@Ruth ******

Her passport is not fraudulent at all. If she's American, the US State Dept has always accepted that people may use different names at different points in their lives, and specifically permits divorced citizens to continue using a married name in their passport after divorce if that is a name that they've habitually used for at least five years for other purposes.

@Chris ********************

You probably looked at something like this and overlooked the part that says "once you have your letter...". The "visa on arrival" system that they're talking about (which has basically been defunct since covid) was only for people with pre-approval letters to get a visa affixed to their passport at one of those airports - it NEVER allowed Americans to just show up without prior authorization and get a visa upon landing.

@Dan ********

That "permission letter" system has been unavailable since covid. The current e-visa system is accurately described by

@Darren ******

in his comment.

@Otto ********

Yeah, it was easy to miss - he mentioned it in the comments rather than in his original post.

@Terry *******

I've gotten about half a dozen e-visas from the official site and that has never happened to me - it always prints exactly what I typed on the application.

@Otto ********

That is not true for US citizens like the OP - they MUST get a visa or visa approval in advance, regardless of the length of stay.

@Quinn *******

US passports do NOT qualify for VN visa exemption - you must have a visa, e-visa, or visa approval letter or the airline will not board you.

@Jurgen *******

Yes, that's the point I was making. As I said, over 70s are now directed to a different zone.

@Brandon ***********

The one between the two main checkpoints (and next to Visa on Arrival) is no longer being used for 70+ and First/Business Class - those categories now go to the right side of the regular immigration areas, following signs that say something like "Thai Passport & Priority".

@Sam *******

They've had fewer than 7,000 applications (including dependents) since the program began, so they've certainly issued far fewer than 40,000!