To those with experience in using double entry Tourist VISAs,

I've got a a double entry Tourist VISA in Laos and successfully used (and extended) the first entry. The extension is now on its way to expire, and i'm trying to make the right decitions for the second entry.

I know that i have to ENTER BEFORE the 10th of May for the first entry as well as the second entry, so i'll make sure to be there to get my second stamp before that date.

My prefered way to do this is to get on the bus to Aranyaphratet, pass the Thai border, watch a few people gambling in a casino and get my second stamp when i pass the Thai border from the other direction before i get on the bus back home again.

So my questions:

1) Will this work? NOTE that i do not intend to enter Cambodia.

2) Is it likely to be better to try this somewhere else? Where?

Please also note that i don't have any flight tikcets to anywhere!

Thanks in advance!

BR,

Hans

The day before your extension finishes go outside Thailand and come back again. As long as it is before 10th May.

You must enter the neighboring country. From a Thai immigration website

- Foreigners crossing into Thailand from Cambodia must have valid a exit stamp from the Cambodian immigration authorities in their passport.

You cannot re-enter Thailand until you have entered another country first.

Thanks!

I stay in Sriracha. Do you think Aranyaphratet is still the best place for me to go?

/Hans

You must enter the neighboring country. From a Thai immigration website

- Foreigners crossing into Thailand from Cambodia must have valid a exit stamp from the Cambodian immigration authorities in their passport.

You cannot re-enter Thailand until you have entered another country first.

I stay in Sriracha. Do you think Aranyaphratet is still the best place for me to go?

No.

Your best option is to use a visa run service in Pattaya. The prices vary from 1,700 to about 2,400 for the run which is to the Ban Laem border post.

I've always been suspicious about those visa run services. Why would this be my best option?

/Hans

I stay in Sriracha. Do you think Aranyaphratet is still the best place for me to go?

No.

Your best option is to use a visa run service in Pattaya. The prices vary from 1,700 to about 2,400 for the run which is to the Ban Laem border post.

I've always been suspicious about those visa run services. Why would this be my best option?

Just the ease of it. If you are not familiar with the process. Or if you are not comfortable in making your way around borders and in foreign countries. They take you to the border, handle all the work for you so that it makes it nice and easy for you. Most of them you can sit and eat lunch or do some shopping while they handle all the paperwork.

These are different than the old ones that used to just take your passport and you remained in Thailand.

I went to Had Lek once, and i think it was quite nasty. I had to fight to do it all in the way i thought it should be done, and i think that most of the people trying to make good business on me would watch me as i left wishing that they would have gone for a "better customer".

Anyway, do you think it matters what crossing i go to (selecting between crossings in Burma, Cambodia or Laos)? What i want is just to be treated in accordance with the applicable official laws rather than in accordance with the local maffia's laws.

/Hans

I've always been suspicious about those visa run services. Why would this be my best option?

Just the ease of it. If you are not familiar with the process. Or if you are not comfortable in making your way around borders and in foreign countries. They take you to the border, handle all the work for you so that it makes it nice and easy for you. Most of them you can sit and eat lunch or do some shopping while they handle all the paperwork.

These are different than the old ones that used to just take your passport and you remained in Thailand.

Sometimes hard to get around the "local" laws. After all it is at the discretion of the immigration officers that you be allowed to enter the country.

Yes, without this we wouldn't bother to discuss and analyze what is going on at the border in forums like this one, would we?

/Hans

Sometimes hard to get around the "local" laws. After all it is at the discretion of the immigration officers that you be allowed to enter the country.