I think they are confusing all land borders with recent Cambodia land closures. Someone posted recently of entering Laos and returning same day no probs.
July 28th was a national holiday so that would delay approval by a day. Approvals seems to take 7-10 working days. Pending approval is final check before before issuing the DTV.
Anonymous participant 911 Yeah, it is possible to take a month elsewhere but it is not the norm. 5 weeks in the Philippines is not the norm. About a month in Laos is the norm for approval whereas it used to be much quicker.
Anonymous participant Ok, Wise move applying there. Choice of embassy helps as well with "different than norm" applications. How long did it take to get approved?