Recent Scam At Lao Border

[sutnyod]

Hi,

A little word of caution for visa runners (or visitors) to Laos. A friend of mine was recently cheated out of 100 (one hundred USD). He arranged his visa to Laos in the normal way, paid the 30 USD visa fee at the friendship bridge between Nongkhai and Vientiane, filled out his form and went to Vientiane. When he wanted to cross back to Thailand, the Lao official at the check-out counter told him that ‘he had failed to stamp the date’ in his visa stamp. Discussion was useless, because this ‘official’ kept the passport and demanded a 100 USD rans…. sorry, fine.

If that happens to any of you: make a show to note the name of the ‘official’ down and go straight up to the second floor to see the ‘hua nah’. That should help. Or even better: check all your stamps before leaving the visa counter.

[OneeyedJohn]

How recently...? The fee is now 35 $us

The visa occupies 1 whole page of your passport, and on exit gets a "USED" stamp on it.

The 2 ( in & out ) date stamps for me are in red and in blue, so where is the scam?

[retiredusn]

How recently...? The fee is now 35 $us

The visa occupies 1 whole page of your passport, and on exit gets a "USED" stamp on it.

The 2 ( in & out ) date stamps for me are in red and in blue, so where is the scam?

The scam may be ANOTHER "my friend told me"

[lopburi3]

I believe the fee is $30 for some nationalities.

[sjaak327]

Lao visa fees:

http://www.bkklaoembassy.com/consular%20service/visafee.htm

I don't see the scam though.

"the check-out counter told him that ‘he had failed to stamp the date’ in his visa stamp."

That's not your responsibility, the people who preprare the visa do that ...

[technocracy]

How recently...? The fee is now 35 $us

The visa occupies 1 whole page of your passport, and on exit gets a "USED" stamp on it.

The 2 ( in & out ) date stamps for me are in red and in blue, so where is the scam?

The amount it costs depends on what country you if I remember rightly an Australian only pays $30 for a visa (amongst many others).

As for the 'scam' it seems a little odd as I've just looked through all my visas and I have a visa which which doesn't have arrival date stamped on it and never had a problem. Also the Lao officials are normally demons with there stamps, they'll stamp anything and everything!

But that said the sentence: ‘he had failed to stamp the date’ in his visa stamp' doesn't actually make much sense. What has been not stamped? The date stamp on the visa when issued or the arrival stamp dates (arrival and end of visa date)?

[lopburi3]

I believe the issue was the lack of entry date on his inbound visa would prevent his exit - the $100 bill eliminated this problem. At least that is my reading of it.

[technocracy]

I believe the issue was the lack of entry date on his inbound visa would prevent his exit - the $100 bill eliminated this problem. At least that is my reading of it.

That's what I was thinking however the entry date is also stamped on the entry visa also - so I can't see that them forgetting the stamp on the visa would make much difference. All seems rather odd!

[sutnyod]

I believe the issue was the lack of entry date on his inbound visa would prevent his exit - the $100 bill eliminated this problem. At least that is my reading of it.

That's what I was thinking however the entry date is also stamped on the entry visa also - so I can't see that them forgetting the stamp on the visa would make much difference. All seems rather odd!

Exactly lopburi and technocracy! I also forgot to ask my friend whether the entry visa had been stamped on the arrival and departure form. Thing is, you don't think clearly in such a situation. And yes, I cannot see the problem either. So the issue is really about those guys finding a way to blame you (what's your fault in it anyway if a government official fails to do his job?), hold your passport and extract a bit of cash. Could be the entry stamp, could be something else. So just be careful and never budge if the fault is not yours.

The whole thing happened this week.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

I believe the issue was the lack of entry date on his inbound visa would prevent his exit - the $100 bill eliminated this problem. At least that is my reading of it.

That's what I was thinking however the entry date is also stamped on the entry visa also - so I can't see that them forgetting the stamp on the visa would make much difference. All seems rather odd!

Exactly lopburi and technocracy! I also forgot to ask my friend whether the entry visa had been stamped on the arrival and departure form. Thing is, you don't think clearly in such a situation. And yes, I cannot see the problem either. So the issue is really about those guys finding a way to blame you (what's your fault in it anyway if a government official fails to do his job?), hold your passport and extract a bit of cash. Could be the entry stamp, could be something else. So just be careful and never budge if the fault is not yours.

The whole thing happened this week.

See attached, red in & out stamps on the Lao side, plus USED and date on the visa issued on arrival, PLUS the date in red on the Lao visa itself, PLUS exit date from Nong Khai, and now a whole lot of places you can legally go from Nong Khai once you've stamped out, except across the bridge.

Yep, scammed somehow.

Mac

[Jimjim]

Ya, but Mac, he's not saying it happened to you, but that it happened to his friend so there's no reason for your picture. Probably it was an isolated incident and he's just saying to be beware, not that it happened to you. Think about it.

[Maestro]

Ya, but Mac, he's not saying it happened to you, but that it happened to his friend so there's no reason for your picture...

Jimjim, I think that picture is useful. It should help the OP, when looking at his friend’s passport, to identify which date stamp is missing in the friend’s passport because at the moment I, for one, don’t really know. The OP did say “the Lao official at the check-out counter told him that ‘he had failed to stamp the date’ in his visa stamp” but that makes no sense because a tourist is neither required nor permitted to stamp a date on a visa.

As I see it, the OP could have meant any one of four date stamps:

-- the date of issue of the visa

-- the used date of the visa

-- the entry date on the arrival stamp (lots of people call the entry stamp a visa)

-- the until date on the arrival stamp

--

Maestro

[sjaak327]

"As I see it, the OP could have meant any one of four date stamps:

-- the date of issue of the visa

-- the used date of the visa

-- the entry date on the arrival stamp (lots of people call the entry stamp a visa)

-- the until date on the arrival stamp

'

Hmm, I have several Lao visas in my passport, the date in red is stamped by the person who prepares the visa, the date in blue is stamped when entering the country. The entry and exit stamps are not likely to be a problem in this case. (or it could be the until date on the arrival stamp, which is stamped in blue) I guess it's either the red or blue stamp on the visa itself.

Bottom line is that this is not really the responsibility of the person entering/leaving the country, so I would not pay this "fine". Also how is someone, who goes there for the first time, suppose to know ?

[sniffdog]

"As I see it, the OP could have meant any one of four date stamps:

-- the date of issue of the visa

-- the used date of the visa

-- the entry date on the arrival stamp (lots of people call the entry stamp a visa)

-- the until date on the arrival stamp

'

Hmm, I have several Lao visas in my passport, the date in red is stamped by the person who prepares the visa, the date in blue is stamped when entering the country. The entry and exit stamps are not likely to be a problem in this case. (or it could be the until date on the arrival stamp, which is stamped in blue) I guess it's either the red or blue stamp on the visa itself.

Bottom line is that this is not really the responsibility of the person entering/leaving the country, so I would not pay this "fine". Also how is someone, who goes there for the first time, suppose to know ?

Bottom line is that this is not really the responsibility of the person entering/leaving the country

I beg to differ ... the passport holder is responsible for all necessary valid travel documents (including visa stamps). Always check your visa before leaving the counter. He might have lost 100 USD, but it could be worse and have him refuse to leave the country.

I experienced this one time with a guy on the minibus from Samui to the Malaysian border. At entry in Bangkok (one month earlier), the officer didn't stamp his passport for arrival. The officer at Sa Dao said that because he never entered Thailand, he couldn't leave and he had to sort it out in Bangkok.

[sutnyod]

Ya, but Mac, he's not saying it happened to you, but that it happened to his friend so there's no reason for your picture...

The OP did say "the Lao official at the check-out counter told him that 'he had failed to stamp the date' in his visa stamp" but that makes no sense because a tourist is neither required nor permitted to stamp a date on a visa.

That's the irony. The accusation "you failed to stamp" and this coming from a so-called official is complete nonsense. I don't want to repeat the discussion that started (I have told my friend all the things he could have said and he replied he did). Thing is: as long as this official had the passport, my friend felt he was not in a negotiating position (I think different).

These things are NO isolated incidents. I have had similar attemps happening to me, but it ALWAYS worked when I stormed in the second floor and questioned the 'hua nah' about the behavior of his underlings.

So again, people who don't believe, feel free to not believe. The rest of you: just be careful. It costs nothing and can really help.

Bye