Is it safe to re-enter Thailand via Laos after extending my visa exemption?

@Chom *****

I think it's correct that you receive a warning that exempting isn't lasting forever, but the lady totally lost it when she said flying would solve it. The correct advice would have been to apply for the proper visa, matching your purpose of stay.

You probably get the visa, but your odds with exemption would have been slightly better I'm afraid. You're now asking for 60 days with tourism purpose. That history doesn't seem excessive yet, but asking for just 30 days, which is shorter, wouldn't yet get you to the edge, whereas the 60 days might.

You buy nothing for those odds though. Either you get it or you don't. If you get it, 60 days is more than 30, and as it may very well be your last tourism-purposed entry for the time being, you'd be greatly helped with having those 30 extra days. Another advantage of the visa which doesn't really apply to Vientiane but more like in general is that you don't spend significant $ on transport before getting to know whether you are allowed to enter. Applying for the visa 'moves' the check on your travel history from the border to the embassy. The border is normally not supposed to refuse you if you passed that check (they could in theory but they're not supposed to do that). In Vientiane getting to the border is just as easy as going to the embassy so there's no big advantage, but coming from let's say Mumbai, you'd prefer the visa over flying and have immigrations at Suv do the check.