What changed
Decision 01/2025/QD-TTg, issued on 3 January 2025, repealed the 2010 decision that had exempted goods imported by express delivery worth up to one million dong. The exemption stopped applying six weeks later.
Vietnam-bound
Shipping to Vietnam, and the long list of what will not go
Fourteen entries make up Vietnam's postal prohibition list, and it is their ordinariness that catches people out. “Mobile (cellular) telephones” is one of them, written plainly with no exception attached. Cosmetics are another, released only by two narrow tariff codes. Radios, in every direction and with their accessories, are a third. None of that reads like contraband; it reads like the contents of a care package. The listing was read on 2026-08-07.
Prohibitions in fullFood limits in gramsDomestic leg priced live
Read the list first, pack second
Vietnam writes its limits in grams and tariff codes rather than in general categories, which makes the listing unusually easy to check against a packed box.
The fourteen, and the everyday things among them
Some of what follows is standard across the manual. The rest is particular to Vietnam and is where an otherwise careful parcel goes wrong.
- Mobile telephones. Named on its own line. A handset posted to a relative is prohibited matter, not a declarable electronic device.
- Cosmetics. Barred as a class, with two exceptions given as tariff headings: oral and dental hygiene products in individual packaging, and preshave, shaving and aftershave preparations. Everything else in a wash bag is out.
- Radio transmitters and receivers, and radio set accessories of any kind. The phrase reaches shortwave sets, walkie-talkies, scanners and the parts that go with them.
- Sealed tinned foodstuffs. Canned goods are refused even where the same food loose or dried would be admitted under a weight cap.
- Used clothing, blankets, mosquito nets and shoes. Specific enough to suggest the list was written from experience.
- Cigarettes and cigars, and products made from non-Vietnamese tobacco. Two separate entries, so imported tobacco is caught by origin as well as by form.
- Unused postage stamps. Collectors should note the asymmetry: unused stamps are prohibited, while stamps offered for sale fall under a separate licensing restriction.
- Invisible ink, codes, ciphers, symbols and other secret correspondence, and shorthand notes. An unusual entry, and broad enough to make novelty items a poor idea.
- Arms of all kinds, electric stun guns, knives, munitions, war material and accessories. Knives are inside the weapons entry rather than treated as tools.
- The usual monetary group. Coins, banknotes, currency notes, securities payable to bearer, platinum, gold and silver whether manufactured or not, precious stones, jewelry and other valuable articles.
- Narcotics and psychotropic substances, perishable infectious biological substances, and radioactive materials. Standard across destinations and absolute here as everywhere.
Three restrictions sit alongside them. Merchandise of commercial value sent for trade needs authorization from the Ministry of External Trade. Paintings, books, films, records, toys and works of art need authorization from the Ministry of Culture, which is a wider net than it first appears and covers a parcel of children's toys as readily as a canvas. Currency, checks, financial instruments and stamps for sale need licensing on the American side, from the Treasury Department.
Food is measured in grams
Most country listings handle food with categories. Vietnam gives numbers, which is a rare kindness: a kitchen scale settles the question before the box is sealed.
| What is in the box | Ceiling |
|---|---|
| Coffee | 200 g |
| Tea | 500 g |
| Rice | 1,000 g |
| Beans | 1,000 g |
| Dried manioc | 1,000 g |
| Groundnuts | 1,000 g |
| Cooked fat | 1,000 g |
| Dried or salted meat | 1,000 g |
| Dried seafood | 1,000 g |
The coffee line is the tight one. Two hundred grams is a small retail bag, well under half a pound, and a parcel built around specialty roasts for family is over the line before anything else goes in. Note also that these ceilings coexist with the ban on sealed tinned foodstuffs, so the admissible version of a food gift is loose, dried, weighed and described item by item on the customs form.
Not every town is served
Where many listings record areas served as the whole country, Vietnam's enumerates the places by name. A destination that is not on it is a destination the postal agreement does not cover.
Bentre · Bienhoa · Cantho · Caolanh · Danang · Hadong · Haiduong · Haiphong · Hanoi · Hochiminh · Hongai · Hue · Longxuyen · Mytho · Namdinh · Nhatrang · Phanrang · Soctrang · Tanan · Tayninh · Thaibinh · Thanh Hoa · Thudaumot · Travinh · Vinh · Vinhlong · Vungtau
Vietnam Post asks senders to put the addressee's mobile phone number and email address on the customs declaration form where they are available. On a lane where delivery depends on reaching the recipient rather than on posting a card, that request is worth treating as a requirement.
The tax-free floor is gone
Vietnam used to release small consignments without import duty or value added tax. That ended on 18 February 2025, and the change matters most to exactly the parcels people send by post: the small ones.
What the listing says
The country conditions carry the same fact in one line, recording that the de minimis value threshold applied to value added tax was abolished for low-value goods as of 18 February 2025.
The American side
Merchandise worth under 200 United States dollars may be mailed without a validated export license. The listing asks for the address side of the shipment to be marked GIFT, EXPORT LICENSE NOT REQUIRED.
Two separate governments are therefore looking at the value written on the form, for opposite reasons. The American rule sets a ceiling under which no export license is needed; the Vietnamese rule no longer sets any floor under which nothing is charged. Declare the real figure and expect the recipient to be asked for something.
Ceilings, forms and the missing sack
| Product | Weight ceiling | Longest side | Length plus girth | Customs form |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Priority Mail Express International | 66 lb | 36 in | 79 in | PS Form 2976-B inside PS Form 2976-E |
| Priority Mail International | 70 lb | 42 in | 79 in | PS Form 2976-A inside PS Form 2976-E |
| First-Class Package International Service | 4 lb | Sizes per the international manual | PS Form 2976 | |
| First-Class Mail International | 3.5 oz letters, 15.994 oz large envelopes | Sizes per the international manual | None, unless otherwise required | |
| Airmail M-bags | Not available to this destination | |||
The first two rows disagree with each other by four pounds, which is unusual and easy to miss. Paying for the express product buys speed and loses capacity: a 68 lb box travels on Priority Mail International and cannot travel on Priority Mail Express International at all. Check the scale against the product before choosing on transit time.
The last row closes a door that stays open on many destinations. M-bags are the bulk sack that carries printed matter cheaply, and they are not offered here, so books and periodicals pay ordinary parcel weight. Since books separately need clearance from the Ministry of Culture, a shipment of printed matter to Vietnam is awkward twice over. Vietnam sits in price group 6 for the two Priority Mail products and price group 4 for First-Class Package International Service, the reciprocal express product is EMS, and Global Express Guaranteed has been suspended on this route since 29 September 2024.
What a quote for this lane involves
Nothing on this page carries a price. Admissibility comes first on a destination with a list this long, and a rate quoted for a box that cannot legally travel is worse than no rate at all. Send the contents, the weight and the measurements through freight review, and a person checks the shipment against the country conditions before pricing anything.
Anything moving between two American addresses prices itself instantly. Two ZIP codes in the calculator return live rates, which covers the domestic leg if the international one ends up going through a forwarder.
Common questions
Can I mail a phone to Vietnam?
No. Mobile telephones are named on Vietnam's prohibition list in the postal country listing, as are radio transmitters, receivers and radio set accessories of any kind. Handing one over as a gift does not change the classification.
How much coffee can I send to Vietnam?
200 grams. The restrictions section sets quantity ceilings on foodstuffs rather than leaving them to judgment: tea stops at 500 grams, and rice, beans, dried manioc, groundnuts, cooked fat, dried or salted meat and dried seafood are each held to 1,000 grams.
Is a small parcel to Vietnam still tax free?
No. The threshold below which low-value goods escaped value added tax was abolished with effect from 18 February 2025, when Decision 01/2025/QD-TTg repealed the older rule that had exempted goods worth up to one million dong. Small consignments are assessed like any other.
Does mail reach every town in Vietnam?
The country listing names the served locations one by one instead of recording all of Vietnam, running from Hanoi and Hochiminh through Danang, Haiphong, Hue and two dozen smaller towns. Check the destination against that list before buying postage.
Can I send books to Vietnam in an M-bag?
Airmail M-bags are marked unavailable for Vietnam, so the bulk sack that makes printed matter affordable elsewhere is not on offer. Books also need authorization from the Ministry of Culture, which closes the route a second time.
Where these rules come from
- Postal Service, Individual Country Listing for Vietnam — the prohibitions, the restrictions and their gram limits, the three observations, customs forms, product ceilings and the named areas served. Read 2026-08-07.
- Postal Service, Country Price Groups and Weight Limits — the split between 66 lb and 70 lb across the two Priority Mail products, and the price groups. Read 2026-08-07.
- Postal Service, international service disruptions — checked for Vietnam, which does not appear. Read 2026-08-07.
- Reporting on Decision 01/2025/QD-TTg, issued 3 January 2025, repealing Decision 78/2010/QD-TTg and ending the one million dong exemption from 18 February 2025, as summarized by Voice of Vietnam. Read 2026-08-07.
Prohibition lists and tax rules both change without notice. Everything above is what those sources said on the date shown, and the listing is worth opening again on the day the parcel is packed.