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Can I take Ritalin to Vietnam?

Official guidance indicates Vietnam restricts how much Ritalin you can bring and the paperwork required. Check the limits before you travel.

Restricted: limits on quantity and paperwork

Last checked 24 Jul 2026Medium confidenceHow we rate a record

The rules for Ritalin (methylphenidate)

Methylphenidate is on Vietnam's psychotropic schedule (Circular 20/2017/TT-BYT, appendix II, item 48). Up to 10 days' supply, worked out from the dose written on your prescription, may be carried in with the prescription and needs no licence. Above 10 days you need an import licence from the provincial Department of Health (So Y te), obtained before you travel: the department covering the checkpoint where you land, or where you will be living or lawfully staying. The application is Mau so 27, a form printed as an annex inside Decree 54/2017/ND-CP itself. There is no standalone form to download and no online portal. The department decides within seven working days of a complete application, and a granted licence covers a single import and lasts up to a year. The decree does not state a fee for this licence, and an assessment fee under Circular 41/2023/TT-BTC may apply, so treat the cost as unpublished rather than nil. The same 10 day core applies when you leave Vietnam, under a separate export licence on Mau so 07, decided on the same seven working day timeline.

Maximum supply: 10 days (Ten days' supply, worked out from the dose on your prescription. Above that you need an import licence from the provincial Department of Health, applied for on Mau so 27 before you travel and decided within seven working days.)

What to do

  1. valid prescription (with patient details, drug name, strength, quantity/days, dosage, prescriber name/signature/address)
  2. medication in original labelled packaging
  3. customs declaration on arrival

Confirm this yourself: This is based on official guidance we could not confirm against a current national source. Check with Provincial or municipal Department of Health at your point of entry. The national regulator is the Drug Administration of Vietnam, Ministry of Health. or Vietnam's embassy before you travel.

Travelling to more than one country?

Check your whole itinerary at once: every stop, every layover, and what to do by when. We'll carry Ritalin and Vietnam over, so you only add the rest.

Add my other stops

The check is free. The trip pack that turns it into paperwork is A$19, once. It does not renew.

Other medications in Vietnam

Ritalin in other countries

This page summarises publicly available government information (restricted: limits on quantity and paperwork) and is not legal or medical advice. Rules change and enforcement varies, so confirm with the official links on the Vietnam page or the embassy before you travel.