Travel to Laos for 16 year old Thai with no Passport

[daboyz1]

My wife and I would like to take my niece to Laos for a couple days while I'm here in Thailand on vacation. I have a U.S. passport and my wife is a dual Thai/U.S. citizen with both passports. However, my niece only has a Thai ID card and no passport. Is it possible for her to visit Vientiane for a couple days accompanied by us without a passport?

Thanks in advance for all helpful replies.

[daboyz1]

My wife called the Thai immigration folks and they said that it would be ok to take her for the day, but that she could not stay overnight in Laos.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

No time for her to get a passport, it only takes a few days, depending on where you're staying, of course.

Absent a passport, she should be able to get the normal Thai "border pass" there near the bridge in Nong Khai.

You should take along:

-- permission slip signed by both her parents allowing the trip and naming both you and your wife as temporary guardians.

-- signed copies of both parent's ID cards

-- signed copy of parent's blue tambien ban

-- the girl's birthcertificate

Mac

[Thanyaburi Mac]

My wife and I took her nephew to Vientiane a few years back, border pass route, stayed two nights.

Mac

[daboyz1]

No time for her to get a passport, it only takes a few days, depending on where you're staying, of course.

Absent a passport, she should be able to get the normal Thai "border pass" there near the bridge in Nong Khai.

You should take along:

-- permission slip signed by both her parents allowing the trip and naming both you and your wife as temporary guardians.

-- signed copies of both parent's ID cards

-- signed copy of parent's blue tambien ban

-- the girl's birthcertificate

Mac

Thanks Mac. Unfortunately, the girl's mother died last year and the father is out of the picture.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

"Thanks Mac. Unfortunately, the girl's mother died last year and the father is out of the picture. "

Is there an immediate relative sort of watching over her? Grandparents? Aunt, uncle?

Mac

[daboyz1]

"Thanks Mac. Unfortunately, the girl's mother died last year and the father is out of the picture. "

Is there an immediate relative sort of watching over her? Grandparents? Aunt, uncle?

Mac

She's living at and attending a private school in Chiang Mai. My wife is going to try and get some sort of guardianship over her, although I'm not sure why since we live in Texas. The grandparents live in Si Saket, so they're not much help. Since she's 16 an adoption and visa to the U.S. is out of the question(16 ages out in cases of adoption.) The whole thing is kind of a mess at the moment. We plan on moving back to Thailand permanently in roughly 5-6 years, but until then, everything remains the status quo.

[Thanyaburi Mac]

How about a letter on letterhead from the director of the private school. She's sort of in their semi-guardianship now.

Mac

[daboyz1]

How about a letter on letterhead from the director of the private school. She's sort of in their semi-guardianship now.

Mac

That's a good idea. They shouldn't have a problem doing it since I was suckered in to making a 20k THB donation to the school this past week. Also, she's attended that school since she was 5 or 6 years old.

I'm beginning to think we should just find something to do in Thailand for the next 7 days. We're checking out of the hotel in Chiang Mai today. I was looking at possibly doing something up in Chiang Rai or maybe Khao Ko in Phetchabun. We have a car so we're pretty flexible. We stayed in Lampang for 3 days last week.