@Tod ********

Not literally locked up permanently, but making sure of 400k balance each year is more complicated to me than transfering in 400k and not touching it.

Will ping the Thai consulate in KL and see what happens, but gor the moment, Savannakhet definitely seems to tick all the boxes especially with the short turnaround and not requiring an appointment. Hopefully there's at least some touristy things to do over the day or two sorting this out.

@Tod ********

Any idea about timeframe to get this sorted out in Lao/Vietnam and if the spouse needs to be present? These 2 are definitely looking like the best bet. Savannakhet doesn't seem like too far a drive from Udon so likely looking at that.

Will also reach out to the Thai Embassy in Malaysia as I'm holding a Malaysian passport to see what options there are there as well - My main issue is having the THB 400k basically locked up permanently in Thailand, so any option that allows proof of funds overseas would also work for me.

Malaysian Embassy will issue the letter. I mentioned to them that I would prefer not to travel due to COVID, they said you'll need to come in person to request the letter (opening hours from 8:30AM to 12:00PM only). This doesn't work for me since I would need to travel to Bangkok from Udon Thani, so they offered for me to speak to management (which wasn't available at the time) to see if they would email/post to me - in the end, letter wasn't needed when I went to Udon Thani immigration. I was provided with a 30 day extension with the relevant form after being denied the previous visit to Udon Thani immigration.

Hope this helps.

Called the Malaysian Embassy in the morning - They're now issuing letters, but the request must be made in person at the embassy in Bangkok during the "new" opening hours between 8:30AM and 12:00PM. At this point, was considering doing a day trip to Bangkok just for this.

Went to Udon Thani immigration anyway just to try my luck. Place was absolutely packed. But I managed to get a one month extension WITHOUT a letter from the embassy. I believe for certain countries (quoted above), there may have been some internal memos circulated that made the difference between this visit to immigration and the previous one.

Good luck to everyone.

> ALL Chinese, Taiwanese, Hong Kong, and Malaysian citizens requiring visa extensions come to airport location. 2nd extension requests require a consul letter (original, not a copy). Initial requests are processed right outside the Laos, Burma visa service office at the airport location.

This is interesting. I'd be interested to see if the situation is similar in Udon. Will be dropping by both the airport and immigration in Udon to check out the situation tomorrow with regards to holders of these passports - previous trip to immigration they just mentioned to exit the country and come back in to the country to myself (Malaysian passport holder) and someone else (a Hong Kong passport holder).

Also, I assume based on the wording that the first extension doesn't require the consul letter (hopefully).