Has anyone any experience of getting a visa at Viantiene Thai Embassy? A "man in a bar" told me that there is often quite a 'scrum' outside the Embassy and it is better to enlist the service of an "agent" to procure a visa, as I believe is the case in Penang. If this is the case, any information on agent fee for the service, and it's legality, would be appreciated.

Has anyone any experience of getting a visa at Viantiene Thai Embassy? A "man in a bar" told me that there is often quite a 'scrum' outside the Embassy and it is better to enlist the service of an "agent" to procure a visa, as I believe is the case in Penang. If this is the case, any information on agent fee for the service, and it's legality, would be appreciated.

I have obtained 2 tourist visas from the Vientiane Thai consulate. In my experience the so called 'scrum' occurs when desperate people queue up before the doors are open. If you arrive 30 mins after opening times (or even 30 mins before closing) there does not appear to be any problem, all very civilised and no crowding.

Opening hours 8.30 - 12.00 for visa submission and 13.00 - 15.00 (or maybe 16.30 depending which notice you trust)) for visa collection the following day. (Mon to Fri) but beware over 20 public holidays and possible substitute days for Sat/Sun holidays.

Personally have no experience of agents in Vientiane but plenty of travel agents around the place.

Hope this helps

Thanks for that rak sa_ngop, the reason I asked was that I found this on another website

(asia tradingon line)The Lao people outside the Thai visa office can take care of your visa. A 3 month tourist costs 300 baht or you can give them 1000 baht and they do everything and deliver your visa to the hotel at 1 pm next day,"which sure beats standing in line in the heat

The price for the visa (300 baht) is way out of date but the service sounds good.

Thanks for that rak sa_ngop, the reason I asked was that I found this on another website

(asia tradingon line)The Lao people outside the Thai visa office can take care of your visa. A 3 month tourist costs 300 baht or you can give them 1000 baht and they do everything and deliver your visa to the hotel at 1 pm next day,"which sure beats standing in line in the heat

The price for the visa (300 baht) is way out of date but the service sounds good.

Many visa runners might find the act of applying in person will give them something to do to pass the time until it's time for 'sundowners'.

Anyway if you use an agent I suppose there is less chance of being interrogated as to your motives for the application (1000 baht these days). On my last visa run I was not questioned but just told that I would have to apply for a different type of visa next time as I would not get another tourist visa. Later when I checked the visa it had a red stamp "The holder of this passport travels in Thailand under A tourist visa several times which may result in the refusal of a visa in the future" (18th Sept. 2006). There was a TV thread about this at the time which suggested that the consulate might be told to stop doing this. Not sure what happened after that, so suggest you check your visa carefully after you receive it.

Let us know how it works out.

Anyway if you use an agent I suppose there is less chance of being interrogated as to your motives for the application (1000 baht these days). On my last visa run I was not questioned but just told that I would have to apply for a different type of visa next time as I would not get another tourist visa. Later when I checked the visa it had a red stamp "The holder of this passport travels in Thailand under A tourist visa several times which may result in the refusal of a visa in the future" (18th Sept. 2006). There was a TV thread about this at the time which suggested that the consulate might be told to stop doing this. Not sure what happened after that, so suggest you check your visa carefully after you receive it. Let us know how it works out.

Don't you just love how there's so many inconsistencies - from one Thai embassy/consulate to another - Your results from a visa app can change depending on who's at the counter, and can be contingent on the time of day - besides the obvious affects of 'dressing smartly' vs 'dressing too casual' There is no such word as 'egalitarian' in Thai. EVERYTHING IS SUBJECTIVE. So the average visa seeker travels hundreds of miles, invests dozens of hours and thousands of baht altogether ....ON A HUNCH - hoping that the visa officer he deals with will have the courtesy to at least have an eye-to-eye encounter (a tall order in itself), and will deal with his situation in a moderately fair manner. Yuksville.