Hi all,

Does anyone have any recent experience doing a visa run to Vientiane (June 2026)?

I haven’t done any visa runs for more than 10 years, as I’ve been on a marriage visa for most of my time in Thailand. My visa expires at the end of this month, and I only need an extra two weeks before moving abroad with my wife. My wife has already left to get everything set up, so I’m unable to extend my marriage visa this time. Visaextension services

I thought a quick visa run would be the best option to extend my stay for two weeks, especially since I don’t have any recent visa run history. However, today I was told that visa runs are no longer allowed at the Nong Khai border crossing. The immigration officer informed me that I need to apply for a tourist visa at the Thai Embassy in Vientiane.

Unfortunately, I don’t have time to wait 5–10 working days for a tourist visa to be processed.

Has anyone recently flown back to Thailand from Vientiane without a visa? Is the airport immigration generally more lenient than the land border at Nong Khai?

Thanks in advance for any recent experiences or advice.

39 minutes ago, Mike80 said:

Unfortunately, I don’t have time to wait 5–10 working days for a tourist visa to be processed.

You wouldn't want a SETV (eVisa)

You can't obtain 60 day extension as wife is not in Thailand.

Where are you located.

Hi Jack,

I live in Thailand but currently in Vientiane. I had to get out of the country today.

Yeah, so the eVisa is the one I need to apply for at the Thai embassy in Vientiane. But the processing time is just so unpredictable and long.

I basically need about two weeks, so I won’t need the full 60 day extension.

Most reports of evisas from Vientiane suggest a few days is much more likely than not. Why not just apply for it today and see what happens. Worst case fly back.

Hi UpnotOver,

That’s the path I’m taking right now. I already applied, so cross fingers. 👍

1 hour ago, Mike80 said:

I live in Thailand but currently in Vientiane. I had to get out of the country today.

If you can stay night or two in Vientiane then just enter Thailand visa exempt..

You say that your only needing couple more weeks.

If you have a flight out of Thailand to show then that would be good.

I'd have just overstayed for 2 weeks.
No penalty other than a 7,000 BHT fine on exit, which is cheaper than a trip to Vientienne.

56 minutes ago, Liquorice said:

I'd have just overstayed for 2 weeks.
No penalty other than a 7,000 BHT fine on exit, which is cheaper than a trip to Vientienne.

Can't believe you are putting that out as "good advice"

Folk should disregard option of two weeks overstay as a throw away line that it only amounted to 500b/day.

A day or two is an option.

Two weeks reckless IMO.

BTW the op is currently in Vientiane. Sensible in that he avoided overstay.

1 hour ago, DrJack54 said:

Can't believe you are putting that out as "good advice"

Where did I state it was good advice, or any kind of advice.
I merely stated what I would do given that situation.

6 minutes ago, Liquorice said:

Where did I state it was good advice, or any kind of advice.
I merely stated what I would do given that situation.

And that advice/option is foolish..

Especially from experienced poster.

10 minutes ago, Liquorice said:

I merely stated what I would do given that situation.

There are several more expert visa experts on this forum than myself.

I would be gobsmacked if any thought 2 week overstay was sensible.

BTW: you stated... "No penalty other than a 7,000 BHT fine on exit, which is cheaper than a trip to Vientienne."

That is advice and very poor advice.

I would never overstay for any reason.

Just received my eVisa from the Thai embassy in Vientiane. Here’s a short timeline for anyone interested:

1: Applied on Sunday 28th June

2: Paid at the embassy on Monday 29th June

3: Got a “Additional Documents” request in the morning of the 30th and submitted the requested documents just after 13:00pm on the same day,

4: Embassy was satisfied with the additional documents and changed the status of my application to “Pending Approval” at 9:00AM on the 1st July.

5: Approved eVisa at 9:05AM on 2nd July.

The embassy opens at 9:00AM, so they could have easily approved my visa the day before, but it seems the staff go through a batch of applications just once a day.

I decided to fly back and during the check-in I WAS asked for my eVisa. Good I waited for my eVisa. Wonder if they would accept travelers without an eVisa, such as travelers who wish to enter on visa exempt. Probably need proof of onward travel.

4 minutes ago, Mike80 said:

I decided to fly back and during the check-in I WAS asked for my eVisa.

Firstly thanks for clear update.

So was the eVisa ask at check-in was by the airline?

And yes airline could want onward flight without a visa.

BTW : what extra docs did they ask for?

2 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

So was the eVisa ask at check-in was by the airline?

And yes airline could want onward flight without a visa.

BTW : what extra docs did they ask for?

Yes, Thai Airways asked for it. I overheard them asking other travelers for their visa’s as well.

Uhmm…for the additional documents:

1: I uploaded a photo of the cropped Laosian entrance stamp, which had to be the full passport page instead of a cropped photo. I should have known this as immigration in my city would also only accept full pages during visa applications 😊😊.

2: for the item “accommodation” I uploaded my TM30, as it contains all info of where I’m registered in Thailand. Immigration requested hotel bookings, but as I will stay at my own/wife’s house, I created a PDF containing an invitation letter, wife’s ID, wife’s Tabien Baan, and my TM30, which was accepted.

The mistake I made was to upload jpeg’s instead of pdfs. The visa application website has several items where documents must be uploaded and each item only accepts one upload. I advise everyone to make pdfs containing all relevant documentation for each particular item. The more complete the better.