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Is the Friendship Bridge border crossing strict for re-entering Thailand after a long stay on a tourist visa?

Thailand Visa Rules Tourist Visa Immigration Friendship Bridge Border Crossing COVID Extensions Border Crossing Experiences Udon Thani Nong Khai Laos Visa Application

Aug 23, 2022

2 years ago

ORIGINAL POSTER

Hi all! I've been in Thailand for 8 months on a tourist visa + multiple COVID extensions, and I'd like to go to Laos to apply for a new tourist visa at the Thai embassy and then come back a few days later. I'm concerned about the possibility of being turned away at the border when I try to come back in because I've already been here awhile. Therefore, my question is this:

Does anyone know if the Friendship Bridge border crossing (north of Udon Thani and Nong Khai) is known for being particularly strict or lenient about this stuff? Anyone else who has stayed a long time have recent experiences of being allowed back in (or not) at that crossing? Thank you :)

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TLDR : Answer Summary

The user, who has been in Thailand for 8 months on a tourist visa with COVID extensions, is concerned about potentially being denied re-entry when crossing the Friendship Bridge into Laos for a new tourist visa. The discussion includes advice on essential documentation (proof of funds, onward travel, and accommodation) to avoid entry denial, insights on border officer interactions, and contrasting experiences from various individuals regarding the strictness of the crossing post-COVID.

Maxim ***********

I've enter from both Nong Khai and Mukdahan around 10 time each since 2010, on either tourist visa or visa exempt entry (quick bounce), and it was never an issue. Most friendly border to enter. Nothing is ever asked, no proof of, nothing. I never ever showed any of the "3 proof of", this is usually reserved to air entry. What

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

is describing by land is probably only true for certain nationalities that get quizzed often, but for G7 countries like me (Canadian), and other rich nations, you don't get ask anything by land unless they want to fuck you over in Poipet, for example.

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Brandon ************

@Maxim **********

Any of those entries before 2020 or afterwards without a covid extension in your passport are irrelevant to the question. The situation is not the same as it has been historically. It's better to be overprepared than turned away at the border.

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Maxim ***********

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

How many people have done a Laos border run post-Covid? Did you hear any story in this group? I would like some evidence before saying that it's difficult to enter. སངས་རྒྱས་ མཁའ་འག྄ོ། is from Myanmar (I think?), so obv he's not gonna have good things to say about the process since Burmese are discriminated against in Thailand.

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Brandon ************

@Maxim **********

So you're saying throw caution to the wind and don't prepare for anything. Even though the requirement for entering Thailand is to be able to show 20,000 baht and have onward travel, whether they check it or not.

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Brandon ************

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Av **********

Looks better if you fly to another country like Singapore etc and stay gone a couple of weeks at least.

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སངས་རྒྱས་ ***********

Getting a tourist visa in Laos is also not as easy as you expect it would be. Bad experience for me jus a month ago

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Maxim ***********

@སངས་རྒྱས་ **********

You are Burmese, right? People from Myanmar, Pakistan, India, Africa or Middle East have it much tougher. Your passport will determine how difficult it is. Should not be like this but discrimination is real.

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སངས་རྒྱས་ ***********

@Maxim **********

I am from BHUTAN bro and usually it's easy for us . I understand what you mentioned

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སངས་རྒྱས་ ***********

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Elton *******

@སངས་རྒྱས་ **********

Can you elaborate? Planning to go soon.

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Cait *********

ORIGINAL POSTER

@སངས་རྒྱས་ **********

oh no, what happened? And did you do it at the friendship bridge border crossing in Nong Khai, that we are discussing here? Or somewhere else?

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སངས་རྒྱས་ ***********

yes at the friendship bridge

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སངས་རྒྱས་ ***********

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Terary **********

I think you will be fine. If you do get question by an immigration officer, be very respectful, let them know how much you think their country is great. Dress respectfully.

Also, have all your paperwork in order.

Nong Khai is the only other place I have been quested by an IO. They were cool about it though.

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Brandon ************

Just make sure you have the 3 proofs, which will cover any easy reason for them to deny you entry.

1) Proof of cash. 20,000baht or the equivalent in a major currency. This must be CASH and cannot be a bank statement, banking app, credit or debit card.

2) Proof of onward travel. A ticket showing you are traveling out of Thailand within the 60 days of your new tourist visa.

3) Proof of stay. A hotel reservation for the first few days in Thailand.

With all of these it will be difficult for them to deny you entry.

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Cait *********

ORIGINAL POSTER

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

thank you so much! Do you if it's also difficult to deny me entry with these if I simply do a border bounce instead of applying for a visa?

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Maxim ***********

Brandon is partially correct. It depend on your country of origin (your passport). As a Canadian, I've been entering both Nong Khai and Mukdahan at least 10 times each since 2010 (on tourist visa or visa exempt entry "quick bounce") and I was never ever asked for any of the 3 proof of. The worse they do is asking me what I'm doing in Thailand, to which I always reply that my Girlfriend is Thai, that's it. It's the same in Tachilek (Myanmar), I never got asked anything. Poipet is the only border that ever caused me any trouble. Your passport will determine how easy it is to get out and in Thailand.

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Brandon ************

it's much more risky if you try to re-enter visa exempt.

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Cait *********

ORIGINAL POSTER

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

ok, thank you!

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Cait *********

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སངས་རྒྱས་ ***********

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

I was in the same situation a month ago and this is your answer. They were very strict btw!

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སངས་རྒྱས་ ***********

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