Vientiane DTV Report - Approved w/ a Hiccup
US Passport
Submitted under digital nomad route
Cancelled a Work Permit and voided Re-entry permit 3 days prior to application
I initially got requested for more documents when going to pick up my visa - making my entire stay in Vientiane 8 days - detailed below.
Documents:
Application form with photos
Passport Info Page Copy
Passport Lao Visa & Entry Stamp Copy
Certificate of Employment - Signed & Digitally Stamped by Singapore company
Wise Statement (6 Months) with Wise Company Stamp - USD Balance of >500k Baht for >6 months
Wise Statement (6 Months) with Wise Company Stamp - SGD Balance of Employment Salary being paid
Examples of Work - Upon picking up the visa, they said I had to provide extra documents, and re-apply in the AM. The request was for a description of what I do in my job, as well as proof of my salary being paid to me.
I adjusted my certificate of employment to include job responsibilities, but was annoyed so dumped as much as I could on them: emails with clients outlining integration proposals, PDF SOPs created for specific use cases (I work for a SaaS company in a sales/customer success role), random screenshots of Notion board pages, just random stuff with my name on it - highlighted.
They had also requested proof of my SGD salary hitting my account - for which I provided them a Wise statement that had the entity in the certificate of employment paying my salary.
My initial proof of funds was the USD balance on Wise.
Both the SGD and USD account have a ton of me transferring to both my US and Thai banks so my name is on there a lot, and if you go through the statements it looks sketchy - but seems like that doesn't matter.
When requesting additional documents, they gave me back my 10K as well as passport, while holding on to the application and all of the documents.
Timeline: Applied Tuesday AM
Went to go pick up Thursday PM, requested additional documents
Re-submitted Friday AM (they scribbled something on my pick up slip to allow me to enter Friday with no new appointment)
Picked up Tuesday PM
Certificate of employment I followed a detailed one off of a google search and included:
Employer info with all registration #, date of employment thru present, position, location indicating I have the right to work remotely globally, job description & responsibilities (added this in upon Embassy's request), position type, salary with USD conversation. The letter was signed and digitally stamped.
Now I've been to Vientiane before - there isn't a whole lot to do here so here's a nice little break down of ways to kill time - mainly through food.
Doi Ka Noi - 11/10 Lao food [members only]
Only open Fri-Sun
Corebeer - Craft beer and bar bites
[members only]
Ong Dung Bakery
[members only]
Privet - Russian restaurant, something different, was delicious
[members only]
Izakaya Masa - great Japanese right next to the Thai embassy
[members only]
Cabana Cafe - good breakfast/lunch
[members only]
Bacan Cafe - chilean food
[members only]
PDR - solid pizza
[members only]
Joma Bakery - morning pastry/fruit & coffee
[members only]
Korean BBQ
[members only]
Things to do:
Buddha Park - [members only]
Shooting range - [members only]
Casino - [members only]
You can go to Vang Vieng and enjoy the nature as well.
I stayed at Bloom Hotel - was $30/night and cozy, but wifi was unstable.
Renting a scooter with no passport was a hassle - the lady in the garage to the right of Joma Bakery rented me one with no passport, I gave her my US drivers license and a random debit card. 650k for 5 days.
Happy to answer any questions!
