Visa run procedures

[brianp0803]

I just completed a visa run and want to offer suggestions/warnings.

The vans don't go into Laos. Take all your stuff with you.

Several people left their bags in the vans expecting to meet the van on the other side.

Fortunately the agency was nice and retrieved the luggage and took into Laos

Make sure you have enough blank pages. US passports can't use last 2 pages for visa.

One person in our van after paying her 10 day overstay was not allowed into Laos because she didn't have blank pages for Laos visa.

Unfortunately, she also left her bags in the van and the agency had already retrieved her bags and taken them into Laos. She had to have them brought back to Bkk.

Unfortunate the visa company didn't check this before we left.

The visa company generally did an excellent job taking care of everything but very poor communication.

We were often left standing around wondering what was happening, but they were actually taking our paperwork to the next step or making photo copies.

I want to thank them for handling everything but it was very frustrating not knowing what was happening.

[Thai Visa Service]

Thanks for the note, I agree that the communication on our Laos trips is not good as observed by myself, even we employ three staff to guide the people. It was very busy. The US Lady came today to the Thai-Cambodian border and got 30days, she had added pages in the meantime. . We have advised her on Sunday afternoon by email that it might be better to do the Cambodian Run as we can get the stamp even with a full passport, but she decided to try Laos. The US Embassy in Vientiane is adding pages too, but only in the afternoons, so she would have been required to stay a day longer and travel back alone on Wednesday. Anyhow now the problem is solved and we thank you for your support.

[paz]

Nice to see an operator being transparent on the issues and responding to feedback.

[brianp0803]

Wow. She was advised but decided to take a chance. Possibly because already on overstay and didn't realize she would not be able to enter Laos.

It was very busy due to no visa runs on Wednesday. (Some holiday)

It was almost funny. My passport would touch my hand briefly after one step was completed and taken immediately to the next step.

Maybe their desire for efficiency left some of us confused what was happening. The staff was working hard.

Everything was still finished by 11:45.

Excellent!

My comments were offers for improvement.

Not serious.

The van seats were nice. Many stops for food and toilet and stretch legs. Courteous staff.

I felt happy with the overall service and would recommend you for someone else.

Thank you.

Perfection is hard to achieve but we can try.