Tourist Visa Trip To Vientiane Completed

[inthepink]

Just wanted to make a quick trip report for anybody planning to go to Vientiane in the near future.

Background info:

I have a British passport and I entered Thailand in October 2010 on multi-entry non-imm 'B' visa from Hulll, which I used to stay here until late December 2011. I then went to Vientiane in Dec 2011 and applied for a double-entry tourist visa which I used (with two 30 day extensions on each 60 day entry) to stay here until now.

I have been here for 8-9 years on various different visas but the ones mentioned above are the only ones that are in my current passport.

Anyway....

I flew to Udon on Tuesday 12th June and stayed there the night because I landed at 08.45 am and it would have been tight getting to the Thai consulate in Vientiane by 12.

I got a taxi to the border about 6am the next morning (cost 800 baht and took about 45 minutes) and as there were very few people at the border (nobody at all at the visa on arrival section) I got through there very quickly. Shared a taxi into Vientiane with a guy I was talking to on the shuttle bus that crosses the bridge and arrived not long after 8am at the consulate.

Gates opened at 8.30, I got ticket number 18 (I would estimate there were only about 25-30 people there in total) and was all finished and back outside by 9.30. Didn't have to wait very long at all to hand application in but they were a little slow in starting to take the money in the other building.

Next day I got chatting to another guy who I shared a taxi with back to the border. Because he had already paid somebody 200 baht to stand in line and collect his passport I thought I'd better do the same so we could take the same taxi. Sat at guest house just down the road from the consulate and got passport back at around 1.20pm and headed back to Thailand.

As I was knackered when I arrived in Vientiane I stayed at the Douangpraseuth hotel which is about 100 metres or so from the consulate, on the opposite side of the road. I took a look outside from the balcony towards the consulate a few times up until around 11am when I headed to the river and there did not seem to be many people arriving at the consulate whenever I looked. I mention this because I'm pretty sure there's no need to break your neck getting to the consulate when the gates open as long as you do not go on the same day that all the visa run companies go (Thursdays and Mondays).

Hope the above info is of some help - feel free to ask anything if I have not made myself clear.

Cheers

Edited June 15, 2012 by inthepink

[Maestro]

The tourist visa you got this time, is it for one entry or for two?

Sent from my Nexus S using Thaivisa Connect App

[inthepink]

Sorry for the omission - it was a double-entry visa (2000 baht same as last time I was there).

Edited June 17, 2012 by inthepink

[Asiantravel]

if you were able to get a multi-entry non-imm 'B' visa from Hull in 2010 why

didnt you get another one and why did

you switch over to tourist visas ?

[ivowatson]

Thanks for reporting.

How long did it take to get from Vientiane to Udon to get bus or plane?

Cheers.

[IMA_FARANG]

if you were able to get a multi-entry non-imm 'B' visa from Hull in 2010 why

didnt you get another one and why did

you switch over to tourist visas ?

Just for info to everyone.

There has been a change at Hull, and the previous honarary consul has retired.

It is now much more difficult to get a multi-entry non immigrant visa at Hull.

I, myself, recieved one in October 2010.

Mine was based on "retirement in Thailand", but I almost certainly wouldn't be able to get that today without much more documentation from Thailand than I had then.

I believe non immigrant B visas are also checked much more closely now than before.

Hull, while still friendly, is not the easy place to get a visa it used to be,

Edited June 19, 2012 by IMA_FARANG

[inthepink]

if you were able to get a multi-entry non-imm 'B' visa from Hull in 2010 why

didnt you get another one and why did

you switch over to tourist visas ?

Sorry for delayed answers, haven't been on this forum for a while.

I didn't get another non imm b from Hulll because I have not been back to the UK, plus I am not here on business any longer. However, as far as I know, the only additional requirement for mutli-entry non-imm b's from Hull nowadays is that they require letters from both a UK company and Thai company whereas previously just one from a UK company was required.

@ivowatson. (Sorry if this information is too late to be of any use). It took about 1.5 hours to get back to Udon Thani from memory. I took a taxi from the embassy to the border and another from the border to Udon. If I were planning to go straight to the airport to catch a plane I think I would allows 2 hours for the whole trip just to be on the safe side.