Driving across the Friendship Bridge

[mackayae]

Anyone driven across the Friendship Bridge lately. I plan on a border bounce next month. What are the procedures?

[DrJack54]

Here is link outing procedures.

http://www.laos-guide-999.com/border-crossing.html#ThaiDepartureCar

 

IMO crazy. Leave car Thai side and bounce.

Note: seems that crossing now requires overnight stay.

Perhaps avoided with a donation 

[Briggsy]

I have done this.

 

A lot of document preparation required. It would be totally unnecessary for a border bounce. Sometimes if you have all the documents right and both customs and immigration on both sides helpfully guide you, it can be quite smooth. But sometimes it isn't. I have crossed into Laos 4 times using various crossings. Nong Khai going out was the biggest headache. The form you fill in to take your vehicle was initially designed for boats leaving port (I am not kidding) and the IO wanted it filled in in a very specific manner. He sent me away 3 times to do it again.

 

Other places like Chong Mek were very straightforward provided you bring all the documents correctly completed.

[Tomtomtom69]

44 minutes ago, Briggsy said:

I have done this.

 

A lot of document preparation required. It would be totally unnecessary for a border bounce. Sometimes if you have all the documents right and both customs and immigration on both sides helpfully guide you, it can be quite smooth. But sometimes it isn't. I have crossed into Laos 4 times using various crossings. Nong Khai going out was the biggest headache. The form you fill in to take your vehicle was initially designed for boats leaving port (I am not kidding) and the IO wanted it filled in in a very specific manner. He sent me away 3 times to do it again.

 

Other places like Chong Mek were very straightforward provided you bring all the documents correctly completed.

 

The procedure is the same at every land border.

 

Print out the forms (TM2, 3 and 4), fill them out at home (always in duplicate, one for exit and the other for entry) hand them in and get your customs form, then leave. For Laos, you also need to use your purple international transport permit, which will be stamped once by Thai customs and twice in Laos (immigration stamps it and customs as well).

 

It's a good idea to tell Thai customs whether you'll be coming back through a different border but so far only one border has ever given me grief for handing back a form where I didn't specify another border as the reentry point. After roughly 20 to 25 minutes of waiting the officer finally resolved the issue and I was through. 

 

Most Thai customs officers are lazy and don't enquire about your travels, so you need to tell them, since 95% of the few Thais who drive their cars across the border don't travel more than a few Km and almost always return the same way.

[Tomtomtom69]

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

Here is link outing procedures.

http://www.laos-guide-999.com/border-crossing.html#ThaiDepartureCar

 

IMO crazy. Leave car Thai side and bounce.

Note: seems that crossing now requires overnight stay.

Perhaps avoided with a donation 

 

A very simple process. If you can't manage to fill out a form and bring your vehicle registration along, best not to cross a land border and just fly or catch a bus or train. For Vientiane, you can catch a train from Bangkok and there's even an overnight cross-border bus service from Bangkok as well as from every major Isarn city starting from Khon Kaen and north of there.

[DrJack54]

3 minutes ago, Tomtomtom69 said:

 

A very simple process. If you can't manage to fill out a form and bring your vehicle registration along, best not to cross a land border and just fly or catch a bus or train

The OP is asking about a border bounce. 

He wants to exit Thailand obtain entry stamp to Laos turn around and reenter Thailand.

Taking car with him crazy. 

[Briggsy]

I tend to agree with @DrJack54. Taking your vehicle to Laos gets easier each time you do it as you become more and more familiar with the process. However initially it is rather stressful as you are dealing with a minimum of 4 sets of officials, I could say 5 as you will need a Laos VOA too. Each official requires certain forms and you will need to find that official and provide the correct forms and that is not always obvious.

 

So, to summarise, unless you like a good challenge for no apparent purpose, taking your vehicle to Laos and then immediately turning round and bringing it back is ridiculously hard to justify.

[mackayae]

I recently heard that a border bounce is not possible without a 2 day stay in Laos.

[DrJack54]

6 minutes ago, mackayae said:

I recently heard that a border bounce is not possible without a 2 day stay in Laos.

https://aseannow.com/topic/1347328-nong-khai-border-bounce-avoid/

[thai006]

6 hours ago, mackayae said:

I recently heard that a border bounce is not possible without a 2 day stay in Laos.

 

I  was stuck in laos for 2 days if you want new 60 days visa exempt  

[Tomtomtom69]

On 12/27/2024 at 2:13 PM, DrJack54 said:

The OP is asking about a border bounce. 

He wants to exit Thailand obtain entry stamp to Laos turn around and reenter Thailand.

Taking car with him crazy. 

 

OK, for that, there's probably no point. You're right.

[Tomtomtom69]

On 12/27/2024 at 2:43 PM, Briggsy said:

I tend to agree with @DrJack54. Taking your vehicle to Laos gets easier each time you do it as you become more and more familiar with the process. However initially it is rather stressful as you are dealing with a minimum of 4 sets of officials, I could say 5 as you will need a Laos VOA too. Each official requires certain forms and you will need to find that official and provide the correct forms and that is not always obvious.

 

So, to summarise, unless you like a good challenge for no apparent purpose, taking your vehicle to Laos and then immediately turning round and bringing it back is ridiculously hard to justify.

 

True, although you'll find that while the process is usually the same at each border each time you go there, sometimes, there are slight differences between border crossings. This means that one border might demand photos of the front and back of your car, while another might ask for 3 copies of all your documents, rather than 2 but no photos. 

 

The procedure for crossing into Laos is of course different from Cambodia or Malaysia or Singapore. Or Myanmar (currently not an option for farang). 

 

For example, at Nong Khai, you also need to make copies of all pages of your car passport (the purple booklet), which is a new requirement they seem to have invented in the post Covid period. No other border seems to require this, but to be safe, I prepare documents for Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia separately.

 

For exiting at Nong Khai, I present a booklet with copies of my passport, car registration showing my name, tax page and additions (last page of the blue booklet) along with every page with a stamp on it of the purple international transport permit. I always have at least 2 copies, in case one isn't enough. 

 

For Cambodia, the purple car passport isn't needed unless you're intending on driving into Laos directly from Cambodia afterwards. Thus, I have a separate booklet containing everything above except for the purple international transport permit copies. 

 

It's a good idea to inform Thai customs of where you'll be re-entering and ensure the form you receive mentions this. In practice, most customs offices don't care what it says, but I did receive grief at one smaller border coming back from Cambodia, when it said on the form my re-entry point is Aranyaprathet/Poipet. They wanted to send me back there, but once I explained that I've never had an issue with what it says on the form and that I find the whole thing a little silly, the rather inexperienced officer, after going back and forth over the phone with Aranyaprathet customs let my vehicle back in. I even told Aran customs upon my departure that I'd be coming back through the specific border checkpoint I returned through, but the form wasn't updated. They sort of assume you're going to be coming back the same way because 99% of locals do exactly that.

 

Same thing at Nong Khai, almost all Laotian drivers will be coming back via Nong Khai, so you really have to make sure customs understands what you want to do. They'll probably tell you "don't worry what it says on the form" so they don't have to do any extra work, but if you plan on returning through a small checkpoint, insist on the process being done properly to avoid problems on re-entry. 

 

For some unknown reason, Laos seems to be restricting Thai cars to 15 days upon entering at Vientiane again. Back in 2023, it was 30 days. 15 days is the status quo from the pre-Covid days, but I thought they were finally becoming more generous after Covid, though this seems to be short-lived. However, these 15 days can be extended in-country. I don't know what the procedure is, presumably you'd need to visit a border customs office shortly before the expiry date and get it done there or in Vientiane. Since I've never spent 15 days in Laos in one stretch with my car (though I've come close, at 12 days) I've never had to do it. However, most other borders would issue a 30 day permit even if Vientiane only gave 15 days, so for longer trips it may be worth entering somewhere else if you intend on spending a longer period in Laos and don't want to go through the hassle of extending your customs permit. I found you can now enter your details on the Lao customs system online and trying out different entry and exit points it still only gave me 15 days, regardless of what I entered. Perhaps this is the new system or you have to apply in person and find out for yourself. Or perhaps it's linked to my passport, since I receive 15 days visa-free. I don't really know, but I do know that in Vientiane, everyone, regardless of nationality, gets 15 days for their vehicle, regardless of how many days they receive through visa free, visa on arrival or visa in advance schemes (which was up to 60 days last year for westerners). 

 

I also think that if someone wants to go to the trouble of driving into Laos (or any other neighboring country) you'd have to be bonkers to immediately turn around and come back after all that. Why not explore Laos? The fun really begins once you're inside the country and driving your Thai registered car around. If you're used to it like I am, then driving in Laos (or Cambodia) isn't any more challenging than in Thailand, save for the much poorer infrastructure and the annoyance of having to get out of your seat to receive parking or toll tickets, as your steering wheel is on the opposite side.