Flew out via Thai Airways (courtesy of frequent flyer points) on Sunday night at 19:55 arrived at Vientiane Airport at 21:05. I had changed some Thai Baht into US Dollars so at the airport I waited in line for the Visa on arrival, 35 US Dollars.

Interesting to note that whilst we waited for a while for the Visa, we had a separate immigration booth to go through which was a dam_n site quicker that all the other booths, I don’t really think you gain anything by having the Laos visa already in your passport.

First time in Vientianne so didn’t really know my way around, however the airport is small and compact and everything is easy to find, managed to locate the taxi booth and got myself a taxi, it clearly states on the desk what the charges are and 8US was the price from the airport to the Don Chan Palace Hotel.

The Don Chan Palace Hotel was cheap (even cheaper thanks to the liberal use of Agoda points!) and I’m sure at one point in its life it was a mega spectacular hotel, not no more, its tired and stuck in the 80s. However it was clean, the water pressure was good for the showers and because of its location, no problem in getting a DTAC signal and free WiFi throughout the Hotel made it a good hotel.

Monday morning, got a samlor from the hotel to the embassy, 300 baht return, a bit expensive but on reflection, saved me a lot of grief. We rock up at the embassy and the queue is long, its 8:15am and I estimate that I’m about 60^th in the line, meanwhile the touts outside are trying to sell their services warning us that they can be much quicker blah blah blah, to be honest not many people took them up on their offer, so they may well disappear soon.

The embassy opens and we start to shuffle forward, there is an employee at the front giving out the tickets, all very strict, no favours given, you get the number and then wait, I was 67. Good news is, plenty of seats, all under the shade and the staff seem to work quite quickly, 1 hour 40 minutes later I’m presenting my documents, the only question,

“Where you stay”

Don Chan Palace

“Oh very expensive”

That was it, saw a few people needing to photocopy documents and that was it, I had photocopied every page of my passport that had a stamp on it, they were looked at and then given back to me. At one stage, one of the touts came up to the window clutching number 261 and tried to get the girl behind the counter to fast track him, she was having none of it and he was sent away not very happy.

Once you have applied for your Visa, you need to pay, its in another building adjacent to the main one, I couldn’t understand that there was a queue of people waiting to pay, I mean how difficult could it be, you retain the same number, so I was still 67, but they were only up to 51 to take money off people.

All became clear when a Chinese tour came in with their applications, about 10 people, instead of lining up with everybody else in the correct area, they had their application and their money ready at this side, 15 minutes later they were all done and it was off to pay 2000 baht, time taken altogether 2 hours and 5 minutes. Its worth mentioning that people were still arriving in there droves and the place was packed, god knows how many applications were taken that day, my advice, don’t go Monday morning.

The following day, picked up passport no queuing what so ever, all good, single entry education visa, now for a few Beer Lao, a massage and a bit of a wait for the 10pm flight.

For those of you interested, in my passport I have

4 Non Immigration B Visas

6 Cambodian Visas

2 Thai Tourist Visas

2 Laos Visas

and enough stamps from KL to wallpaper my bedroom

Thank you for your report, Prudent_rabbit. I have added a link to it in the pinned topic Latest Reports Of Getting A Visa In The Region.

good info - what paper work do you have to take - I am going to join a thai accrdited language school who will provide me with I don't know what , and when I get the paerwork from them can I wait a month to six weeks before applying for an ed visa as I will have a couple of months left on my tourist visa. What were the embassy fee charges? Sorry so many questions but like everybody else am attemting to avoid the pitfalls! Thanks

The school wil know exactly what paperwork to give you and will tell you at which consulate to apply and when.

An ED-visa (single) will be 2,000 baht in local currency at an exchange rate set by the consulate.