What is the process for obtaining a 60-day tourist visa in Vientiane and tips for traveling to Udon Thani airport?

Found this excellent site for additional info .

yes, just google search it, you will find it. the one I used before is ok, and ive used it for 3 years.

@Hanna ****************

note it is not the Embassy in Vientiane it is the Thai Consular Section, Rue Bourichane. The Embassy do not deal with Visas

Thank you

@Oliver *******

🙏

@Oliver *******

thank so much! Much appreciated

Thank you very much for taking the time to cover this up. Great info! One question pls, is it still 31$ to pay for the Lao Visa when entering at the border?

It does, but it's a relatively slow bus (3 hours) and leaves Vientiane bus station at 15:00. So you would want to have a low number that gets you out of the consulate early and you wouldn't want to be trying to get the 18:20 flight to Chiang Mai for example. It's the cheapest way to do it if you have loads of time though. I always get a taxi because I need to get my flight at 18:20.



I ask around the consulate picking up for people going to Udon who want to share, there are always some going either to the city or airport, share taxi to border and then on to the airport, 50-100 to the border and then 200-400B to Udon depending on how many you get.

If you have a later flight back to say Bangkok, bus is the cheapest option and I have met people who do this. But it takes a LOOOONG time for really not that much saving, IMO.

Awesome, thanks. So that bus takes you through the border and everything?

600 is a steal for a taxi, if you split that with three other people it would be 150B each. It's 60km.

Nope, in fact for as busy of a border crossing as it is it's one of the easiest and most user friendly in all of thailand

At present it seems no one knows actually what information is actually on the bar code. Although more and more consulates are using visas with one now..

Thank you .

Gates open at 08.00 they start taking forms at 08.30

@Oliver *******

yes you are right sorry I was thinking of pick up start time

Conversely opening times for pick up ?

08.00 until 13.00 that's it only that times. Queue starts to build around 05.00 to 05.30

Nothing surprise me anymore in Thailand Eric

BEWARE: The RED STAMP means that you will be EXECUTED at the border.

I have my proof of residence stapled in my passport by Udon Thani Immigration every time I visit them. I have flight details and funds available so not a problem.

Which reminds me. If you have an extensive entry-exit history, you might consider carrying proof of lodging, proof of onward travel, and 20k baht in cash (or foreign equivalent), in case immigration starts to grill you.

Thomas Lindegaard Jensen Thanks I just want to up to date on all my options so I do not get surprised and not know what to do. I been to Vientiene twice and due to go on 27th Feb for the third time. As we live 20klm from Nong Khai it is a good option to cross the Friendship Bridge border

Yes, indeed

@Thomas *******************

can I get extension on that at immigration?

30 days. You can do it twice pr calendar year.

If I enter on a land border with no visa how many days do I get and how many times a year can I do that

@Ma**

, This is what warning stamps look like on a tourist visa stamp

@Ma**

, that info is somewhat outdated. There is no "if entering wtihout a visa you will be allowed a maximum of 90 days within any 6 month rolling period" rule anymore and there hasn't been for quite a while.

I have copied this from the Thai Embassy (Hull UK) website At the end of the 60-day (+ 30-day extension) stay it will be necessary to exit Thailand. If exiting to a neighbouring country and re-entering Thailand by air without a visa you should be allowed a stay of 30 days, if re-entering overland you will be allowed a stay of only 15 days, however, this is entirely at the discretion of the Immigration Officer on duty at the time. Please be aware that if entering Thailand without a visa you will be allowed a maximum of 90 days within any 6-month rolling period. Also be aware the Royal Thai Embassies and Consulates in neighbouring countries may restrict the number of 60-day tourist visas they will grant.

As I understand it, you'd go to a different consulate.

@Thomas *******************

what do you do then?

It's a warning that the consulate may not issue another visa.

That 50B may have helped but your reasoning would be way off mark. They don't think you're rich, but you're also giving them an extra 50B of income (bribe) so it definitely would help. When I'm worried I'll usually go with or meet the visa run company so they take care of that under the table stuff.

The only place that questioned me was Cambodia. That's why I never went to another country besides Laos again. In Vientiane, I also go INSIDE the building for the Consulate and pay 50 baht for them to write the form for me. I have sloppy handwriting and after they fill in the form for you, they stamp it. I don't know why, but I've been told that stamp helps. Maybe if they see that you are rich enough to pay for someone to fill in the form for you, they say you are rich enough to be a tourist for a long time. I recommend the service center inside the building (not outside).

I don't want to study, I just had a B visa so I don't need an education visa, just need some time

There's definitely some luck involved, and your county matters as well. Have they questioned you? I haven't had any problems, but I also had good answers for their questions if they ever had any.

Dude. Just get an Education Visa.

I got 6 back to back (5 in Vientiane and one in Cambodia), but I literally have a huge passport with extra pages added twice from American government. I also have many other visas and stamps from other countries. I guess I got lucky.

I guess I might have to waste money on a new passport then soon :(

I think after using Vientiane and getting so many I'm not going to be able to get another without a red stamp unless I get really lucky.

@David *********

, most consulates just page thru your passport looking at the visas you've gotten from them, so no, it wouldn't necessarily reset any count. It's totally up to the consulate on whether they'll red stamp you or not on the next tourist visa you get.

There was a report in Penang that someone with a Vientiane red stamp was also red stamped in Penang on their first tourist visa application :O

If you get a B visa in between, does it reset your count?

@Lu**

, most people bounce around from consulate to consulate in S/E Asia rather than hit one over and over back-2-back.

There are no shortage of thai consulates in the area to choose from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh, Yangon, Phnom Penh, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Vientiane, Savannakhet, etc.

Can you use them again a few months later? Surely you would run out of Embassy's nearby

@Luke *********

nope, the days of pulling back-2-back tourist visas from the same consulate are LONG gone :/

You can get 3 or 4 tourist visas from Vientiane and then they'll red warning stamp you meaning you can't use them OR the consulate in Savannakhet again.

Luke Hansford Also... If you are going to go back to back for a long time. I think Vientiane is more relaxed about their visas than other embassies. I went to Cambodia once, and I needed to buy a ticket so I could prove I was leaving after 60 days. It's possible to cancel your flight ticket on expedia (American site) for 24 hours. They also hassled me about 3 back to back tourist visas before, and told me they weren't sure if they could give me a new visa. The thing is I really was a tourist for over a year in Thailand. I was actually following all the rules, but sometimes they just assume you are working illegally with the back to back visa runs. In Laos, there aren't any questions. they take your paperwork and give you a number to comeback the next day. Luckily, I did my last visa run in December. Good Luck to You!

Luke Hansford I did it for a year and a half. Now, I finally am getting a proper work permit at my new job. It's a BIG mistake to do the costly visa run many many times UNLESS you happen to live right near the border. (Perhaps in Udon Thani or Nong Khai). The cost and hassle of the plane tickets (or for some people, long long bus rides), and hotel costs when waiting for your visa is not worth it. Get an education visa. You can get an education visa at many places for below 18,000 baht including your lessons. Every time I did a visa run to Laos... it probably ended up costing me about 10,000 baht. I guess if you are really doing it cheapo style... you could do it for that. But still.... the education visa is STILL the better option. The place I asked about the education visa at said I didn't even have to go to the classes... lol. But, I think at some places there is an extra cost of a couple thousand every three months if you don't go to the classes. In Pattaya, there are lots of cheap options for an education visa which I should have utilized.

Can this be done for like 2 years or more?

My understanding is that the people outside the consulate charge you for the forms ie they are agents/touts. No need to use them if you can write in English or Thai. The application forms are free once you are inside the consulate gates

Oliver Fisher thank you 😊

Oliver were do you get the application form, there in the morning cheers

@Oliver *******

thanks champ 😄

Thanks.