Hi,

I am plannning a day trip over into Laos across the 2nd Friendship Bridge, I hear that a Thai can enter for the day without a passport if they show their ID card and fill in a form to get a so called Day Pass. Is this true and does anyone have any experience doing this?

Thanks

Andy

true. a local (Thai) only needs to produce their ID for a border pass whereas a foreigner apart from the ASEAN countries would need a VISA.

additional restriction: by doing this, a Thai can ONLY visit bordering provinces and not go very far inland. There is also a small fee to pay. The same holds on reverse for laotians wanting to visit this LOS

Have taken Thais across at Nong Khai/Vientianne, Nakhon Phanom/Tha Khek and Chong Mek/Pakse in the last 3 years.

Day passes are about 50 baht I seem to recall. Longer trips into Laos are not particularly expensive for Thais either, from memory, but you might need a couple of passport photos (can be bougt at most crossings but try to get in without); I don't recall there being a need for a Thai to have a passport for the longer trips.