Well I also have always had my Non B before applying for the work permit.... then got that here later. Always done in Melbourne for many a year... and as recently as a few months ago... but for various reasons this lapsed before I could get the WP.... so am about to go out to get the Non B in Lao shortly. Maybe I now need to do the WP application first???

She is not on an Ed visa.... last time she came in was on a Visa free entry. She is not at school here but does distance education from Australia.... thanks..... and maybe I will have to postpone getting the Non B till my next trip.... when she can come.....and just do some sort of border run with her.... Can she just go over the border at Mai Sai... or with more travel Vientiane.... and get 15 days.... after she has had 67 days on the visa free entry... that extra time would give me long enough to do the work permit.... I am being told currently it will need 10 to 14 days? Vinny will need his wife with him when he gets his Visa in the UK.... sorry if the parallels with his case are too tenuous... and thanks for the prompt response.

Happy ending.... this time....

Well, my friend went out at Nong Khai... paid his overstay, got his new Visa and came back in overland with a 60 day stay and a 30 day possible extension.... all easy.. and Vientiane embassy virtually empty... so very quick..... no problems, no questions, no hassles....

I do not think he is up to anything of that sort.... he has some money owing which will not come for a week or two.... and he has somewhere to stay when he is here... so all simple and legal.... except for the overstay..... but he is doing his penance on that with a large cash payment.... that he was planning on using to survive till his OS money arrived.... after doing his Visa extension this morning.... which didn't happen as is error was pointed out to him...

Well, I have bought him his bus ticket and he crosses the border tomorrow morning.... he is on his own now.... done my good deed for the day...

OK - thanks all - he is being dropped at the bus stop on his way to Vientiane now - and he can make it on his own coming back one way or another from there.....

He's overstayed so they won't give him an extension... He has to pay and leave.... So I think he then just goes over the border and then flies back... But does the overstay record in his passport make this difficult?