Visa run to Vientiane, Laos.
If you are currently in Thailand, have decided you want a longer stay than your visa on arrival warrants, have run out of immigration extensions and are now looking for your next option. Your classic Thailand visa run awaits you.
After visiting Huay Xai, Laos for my first border run, I knew I absolutely needed to have a real out of country trip to Laos. Little did I know, that trip would be almost exactly a month later.
In obtaining my education visa for muay thai, I found out there had been an error in communication with my gym who would be settling all my paperwork. I would need to go to a Thai Embassy in Vientiane, Laos to complete the visa process.
The thing with getting a visa after you arrive is that you will sometimes need to leave the country to get stamped in with the visa at an embassy (which only exists out of the country). If this happens, you should be able to choose which embassy location you want to go to ahead of time.
This all depends on the agent you go through, the type of visa you are getting, your country, etc. So make sure to get clarity with whomever you go with to ensure you do not run into any surprises.
I chose to go to the Thai Embassy in Vientiane, Laos because it was the easiest and cheapest option at the time. I also had never been to that part of Laos and am always up for a new experience!
I had to be quick in planning because the trip was completely unexpected and our visa on arrival (3o days) was due to be up the following week. This meant either pay an extension at immigration to grant myself another 30 days or just head straight to Vientiane and get everything handled in one go at the embassy.
Before you book anything, you’ll want to go onto the embassy website for the location you want to go to and make sure that you book an appointment if walk-ins are not welcome. For the Vientiane embassy you will want to go here.
When you book your appointment, your confirmation email will contain a queue number that will tell you what time to be at the embassy. Mine was #128 which meant I was to show up between 1130am and noon. It will specify your time in the email so don't worry about it.
After booking my visa appointment at the embassy, I looked into transportation costs. I knew I could take a bus round trip for under $200 USD (this is round trip for 2 people) but it would take me 13 hours… though it was overnight, with a 3 year old? I still think not.
I instead opted for a domestic flight from Chiang Mai to Udon Thani which only took 1 hour and was only $100 more than the 13 hour train ride. Any other option I looked at was either timely or more expensive than I wanted.
I booked a 1 hour shuttle van to take us from Udon Thani Airport to the Thai-Laos Friendship bridge. Here you will go through the border and immigration center that will allow you into the country.
The van was comfortable, quiet, air conditioned and they provided bottled water for the ride. It was 250 baht ($7 usd) per person, booked through the travel guide website 1,2Go.
They dropped us at the border where the taxi drivers greeted us immediately and offered to take us across the border for 500 baht. I politely declined “Mai yow kha” and carried my merry cheap butt right on into the passport checkout counter and then to the bus for a total of 30 baht (Wilder was free).
The bus ride took less than 15 minutes, was air conditioned and looked more like a charter bus - well worth saving 470 baht even if it only worked out to $13 usd.
After driving across the bridge, the bus let us off at the Laos border and immigration center. We walked right up to the big sign “Visa on Arrival” and the official gave us 2 forms to fill out. After returning them, we paid 1700 baht ($50 usd) per application for our visas and went on in search of a taxi to take us to our hotel.
To make getting around easier, download the “Loca” transportation app. It is the Laotian form of Uber/Lfyt, grab, etc and was the cheapest way to travel in the country for me.
Depending on your country of origin, you may need to handle your Laos visa before you get into the country. If you are a US citizen, you need not worry about it.
My visa appointment at the Thai embassy was a day later. Make sure you have your application fee (2000 baht) in cash and in thai baht ONLY or you will have a small fee outside the embassy with a local Laos individual to exchange your kip to baht.
For the Vientiane visa location, it specified going to the Consular Section Royal Thai Embassy, Vientiane, Lao PDR. This was to the east of Patuxay Park NOT to the north.
The address is 316 Rue Bourichane, Vientiane although knowing that did not really help in my quest to find it so just know when you put it into the maps, it should be to the East and not the North.
When I arrived at the embassy, I was checked in at the gate by an official who looked over my paperwork and appointment confirmation email. He instructed me to head to the window where I would fill out a form to give to the clerk. Everything was outdoors so be prepared to be hot while you wait.
I finished filling out my form and gave my documents including my visa paperwork from the gym, passport and visa application form along with (2) passport sized photos and my 2000 baht in cash to the clerk at the window.
After looking everything over, he handed me back my receipt with a ticket number including the time and date to come back for retrieval and sent me on my way.
Your visa depending on the type and the embassy may take a few days to process. For me, it was two business days not including the day I dropped it off at the embassy. I dropped mine off on a Thursday which meant I had to wait until Monday afternoon to pick it up. If you drop it off on a monday, you will pick it up on a wednesday afternoon.
Make sure you check the Lao and Thai holidays when booking your appointment so you do not run into a day wasted in waiting for your passport and visas return.
