Vientiane Laos for Thai Visa

[goski]

Do they still take thai baht when applying for the lao visa at the border or do they insist on US dollars?

Edited January 20, 2009 by goski

[ozzydom]

Yes, a double-entry tourist visa, valid for travel to Thailand within 30 days from the date of issue of the visa.

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Maestro

Vientienne was issuing 3 month tourist visa,s last week marked TR which I took to mean Triple entry at 3000 baht.

The stamp was identical to my Non Imm only marked Tourist TR and valid till April 13.

[ubonjoe]

Do they still take thai baht when applying for the lao visa at the border or do they insist on US dollars?

Yes they still take baht.

[goski]

Thank you very much for the reply.

[visarunner]

Yes, a double-entry tourist visa, valid for travel to Thailand within 30 days from the date of issue of the visa.

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Maestro

Vientienne was issuing 3 month tourist visa,s last week marked TR which I took to mean Triple entry at 3000 baht.

The stamp was identical to my Non Imm only marked Tourist TR and valid till April 13.

If you like you can even get a 10 Entry Tourist Visa, each entry cost THB 1,000.-.

However the validity of any Tourist Visa issued from Vientiane/Laos is only 3 month from the date of issue.

IMHO the 2 Entry or Double Entry Toursit Visa is most suitable.

[oMega69]

Any one have info about what time the bus leaves from Pattaya - Nong Kai ? . .and price and so on . . .

[Tod Daniels]

I spoke with some guys from Pattaya at the Nong Khai border crossing into Lao PDR at 6AM when I was there a couple of weeks ago, and they paid 9900 baht for their 'visa run' which started about 120 minutes earlier than the visa run I took from Bangkok which cost only 6900 (Lao and thai visa included) and to top it off that was with a private room in Lao at a guest house near the embassy as well as a free buffet lunch in Nong Khai on the return to Bangkok.

My advice; take a bus to Bangkok and use a visa service from here as well. .. ...

[Tod Daniels]

As an aside to my previous post;

FWIW: or in idiot thai-engrish 'sa-peak'; for what it's worth. ..

Make SURE you look at the "must be used by" date very CAREFULLY.

For example; a 15 or 20 or 100 entry tourist visa with ONLY a 90 day validity is far less useful that one might imagine (even in your wildest dreams), once you return to the glorious "Land 'O Thais". ..

[abdulrahman]

Do they still take thai baht when applying for the lao visa at the border or do they insist on US dollars?

They like 1500 Thai baht much more as 35 US $.

[ForrestGump]

Can someone recommend a good place to stay, under 1000B, proximity to new embassy...

I´m currently in Vientiane awaiting a Visa, I´m staying at the Aroon Residence Hotel http://www.aroonresidencehotel.com/

It´s close to the Thai embassy, about 5 minutes with a tuk-tuk. The rooms are very clean and comfortable, they have ADSL in all rooms for US$2/24hour - but not wifi, you just borrow a cable or use a computer downstairs for internet. Staff is friendly, overall a very nice hotel in the lower price range. A standard room is 1000 baht. The only thing to consider is to ask for a room with a view, as some of the rooms have windows facing a pathway with a wall that´s just outside the window. Of course depending if you want a view. All the rooms have cable TV, but as in many hotels with a little noisy reception. I think they all have aircon also.

The night before I stayed at another hotel right by the embassy. It was a couple of hundred baht cheaper, but really subpar in comparison, so this is definitely worth it.

On the mainroad outside of the Aroon hotel, to the right, is restaurant with good prices and decent meals. To the left is a big internet café. Apart from that, there's almost nothing close to the hotel, so you would have to go into town for more places to go. But that´s a 10 minute ride on a tuk-tuk. The tuk-tuk price here are a lot higher than in for example Bangkok. You should be able to go most places for 100-150 baht, but some will try to charge a lot more than that. One guy had to drive for ten minutes extra and charged me 500 baht, from previously agreed 150. So just as a precaution, agree upon the price beforehand.

[tropo]

It has been confirmed that the free visa period has begun and will last 3 months.

Has anyone managed to get a free double entry tourist visa from Vientiane?

[ForrestGump]

It has been confirmed that the free visa period has begun and will last 3 months.

Has anyone managed to get a free double entry tourist visa from Vientiane?

When I was there yesterday, most people had their money prepared. I didn't see or hear anything about any free visa, but I might of course have missed it.

Personally I've applied for a Non Immigrant ED visa, for which they requested 2000 baht.

Edited January 22, 2009 by ForrestGump

[ForrestGump]

It has been confirmed that the free visa period has begun and will last 3 months.

Has anyone managed to get a free double entry tourist visa from Vientiane?

I can now confirm that in Vientiane Laos there are no free visas. I asked around when I was there today to pick up my visa, and people payed full price for their visas. This might of course change in the days to come, but today it was not in effect.

[tropo]

It has been confirmed that the free visa period has begun and will last 3 months.

Has anyone managed to get a free double entry tourist visa from Vientiane?

I can now confirm that in Vientiane Laos there are no free visas. I asked around when I was there today to pick up my visa, and people payed full price for their visas. This might of course change in the days to come, but today it was not in effect.

Thanks for the update. It's good to get info from people who are actually there doing it.

It did sound too good to be true...and hard to believe.

[Green]

Guest house i stayed at in vientiane offers a 1 year multiple entry 30,000.B, same also from Bri and Joy travel in pataya, they require bank statement of 120,000B in the bank for 6 months, and want 30,000B, at bri and joy dont have to leave the country.

What are these all about? Anyone got one? Do they work?

Edited January 25, 2009 by Green

[tropo]

Guest house i stayed at in vientiane offers a 1 year multiple entry 30,000.B, same also from Bri and Joy travel in pataya, they require bank statement of 120,000B in the bank for 6 months, and want 30,000B, at bri and joy dont have to leave the country.

What are these all about? Anyone got one? Do they work?

Without knowing more i'd guess it's probably a non-B visa obtained from Hull. I so, you'll have to send your passport away and it may take 4-6 weeks. It's illegal if done from within Thailand.

[Maestro]

So some so-called visa agents are starting that scam again, are they?

If they send your passport and the visa application you signed to an address abroad while you remain in Thailand, then from the address abroad the application is sent to a Thai Consulate, returned by the consulate to the address abroad and from there to your agent in Thailand, the visa in your passport will be perfectly legal but you will have a 99.99% chance that when you leave Thailand and return with that visa, the immigration officer will not recognise the visa as valid, will cancel it and will give you just a visa-exempt entry stamp, and your visa agency will of course not return a single satang of the money you paid to them. A profitable business for them.

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Maestro

[tropo]

So some so-called visa agents are starting that scam again, are they?

If they send your passport and the visa application you signed to an address abroad while you remain in Thailand, then from the address abroad the application is sent to a Thai Consulate, returned by the consulate to the address abroad and from there to your agent in Thailand, the visa in your passport will be perfectly legal but you will have a 99.99% chance that when you leave Thailand and return with that visa, the immigration officer will not recognise the visa as valid, will cancel it and will give you just a visa-exempt entry stamp, and your visa agency will of course not return a single satang of the money you paid to them. A profitable business for them.

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Maestro

It gets even more shady than that. I know some of the "guys" doing this in Thailand get your passport stamped in and out of Thailand on the way to Hull via Malaysia. I figured what Green was referring to was the same deal because the charge is usually around 30 - 35k in Pattaya.

If they do this from Vientiane it's perfectly legal according to a similar discussion on this topic recently. I wonder how long you'd have to stay in Vientiane to achieve this.

[Maestro]

Wait a moment. Are you saying that if I took your passport, went to Vientiane, from there went to Malaysia, got real or fake Thai departure and Malaysian entry stamps in your passport, mailed your passport to the UK for a visa, after getting your passport back got real or fake Malaysian departure and Thai entry stamps, went back to Vientiane and from there to Thailand, while all this time you remained in Thailand, all of this would be perfectly legal? It boggles the mind how anybody could think this, and why I would do the detour via Vientiane.

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Maestro

[oceano]

Guest house i stayed at in vientiane offers a 1 year multiple entry 30,000.B, same also from Bri and Joy travel in pataya, they require bank statement of 120,000B in the bank for 6 months, and want 30,000B, at bri and joy dont have to leave the country.

What are these all about? Anyone got one? Do they work?

Is illegal, send your passport and dont be present, i read in many consoulate notice about that.....

i remember also some owner of agency in pattaya put in jail for do that...sorry was long time ago i dont remember well...

Why risk when we can find a ...legal ways for ourself?

ciao

[Maestro]

Today, I am allergic to the word illegal. Let’s look at this Vientiane scam step by step.

1. You travel to Vientiane across the land border, get the Thai departure stamp in your passport, get the visa for Laos, get the Laotian entry stamp. Nothing illegal.
   
2. You go to a so-called visa agent, fill out a visa application form, give them your passport and 30,000 Baht to handle your application. Nothing illegal.
   
3. The agent sends the passport and your application to a person in another country. Nothing illegal.
   
4. The person in the other country sends your passport, application and visa fee to a Thai consulate in that country. Nothing illegal.
   
5. The consulate puts the visa in your passport and sends the passport back to the address in the other country. Nothing illegal.
   
6. The person in the other country sends the passport back to the agent in Vientiane and the agent returns the passport to you. Nothing illegal.
   
7. You leave Laos and get the Laotian departure stamp. Nothing illegal.
   
8. You present your passport to the Thai immigration officer with the arrival card, on which you put the details of the newly-obtained visa. Nothing illegal.
   
9. The Thai immigration officer considers your visa to be invalid, deletes it, and gives you only a visa-exempt entry stamp with permission to stay for 15 days. Nothing illegal.
   

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Maestro

[Maestro]

Wait a moment…

Tropo, I think I know now what you meant and indirectly answered it with this reply to another post. Apologies for my earlier misunderstanding.

As you said and as my analysis shows, it is perfectly legal (but the traveller is left with a visa-exempt permission to stay for 15 days). Now, if he were to fly to Vientiane, who knows? The proof of the pudding...

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Maestro

[oceano]

Wait a moment…

Tropo, I think I know now what you meant and indirectly answered it with this reply to another post. Apologies for my earlier misunderstanding.

As you said and as my analysis shows, it is perfectly legal (but the traveller is left with a visa-exempt permission to stay for 15 days). Now, if he were to fly to Vientiane, who knows? The proof of the pudding...

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Maestro

Sorry but if like this i can send via UPS or similar my passport in my country or in UK and have the visa the same whitout agent.

look this:

All types of visa, Royal Thai Embassy can process within 2 working days. For example , if you apply on Friday, you can collect your visa on Tuesday of the following week. Royal Thai Embassy London will only accept application form which apply in person or courier, NOT by POST.

http://www.thaiembassyuk.org.uk/visa_main.html

[tropo]

Wait a moment…

Tropo, I think I know now what you meant and indirectly answered it with this reply to another post. Apologies for my earlier misunderstanding.

As you said and as my analysis shows, it is perfectly legal (but the traveller is left with a visa-exempt permission to stay for 15 days). Now, if he were to fly to Vientiane, who knows? The proof of the pudding...

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Maestro

In your previous reply you stated in point 9:

"The Thai immigration officer considers your visa to be invalid, deletes it, and gives you only a visa-exempt entry stamp with permission to stay for 15 days. Nothing illegal."

Why do you think the Thai immigration officer would consider a legally obtained visa to be invalid when he arrives at the border?

[tropo]

Wait a moment…

Tropo, I think I know now what you meant and indirectly answered it with this reply to another post. Apologies for my earlier misunderstanding.

As you said and as my analysis shows, it is perfectly legal (but the traveller is left with a visa-exempt permission to stay for 15 days). Now, if he were to fly to Vientiane, who knows? The proof of the pudding...

--

Maestro

Just to make it clearer so there's no confusion:

There are agents in Pattaya who take your passport and then somehow obtain exit stamps from Thailand, and then entry stamps into Malaysia. It's then posted from Malaysia to England. Once the visa is obtained at the Hull Consulate it is then posted back to Malaysia, and then sent back into Thailand complete with Malaysian exit stamps and Thailand entry stamps. Of course the Thailand entry stamp would allow a 90 day stay according to the rules of a non-B.

This of course is illegal and costs about 30k - 35k.

[eddiemonster]

9. The Thai immigration officer considers your visa to be invalid, deletes it, and gives you only a visa-exempt entry stamp with permission to stay for 15 days. Nothing illegal.

Maestro

As a matter of interest, why would the Thai immigration officer consider the visa to be invalid? Because the passport wouldn't show exit/entry from Laos for either side of the date on which the visa was issued?

Do they really check passports so thoroughly for travel in and out of other countries?

[tropo]

9. The Thai immigration officer considers your visa to be invalid, deletes it, and gives you only a visa-exempt entry stamp with permission to stay for 15 days. Nothing illegal.

Maestro

As a matter of interest, why would the Thai immigration officer consider the visa to be invalid? Because the passport wouldn't show exit/entry from Laos for either side of the date on which the visa was issued?

Do they really check passports so thoroughly for travel in and out of other countries?

It has been established already that mailing a passport to a Thai Consulate (Hull in England is a good example) from another country besides Thailand is acceptable.

[pagreenw]

Vientiene versus Penang, looks like Penang must win 'cause of queueing alone!!?

That would sway me. Or are there significant queues there too?

[yeti]

You usually don't queue in Penang, you use an agent because the embassy is too far from the city center.

Penang is quite boring whereas spending some time in Vientiane is nice.

[ubonjoe]

Vientiene versus Penang, looks like Penang must win 'cause of queueing alone!!?

That would sway me. Or are there significant queues there too?

It depends also whether you want a single or double entry tourist visa. You won't get a double in Penang.