Vietnam Consulate Khon Kaen

Post by **BobHelm** » July 18, 2014, 9:58 am

I am thinking about a trip to Vietnam.
It is possible to get an 'advanced' visa online. However you have to pay for the privileged of doing that & i am not actually sure that it would greatly cut down the time it takes at Immigration when you arrived.

So I am thinking about taking a trip to the Consulate in Khon Kaen & getting a visa there.

Has anybody done that??
Was it easy or a pain??
Do you have to drop off your passport & pick it up day(s) later??

Thanks for any information from anyone who has tried Khon Kaen, or any other route into a Vietnam visa.

Post by **merchant seaman** » July 18, 2014, 10:35 am

Check with one of the larger travel agents in town, such as On Time Travel Agent, and see if they can get the visa for you. Travel agents in the states do it.

Post by **charlie1** » July 18, 2014, 10:55 am

get to khon kaen around 8am when the consulate opens and you should be able to pick up your passport and visa at 4pm

Post by **Aardvark** » July 18, 2014, 11:41 am

BobHelm wrote:I am thinking about a trip to Vietnam.
It is possible to get an 'advanced' visa online. However you have to pay for the privileged of doing that & i am not actually sure that it would greatly cut down the time it takes at Immigration when you arrived.

So I am thinking about taking a trip to the Consulate in Khon Kaen & getting a visa there.

Has anybody done that??
Was it easy or a pain??
Do you have to drop off your passport & pick it up day(s) later??

Thanks for any information from anyone who has tried Khon Kaen, or any other route into a Vietnam visa.

Don't forget your Camera and give us a full report when you get back Bob

Post by **fdimike** » July 18, 2014, 5:34 pm

The Vietnam Consulate in KK is well run and easy to obtain a visa. I went in the afternoon and had the visa the next afternoon. The timing was fine for me as we were bicycling to Vietnam and in no great hurry anyway. I've crossed into Vietnam several times and have never had a problem with the immigration folks.

Post by **BobHelm** » August 15, 2014, 10:07 am

Thanks for the information guys.
Armed with that I decided to do one of my usual 'belts & braces' exercise on the trip - especially as it must have been 6 years since I have visited Khon Kaen.

So I traveled down Tuesday afternoon & booked into a hotel near the Embassy - Hotel La Ville & very nice it was too.
My plan was then to visit the Embassy that afternoon. If, for any reason, they would not accept my application then it would be an easy matter to visit it when it opened at 8:30.

As it turned out they were more than happy to accept the application in the afternoon exactly as Mike described, but I also still had to return at 4pm the following day to collect it.

Very quiet at the visa section, I rather got the impression that I was the only applicant that day!!
A single entry tourist visa, valid for a stay of 30 days cost $80 - or I could have paid in baht at a not ridiculous exchange rate(unlike it is on the Friendship Bridge).

So that is now me all ready & raring to go at the end of this month..

Post by **Zidane** » August 15, 2014, 1:36 pm

I believe Vietnam has many beautiful places to see,including Ha Long bay,Phu Quoc island and Nha Trang which is the countries leading beach resort with more diverse restaurants and nightlife than other parts of the country.

As regards the visa situation,the normal visa issued is for 90 days.Its difficult to get a 6 month visa but can be done through an agency for a fee,although the application is not always successful.....thats how I understand it,anyway ?
However,if you marry a Vietnamese girl,you are eligible to apply for a 5 year visa !
This could be the answer for you,Bob......heres a nice lifelong partner for you below !

Post by **jingjai** » August 15, 2014, 5:42 pm

Vietnam is probably the best S.E. Asian country I have visited.
Spend a few days up in Da Lat: http://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Da_Lat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_Lat
The bus ride there from Saigon, was long (7 hours), but well worth the time, a beautiful ride up the mountain. I took a flight back to Saigon.
Great coffee is grown in the Da Lat area.

Journey Ticket & Travel on Amphoe Rd. : 086-451-5274, might be able to arrange your visa. They got me and my wife's visa to China a few years back.

Post by **Stantheman** » August 15, 2014, 8:11 pm

Zidane, very nice pictures especially the last one if you are into products made by DuPont

Post by **kris** » June 8, 2015, 10:05 am

hi Folks.. I am going to Vietnam in November and will need a 3 month single entry visa so will visit KK to pick one up. Could you tell me how long the visa is valid for? Is it valid for a year? ie. if I pick it up in July, can I still use it 4 months later in November? (any chance you couldhave a quick look at your visa and see how long it was valid from the day you picked it up?.. thx

Also do you recall how many passport photos you needed and what other bits of info did you need? (if any)

Post by **Asiaphile** » June 8, 2015, 10:35 am

No need to go to KK if you're flying to Nam. You can get a Visa On Arrival online from the comfort of your armchair. And it's cheaper into the bargain.

Post by **kris** » June 8, 2015, 10:42 am

will be cyling in from cambodia (Le Thanh / O Yadao crossing)

Post by **Asiaphile** » June 8, 2015, 11:18 am

I got my first VN visa from their Embassy in Phnom Penh. I'd read on travel forums that it would take 2 days, day 1 for the application and day 2 to collect it, but it was a breeze. My mate and I went to the Embassy about half an hour before closing time and got ours after waiting about 20 minutes. The place was packed, but we were the last to come in and the first to go out. Probably we were just lucky.

Besides, nearly all the travel agency there can get you one, for a fee of course. They take your passport to the Consulate in Sihanoukville (where they have one day service) in the morning and you'll get it back in the late afternoon.

Post by **BobHelm** » June 8, 2015, 3:46 pm

kris wrote:hi Folks.. I am going to Vietnam in November and will need a 3 month single entry visa so will visit KK to pick one up. Could you tell me how long the visa is valid for? Is it valid for a year? ie. if I pick it up in July, can I still use it 4 months later in November? (any chance you couldhave a quick look at your visa and see how long it was valid from the day you picked it up?.. thx

Also do you recall how many passport photos you needed and what other bits of info did you need? (if any)

It was not quite as easy as that when I got mine. It would be best to look on their site, I think.
I applied about a year ago. They wanted to know my intended date of entry into Vietnam. The visa then had that date as the "valid from" date & 30 days later as the "valid to" date.
So, I went to the Embassy on 12th. August & my visa was valid from 29th. August until 29th. September.
However I was only going for 3 weeks anyway.

Post by **kris** » June 8, 2015, 4:47 pm

I have to go to Savannakhet soon for a new Non 0 and was going to call in KK on way back and pick up the Vietnam visa.. kill 2 birds with one stone.. maybe I`ll just do the Non O this trip and go to KK in September for the Vietnam visa.. thanks for the reply.

Post by **fdimike** » June 9, 2015, 6:36 am

Kris I'm a touring cyclist as well living here in Udo Thani and have obtained two visas from the KK consulate. Bob Helm is correct when he says you have to tell the consulate when you plan to enter Vietnam. The visa is then good for 30 days from that date. I obtained a 30 day single entry without a problem and a friend of mine was able to easily obtain a 90 day multi entry visa. The people at the consulate are very easy to deal with. I have also obtained a 30 day single entry visa from the VN consulate in Savannakhet without a problem. I've cycled in VN a total of 3 times now and have always found it to be more than enjoyable even on highway 1 which is now under a considerable amount of construction (widening).

Post by **kris** » June 9, 2015, 6:48 am

gr8 post thx Mike.. i`ll have a go at locating consulate in Sav when I`m there. My date for entry to Vietnam is about 5 months away so if they won`t go that far forward I`ll go to KK in September.
Will be attempting to take on the Ho Chi Minh (west) road from Pleiku all the way up to Sapa valley. Looks a bit daunting (ie. the steepness of the mountains and lack of accommodation along some of the route) but going to give it my best shot.. lots of bale points along the way back west thru Laos if needed

!
Have done some research online but can only find accounts of motorbikers on the route I have planned. I`m sure it will have been done on bicycles but can`t find any accounts or blogs thus far. So will do one myself I think...

Post by **kris** » June 9, 2015, 6:56 am

PS.. Mike, if you have any online accounts in the form of blogs or whatever on your trips I`d be interested to read

Post by **fdimike** » June 9, 2015, 10:43 am

Kris

Check out www.crazyguyonabike.com my user name is fdimike. I have all my major long distance journals there. CGOAB is a great resource. One thing to keep in mind is the wind. The prevailing wind is out of the north. A friend who I cycle with quite often and I did our last VN ride in Oct/Nov last year and got as far as a bit north of Dong Hoi and visited a beautiful World Heritage cave complex at Phong Nha. Our goal was to reach at least Vinh and possibly Hanoi. Unfortunatelt the trip was cut short by the unexpected death of my friends father forcing him to return to France for the funeral. The winds were a major force to be reckoned with. I would suggest you might consider going from north to south which will essentially keep the wind at your back.
We also noticed a definite difference in available accomodations between the south and the north with the south being more developed. However, the people in the northern part of the country were just as friendly as those in the south for the most part.

If you're looking for a challenging ride try the "Thakek Loop" . My friend from AU and I did it on our loaded bikes (me on my Surly LHT and him on his Trek 6700 MTB) and as far we could tell we were the first to attempt it. It was not an easy ride by any stretch of the imagination but great fun.

Post by **kris** » June 9, 2015, 3:42 pm

hi Mike.. actually did that loop back in early April 2015. Which has kind of inspired me to do a bigger tour of SE Asia. I think I may have seen you already on CGOAB if it was you. Tried to find the link the other day but it wasn`t coming up with the same pages. The story was of 2 60 odd years young chaps doingthe Thakhek loop.. must have been you. Did you do it back in 2012? I think alot of the old trail has changed & is now 50% complete new roads (Lak Sao to Nakai)... was pretty tough because it was alot of sharp loose chipping, very dusty and extremely hot (as was April).. and i didnt really have the right tyres on my bike... but nonetheless I really enjoyed it. It started in planning as a trip along the Mekong but developed into a trip up into the mountains to Lak Sao. It was only after I`d finished planning the route (using google earth) that I realised it was part of a popular route (or loop).

I sure did learn alot from that trip. And initially from the info that you guys had put on CGOAB.

I didn`t do a journal of sorts but I did take alot of photos and recorded the route on GPS. I`ve just started a facebook page for my trip in October and have included some photos/info from the Thakhek loop if you are interested

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cycling- ... 704?ref=hl

Thanks for the info. Will certainly bare in mind when planning my trip