Speaking of using the bus, depending on your destination inside Thailand, pick the right bus.

You can choose to catch a Vientiane (Khamsavath) to Bangkok train as well.

For buses, there are services from Vientiane to Nong Khai, Udon Thani, Khon Kaen and Bangkok.

The Bangkok bus runs overnight.

If you want to fly either to Bangkok or Chiang Mai/Phuket etc. you'll probably be flying out of Udon Thani or Khon Kaen.

Therefore, catch the appropriate international bus to one of these two cities and then take a taxi from the bus station (either Udon or Khon Kaen) to the respective domestic airport.

Obviously, to reiterate, a foreigner can't enter Thailand via a locals border crossing. Those are only for citizens of Thailand and the neighboring country.

However, such border crossings tend to be located in more remote areas anyway.

Simply look up which borders are international (Nong Khai-Vientiane, ie the 1st Friendship Bridge being one) and you'll be allowed to enter that way.

They won't ask for any documents from the initial application but I would recommend carrying 20K Baht in cash as that may be asked for, though it's rarely requested.

Huh? Since when do you have to fly out? You can use any international land border, except for the 3 borders (out of 4) with Myanmar that are currently closed to foreigners. All other land border crossings are open.

They re-opened during the course of 2022 following Thailand's reopening after Covid.

The only time foreigners were required to enter Thailand by air was during Covid.

Why? I've never heard of a visa that requires you to enter by air only.

Except for visas on arrival in certain countries that can only be accessed if you fly in, or in the case of Myanmar where foreigners can only fly in (land borders being closed) almost all other countries allow foreigners to enter by any international border, Thailand included.

Have you never been to Thailand before? Unless you're going to a country that doesn't allow foreigners to enter by land (Myanmar is one of the few) then of course you can enter by land through any international border crossing.

@Jeff *****

If that was the case, maybe all foreigners should be forced to hit the road including you right? You can't have it both ways.

@Sweetway *****

These posts are as boring as those fools arguing they "haven't heard anything" about other visas allowing remote work, when in actuality, ALL visas now allow remote work.

No immigration officer is going to look at an "employment prohibited" DTV and say "right you can work online on this one" while an "employment prohibited" retirement visa holder is told "you can't work online on this".

I think Thai immigration / the labor department have ended the ambiguity that existed previously and have decided to allow remote work as long as it doesn't impinge on the Thai labor force.

@Christopher ********

Why? What's the difference between a soft and a "hard" DTV? AFAIK, there's only one DTV, issued under different categories.