Hi All

First post here and it sounds like a daft question from the title but bear with me.

I am in Koh Samui and my 30 day visa runs out on the 24th July, long story short I need to spend as little amount of time out of Thailand as possible and come back in with another 30 day visa.

I have a flight booked from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh on the 23rd arriving at 07:45 and wanted to get a flight back to Bangkok leaving at 09:45 and wouldnt want (let alone have time!) to leave the airport.

The question is if I'm not leaving the airport, can I collect my bags at Ho Chi Minh and go straight to a check in desk without having to clear immigration?

Is there a transit or other such visa available for Vietnam?

I realise this is the Thai visa forum but I though someone might have done a visa run like this before?

Many thanks in advance.

The question is if I'm not leaving the airport, can I collect my bags at Ho Chi Minh and go straight to a check in desk without having to clear immigration?

The baggage carousel is after passport control, so no you wouldn't be able to collect your checked bag without a visa.

But I'm not sure about a situation where a traveller had no checked bags, just carry-ons. And Tan Son Nhat has all international flights using the same group of terminals so it would be like boarding a connecting flight... Back to your origin. And no need to visit the airline desk for check-in, you can check in via the Internet 24 hours before you board.

Interesting question.

If you do a land border hop most of the Thai Immigration posts want to see evidence in the form of passport visas/stamps that you have been to another country when you return to Thailand.

I did this last April and had to pass immigration since the departures are boarded from a different floor. I had a visa on arrival letter and form filled out ahead of time and it took 2 hours to clear immigration arriving. Departure procedures took 15 minutes once immigration opened (a 1 hour wait.) I would not recommend attempting a turnaround at SGN with less than 4 hours between flights.

Sadao, twice sems a better option.

If you are only out of Thailand for a few hours, why take bags? Anyway, as far as I know, you must be stamped in and then out of another country to re-enter Thailand.

You can apply for a VN visa at the embassy in BKK (4 days, B1,800) or can get a visa on arrival using an agency. Google "Vietnam visa on arrival" and they will email you a letter (PDF format) which is converted into a visa at HCM airport. Do you have enough time to clear VN immigration, exit immigration and then board a connecting flight back to BKK?

Stamps are only a factor at land borders - they are not checked on air arrivals.