Renewing a tourist Visa in Lao

Post by **nkstan** » November 17, 2011, 8:15 pm

I have a friend whose tourist visa from Laos is expiring Saturday.He is planning a trip on Saturday to get another tourist visa on Monday.
Is there a problem getting another tourist visa from Laos?
Will there be any problems with his visa expiring on Saturday?
He has a contact card from another falang of a couple that run a visa service and Van in Laos.Supposedly,if he contacts them ahead of time,they will meet him at the bridge,take him to his hotel,take his passport and do all the work for 2500 baht.Takes about 2 hours.
Are there any potential problems with his trip,he should worry about or prepare for?

Post by **Dudde** » November 17, 2011, 9:11 pm

Okey first of all i can tell you that the visa service you talked about is totaly illegal.
You cant leave your passport too someone and then they'll do all the work.

He should instead go too the embasy, bring the application, 2 passport sized photos of himself, his passport and 1000Bath with is the visa fee.
He have to leave his application before 12am and can return between 1pm and 3pm the next day.
All in all he spend 24 hours in vientiane and then he can have his new visa.

It's no problem to apply for a new visa after your old one expired.
But do NOT use the visa service you mentioned before....

And also i dont know if he already done this or not but after your 60 days tourist visa has expired you can go too the immigration office and extend it for another 30 days for 1900Bath. No need to leave the country.

Post by **747man** » November 17, 2011, 9:44 pm

Stan, If your friends visa expires on Saturday, Tell him to leave either BEFORE or on Saturday,As he will be fined for " Overstay " 500 Baht per day, So might aswell go to Laos say on Saturday ( No Fine ) & have an extra night in Vientianne with the money he saves NOT paying the Overstay Fine.... & Nothing put in his passport which could affect the decsion to grant him another tourist visa.....

Post by **BobHelm** » November 17, 2011, 10:44 pm

If your friend already has tourist visas in his passport then he could be in for BIG problems Stan - no matter how long between the stamps.
Vientiane now operate to a system of maximum of x number of tourist visas in a passport, then no more. Not sure what the x is now, but when I went in December last year it was 3 double entry tourist visas, so 6 single entry, then no more, ever!! Even using the touts you mention will not get around this rule.

Post by **joebloger** » November 18, 2011, 3:37 am

you can get a double entry visa 2000baht 2 times only and extension of 30 days on each 2 by 2, so that will give you a total of 180 days but you must do a turn around after 60 days then come back and after a further 60 days you can get an extention of 30 days. after your 2by 2 has expired you can get a further 60 day visa. That is the limit for a Tourist Visa. Smart to go on the Thursday, save you 500baht per day fine for overstay

Post by **Dudde** » November 18, 2011, 8:54 am

There is no overstay fine if you only overstay 1 day...

And i have my passport full of tourist visas and never had a problem with getting a new one in Vientiane.

Post by **Jed** » November 18, 2011, 10:15 am

Don't think they're open Saturdays, are they?

Agree with above, go on Thursday, if possible...

Post by **Dudde** » November 18, 2011, 10:39 am

Taken from the Royal Thai Embassy's website:

"The Consular Section of the Royal Thai Embassy in Vientiane is open from Monday to Friday. Visa application form could be submitted from 8.30-12.00 hours only. Visa applicants will receive their passport back in the afternoon of the following working day. Passport collection time is from 13.00-15.00 hours. Please be informed that the Consular Section is NOT located within the premise of the Embassy chancery at Kaysone Phomvihane Avenue.

Its address is No.15 Ban Ponesinuan, Bourichane Road, Vientiane Capital (near Lao-Singapore Business College)."

Post by **GARYZX6R** » November 18, 2011, 11:14 am

Suggest you listen to good advice Dudde. You will not get a Tourist visa from Vientiane if you have more than 2 in there already. You have been warned .

Post by **lepidoptra** » November 18, 2011, 11:38 am

GARYZX6R wrote:Suggest you listen to good advice Dudde. You will not get a Tourist visa from Vientiane if you have more than 2 in there already. You have been warned .

I think you may be right Gary unless the new member Dudde knows something we don't. Just have to wait until he re-posts with the result

Post by **Dudde** » November 18, 2011, 11:44 am

Well as i said my passport is full of tourist visas. And i went there 2 weeks ago to renew it agian. And i had no problem...

Post by **nkstan** » November 18, 2011, 2:06 pm

My friend and I understand that it is probably illegal to give someone your passport,but we also know that it is done regularly.He plans on relaxing at his nice accommodations,rather than go through the hassles!
Also,he is going on Saturday.overstay payment is not a concern!
The real question is whether he will be given another tourist visa or not!
From what I am getting from you,he should have no problem getting a second Visa,right?

Post by **BobHelm** » November 18, 2011, 2:59 pm

nkstan wrote:,he should have no problem getting a second Visa,right?

Absolutely correct Stan, he will have zero issues getting a second visa, no matter if he uses a tout or not.

Not wishing to moralise on the illegalities of using touts it is really for your friend to balance the expenditure against the gains of not queuing & the early return of the stamped passport.

Post by **Asiaphile** » November 18, 2011, 7:16 pm

lepidoptra wrote:
GARYZX6R wrote:Suggest you listen to good advice Dudde. You will not get a Tourist visa from Vientiane if you have more than 2 in there already. You have been warned .
I think you may be right Gary unless the new member Dudde knows something we don't. Just have to wait until he re-posts with the result

More of the information given is patently incorrect, as you can see from the attached image.
If you overstay by 1 (one) day and try to cross from NK to Lao you WILL be fined, as I found out the hard way.
The day of grace given is only observed at AIRPORTS, not at land borders.

Post by **nkstan** » November 18, 2011, 7:31 pm

BobHelm wrote:
nkstan wrote:,he should have no problem getting a second Visa,right?
Absolutely correct Stan, he will have zero issues getting a second visa, no matter if he uses a tout or not.

Not wishing to moralise on the illegalities of using touts it is really for your friend to balance the expenditure against the gains of not queuing & the early return of the stamped passport.

Thanks Bob,that is what he is doing.Since he is going on Saturday,there should be no overstay,but if there is ,it is only 500 baht,no problem!

Post by **747man** » November 18, 2011, 8:04 pm

It's NOT the 500 Baht, Stan......But they WILL Stamp in his passport that he OVERSTAYED,And he may well have problems obtaining a visa in the FUTURE.....

Post by **BobHelm** » November 18, 2011, 8:20 pm

nkstan wrote:I have a friend whose tourist visa from Laos is expiring Saturday.He is planning a trip on Saturday to get another tourist visa on Monday.
Will there be any problems with his visa expiring on Saturday?

If the 'Admitted to' date on the Immigration stamp in his passport says 19 NOV 2011 he will encounter no issues at all. If that date says 18 NOV 2011 then he will.. How much probably depends on who he physically sees, but my understanding is that when the fine went up from 200 baht to 500 baht a few years ago the 'days grace' was abandoned.

Post by **Asiaphile** » November 18, 2011, 8:28 pm

BobHelm wrote: ... when the fine went up from 200 baht to 500 baht a few years ago the 'days grace' was abandoned.

Not at the airports, as I wrote before, and, again, speaking from personal experience

Post by **nickster** » April 4, 2012, 10:45 pm

i have a double entry tourist visa,so does that means i have to go laos after 60 days to renew visa again for another 60 days,and if so what paper work should i bring to make things easier. if after 120 days in thailand,if i decide to stay for another 60 day tourist visa,would i be accepted or not in laos immigration to come back to thailand,someone said to go to malaysia and you can get tourist visa is this true,hopefully someone can give information on this,really not sure about thai visa laws,thank you.

Post by **BobHelm** » April 5, 2012, 8:45 pm

After 60 days stay in Thailand on the first Tourist Visa you must physically leave the country.
When you return (& that can be immediately) you will then get another 60 day stay in Thailand by Thai Immigration using the second part of your double entry Tourist Visa. So there will be no need for you to obtain any additional documentation for you to spend 120 days in Thailand. You will need (I believe 2) passport sized photographs for your entry visa into Laos though.
If you want to stay longer than 120 days then there are really 3 possibilities for you to do so, depending on how long you actually want to stay.
You could go to the local Immigration office & ask for an extension to your Tourist visa. That would cost just under 2,000 baht & is for a maximum of 30 days.
You could go to Laos & immediately return without getting any sort of Thai visa & get a 15 days overland visa exemption stay. You can do that as many times as you like, there is the expense of the Laos visa (30 odd USD) & the general inconvenience to consider though.
You could go to the Thai Embassy in Vientiane & obtain a new Tourist visa which would allow you another 60 days stay in Thailand. It is a two day (not including weekends) & the process is well covered in other threads on here. Basically there is little you actually have to 'prove' to the Embassy in order to get such a visa....