Basics For Going To Laos For A Tourist Visa

[Lodestone]

Here's one way to do a visa run for those wishing to minimize travel time and time spent in Laos.

Check here first to be sure your intended travel dates don't fall on a Thai or Lao holiday when the embassy will be closed. Note also that normal office hours for visa application submission are from 8:30am to 12 noon, and passport pickup times are from 1pm to 4pm.

Purchase a round trip ticket on NokAir: Outbound Flight DD9200, departing Bangkok (Don Mueang) at 6am, and arriving in Udon Thani at 7am. Next day return Flight DD9217, departing Udon Thani at 6:10pm, and arriving back in Bangkok (Don Mueang) at 7:10pm.

Print out a visa application form from here, fill it out, leaving the 'guarantor' answers blank, and glue two visa sized photos to the appropriate spots.

Make a photocopy of the photo page of your passport. This will be submitted along with the form.

Exchange enough baht to get at least 35USD to pay for your visa-on-arrival into Laos. Lao immigration will also accept baht but at a few hundred baht premium.

Choose where you want to stay in Vientiane. Here's a list of mostly low end accomodations. If you decide to go the guesthouse route have at least three or four alternate choices, since GHs typically have few rooms and with the current high popularity Vientiane seems to be enjoying among the backpacker set, you may not get your first choice. Your alternates should ideally be a short walking distance from each other.

At Udon Thani airport, just as you enter the arrivals hall from your flight, you will see a bit to your left a counter against the far wall with a large sign offering various choices for taxi and limousine service. Among these is a 150 baht minibus ride to the Friendship Bridge that connects Nong Kai, Thailand to Vientiane, Laos across the Mekong River. After purchasing a ticket for this you'll be quickly escorted outside to a seat on the minibus that's been waiting for your flight. Save the ticket.

The bus ride is about an hour and arrives in Nong Kai at the Thai immigration checkpoint at the bridge. After getting stamped out of Thailand, cross over to the covered area and buy a 15 baht bus ticket for the 5 minute ride across the bridge.

Arriving on the Laos side, get a Lao visa application form from one of the first two windows at the near end of the immigration building (you should see a visa sign above one the windows). Fill out this form and submit it back along with your passport, $35, and one visa photo. After a few minutes or longer they'll pass your passport back to you.

Walk around the right side of the building to immigration check-in for your entry stamp. After this there's another booth that'll want an additional 10 baht entry fee -- and they will provide you a rather elaborate receipt for it.

Now in Laos you'll be swarmed by various drivers offering rides to the Thai Embassy. The most you should pay for a solo ride in a nice van or car is 300 baht and some will readily agree to 200. Ideally if you can round up a couple others going your way, you should each pay no more than 100 baht for the half hour shared ride.

At the embassy you'll find a line of 50 or more people already there waiting outside to submit their applications. They'll be snaking out from a roofed but open air area to have their passports and all documents checked. After they've collected this from you, you'll be directed to go back to the main building across the grass and wait inside to pay your visa fee. When your name is called, pay 1000 baht for a single entry tourist visa or 2000 baht for a double entry. For another 1000 baht triple entries are also available, however the visa will still have only a three month expiration, so you won't be able to get maximum use out of it. Save the receipt they give you for when you pickup up your passport the next day.

Your driver from before will still be waiting for you. So after finishing business, have him drop you off at your first hotel/guesthouse choice. If it turns out they're fully booked, simply hike around to your other choices which should have been chosen to be nearby.

Whether you want to pay for your room, food, Internet, etc. in US dollars, Thai baht, or Lao kip is, as they say, up to you. However, most costs will be initially quoted in kip so you may get a somewhat better deal that way. The most convenient way to get kip is at the various ATM machines scattered around town. There are also a couple official currency exchange places but they close at 5:30pm.

The next day around 12:30pm grab a tuk tuk or just walk -- it's only about 20 or 30 minutes from the riverside -- back to the Thai embassy. Get in another long line again as before. When it's your turn hand over the receipt slip given you when you paid your visa fee the day before and get back your passport with your brand new Thai visa. Carefully check it all over to make sure it's what you were expecting.

Back outside you'll be swarmed again by drivers offering you a ride back to the Friendship Bridge. Chances are you'll see your same driver from yesterday. Again, same deal. No more than 300 baht for a solo ride, and if you can get a couple of others to go along, no more than 100 baht a piece.

At the bridge, get stamped out of Laos and ride the same 15 baht bus to the other side and get stamped in to Thailand. The same minibus that brought you from Udon Thani airport may be there waiting or they may not. If they're there, hop aboard and you're home free. If not call them up on the number printed on the ticket saved from yesterday and see what kind of schedule and/or arrangements they can make. Otherwise you can try paying for a taxi to the airport or see how to connect to the local buses. All in all, though, with a 6:10pm departure time for your flight, you should have no problem getting to the airport in time.

[cali4995]

Lodestone, that was very decent of you to take the time to type all that up. This

question seems to get asked nearly every day. I'm not sure how many more

weeks Vientiane will be doing business before they succumb to the dark side. It

must have a dramatic effect on the local economy how these Thai embassies

choose to conduct affairs or not. Let's hope the fort doesn't crumble soon and

they start turning people away or issuing transit visas to get rid of travellers.

Edited January 10, 2008 by cali4995

[irisgodd3ss]

I think this is the Vientiane visa run guide that everyone's been looking for. Great job!

Anyhow, does anyone know what street the Thai consulate in Vientiane is on and what streets are close by? I want to find the nearest possible GH to stay in when I get there.

[sostanov]

Don't you need a photocopy of your Laos visa page too?

[Onnutrd]

I got a copy of my Laos Visa page aswell, but when I submitted my documents they said they did not require it. The next day I picked up my Visa with no hassles.