Laos Visa

[anakot]

Two people both travelling on Australian Passports for 10 holiday in Laos arriving by air at Luang Prabang 25 Dec '15

Is it better to get visa beforehand or to pay $US30 for visa on arrival?

Any feedback greatly appreciated.

[ubonjoe]

Getting the visa on arrival would be a good choice. The time spent to get a visa before traveling would not be worth the effort.

[anakot]

Here is what happened.

Flight from HK using Bangkok Airlines via Suvarnaphumi to Luang Prabang was a bit late. Very comfortable flight. Mostly farangs. Time about 1 hour and a bit.

Queued for 25 minutes for Visa on arrival

Cost $US30 + $US1 = $US31 total. The $1 is tea money or handling money or some such other rorting crap as you might like to guess

Many f**kwits in the queue had no $US or local Kip or Baht so it makes one wonder. One couple were allowed thru to go to an ATM to get their cash and then return!

From the Visa queue you move to the Immigration queue, another 10 minutes then a lot of questions etc etc. All up about 45 minutes to get to the bags remembering flight time above!

Next time (and there won't be one) I would get a Visa beforehand.

This is just a clearly biased report of actual events.

Of course you may lucky

By the way the Lao seem to have been thoroughly screwed by all their neighbours over centuries.

A great pity the US didn't get to do post war reconstruction.

Instead the screwing this time is from the little generals' prong from the inside...

[stoneyboy]

Here is what happened.

Flight from HK using Bangkok Airlines via Suvarnaphumi to Luang Prabang was a bit late. Very comfortable flight. Mostly farangs. Time about 1 hour and a bit.

Queued for 25 minutes for Visa on arrival

Cost $US30 + $US1 = $US31 total. The $1 is tea money or handling money or some such other rorting crap as you might like to guess

Many f**kwits in the queue had no $US or local Kip or Baht so it makes one wonder. One couple were allowed thru to go to an ATM to get their cash and then return!

From the Visa queue you move to the Immigration queue, another 10 minutes then a lot of questions etc etc. All up about 45 minutes to get to the bags remembering flight time above!

Next time (and there won't be one) I would get a Visa beforehand.

This is just a clearly biased report of actual events.

Of course you may lucky

By the way the Lao seem to have been thoroughly screwed by all their neighbours over centuries.

A great pity the US didn't get to do post war reconstruction.

Instead the screwing this time is from the little generals' prong from the inside...

And on the flip side I obtained a Laos Visa on arrival at Nam Heuang in 15 minutes yesterday,1400 baht very very easy.

As ever it depends where your travelling to and from.

Edited January 15, 2016 by stoneyboy

[sjaak327]

Getting a Lao visa on arrival has NEVER ever been a problem, although I never arrived through any airport, My 20+ arrivals have all been through a few land borders. The 1 USD tea money could easily have been the overtime fee, any arrival in the weekend or after 6 Pm will incurr this overtime fee.

They might also charge a dollar if you haven't got a photo.

Edited January 15, 2016 by sjaak327

[Thanyaburi Mac]

A, anokot, "A great pity the US didn't get to do post war reconstruction.'

Check your history for May-June 1975, we were pretty well kicked out. FYI, I was the last USAID/Lao direct hire to depart, went down to Thaduea about 1700 hrs and caught the boat across to Nong Khai, 26 June 1975. FYI II, have been back many times, typing this now in LP.

Mac