Thai-Lao Border Nong Khai Open-Closed Hours

[realthaideal]

Planning a trip to Udon and then busing it over to Vientianne for a visa run. For planning (/timing) purposes I need to know the most recent hours for the Nong Khai/ Friendship Bridge border crossing. Couldn't find them anywhere else when searching.

Basically, if I arrive in Udon at 5pm, will I be able to get over and into Vientianne that same night, or will I have to wait it out in Udon a night first?

[ubonjoe]

The bridge closes at 10 pm. You will have plenty of time to get there and across the bridge.

[realthaideal]

Great UbonJoe - thanks! You know your stuff.

Last preparation things:

1) This time I think I'll print the Lao application out in advance and have it ready at the bridge along with my photos any thoughts on this helping with efficiency vs filling it in right there?

2) The Thai Consulate says 2 days turnaround on visas - assuming my nighttime arrival allows me to submit forms early next morning, will that count as the first day? Or should I plan one full day in between drop-off (day 1) and pick-up (day 3)? Anybody reporting next-day turnaround recently?

[ubonjoe]

I have seen reports of the Lao visa arrival not accepting the printed out form available online.

You apply for your visa at the consular section the morning of day one and get your passport back the next afternoon.

[Gonsalviz]

The bridge closes at 10 but immigration closes at 6 pm.

Also Thai immigration opens at 6 am. The bridge opens at 7 am, Laos immigration opens at 8 am.

[ubonjoe]

The bridge closes at 10 but immigration closes at 6 pm.

Also Thai immigration opens at 6 am. The bridge opens at 7 am, Laos immigration opens at 8 am.

Not in Nong Khai. You are giving incorrect info.

I think you might be thinking of Savannakhet where the Lao visa on arrival desk closes at 6 pm.

[Tomtomtom69]

The bridge closes at 10 but immigration closes at 6 pm.

Also Thai immigration opens at 6 am. The bridge opens at 7 am, Laos immigration opens at 8 am.

Not in Nong Khai. You are giving incorrect info.

I think you might be thinking of Savannakhet where the Lao visa on arrival desk closes at 6 pm.

I usually cross into Savannakhet around 7 or 8pm, but I don't need a visa on arrival for my passport, as I am visa exempt. Similarly, if you do need a visa but have one in your passport already, you can cross anytime until 9.45pm. As long as you are on the other side before 10pm you'll be OK.

However, Savannakhet is very quiet after around 6pm in my experience. I last crossed in late November around 7.45pm and there were only a couple of people who had crossed shortly before I did, all appeared to be Lao nationals. I also crossed into Tha Khaek from Nakorn Phanom a few days later and I was the only person to cross, apart from a Thai truck heading in the other direction. It was 9.20pm and very, very quiet. I gave immigration and customs on both sides something to do and engaged them in conversation; the Lao customs guy who stamped my car passport was in the toilet so that held me up for a while, but during the 15-20 minutes I waited, not a single other vehicle or person was anywhere to be seen in the vicinity, and I only started seeing any vehicles or people again once I was on the main Tha Khaek-Vientiane highway.

Of course if you cross at those times you'll generally either need to be 1) visa-exempt, or 2) have a Lao visa in your passport already and 3) your own transport. This is due to the possible variable visa-on-arrival opening hours and the lack of transport across the border outside of peak times. 1) and 3) applied to me so I was fine.

I suspect that you can also cross at anytime from 6am onwards, but again, having your own transport and being either visa-exempt or already possessing a visa will help, otherwise you're at the mercy of the buses that cross the bridge and Lao immigration. Mind you, I've never crossed that early but given that I have crossed into Laos quite late many times, I would imagine mornings would be busy and thus at 6am immigration and customs would definitely be ready for work and not keep you hanging for an hour or two. Lao officials may like to lay off early, but I'm sure they are early risers.

Immigration at Nong Khai last time told me that the Lao visa on arrival office at the 1st Friendship Bridge at Tha Deua/Vientiane closes at 8pm as well (this was just days before I went to Savannakhet) but I assured him that as of around 8 months earlier, even at 9.45pm the office was still open but then again it was possible that the Lao officials had changed their policy in the meantime. As I didn't require a visa anyway I went across (this was at 8pm) and once I arrived on the other side, there were numerous people requesting visas-on-arrival so clearly nothing had changed but the Thai officer wasn't sure or heard a rumor I guess. Knowing how the two sides work they generally don't co-operate as closely as one would expect - each side has their own ways of doing things and may not inform the other when they change rules, procedures etc.

[dddave]

OP...Do not forget to bring US$35 for the Lao entry...Baht is B1500. If you search TV, you will find a number of topics regarding hotels near the Consulate.

[Lee4Life]

The bridge closes at 10 but immigration closes at 6 pm.

Also Thai immigration opens at 6 am. The bridge opens at 7 am, Laos immigration opens at 8 am.

Not in Nong Khai. You are giving incorrect info.

I think you might be thinking of Savannakhet where the Lao visa on arrival desk closes at 6 pm.

The bridge at Nongkhai opens at 6 am and closes at 10pm, I live about a kilometer from it and cross often.

[angsta]

The bridge closes at 10 but immigration closes at 6 pm.

Also Thai immigration opens at 6 am. The bridge opens at 7 am, Laos immigration opens at 8 am.

Not in Nong Khai. You are giving incorrect info.

I think you might be thinking of Savannakhet where the Lao visa on arrival desk closes at 6 pm.

The bridge at Nongkhai opens at 6 am and closes at 10pm, I live about a kilometer from it and cross often.

But what time does immigration open and close at?

[ubonjoe]

Same as the bridges operating hours in Nong Khai,

[angsta]

Gotcha. Many thanks.

[flyDelight]

Seems good and not too old information, so if I arrive at Udon airport at 5 pm I'm still on time for doing the immigration stuff to Vientiane right?

[BritTim]

The answer is still "yes".

[amirsan]

If land at 15:20 in udon thani,will I be able to Cross the border to Laos and come back to udon at the same day considering my land time?

[ubonjoe]

If land at 15:20 in udon thani,will I be able to Cross the border to Laos and come back to udon at the same day considering my land time?

Yes you can.

[amirsan]

Last question,my flight back to bkk from udon at 21:30,will I have enought time to Cross the Laos border and come back to catch my flight,consideringm y flight will land at 15:30 thanks a lot

[ubonjoe]

Last question,my flight back to bkk from udon at 21:30,will I have enought time to Cross the Laos border and come back to catch my flight,consideringm y flight will land at 15:30 thanks a lot

You should have plenty of time to do it as long as your flight arrives on time. One hour to the bridge, 1 hour to cross and return and i hour back to the airport.

[johnny1966]

Does the Laos visa office on the border close completely for an hour for lunch or can I still get a visa issued between 12 and 1pm?

[BritTim]

1 hour ago, johnny1966 said:

Does the Laos visa office on the border close completely for an hour for lunch or can I still get a visa issued between 12 and 1pm?

Usually, they are still providing service, but charging an extra $1, I believe. There may be a longer queue.

[jeab1980]

8 hours ago, BritTim said:

Usually, they are still providing service, but charging an extra $1, I believe. There may be a longer queue.

There is always one or two on duty between 1200 and 1300 i have never been charged any extra $1 between those times. I usualy try and get there for that time as its very quite.

 

[JASON THAI]

Does the times include weekends (Saturday ?) so if I come to Nong Khai on Saturday I can still do a quick visa run across the bridge ?

[hgma]

Last time i went by car i had to wait customs @ 08.00 then it took 15 minutes to start the whole inbound registration process

if it is the same now i don't know, and before i forget...GET CAR INSURANCE asap@ the border for driving in Laos!

[ubonjoe]

9 hours ago, JASON THAI said:

Does the times include weekends (Saturday ?) so if I come to Nong Khai on Saturday I can still do a quick visa run across the bridge ?

It is same hours every day of the week. Nothing changes on weekends or holidays.

[Tomtomtom69]

On 4/3/2019 at 4:05 AM, hgma said:

Last time i went by car i had to wait customs @ 08.00 then it took 15 minutes to start the whole inbound registration process 

if it is the same now i don't know, and before i forget...GET CAR INSURANCE asap@ the border for driving in Laos!

Last year we left Vientiane for Bangkok driving my car. I made sure to be at the bridge exactly at 6am. Turns out that as of 5.55am the gates were already open and vehicles entering. Since I was leaving Laos with a Thai car, it was simply a matter of turning in all the documents. My group weren't the first ones there - a westerner driving a Lao car with diplomatic plates came before us (I think he was Russian or something) there was also another Thai car driven by returning Thais and one or two Lao vehicles. So it took about 10-15 minutes to cross, then came the Thai side, which was even quicker. By 6.30am or so we were heading out of Thai immigration.

I understand the Lao side has requested for the Thais to consider extending the opening hours. I think they should open the bridge 24 hours, as it gets very busy at times and people do have a need to cross before 6am or after 10pm.

 

The main Thai-Malaysian border crossing at Sadao-Bukit Kayu Hitam has been open 24 hours on a trial basis since April 1. I expect it will remain open 24 hours permanently. So far this is the only 24 hour land border crossing between Thailand and any of it's neighbors but out of all the other crossings, the Nong Khai-Vientiane crossing has the potential to become the second 24 hour crossing in the not too distant future (I give it a year or two before it happens).