Driving To Vientiane For Non B Visa

[heazille]

I have to get a new Visa on or around July 1st,

Currently have Non B Multi from UK, and am now on the last 90 days after work permit cancelled from previous employer.

Will have letter from new employer but not applied for w/p yet.

As Fiancee has family in Roi Et am planning 10 day driving trip from Chiang Mai.

Has anyone driven to Vientiane lately?

Is it possible to leave car in Thailand (safely)and cross border with Fiancee for 2 days to sort Visa?

Will have gps so finding places in Thailand not really a problem.

Have noted pages & pages of advice here on "TV" but not much lately or relating to driving.

Thanks in advance

Richard

Chiang Mai

[ubonjoe]

You can park at the bus/van station for crossing the bridge, It is at the intersection just before you get to the bridge. It costs about 100 baht a day and is in a fenced gated area.

Your fiancee can enter Laos for 30 days for free if she has a passport. If not she can get a border pass that will allow her to stay for the 2 days. This can also be gotten from the travel agent at the bus station.

Unless you are going to be teaching you won't get a B visa without a WP3 (work permit application receipt) at Vientiane.

If your visa has not expired yet you can still get one more 90 day entry from it by leaving and returning the day before it expires. Your visa does not end because your work permit ended.

A visa is not tied to only one employer. Your new employer should be able to apply for the work permit at any time and then you can get an extension of stay. You don't have to wait for your current permit to stay to run out.

[jamiesensei]

I drove into Laos just last month. I needed :

• an 'International driving permit' for my car that was referred to as a car passport by customs / immigration officials. I was able to drive into Nongkhai and get this from the Roads and Transport Office behind the city hall.
  • I should think you could get this before you go at your local Roads and Transport Office, the same place you go for a driving test or to get a license. It is a passport like book, the one I got is valid for 3 months.
    

  [*]I needed my registration book. The car I think has to be registered in your name.

  [*]I had my Thai insurance with me.

  [*]Obviously I had my passport with me.

Getting export and import papers for the car all went smoothly once I had my car passport.

I had to buy Laos insurance once across the border. It just cost a few hundred baht for a week.

I drove up to Luang Prabang. It is a two lane mountain road shared with livestock kids and dogs and a lot of fast moving traffice travelling at speeds you might expect on a four lane super highway, care is advised. But there were beautiful views along the way.

[jimflan]

did it a couple of weeks ago. as per other posts you can either tak your car (advice already posted re what you need to do that) or just leave your car and get a bus or tuk tuk into Vientien (tuk tuk is about 250-300 baht and takes about 30 mins). I left my car behind the shops near the border station (free) and no problem. If you're just going to Vientiene leaving your car behind is probably simpler but if you want to see a bit of Laos (such as going to Laong Prabang or Vang Vieng) then obviously you're better taking your car. There's not a lot to see in Vientiene (it's pretty quiet) but there are some good restaurants and we found one good late night bar (think it was called Samlo) about 200m from the Nam Phou fountain in the town centre - everywhere else closes down by midnight.

Laong Prabang and Vang Vieng are much more scenic and the nightlife is pretty much backpacker oriented.

Enjoy - it's a beautiful country ...

[OxfordWill]

I always park opposite the small hotel half way along tanon Tha Bo, get a sam ror from there to cut across the local park and to the bridge. No one ever asks me to pay and the car is always untouched.