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Thanks BritTim - It does sound like a reasonable requirement - Good to get the feedback.

Quick Edit: Title should have been - "Tourist Visa from Lao" - NOT "Lao Tourist Visa"

On the vientiane Royal Thailand Embassy website there is a list of the docs required for a Tourist Visa application. Point 5 on the list..... "5. Travel itinerary to and from Thailand and accommodation e.g. plane/train/bus ticket, hotel booking, letter from whom you will be staying with and a signed copy of his/her ID". I have a six month Condo contract in Bangkok that will cover the 60 days of the Tourist Visa. I have a flight back to the UK on the 59th day of the anticipated Tourist Visa. I will get the bus back to the border afterwards and spend a few days in Nong Khai and then will get a flight or train at a later unknown date and I don't expect tickets for this to be asked for as part of the application. Bottom line: Is my copy of a flight ticket back to the UK and a printout copy of Condo rental Contract sufficient for the Travel itinerary and the accommodation requirements and do I need a signed copy of a Thai ID from the Condo owner or is this something that is already covered by the current TM.30, which a copy should also be provided in the application?

Ahhhh - OK. I stand corrected - Thanks

On the website https://vientiane.thaiembassy.org/en/การยื่นขอวีซ่า-applying-for-a-visa/ - The following is shown Processing Time The visa processing time is 2 working days (not including the submission date) - Collection 13.30 – 16.00 hours, 2 days after submitting the application, e.g. Monday submission, Wednesday collection; Friday submission, Tuesday collection. Previous experience: The application was made in the morning and the passport was returned in the afternoon of the next day. I am trying to understand if this is a newly introduced processing time or an old processing time which never gets implemented. Hence - Does anyone have current experience of what is the normal processing time?

Not sure of your source for the link - It looks like from the url you provided this is for the old location at Wattana Rd, which is no longer the location for extensions. This is the link you need for Bangkok appointments - The location is Immigration Office (IT Square Laksi Plaza, 3rd Floor) https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/[email protected]/bookings/

Thanks Joe - Perfect.

If an application is made for a Tourist Visa in a neighbouring consulate and the passport is returned the next day. A). Can someone confirm that the start of the 60 days only start on entry to Thailand (rather than the date of application nor the next day when the passport is returned)? B). If the start of the 60 days was on the 1st day of the month and the next two months each had 30 days would the admitted until date then be on the 30th of the second month?

One of the reviews (not copied on the post) from 2 months ago identifies a very protective door guard that only allows 2 people inside at any time and before getting access visitors need to show their confirmation of appointment. All these reviews seem to have gained access to the Consulate and hence all reviews presumably had appointments.

After reading the recent experience by bigqueso26 at the once friendly Hanoi Consulate for a Tourist Visa I looked at the other once friendly Consulate in Vietnam, HCMC - Below is their most recent reviews on Google Maps. It seems that similar to Hanoi recently the experience at this Consulate has also changed. I took a look at the appointment system - The next available appointment 16th March 2023 (37 days advance booking required). Has Vietnam Tourist Visa applications for Thailand undergone some known change that has caused the experience to be so different? Google Reviews: 1 Star ------- 21 hours ago NEW Worst place I've ever been in my whole life. The guy refused to answer sinple quoestions like "Is it possible to get a visa for three months?" or "What is the fee for a visa?" He simply doesn't answer. He showed me a piece of paper with a website of the vietnamese government, which, as I noticed now, doesn't work. Unfortunately I could not give 0 stars. 1 Star ------- 6 days ago NEW DO NOT COME HERE TO EXPEDITE OR APPLY FOR A VISA. This place is a complete disaster. No one working - like, at all. As in, no one is even physically there (even during their own posted hours on the service window). After 1 hour of waiting for someone to arrive, a very rude and unhelpful man arrived. He did not greet me. The only thing he did do was to point at a printed piece of paper, which had the website to the online visa application. Then, he walked away without saying a word, despite another person in line behind me, who was actively talking to him. This is an embarrassing way to welcome visitors. I cancelled my 2-week trip to Vietnam because of this place and will never look back.✌️ 1 Star ------- 6 days ago NEW They are useless. And very rude. 1 Star ------- a week ago NEW Worst service ever, they literally don’t care at all. They don’t even look at you or anything. Avoid this place, do your visa with time ahead, and online. 1 Star ------- a week ago NEW Honestly don't bother, try online or any other embassy anywhere. 2 applications and an embassy visit and still nothing. Take your money to another country. 1 Star ------- 2 weeks ago NEW ridiculous, chaotic, unorganized, unfriendly and most staff doesn't speak and ignoring You 1 Star ------- 2 weeks ago NEW Unbelievable. They never replied to any of my emails or picked up the phone calls. The website is not useful and it’s impossible to reach them online or via calls. 1 Star ------- a month ago Very poor quality of staff , we were at the embassy at 10 am & no staff at the counter until 11 am . When one gentleman came out, he is very rude & should not be working at the counter. Very disappointing to see someone behave like that. Whoever in charge should consider to review their performance. 1 Star ------- a month ago Very bad service, no answer the phone call, open 30 minutes late, and the staff of tourist visa counter is helpless and very rude.

I suspect aldriglikvid you might get more responses if you start a new post - Many have already read this post and will possibly not return to see your question - They might if it appears as a new post.

You are right its all about how the rules are explained without abusing the power of authority to diminish another person. I know what I said about the consulate being handed a list of rules, however you are right about being a [BLEEP} about it, otherwise this is simply a misuse of a position Blimey!... After looking at the most recent Google reviews - I get it - The experience of others in the last few months does seem very similar to your own. Below are the most recent 3 reviews: 1 month Ago: 1 Star “read carefully”, says a woman showing 12-step document requirements when it’s just 6 on their website they do visa 3 days minimum and have some holidays and weekends so there’s no chance for me to do the visa and they also require to full pay all accommodations and flights before applying so you can lose as much money as possible it’s just some kind of cruel joke I don’t get, and what they do just feels illegal like I suppose to pay for everything in thailand, I pay service fee, and risking to lose it all?! after traveling 2 countries and 4 cities I come with all documents listed on the website and they require something more which is too late to get today, and it’s weekend soon so get rekt I mean how much pain should one endure to get 60 days visa instead of 45-day stamp you’ll get on arrival for free anyway? 1 month Ago: 1 Star Tried to apply for tourist visa here. The list of required documents does not match those from official website. Counsel was nitpicking on nearly every document. They've accepted documents only on third attempt but then we found out it takes more than three working days to process. We could not change our flight tickets and had to abort the application, thankfully they returned the money. Would not recommend to anyone. 1 month Ago: 1 Star I rang the Thai Embassy in Hanoi today to ask some simple questions about exemption visas and all I got was a man yelling down the phone at me in a really angry voice. This kind of verbally abusive behaviour and absence of customer service is shameful and very very bad PR for Thailand.

After reading your original post bigqueso26 I emailed the Consulate in Hanoi asking about the turnaround time for your application since it mentioned up to 3 days on the website. I just got a response back, which didn't answer the question, but rather has provided me an attachment of a word doc with the qualification list criteria - This is also attached to this post (below). Some of the items do seem a bit surprising or are at least over the top (Some below - all copy and paste): <On the doc> 'Detailed Travel Plan, tour activities, and destinations … (and reasons why to travel to those places) during the whole periods that you will stay in Thailand in Thailand, in written/typed form (printed out in paper, no have sample).' 'VALID ACCOMMODATION RESERVATION BOOKING FOR THE WHOLE DURATION OF YOUR STAY IN THAILAND: Hotel confirmation or House Leasing contract, with ID/Personal Income Tax Code copy of the landlords.' - I have not added the capitalisation DOCUMENTS TO SHOW YOUR JOB, YOUR INCOME: More documents of financial evidence, financial resources, your income … which support you to pay for expenses in Thailand. For example: Copy of current /previous employment contract in English, or Letter from the applicant’s company indicating the applicant’s position, length of employment, salary and purpose of visit(s) to Thailand, and request the visa for applicant, copies of your employment/staff card … or any related evidence. It sounds a little more detailed than normal when expecting the length of employment, salary and explanation by the employer why you are visiting Thailand. 22 TOURIST VISA- EN (1).docx

Mnnnn - Doesn't sound good. Many on this forum have recommended Hanoi as one of the easier Consulates for getting a tourist visa and for me personally it was surprising to hear your story. While you have obviously had to endure a poor experience, your last post will actually help provide good information for others to understand the high bar challenges when selecting Hanoi. Its not clear why they insist on a full written itinerary of all your entire trip and a letter from your employer in the UK. Its unlikely that any particular itinerary would have any bearing on a decision to provide you with a tourist visa and there is an even smaller chance that they would follow up to make sure you followed this itinerary. Similarly its very unlikely they would spend the time checking on the validity or credibility of who the writer of a letter who might or might not be in the UK. Unfortunately it does sound like you are having a rough time trying get back to Thailand. It sometimes feels when reading stories like yours that Thailand doesn't know what problem they are trying to solve. Each Consulate and immigration has a broad sweeping range of rules and each interprets this with different amounts of vigour. It's difficult however to blame the immigration since they doing their job with the rules given to them and I am guessing whoever decides these rules is not actively monitoring the core of the problem or understand the scale of the problem or even what the problem is that is being solved. As a result Consulates and immigration end up with a general shopping list of issued rules that has no real quantified research or analysis and end up measuring on very blunt criteria "Because you spend too long in Thailand". This is even though you might have high potential benefit to Thailand with relatively little downside, you have simply spent too long being here. Unfortunately you seem to be a casualty. Good luck on your return to Thailand and please keep us all informed of your progress.

Hi bigqueso26 How did things work out?

The booking appointments calendar - Is NOW back online! https://calendly.com/consular-han/10?month=2023-01

Yup - I ended up here and as the poster points out this translated is for a different service (Google Translate) Passport/ID card/Civil registration Going to this page and clicking the other link - This needs logging into to make the service live (Google Translate) https://rtehanoi.thaiembassy.org/th/page/การนัดหมายออนไลน์-online-appointment The Visa service is the other link - But Both are now fully online i.e https://calendly.com/consular-han/10?month=2023-01

Hi bigqueso26 I can see what you mean and my apologies - I translated and got what I thought was the Tourist Visa booking - I can see that I was wrong and the booking page is down. It is not clear how long its been down - Seems the online service Calendly require an administrator to login and allow the service to be live on the web. You could try https://web.facebook.com/thaiembhanoi/?_rdc=1&_rdr using the Chat and see if they respond any faster than email. Its not clear that they would or would not see you and this depends I guess on how long the service has been down - If there is no one making appointments then no one can have an appointment and hence there would be lots of free slots that need filling. I have Googled around for the appointments service not working, but there is nothing showing. I will try again to see what I can find and let you know if I find anything.

Good info BritTim - Its just a pity that Immigration can not just make a single set of rules that could be possibly even harder to qualify for - But a least everyone knows what the rules are. I suspect that that even outside of the amount of tourist visa's each immigration algorithm has also been adapted to include some kind of calculation for the amount of Visa exempts especially now this has increased to 45 days. The reason that McDonald's gets repeat customers is they provide predictability, the one thing you never get from Thailand immigration is predictability.

I came across this old post (October 8, 2019) by UbonJoe - If stay in Thailand 90 days in the past 6 months application at Vientiane and Savannakhet possibly KL or Penang or Ho Chi Minh City then will not accept a application for a tourist visa. Is this still a thing? Has this been adopted by any other Consulates / Embassies?

A Tourist Visa will allow for 60 days of stay

I am not sure if this is useful or not, but Flights from DAD to Hanoi going next week cost just over 1,000 Thb and you can apply for a tourist visa. There is lots of availability to Make appointment i.e 6 available on Monday, cost of Visa is $40. You will need: Passport, Application Form, photograph (size 3.5 x 4.5 cm.), Flight itinerary for ROUND TRIP ticket, Copy of lease contract or hotel accommodation, A bank statement in the past 6 months showing the minimum fund of THB 20,000. Processing time of application will take 1-3 working days it says on the website, but as I understand if you apply in the morning you can usually collect the next day.

B+)

I just booked with the online system - I thought I also needed to pay online before the booking would be accepted, but I got confirmation of the appointment time and date - I have had mo payment request. Is the 1,900 Thb paid on the day or is this an online payment (that I have missed / misunderstood)?

Yup - Bangkok - Thanks for checking - I am aiming to go to IT Mall Laski This is the destination currently showing on the booking site: "Immigration Office - IT Square Laksi Plaza, 3rd Floor"