Thaivisarun Company

[buckeye]

HI

One of my buddy's is going to use this company for a visa run extension to PP(2X60 tourist). Anyone use them before (ThaiVisaRun.com), they also state that they get a one year visa with no money in the bank for a 3xxxx price. This all sounds a bit off the wall to me? I told him to do it himself. Before someone sounds off this is not me I have a one retirement visa for the last 12 years. Any comments?

[CharlieH]

I have two problems with this company (and similiar ones to it).

1) They are very clear about where they DONT go but dont say where they DO go ?(according to their website)

2) If that bus was full there would be around 40+ people (perhaps more) on it travelling to a border. I have never in my years of staying in Thailand arrived at a border and had to wait while 40 people in front of me processed their paperwork, so assuming each one took just 5 minutes for a "visa on arrival" you are facing a 3.5 hr wait if you happen to be last off the bus, and someone is going to be last.

All this assuming there is no one there to start with, if you arrive and there are another 10 already queing in front of you then you can add another 1 hours waiting........and then the same again for entry back into Thailand !.......no thanks.....I'll go my own way or in a smaller group...........imagine if another bus arrived same time.......you'd be there all day !!!

Edited October 23, 2010 by CharlieH

[Tod Daniels]

FWIW: I've sent more people than I can even count to that company when they needed a double entry tourist visa for thailand. Philip, is the name of the guy who owns that company, and he runs a pretty darned good outfit. IMHO it is far superior to some other 'un-named' companies .

When I went their busses left from Phra Khanong (Soi 71) on Sunday nite. We were at the gates to the Nong Khai border crossing by 5:30AM. The chaperone handles getting your Lao Visa, and all your paperwork is filled out BEFORE you even board the bus in Bangkok to leave.

You also don't queue at either the thai side, stamping out, or the Laotian side getting the visa and stamping in, that's all done by the chaperone who goes directly into the offices to get the stamps etc.

It's an all in type of visa run, Lao visa, thai visa, transportation to/from Lao, all transportation inside Lao, hotel, and a couple of meals (buffet in a guest house on the river in NongKhai on the return leg) too. I've never ever had a problem with either using them or sending people to them for their visas and he runs a pretty well-oiled machine in regards to getting thai visas.

I personally used them twice in the past; once for a single entry Non-Immigrant Type-ED visa, and another time for a single entry Non-Immigrant Type-O based on retirement. Both times I went, the buses were chock-a-block with women from the Philippines (mostly nannies who were getting their tourist visas). I think there were only 5 or 6 other foreigners getting their double entry tourist visas or other visa types based on their documentation.

I can't comment on the part about one year non-o visa, as I've never used them for that.

[CharlieH]

IMHO......it wouldnt matter if every person went or ONE chaperone as you put it, there would still need to hand in (potentially)40+ passports and application forms, all of which would need to be checked, then the full page sticker type Visa that is used in Laos for EACH passport and then the passport stamped and thats gonna take time. Of the 16 occasions I have been to Nong khai it has never taken less than 10 minutes for the "Visa on arrival" to be processed.

I also dont beleive that ANY Thai immigration officer would blindly stamp a passport without even seeing the person ?.....sorry i just dont see it or believe it........but that's only my opinion and based on my experience.

[Tod Daniels]

And I am only commenting on my personal experience when using that company. That your experience runs contrary to mine doesnt negate either of our experiences. Theyre just horses of a different color.

The first time I went there weren't enough people going to warrant a big tour bus, so we used 2 mini-vans (although the second time there were and we had a NICE tour bus!).

There were between 18 and 20 people, and ALL of us, got out on the thai side of friendship bridge, walked thru the gates sans passports, and waited on the other side of the gate while the chaperone went inside the office with our passports to get us stamped out of thailand (the ONLY people who had to accompany her were people who had over-stay fines to pay).

We then boarded the bus which lugs you across the 'friendship bridge' to the Lao side.

On the Lao side, we were hustled thru the gates to some waiting mini-vans, again sans passports, while the chaperone took the stack inside Lao Immigrations. She returned about 15 minutes later with them all containing the Lao Visa and the entry stamp, and not a single person in our group even had to speak to a Lao Immigrations officer.

So not only did we not see a thai immigrations officer on the thai side of things leaving we also didnt see a laotian immigrations officer on the Lao side either entering or leaving although when re-entering thailand with our new visas we needed to queue and get our new thai entry stamp in person.

The company the O/P is inquiring about has run their Vientiane service for a couple years now at least, maybe longer. As I said earlier, the "wheels seem well greased" to get things done in an expedient manner (read into it what you will), but it runs really SMOOTH.

It runs far smoother than the 'gaggle', 'herd', 'murder', 'flock' (use the group classifier of your choice) of foreign do-it-yourself visa-runners I saw milling around the window where you apply for your Lao Visa who seemed to not have the slightest clue about what to do.

Its much the same the day after youve turned in your application at the Thai Consulate in Vientiane when you go to get your passport. You dont even go in the consulate compound, but wait in the mini-van and the chaperone goes and gets the whole stack. She then hands em out, making you check that you got what you applied for BEFORE the van leaves the consulate for the return trip to Nong Khai.

Now could a person do it themselves? Of course, it only takes rudimentary research skills to figure it out, after all we're not sequencing the human genome.

However, with that being said; I've yet to hear of a single complaint concerning how Philip runs his company in regards to foreigners getting double entry tourist visas in Vientiane.

Edited October 23, 2010 by tod-daniels

[JusMe]

A few years back, when I was doing regular runs rather than on the O-A I now have, I used this company and was completely satisfied.

The day trip was a big comfortable bus with good lunch provided, very efficient in every way, including quick passage back and forth across the border. Had barely enough time to check out the "duty free" market on the border.

Only complaint I had about the overnight trip to Nong Khai was the fact that it was a minivan, not a big bus, and therefore a bit cramped. But everything was very efficient, including the trip to the Thai embassy for visas.

If the company hasn't changed, and I doubt it, I'd recommend their service. Efficient, convenient timing and locations, and good prices.