by case, so do not assume one is automatic. Sponsored Family processing is slower than the Tourist stream. For most family visits, the Tourist stream is simpler and faster.
Do Vietnamese applicants need biometrics?
Biometrics are mandatory for everyone applying from Vietnam. After you apply, the Department sends a letter asking you to provide your fingerprints and a facial photograph in person. You do this at a VFS Global Australian Visa Application Centre, and you usually have 14 days from the request to attend.
There are three centres in Vietnam:
Hanoi: Gelex Building, 52 Le Dai Hanh
Ho Chi Minh City: Resco Building, 94-96 Nguyen Du, District 1
Da Nang
A few practical points:
You attend in person. Biometrics cannot be done online or by post.
There is a service fee. VFS charges a third-party biometric collection fee of roughly AUD 20 (about VND 330,000). This is a VFS charge, not part of the government visa fee, so confirm the current amount on the VFS website before you go.
Minors need an adult. A child must attend with a parent or guardian.
Book promptly. Biometrics do not speed up your decision, but the Department will not finalise your application until they are done. The sooner you complete them, the sooner the clock can finish.
Tern Tip
Apply with your documents already complete, then book your biometrics appointment as soon as the request arrives. Waiting on biometrics is one of the most common self-inflicted delays we see. The 14-day window moves faster than people expect.
How long does a Vietnamese visitor visa take, and what are the approval odds?
The median offshore Tourist stream wait for a Vietnamese applicant is about 27 days, based on our FOI analysis. That is far slower than the roughly 1 day a UK or Dutch applicant sees, and it reflects Vietnam's higher-scrutiny tier and the manual checks that come with it. Build this into your travel plans: apply well ahead of any fixed dates.
The two charts below show where Vietnam sits on both speed and refusal risk.
Vietnam's Subclass 600 Tourist-stream refusal rate is about 35% (Department of Home Affairs visitor visa report, five-quarter average to June 2025), well above the all-country Tourist-stream average of about 22%. So roughly one in three applications is refused, and about two in three are granted. The difference between the two groups is almost always the quality of the evidence. Across all nationalities the Subclass 600 Tourist-stream grant rate averages about 78%; the higher figure of around 91% that people sometimes see is an all-stream number that includes the near-instant ETA and eVisitor, which Vietnamese passports cannot use. Most of the gap is preparation, not passport: a thorough, consistent application clears the bar that a thin one fails, even at a one-in-three refusal rate.
For a personalised estimate based on your stream and timing, use our Visa Time Checker. For the full picture of how risk tiers work and what they mean for your evidence, see our country risk guide and our Country Risk Tool.
Why are Vietnamese visitor visas refused, and how do you pre-empt it?
Most Vietnamese 600 refusals come down to a handful of avoidable problems. The genuine visitor test is the umbrella, but underneath it the same specific gaps keep appearing. Here is what to watch for and how to close each one.
Weak ties to Vietnam. The fix: document your job (with approved leave and a return date), property, and dependent family. Show that your life is firmly here.
Thin or inconsistent finances. A single large deposit just before you apply looks staged. The fix: show 3 to 6 months of steady statements that match your stated income, not one big number.
Vague travel purpose. "I want to see Australia" is weak. The fix: a dated itinerary with real activities and bookings.
Undisclosed past refusals. Hiding a previous visa refusal (from any country) is far more damaging than the refusal itself. The fix: declare everything. Non-disclosure can trigger PIC 4020 and a long ban.
Contradictions across documents. Names, dates, and figures that disagree. The fix: cross-check every document against your form before you submit.
For a deeper look at each reason and the unwritten signals case officers act on, see our guide to visitor visa refusal reasons. If you have a criminal record to declare, our guide to criminal records and the character test covers what to expect.
One hard truth on appeals: if your 600 is refused from offshore, you generally have no right to appeal, unless an Australian citizen or permanent resident relative lodges the appeal for you. In practice, reapplying with stronger evidence is usually the better route. A refusal stays on your immigration record and must be declared on every future Australian application, so the goal is always to get the first one right. If you do reapply, do not resubmit the same file. Read the refusal reasons, fix the specific gaps, and strengthen your ties evidence.
How to apply for a Subclass 600 from Vietnam, step by step
You apply online through ImmiAccount, upload your supporting documents, pay the fee, and then complete biometrics at a VFS centre. Here is the order of play.
Create an ImmiAccount. All offshore 600 applications are lodged through the Department's ImmiAccount portal. The forms are in English only.
Complete the application and answer the declarations. Be accurate and consistent with your documents. Declare any past visa refusals or criminal matters.
Pay the application fee. The Tourist stream fee is AUD $250. It is non-refundable, even if you are refused, so it is worth getting the application right the first time.
Upload your evidence. Financial documents, ties to home, your itinerary, identity documents, any invitation letter, and qualified-translator translations of anything not in English.
Attend biometrics. When the request arrives, book a VFS appointment in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, or Da Nang and attend within the window.
Respond promptly to any request. If the Department asks for more information, reply quickly and completely. That keeps your application moving.
A note on conditions: the standard visitor visa carries condition 8101, which prohibits work in Australia. You may take short courses of up to 3 months. If you came on the Business Visitor stream, that covers meetings and conferences only, not paid work of any kind.
How Tern helps Vietnamese applicants
Tern prepares and lodges your Subclass 600 application end to end, in plain language and in Vietnamese. We built the platform for exactly this situation: a genuine traveller from a higher-scrutiny country who needs the evidence to be complete and consistent, not a stack of English-only government forms.
Here is what that looks like in practice:
Guided evidence collection in 37 languages, including Vietnamese. We ask clear questions and tell you exactly what counts as good evidence for each one, so nothing important is missing.
Real-time cross-checking. As you upload, our system compares your documents against your answers and flags inconsistencies before a case officer finds them.
A drafted genuine-visitor statement. We draft the statement that frames your case against the genuine visitor test, tailored to your circumstances.
Full preparation and lodgement. We do not just hand you a checklist. We prepare the application and lodge it for you through ImmiAccount.
A visa grant date promise, plus follow-up. We give you a committed date your visa will be granted by, so you can plan flights and time off around it. It is grounded in our FOI data and offered on every application we lodge. We also track your application and keep you posted, and we are realistic that Vietnam's higher-scrutiny tier means longer timelines.
A money-back guarantee. If we do not lodge your application, you do not pay.
To be straight with you: visitor visa applications are reviewed for errors before submission, but they are not routinely lawyer-reviewed the way our partner and skilled visas are. Complex cases get escalated. What we promise for the 600 is a complete, consistent, well-framed application, not a guarantee that refusal is impossible. No honest service can promise that.
Ready to start? Start your Subclass 600 application with Tern. First, it is worth checking your Country Risk profile and a realistic timeline with our Visa Time Checker.
Frequently asked questions
Final thoughts
A Vietnamese passport means more scrutiny, a longer wait, and a higher refusal rate than a low-risk country faces. None of that is within your control. What is within your control is the quality of your evidence, and that is what decides most applications.
Show the case officer a stable life in Vietnam, finances that make sense, a clear plan for your trip, and an application where every document agrees with every other. Do that, and a higher-scrutiny passport is no longer a barrier.
Before you apply:
Check your Country Risk profile to understand the evidence level you need
Get a realistic timeline from our Visa Time Checker
Ready to apply: Start your Subclass 600 application with Tern. We guide your evidence in Vietnamese, cross-check your documents for consistency, draft your genuine-visitor statement, and lodge for you.
