flyDelight Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Anyone who knows how long a Lao girlfriend can stay in Thailand and what are the options for a permanent stay? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stickylies Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I feel u. But why coming here with Lao gf? Just asking.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyDelight Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 (edited) I feel u. But why coming here with Lao gf? Just asking.... Although it's very simple to get a one year/business visa/workpermit etc. for Laos it's not interesting (for me) there is really nothing and it's overpriced. Thailand is the place to be just Lao girls are so much better. Only information I found was that Lao residents just can get a 30 days visa like anyone, weird and not sure if up to date. Edited January 11, 2016 by flyDelight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubonjoe Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 They get a 30 day visa exempt entry but no 30 day extension since it is from a bilateral agreement. Or a single entry tourist visa. It is same for her to stay long term as anybody else unless she can find work that falls under the migrant worker scheme. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eclipse Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 (edited) 30 days or get some kind of job If she can get employed somewhere she can come under the migrant worker scheme. Maybe Edited January 11, 2016 by Eclipse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phuketrichard Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 1 L-A migrant visa good for 2 years if u can find someone to hire her as a migrant worker 2. Non B visa if u can find someone to hire her an pay tax, social fund, apply for wp etc etc 3. Marry her and add her as your dependent on your visa, ( not sure you can marry a lao in Thailand nut might have to be done in Laos) 4. tourist visas as long as they will issue ( 60 days + 30 day extension) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyDelight Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 1 L-A migrant visa good for 2 years if u can find someone to hire her as a migrant worker 2. Non B visa if u can find someone to hire her an pay tax, social fund, apply for wp etc etc 3. Marry her and add her as your dependent on your visa, ( not sure you can marry a lao in Thailand nut might have to be done in Laos) 4. tourist visas as long as they will issue ( 60 days + 30 day extension) Interesting information, yes we plan to get married this (in HongKong, in Laos is a headache). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saakura Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 (edited) We had a maid from Laos on a 2yr visa, i am here on a work permit with extension of stay and signed her papers. Dont know what visa you are on but if it permits, you could sponsor her as your 'maid'? Oops, sorry. Just read you are getting married to her, so above suggestion is irrelevant. Edited January 11, 2016 by saakura 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happynthailand Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 one of our renters has a Lao girl friend she needs a Lao passport,and she will get 30 days at a time he takes her to Thai Immigration, once a month to get another 30 days don't know how much it costs,though,she's been in thailand for about 3 1/2 years 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questionsreplies Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Can they go and come back to Thailand every 30 days ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jspill Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Law aside, in practice they often simply overstay and usually have no issues doing that. Not sure what the official fine is on exit but it doesn't appear to be the same. Much less. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colabamumbai Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I feel u. But why coming here with Lao gf? Just asking.... Although it's very simple to get a one year/business visa/workpermit etc. for Laos it's not interesting (for me) there is really nothing and it's overpriced. Thailand is the place to be just Lao girls are so much better. Only information I found was that Lao residents just can get a 30 days visa like anyone, weird and not sure if up to date. The you have never spent much time in Luang Prabang, Life is much more interesting in Laos and only the food is more expensive than Thailand. It is a Communist State, but marriage in Laos in now much easier than even 5 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visarunner Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Law aside, in practice they often simply overstay and usually have no issues doing that. Not sure what the official fine is on exit but it doesn't appear to be the same. Much less. wrong. Laotian maintain their legal stay, a lot travel still every 30days to border areas to get passport stamped. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
visarunner Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Can they go and come back to Thailand every 30 days ? yes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jspill Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 (edited) Law aside, in practice they often simply overstay and usually have no issues doing that. Not sure what the official fine is on exit but it doesn't appear to be the same. Much less. wrong. Laotian maintain their legal stay, a lot travel still every 30days to border areas to get passport stamped. Some do, some don't. How is what I posted wrong... I didn't say they all overstay. Here's a report of well over a month overstay only resulting in a 2500 baht fine instead of 20000. It's much more tolerated (unofficially) for Laotians than other nationalities, which I think is great. More power to them. http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/330409-penalties-for-overstaying-laos-citizens/ Edited January 11, 2016 by jspill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MobileContent Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Law aside, in practice they often simply overstay and usually have no issues doing that. Not sure what the official fine is on exit but it doesn't appear to be the same. Much less. It is the same. Had a Lao lady next to me last week and she overstayed her visa for 5 days and had to pay 2500 Baht. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phuketrichard Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 1 L-A migrant visa good for 2 years if u can find someone to hire her as a migrant worker 2. Non B visa if u can find someone to hire her an pay tax, social fund, apply for wp etc etc 3. Marry her and add her as your dependent on your visa, ( not sure you can marry a lao in Thailand nut might have to be done in Laos) 4. tourist visas as long as they will issue ( 60 days + 30 day extension) Interesting information, yes we plan to get married this (in HongKong, in Laos is a headache). would be interested to hear what the requirements are for 2 farangs( as she would not be a HK resident) to marry in HK I have been looking at Singapore marriage to my Khmer gf https://www.rom.gov.sg/reg_info/pdf/Marriage%20Process%20Checklist.pdf the biggest problem for me is getting the letter stating she is single ( embassy wont issue) while in Singapore its not needed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laochef Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 1 L-A migrant visa good for 2 years if u can find someone to hire her as a migrant worker 2. Non B visa if u can find someone to hire her an pay tax, social fund, apply for wp etc etc 3. Marry her and add her as your dependent on your visa, ( not sure you can marry a lao in Thailand nut might have to be done in Laos) 4. tourist visas as long as they will issue ( 60 days + 30 day extension) Interesting information, yes we plan to get married this (in HongKong, in Laos is a headache). Note that marrying a Lao, outside of Laos, or a Lao Embassy, is not recognized in Laos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RBOP Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 (edited) I use to be in a similar situation. I was working in Thailand. Lao girlfriend to start was doing tourist visa runs every 30 days. Sometime she would get a 60 day (30+30) tourist visa from Vientiane. To marry in Lao there was many documents needed (and tea money) and after 9 months with about 60% of documents complete and baby already out we ended up getting married in Thailand at the local city hall which was a simple process. But she did need to get a letter from the Lao embassy and that was a process but not as bad as trying to marry in Lao. You should note, when in Lao its illegal to have sex with a Lao citizen unless your married. At our "Lao style" wedding in Lao the headman even told us to be careful as my GF was pregnant and I could be arrested. It seldom happens though. My wife has since been following my visa as dependant when I was on a B-visa and now as Non-O (retirement). FYI, our marriage is recognized in Canada, Malaysia and of course here in Thailand. Never tried in Lao but probably, but wouldn't risk it as she could loose some of her Lao rights (e.g. owning land). Edited January 12, 2016 by RBOP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brewsterbudgen Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 I use to be in a similar situation. I was working in Thailand. Lao girlfriend to start was doing tourist visa runs every 30 days. Sometime she would get a 60 day (30+30) tourist visa from Vientiane. To marry in Lao there was many documents needed (and tea money) and after 9 months with about 60% of documents complete and baby already out we ended up getting married in Thailand at the local city hall which was a simple process. But she did need to get a letter from the Lao embassy and that was a process but not as bad as trying to marry in Lao. You should note, when in Lao its illegal to have sex with a Lao citizen unless your married. At our "Lao style" wedding in Lao the headman even told us to be careful as my GF was pregnant and I could be arrested. It seldom happens though. My wife has since been following my visa as dependant when I was on a B-visa and now as Non-O (retirement). FYI, our marriage is recognized in Canada, Malaysia and of course here in Thailand. Never tried in Lao but probably, but wouldn't risk it as she could loose some of her Lao rights (e.g. owning land). I've been in the same situation as the OP for that last 4-5 years and my GF has always managed to stay legal by doing 30-day border runs. It got a bit dicey after the Bangkok bomb, when the Cambodian border stopped doing them, which meant she had to make the much longer trip to the Laos border. Fortunately things are back to normal now and there don't seem to be any restrictions on how many border runs they can do. She has a huge Lao extended family in Thailand. Some do 30-day runs like her, but most just stay here. Some have been here for 20 years! A few don't even have a passport and have overstayed on a 3-day border pass. When they go back to Laos they normally just pay a nominal fine (whatever the officer thinks he can get out of them) and they can return without problems. It will be interesting to see how this is affected by the new Overstay penalties which are supposedly being implemented in March. Their attutude is they are just for "farang" - Laos people are "same same" Thai people! I plan to marry my GF so she can stay as my dependant, but as others have said, it isn't easy for foreigners to marry Lao citizens, especially as we have a 10-month old son. I'd be most interested in how RBOP got an Affirmation to Marry letter from the Lao Embassy in Thailand, as I thought this involved jumping through the same hoops and red tape as marrying in Laos. My plan is to marry in the UK (or Hong Kong). Although it won't be recognised in Laos, we spend very little time there anyway and a bottle of whiskey to the Headman usually means my stays in her tiny village are uneventful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ggt Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 If your girlfriend does like most of the people from Lao that I know...she can stay here indefinitely...illegally... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
louse1953 Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 I feel u. But why coming here with Lao gf? Just asking.... Although it's very simple to get a one year/business visa/workpermit etc. for Laos it's not interesting (for me) there is really nothing and it's overpriced. Thailand is the place to be just Lao girls are so much better. Only information I found was that Lao residents just can get a 30 days visa like anyone, weird and not sure if up to date. Why is it weird,it is another country,you know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brewsterbudgen Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 I feel u. But why coming here with Lao gf? Just asking.... Although it's very simple to get a one year/business visa/workpermit etc. for Laos it's not interesting (for me) there is really nothing and it's overpriced. Thailand is the place to be just Lao girls are so much better. Only information I found was that Lao residents just can get a 30 days visa like anyone, weird and not sure if up to date. Why is it weird,it is another country,you know. Well, it's an ASEAN country so there are bilateral arrangements and Lao citizens can enter Thailand without a passport and stay 3 days... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyingdoc Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Some comments seem to be anecdotal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mesquite Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Those commenting about overstay no problem should read this: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/885811-new-overstay-rules-announced-by-immigration/?utm_source=newsletter-20160112-1052&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KonKorat Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 She can stay a lifetime providing she don't get caught! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brewsterbudgen Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Those commenting about overstay no problem should read this: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/885811-new-overstay-rules-announced-by-immigration/?utm_source=newsletter-20160112-1052&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=news As I said, the previous overstay penalty of 500 baht a day, up to 20,000 baht, was rarely applied to Lao overstayers. I would think the same will aply with the new penalties. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brewsterbudgen Posted January 12, 2016 Share Posted January 12, 2016 Some comments seem to be anecdotal? Not really; the rules are clear. Lao citizens with a passport can stay for 30 days, then they have to do a border run. Otherwise they need a visa just like anyone else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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