In marketing materials from the residence and citizenship investment industry, the phrase "visa-free access to 140 countries" appears constantly. The problem is that this phrase usually lumps four different things together, and those four things differ dramatically in practical experience.
Here are the four tiers, ranked from easiest to hardest.
Tier 1: Complete Visa-Free Access
Take your passport to the airport, fly, arrive at the border, and get stamped in.
No application, no fee, no wait, no pre-approval required. Risk of denial is nearly zero, except in cases of criminal record or document issues.
This is the only tier that truly means "visa-free." With a Vietnamese passport, this tier covers 23 destinations.
Tier 2: Visa on Arrival
Fly to your destination and complete the procedure at the airport: fill out a form, pay a fee, wait a few minutes to an hour, and get stamped.
Practically visa-free in terms of planning—no need to prepare before your trip. But three things to know:
You can be denied at the border. The immigration officer has final authority, and if you're denied after arriving, you must return home.
You may need supporting documents. Many countries require a return ticket, hotel booking confirmation, and proof of funds. Missing these causes problems.
Rules change without notice. Airlines typically update faster than travel websites.
A Vietnamese passport has 25 destinations in this tier.
Tier 3: Electronic Travel Authorization — ETA
File online before you fly, typically approved within minutes to a few hours. This is not a visa but permission to board an aircraft.
Differs from e-visa in that ETA is usually automatic, requires minimal documentation, and approves almost instantly. That's why Henley counts ETA in the strict category.
But remember to apply. If you only remember at the airport, you won't board. A Vietnamese passport has 4 destinations in this tier.
Tier 4: E-Visa
This is the tier most commonly misrepresented.
E-visa is a real visa—the only difference is submitting online rather than visiting an embassy. That means:
You must submit a complete application—photo, passport, itinerary, sometimes financial proof and an invitation letter.
You must wait for approval, from days to weeks depending on the country and timing.
You can be denied, and fees are typically non-refundable.
There's an expiration date, usually 30 to 90 days from issuance. Apply too early and it expires before you travel.
A Vietnamese passport has 46 destinations in this tier—more than all three preceding tiers combined.
Why Tier Breakdown Matters
Adding all four tiers together, a Vietnamese passport provides access to 98 destinations. Counting only the first three tiers, that number is 52.
Same passport, two numbers off by nearly half. Both can be presented as "no need to apply in advance" if someone wants to be misleading.
This is where numbers get polished without telling a single lie.
The Fifth Tier Few Mention: Traditional Visa Required
With a Vietnamese passport, 100 destinations require a traditional visa application—submitting documents at an embassy or visa application center, interviewing if requested, waiting weeks to months.
This tier includes most of the places Vietnamese nationals actually want to visit: the entire Schengen area, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, and South Korea.
The total number doesn't reveal this. Only a detailed list does.
How to Verify for Yourself
Don't trust anyone's total number, including ours. Do three things:
List the countries you actually need to visit over the next three years. Usually five to ten countries, not one hundred.
Check each country individually to see which tier it falls under. We have a tool for checking passport and destination pairs, and each country page specifies the tier clearly.
Confirm with your airline before each trip. Airlines face penalties if they board passengers incorrectly, so they update fastest.
If you're considering a second passport, do these three steps for that passport before deciding. A passport that adds sixty additional destinations but includes none of your actual planned trips is impressive marketing but useless in practice.