Arrived at Thai Consulate Savannakhet on Wednesday morning about 7:50 am to submit application for non-imm O based on marriage. They opened the gate at 9:00 am. By the time the gate opened there were about 20-25 people in line (I was #4). All my paperwork was in order except for one thing. I had a copy of my wife's Thai ID card and passport on the same paper and they didn't like that, so my wife went across the street and got a copy of her Thai ID card on a separate paper. I paid the 2,000 baht visa fee, received the ticket for picking up the passport the next day, and we were done by 9:20am.
Also, I had created a copy of the Visa application form on the computer so I could type the information (except for the lack of the Thai/Lao text on the form, it was an almost perfect copy of the downloaded PDF form). They did not accept that. Anticipating that, I had also prepared a copy of the actual Thai application form, filled in by hand and with two passport photos stapled to it, which they happily accepted.
Arrived at the consulate on Thursday around 1:20 pm and joined a large group of people at the restaurants across the street waiting for the consulate to open at 2:00 pm. Ordered a bite to eat and finished eating about 2:10 pm after almost everyone else had gone into the consulate. By that time almost everyone else had received their passports so there was only one person in front of me at the window. Got my passport with the non-imm O visa, hit the restroom and were on our way back to Thailand by 2:20 pm.
We drove our car into Lao. It took about 1-1/2 hours to go through the Thai and Lao border checkpoints. It took about an hour at the Thai side, mostly because they insisted on having two copies of almost all the pages in the blue car book, so we had to hoof it a couple hundred yards to get photocopies (the copy gal made three sets of copies; we still have one set, so I'm not sure why she made three copies -- probably because she could lol). Then they insisted that they needed a copy of my wife's Thai ID card so she had to go all the way back to the copy shop to get a copy of it. I'm not sure why they needed that because her name isn't on the car paperwork, but in any case after being directed to a succession of booths and tables to get various people to stamp things, and after paying (I think) 500 baht, we were on our way to Lao.
At the Lao border checkpoint we presented our passports and the car passport/paperwork, I paid the 1,500 baht entry fee, stepped a few feet to a gal sitting at a small table and paid 400 baht for a 7-day auto insurance policy. Got another stamp or two and we were on our way.
Some have hinted that driving a car in Lao is not a good idea, but I found it really no different than driving in Thailand -- except that they drive on the right side of the road. We did get stopped by one group of Lao policemen to check our car passport. The oval "T" sticker that is affixed to the inside front window is invisible from outside the car due to the heavy window-tinting and I think that is probably why they stopped us. But no problem, we simply pointed out that the sticker is there and after perusing the car passport and my wife's Thai driving license, they sent us on our way.
P.S. After returning to Thailand on the non-imm O visa, I got an email from Thai Elite Visa telling me that they had received approval from Thai Immigration to grant me the Elite visa. I'd already told the Elite people that I had decided to NOT do the Elite visa. But it does give me another option if my marriage suddently goes sour in the next couple months. lol
