Controlled Medication in Vietnam: The 7-Day and 10-Day Limits
Almost every guide to bringing medication into Vietnam says some version of “bring a reasonable amount for personal use and carry your prescription.” That advice is not wrong, but it is dangerously incomplete, because for one specific group of medicines the law puts an actual number on “reasonable” β and the number is far smaller than what people instinctively pack.
If you take a benzodiazepine for anxiety, an opioid for pain, a stimulant for ADHD or a prescription sleeping tablet, this page is about you. If you take an SSRI, blood pressure medication, insulin or an antihistamine, you are almost certainly outside this rule β the general medication guide covers your situation.
The Two Limits
Under Decree 54/2017/ND-CP, an individual entering Vietnam may bring medication for their own treatment without an import licence, subject to a ceiling measured in days:
| Category | Ceiling without a licence | Must declare? |
|---|---|---|
| Narcotic drugs | 7 days’ supply at the prescribed dose | Yes |
| Psychotropic drugs | 10 days’ supply at the prescribed dose | Yes |
| Drug precursors | 10 days’ supply at the prescribed dose | Yes |
The arithmetic is what makes this worth knowing. A month in Vietnam with a nightly sleeping tablet means 30 tablets in your bag. The ceiling is 10. You are not slightly over; you are at triple the limit, in a category the authorities take seriously.
Which Category Is My Medication In?
This is the question that decides everything, and it has an uncomfortable answer: the classification that matters is Vietnam’s, not your own country’s. A drug that is unscheduled where you live can sit on a Vietnamese control list, and the reverse is also true.
Vietnam’s Ministry of Health publishes three lists β narcotic substances, psychotropic substances, and precursors used as drugs. The Vietnamese embassy in your country publishes these lists in English and is the correct place to check a specific drug name.
That said, two broad families account for most of the cases where travellers get caught out:
- Benzodiazepines β the anxiety and sleep medications. Diazepam, alprazolam, clonazepam, lorazepam and relatives. These sit in the psychotropic category.
- Opioids β the stronger painkillers. Tramadol, codeine, oxycodone, morphine. These sit in the narcotic category, with the tighter 7-day ceiling.
Stimulant ADHD medication and prescription sleeping tablets also sit in controlled territory. If your medication belongs to any of these families, work on the assumption that the limits apply and verify the specific name before you fly.
What Your Prescription Must Actually Contain
A pharmacy label is not a prescription, and a photo on your phone is not documentation. The prescription you carry needs, at minimum:
- Patient’s name and age
- Drug name, strength or concentration, and volume
- Quantity β or the number of days it covers
- Dosage
- Prescribing doctor’s full name and signature
- The doctor’s address β hospital, clinic or centre
Separately, the medication itself must carry a label showing the drug name, active ingredients, concentration, content and expiry date. This is the practical reason to keep everything in original packaging rather than decanting a trip’s worth into a pill organiser.
If Your Trip Is Longer Than 7 or 10 Days
This is a normal situation, not an edge case, and there are two routes. Both run before you fly.
Route 1 β Declare in advance and get a decision
You can make a declaration to Vietnamese customs at the port of entry where you will arrive, supplying your itinerary and written proof of medical necessity from your doctor. Customs then decides whether to permit the larger quantity. Note the wording carefully: customs decides. This is discretionary permission, not a form you fill in and are waved through.
Route 2 β Arrange supply inside Vietnam
Contact a hospital in Vietnam before you travel and ask whether they can dispense your medication during your stay. For a stay of several months this is usually the cleaner answer than trying to carry the whole course. Hospitals in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang deal with foreign patients routinely.
Keeps tablets in their labelled boxes and your prescription flat in the same place — which is exactly what customs asks to see.
$11.99 · View in shop →At the Airport: Which Channel
Controlled medication goes through the Red Channel β the declare channel. This feels counterintuitive when you are carrying a legitimate prescription for your own illness, and many travellers walk the Green Channel assuming that declaring somehow implies wrongdoing.
It is the opposite. Declaring is what makes the medication lawful to carry. Walking past the declaration point with an undeclared controlled substance is the thing that creates the problem, regardless of how good your paperwork is.
Arriving with medication and worried about the queue?
Fast track clears immigration in 5β10 minutes instead of up to three hours, and the greeter stays with you through customs.
Common Questions
Alprazolam is a benzodiazepine, which places it in the psychotropic category. It is legal to carry for your own treatment, capped at 10 days’ supply without an import licence, declared at customs, with a prescription. The usual problem is not legality β it is quantity.
Diazepam is also a benzodiazepine, so the same psychotropic rules apply: maximum 10 days’ supply, declared, with a prescription that names you, the drug, its strength, the quantity and the dose.
The ceiling is expressed in days of supply at the dose your prescription states. If your prescription says “as needed, up to one tablet daily”, ten tablets is ten days. Where a prescription is vague about frequency, ask your doctor to write the dosing explicitly β an ambiguous prescription is harder to assess at a counter, and the assessment will not be generous.
Yes. The limit is on what you bring into the country, not on which bag it travels in. Separately, it is worth keeping medication in your carry-on for a different reason β checked bags occasionally arrive a day late, and a controlled prescription is not something you can replace at a pharmacy on arrival.
Medication sent rather than carried falls under different rules again, with limits expressed in customs value and number of shipments per year. We have not set those out here because we could not verify how they are applied to controlled substances specifically. If this is your situation, ask the embassy before anyone posts anything.
Based on Decree 54/2017/ND-CP on the implementation of the Law on Pharmacy, and guidance published by Vietnamese diplomatic missions. Current as of September 2026. Narcotic, psychotropic and precursor lists are issued by Vietnam’s Ministry of Health and are subject to change β verify a specific drug name before you travel. This page is general information, not medical or legal advice.
