A friend is a Lao citizen, the unmarried mother of a Thai child. She currently does monthly border runs to keep her residence in Thailand legal. At a recent visit to immigration (residence certificate), the officers there suggested she get a non-O based on her motherhood. There is no problem in meeting the requirements, but she is afraid that having such a visa in her passport will alert the Lao officials when she returns home to the fact that she has broken Lao law by being an unmarried mother.

 

Does anyone have definite knowledge of how alert Lao immigration is to the nuances of Thai visa classes? What exactly does such a visa in the passport show in the case of a non_O based on having a Thai dependent? How alert would a Lao officer have to be to make the connection? 

 

Any and all insights gratefully received.

 

(Not an exact fit in this forum, nor in the SEAsian news one; certainly a moderator will place it properly.)

 

 

Never heard that Lao women had to be married to be a mother.

Lao Immigration will not be interested. My wife is Lao and we had our kid before we married, and our UK marriage is not recognised in Laos. We come and go frequently between our home in Bangkok and house in Laos, and there have never been issues, even though we travel openly as a family.



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Very big thanks for the information; it was received with relief. May I ask which border crossing you typically use?

 

 

Very big thanks for the information; it was received with relief. May I ask which border crossing you typically use?
 
 

We fly regularly from Suvarnaphumi to Pakse. Occasionally we do a land crossing at Chong Mek.

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Thanks for the info - the big question (they have decided to do the non-O; the money is salted and is seasoning) is whether to enter in future at Nong Khai, or the more convenient Bueng Kan, where, it is feared, the immigration officers might be over-zealous in pusuit of tea money.