chris5346

Any word about if it is just Vientiane issuing the double tourists at the moment?

also the other thai consulate in laos is almost gauranteed - savenkhet or soemthing is the name.

other places sometime give out doubles but you have to provide extra documentation etc.

the visa run companies you mention do they do everything in the one day ? because if you goto a thai embassy/consulate yourself it takes 2 days to get a new tourist visa.

if you get a double tourist visa you will have to also do an extra border run sometime half way through your stay so maybe getting an easy singles is better for you ?

apply for a double entry tourist visa which covers your flights,

if you try and do it on a single entry you may not be allowed to check in at the airport,

when applying for the tourist visa it says purpose of travel and say your going on holiday or travelling.

you will need to do a border run/crossing approx. half way during your stay at either burma, malaysia or cambodia from bangkok is usual.

you can also get another double tourist visa from laos in the future which is good for a 180 day stay if used correctly.

you may also be able to apply for a triple entry tourist visa from new zealand which can sometimes be used for upto 270 days stay depending on the type.

you say your husband has a 1 year visa at the moment and it runs out in may ? if he has a type-o visa he can do a border run a day or two before it expires and he can get another 3 months stay beyond may . maybe he has a work permit or an education visa ?

I have a one year license (first year) now, anyone know what to do to get a 5 year?

when i upgraded my 1 year licence to a 5 year one i had to provide the same documents and do the simple tests,

you do need more than just a tourist visa to get a 5 year licence.

laos visa on arrival costs 35$ or you can pay 1500 baht (35$ works out cheaper) they sometimes charge an extra 1$ if you don't have a photo or after 16:30 and maybe weekends.

you may also have to pay 9,000 kip or 40 baht to enter and also to leave laos payable after you get the visa on arrival, you can avoid this charge sometimes by just walking through and showing your passport or going through with a taxi driver etc.

the thai embassy may want to know which hotel your staying in in laos - if you don't have one yet you can just say laos plaza for the application form.

when you come back to thailand you can use the vientiane to udon thani bus they run at 14:00, 15:00 and 16:30 you can only buy tickets on the same day and they get fully booked so buy a ticket from the bus station early as possible - price 22,000 kip, it will get you into the center of udon thani and you can get a tuk-tuk to the airport etc for around 100 baht.

you can walk from the thai embassy to the bus station in 20 mins or take a tuk tuk for under 40 baht.

i went to vientiane 2 weeks ago and they told me to photocopy the main page of passport and also the page that had the entry stamp for laos - i didn't photocopy the laos visa, i guess either will be ok.

a taxi from the border to vientiane shouldn't cost anymore than 200 baht even if your travelling alone .

there's also a short bus trip accross the freedom bridge which is only 15 baht.

any questions please ask,

have a good trip

even if you have a day in hand it's a good idea to try and make the application the day you arrive, you can get a taxi from the border to the consulate for around 200 baht or less if you share.

from the consulate you could walk to the river area (30 mins) or get a tuk tuk for around 60 baht.

the bus station is located about half way between the thai consulate and fountain square/river side area.

when you come back you may prefer the easier express bus from vientiane to udon thani city center, there's a bus at 14:00 and 15:00, 16:30 you can only buy tickets on the same day and the buses get filled so buy a ticket early - 22,000 kip.

i went there a couple of weeks ago and i had a day in hand - all went well and i actually stayed in udon thani the second night and day,

vientiane has some bars etc and there's a hotel/casino with night club, there's also a roof top bar on the river side road a bit further down - look for tall glass fronted building.

people were saying internet isn't very good and use shops, i looked at a few different hotels and tested there internet and i found the expensive hotels had no better internet than the 10 $ hotel i stayed in which was close to a temple just off the river road.

if your going to the consulate before you have found a hotel you can just put on the application form any hotel - i always say i'm staying at lao plaza.

don't forget to take photos and photo copy of passport, there's people outside the consulate who will try to get you to use them but it's very easy to do yourself inside the consulate.

also take 35$ dollars to pay for the laos visa on arrival - it's cheaper than the 1500 baht option.

when you fill in the arrival card don't fill in the visa number and maybe they will assume you want 30 days.

i have tried doing this twice the first time i got given 30 days but the second time the guy looked thru my passport and found the visa.

some officials ask questions about where your staying etc

good luck

you can compare the different banks rates here :

http://bankexchangerates.daytodaydata.net/default.aspx

it looks like bangkok bank are offering the best TT rate at the moment but several months ago SCB were always better.

if your planning to book any air asia flights then you can save the booking fee with SCB online banking.

when your using your card to buy online maybe your making a mistake with your billing address or something ?

extensions get added on and can be done at any time before your last day of stay.

other choice is to pop down to malaysia.

you need to find a convenient immigration office (maybe krabi) and it doesn't need to be on the day it runs out, take your flight details to show them.

i have never done it , upon reading a few posts i think it's somesort of emergency extension , i don't know if it can be done or not to the 15 day entry ??

good luck.

topps supermarket sell soy milk in large cartons , the one i tried was made by westsoy or somthing , it was unsweeted and orgqanic , the taste is a lot different, i think it's around 130 baht a carton.

check out the reduced section they sometimes have disfigured cartons and much cheaper.

i recommend a seally posturepedic,

i managed to find a 6 foot one homepro for 9,000 baht 2 years ago.

i think it will last 10 years or more.

vientiane like most other consulates don't ask for flight info.

laos is a good country to tour through also if you want to combine a holiday/mekong river cruise stopping at luang prabang for few days etc - you can enter laos at nong khai / vientiene or north of chiang mai at chiang khong.

don't forget if you go for the double tourist visa you will have to do a border hop/run to activate the second visa, it takes a whole day to goto mai sai/burma and back.

hi,

if you entered thailand on the 6th october your permission to stay is 60 days which takes you upto the 4th december,

if you extend 30 days that takes you to 3rd january,

here's a link to the thai embassy in vientiane where you can check to see if they are open. they are also closed weekends, sometimes they get very busy just after a holiday and mondays / fridays can be busier.

http://vientiane.thaiembassy.org/vientiane/en/

you may want to consider applying for a double entry tourist visa whilst your there for an extra 1000 baht which will allow you to stay longer than next april .

another option is to forget about the extensions and just get a double entry visa anyway , if you goto laos on the 4th december, you'll get two 60 days entries making 120 days from say 7th december to 5th april ( you will have to do a border run up in mai sai half way through the 120 days).

the overnight bus to udon thani cost approx. 800 baht one way,

flights with nok air cost between 1300 baht and 3000 baht.

1900 baht extension

1000 baht single tourist visa

1900 baht extension

2000 baht double tourist visa

1000 baht day trip to mai sai

from chiang mai you can also fly to KL with air asia but they only issue single tourist visas and it's not as easy as vientiene.

one draw back with laos is you have to pay 35$ to enter where as malaysia is free.

i have been to both places many times so any questions please ask.

i'll exchange it with you , how much do you have and what rate are you offering ?

immigration gave me a residence certificate and used my old licence that had my address written on the back as proof.

i did it recently and i found the KL embassy very friendly.

they didn't ask for anything other than the minimum.

Type of visa

Tourrist

Category

TR

NO OF ENTRY

3

FEE 3000B

DATE OF ISSUE

6 AUG 2012

ENTER BEFORE

5 NOV 2012

So i went to Kap Choeng imigretion office on the 4th oct, just before my 60 day was up, to extend my visa by 30 day's and pay the 1900B,

and the imigration officer told me it was a 90 day visa , but my new enter Departure card say's, admited untill the 6th oct , i have just noticed , so i was given the wrong information by that officer and it looks like i'm on an overstay.

The officer was wrong , so i will go back there tomorrow to sort this out, with them.

did you pay the 1900 baht on the 4th october to add an extra 30 days ?

when you add 30 days they don't change the departture card stamp - they put a new stamp on one of the pages inside your passport,

unless you haven't already done so you need to do a border run on the 4th nov. then you 'll get another 60 day stay that you can also extend 30 days for 1900 baht later on.

i thought the dealer usually sorts it out and my thai mrs said can take 3 months or something ?

that's why i recomemded talking to the transport office first and show them the papers you have.

when applying for driving licence or changing registration books they will want to see an original residence certificate but you can tell them you want to use the certificate twice and they can make a certified copy for you.

also one time at the transport office i showed them a residence certificate and they made a copy and returned the original to me and i then used it again for a driving licence.

i think the driving licence people will want to keep the original residence certificate .

a letter of residency from the immigration office is only valid for one month so i would make sure that the transport office are happy with your documents from the dealer first.

are you going to get a thai driving licence also ? because you can use the one residency letter for both if you do it right.

Darraghg hope you don't mind me asking a related question on your post. When the one year license is due to expire and you go to renew for the 5 years license. Does one need to go to immigration again for residence certificate and have a health test?

you also can't apply for a 5 year licence if you only have a tourist visa, so make sure whatever visa you have is suitable before doing anything.\

thank you for your replies i will check them out,

chris

i pays of course for my visa at the ambassade in sweden, but i did not need to show any income or money i hade, .. so first of all i gone use this visa i have now so long i can.. and after that try to see if i can renew it somwhere, sweden or thailand....

when did you get this visa ? was it december 2011 ?

what is the enter before or utilize before date written on it ?

about 6 months ago most of the thai consulates around the world started making it harder to get a 1 year multi type - O visa , maybe sweden one has changed also ? i would recommend you talk to them first.

at present you can extend your current visa inside thailand but you will only get an extra 60 days - if you become legal father by either marrying the mother or going to court and getting a document made you can extend an extra 1 year.

you say your current visa ends in december but have you got the maximum out of it because you can get 15 months out of a 12 month visa by doing an extra border run just before it expires and get an extra 3 months stay.

he can come earlier if he wants , you just need to find a way around it.

he can come for 35 days etc - either pay 5 days overstay or get a 7 day extension in thailand.

if comes without a visa and is just after the 30 day visa exempt the airline may ask questions at check in so he may have to buy an extra ticket out of thailand with -in 30 days, you can buy any cheap disposable ticket with airasia to malaysia .

worse case if he has a 3 day overstay will cost 1500 baht,

throw away airasia flight 1000 baht,

7 day extension 1900 baht.

maybe better to apply for a tourist visa before he arrives or do a land border run half way during his holiday ?

it's not advisable to go over the 30 days and be on overstay but hundreds of people do it and simply pay a small fine when they leave.

15th oct to 13 nov is 30 days in thailand .

if he books those dates he will have a 2 day overstay fine to pay when he leaves.

one problem maybe his airline from his home country at check in may ask to see a flight out of thailand with-in 30 days - some people have had to book a cheap disposable flight to anywhere to get around that.

if you book a cheap flight with air asia and don't use it you can easily claim back the airport taxes ,

there's a flight from bkk to penang dec 15th for 2200 baht , 900 baht taxes that they will pay back to you no problem.

Not exactly "no problem". I fought hard with Air Asia and even disputed via my bank since I charged the tickets on my credit card. We tried to get the taxes back too but to no avail. The bank who issued my credit card told me that Air Asia was one of the more aggressive companies when it came to disputes over charges.

well they paid them back to my credit card approx. one month after i requested it , it was minus 200 baht for charges which i forgot to mention , one slight problem was the website - there was no sign of my claim online when i tried to check the progress so i went into the air asia shop at thaipae gate and gave them my booking number only and they checked on there computer and said the claim was in the system - i waited another 2 weeks and fifteen pounds was credited to me.