last page on passport but need visa and 4 stamps

[anthobkk]

Hey

A friend of mine (french national) is working in Lao right now but his visa will expire soon so he has to go to Thailand today and then go back to Lao on Monday.

He has only one and a half page left available on his passport. He wanted to renew his passport to the French embassy in Vientiane but even if he already has a passport they require his birth certificate which he couldn't get on time.

So now the question is, is it sufficient to have one and a half page (probably a little less than that) left on his passport to go to Thailand then come back to Vientiane since Lao immigration require a full page visa ? I also assumed that he will need one stamp to exit Lao, one stamp on his arrival in Thailand and another one when he exit Thailand and finally one last stamp on his arrival in Lao...

I believe there is not enough space left and I'm scared that he might be stuck in Thailand for at lest 3 weeks waiting from a new passport (they don't ask for a birth certificate in the French embassy of Bangkok).

I also worry that if he managed to get all those stamps until leaving Thailand, then what will happen if he arrives in Lao with the right visa but not enough space for a stamp ? Will he get stuck at the train station near the friendship bridge ? Without possibility to go to Lao neither as going back to Thailand...

[edwardandtubs]

I don't know about Lao but Thai immigration officers are happy to stamp any empty space in earlier pages of the passport.

[Smokin Joe]

If he's working legally in Lao he may already have a multi-entry B2 Lao Visa so only would need the entry and exit stamps.

[ubonjoe]

Moved to the Thai visas forum.

[ubonjoe]

A page and a half is enough. The entry and departure stamps for Thailand will fit on the half page.

[Tim207]

A page and a half is enough. The entry and departure stamps for Thailand will fit on the half page.

In February I thought I had enough space for my Cambodian visa run. On the day my Thai visa expired I left Thailand and at Cambodian immigration they denied entry for not enough passport pages. I went back to Thailand and they said I couldn't enter because I had not checked into Cambodia. I was stuck in no-mans land. I wouldn't recommend taking a chance on getting in this situation if at all possible to avoid.

[allane]

To Tim 207:

Out of interest, how did you resolve that situation ?

[Tim207]

To Tim 207:

Out of interest, how did you resolve that situation ?

After trying to enter Thailand without entering Cambodia (and getting caught), I politely explained my situation to the immigration agent. She sent me to her boss and I explained again. I then waited a while for his boss to come talk to me. After telling the big boss my story we chatted a while, I think he was gauging how much he could trust me and how far he was willing to stick his neck out for me.

Luckily he decided to help me out. He dug through all the departure cards and found mine. He stapled my old card back in my passport and wrote a note on the card and next to the exit stamp in my passport and told me to go to my local immigration office the next day and get a visa extension.

This could have went very bad. I don't know what I would have done if he didn't help me. Luckily I was able to communicate what happened in Thai and chat with the big boss who didn't speak English. I was able to explain my plan to get more passport pages in Bangkok to resolve the situation, I also live fairly local so he knew who would be reading his notes. He also thought the Cambodian officials were being unreasonable for not letting me in.

All in all, a very stressful day but it turned out well.