Mae Sai Border Crossing, Details Please

[Luma]

I am doing a border run at Mae Sai in the next couple of days, to get my next 90 days on a NON-B multiple..

1. What do i need to get the Burmese visa at the border by myself, without using the visa touts around there?

2. Do I first leave Thai soil and stamp out of Thailand, walk over the bridge, then apply for the visa on arrival and then stamp into Myanmar?

Thanks for any details and tricks on how this works, this is my first Burma crossing trip.

3. My Thai GF want to cross over to Burma with me, does she only need Thai ID card, or any other requirements?

4. How is the Tax Free shop pricing on the other side?

5. Anything to sightseeing or visit while over there in Burmaland, or just do a quick revert back to Paradise?

Thanks for your valuable input!

[ChiangMaiThai]

You go to Thai immigration about a kilometer or so before the border on the left hand side. They take your TM card and enter your name into the computer. Then you head to the bridge. On the other side on the right hand side, you go to Burmese Immigration and pay them $5 I believe along with sacrificing your passport. They give you a 'visa' (a piece of paper) which allows you to stay in that province til 4 or 5pm. On the way out, you pick up your passport and go to the entry area for Thailand. Fill in a new TM card and get your stamp.

I don't think you want to venture to far into Burma. Most people just go to the market for an hour and then go. There's a casino about 10k's away if you want to try your luck. If you win, you'll have to consider how to make it back to Thailand without getting mugged. The Bangkok Post ran an article a couple days ago saying that 500 million ya ba pills would run through the Tachilek (spelling?) town this year. Not the safest of places.

Your Thai GF pays 40 baht or so and shows her ID card. May have to copy and sign it too.

[lamphun]

At the risk of being looked down upon as a possible "walker" by Dr Patpong;

Shopping. Take the stairs on the right hand side after Burmese Immigration to go down to the market. Don't buy anything from the hawkers. The marlboro cigarettes are fakes made in Vietnam. At the bottom of the stairs walk straight for about 50m. There's a shop with a yellow sign on the right hand side calling itself duty free. It's got whisky, wine, beer. The spirits are cheap. The wine is cheap but dodgy, forget the beer.

Don't buy too much as there's a customs post on the Thai side right next to the passport office.

[ufkenmill]

So you're saying that if you go and buy a cheap bottle of wine on the other side you will not appear to be a 'walker'? I knew that thai immigration can be inept in some ways, they'll certainly notice the 23, 30-day border crossing stamps you've been issued in the past.

"Dr." PP, can you please provide more specifics as to what this implies? You're saying to just be natural and look more like a tourist. Or do you own the shop with the yellow sign? Should we say that "Dr." PP sent us?

kidding of course, I think everyone gets the implication. All long-stays must appear as tourists just to assist in making the crossing as easy and hassle-free as possible.

[adjan jb]

The thai GF needs a border pass. She can't cross the border with only an ID card.

you can get a BP at different booths/shops just before the border. GF needs a photocopy of her ID + 10 bahts (if the fees haven't changed).

On the burmese side, she'll have to pay 5 bahts (but a lot of thai people don't even bother with that).