On 6/3/2026 at 3:12 PM, DrJack54 said:

I think you will be fine as you obtained the eVisa in Laos and that's where you will be bouncing to to activate the visa upon reentry to Thailand.

An example of where it might be an issue is someone applies for eVisa say UK then travels to Thailand and enters visa exempt then later does a bounce tosay Laos such as you plan.

On 6/3/2026 at 3:12 PM, DrJack54 said:

I think you will be fine as you obtained the eVisa in Laos and that's where you will be bouncing to to activate the visa upon reentry to Thailand.

An example of where it might be an issue is someone applies for eVisa say UK then travels to Thailand and enters visa exempt then later does a bounce tosay Laos such as you plan.

Regarding the questioning upon exiting... Is it true we don't get in line with everyone else and should immediately go to the side room on the left? Should I say I'm going for a few days? Preferably I want to go across and come right back

8 minutes ago, Glenn128 said:

Should I say I'm going for a few days? Preferably I want to go across and come right back

Fact is if you bounce and come straight back into Thailand it's obvious that you already had the eVisa in place.

Mind you it's obvious even if you stayed days in Laos as dates on stamps in pp show that.

I repeat for others.... Remain in the country you are applying for the eVisa until approval.

Then enter Thailand with the visa.

Please report back with update of how things pan out at Nong Khai.

I suspect that io will just stamp you in according to the valid eVisa.

Obviously you will have hard copy print out..

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

Fact is if you bounce and come straight back into Thailand it's obvious that you already had the eVisa in place.

Mind you it's obvious even if you stayed days in Laos as dates on stamps in pp show that.

I repeat for others.... Remain in the country you are applying for the eVisa until approval.

Then enter Thailand with the visa.

Please report back with update of how things pan out at Nong Khai.

I suspect that io will just stamp you in according to the valid eVisa.

Obviously you will have hard copy print out..

So I went to the room on the left as per the advice in this thread. Again, still not sure if that's absolutely mandatory, but the io askef what I'm doing and I told him I'm activating non b and he just said you come back tomorrow. I asked if I tried to come back today if I'll be let in but he just kept repeating tomorrow, and I barely could understand what he's saying but it sounded like "you check tomorrow" which to me implies my visa may or may not be accepted, but I didn't want to jump to conclusions because I couldn't be sure what he was saying other than "tomorrow."

So now I'm in thanaleng, and I'm wondering if there's any hotels/hostels in the area? I looked around and couldn't find anything, but asking the locals they didn't understand and just waved me off.

Anyone have any leads on a place to stay here overnight?

22 minutes ago, Glenn128 said:

So now I'm in thanaleng, and I'm wondering if there's any hotels/hostels in the area?

Surely you have a phone to google.

I just typed thanaleng accommodation and heaps appeared along with Google Maps.

On 6/2/2026 at 9:44 AM, Glenn128 said:

Do you know if it's necessary to have to stay in Laos for a certain period of time before being able to cross back in? I'd like to go over and come right back, any idea if there is any kind of restriction on this? I'll be activating a non b, so I'm probably on a lot more solid ground than those of you doing visa exempts, but I am curious if there's any issue with out and immediately back in, same day?

Nong khai -You will be directed to a side office at the passport exit and also the entry to speak with a supervisor. Only he/she can answer your question. I'm a DTV holder and was staying in Vientiane for 3 days, so it wasn't an issue for me. On my exit, the IO asked me how long I was staying in Laos and asked my GF to confirm it, so it was obviously important to her.

Edited June 8Jun 8 by Jaggg88

So I went back the following day at 06:00am, went into the room on the left with 3 chairs, as reported above, and then sent further left to a supervisor's desk and without questions got my 90 days. I think I was in and out of the room in under 2 minutes. I'm still not sure if staying overnight was absolutely necessary, but all I've got is what the exit IO told me, which is one word: "tomorrow."

In case it ever comes up in the future, I did look around at the border town at Thanaleng and couldn't find a single hotel or hostel. If you search for available stays you will find one nearby but it's some big casino, which explains why the whole area was overrun with Chinese people, all the other rooms were further out, so at that point I just decided to hop on the green bus for 40 baht and find a room in Vientiane, and then head back the next morning.