I may be in the city and need to do one. Is the nearest border efficient?

Which bus station will take me there? and where is 'there'?

A lot depends on what sort of visa you have.I have a marriage visa. I live about 20ks south of the border and I have to pay 500B this side and another 500B t'other and my passport gets left in an envelope awaiting my return. A friend goes over with a non imm.O visa just pays 500B but gets his passport stamped.. My wife pays 40B and I get her to get the ciggies and wine.

Of note it's 500 baht OR US$10, the $10 always works out cheaper.

Your passport only get left if you want to go into Tachileik shopping, if you don't want to go shopping just say no shopping and they'll stamp you in and out all at once, then you walk back across the friendship bridge.

Also to op's question: yes, it's efficient. There may be local buses that do the run from CR but the Green Bus from Chiang Mai goes through town on the way as well. Particularly since they cracked down on border runs last year the last two times I've been up there it has been quick.

I am not sure about the bus...iI drove to the border there at Chiang Khong. That was super easy.

I have to say I already had a tourist visa. I was going across and right back over to thailand to start my 2nd 60 day visa.

• I parked the car,
• walked a short distance to the office,
• went through the Thai immigration
• paid 20 baht for the bus to go across the river
• did all the immigration stuff for Laos. Paid 1400 baht
• turned around and came back to Thailand and paid the 25 baht for the bus to cross the river

I may be in the city and need to do one. Is the nearest border efficient?

Do you mean you want to make another entry on an existing visa or you want to re-enter & get a visa exempt entry or you need to get a new visa at a consulate?

Is the nearest border efficient? Yes.

Which bus station will take me there? Old Bus Station in town.

Where is “there”? Mae Sai

Oops, should be clearer. I have double entry tourist. I just want another 60 days.

So Mae Sai/Burma is the cheapest/easiest crossing?

Have you, or do you want to add a 30-day extension to your current Tourist Visa entry, or do you want to waste/not do that and just go onto the next 60 days of the double entry?

If you want to add a 30-day extension prior to doing a border crossing and starting your second Visa entry, just visit a local immigration office with 1,900 baht and ask for a 30-day extension (no need to leave Thailand).

Also, please note that TWO Chiang Rai border crossings have been mentioned by members so far.

Mae Sai -- Tachilek, Myanmar

Chiang Khong -- Huay Xai, Laos

Some exempt-stamped tourists have mentioned recent issues with using Mae Sai, though actual visa holders wishing to activate their second (or multiple) entry shouldn't have problems.

Mae Sai is reasonably fast, and almost 1000 baht cheaper than Laos. 500 baht vs 1400 baht for the entry visa. You can do a little bit of shopping on the Burmese side in Tachilek, but unless you want cheap cigarettes or knockoff sunglasses/clothes there's never really been much there that caught my attention. If you're just activating your second entry there shouldn't be any problem at the border, it's just visa exempt people that I've seen getting grilled by the immigration officers.