Can a visit to Loas reset my visitors visa?

Hi All,

I've been married to a wonderful Thai women from Udon for 8 years. We're living and working in America while we build for our future here in Udon. We come every year for a few weeks. This year we are here for 6 weeks.

Aparently as an American I am allowed to stay 30 days without attaining a visa. Last year I stayed 31 days and had to pay a fine at the passport check at the airport on my way out.

I am understanding that if I make a visit to Loas, even for a day and re-enter Thailand that it will reset my visa and I can stay another 30 days.

Can anyone confirm if this is true? If not what are my options, I've only been here two weeks so far.

Thanks, -Jeff (up2you)

up2you wrote:I am understanding that if I make a visit to Loas, even for a day and re-enter Thailand that it will reset my visa and I can stay another 30 days.(up2you)

No that is not true. You would be given a stay of 15 days on re-entry to Thailand.
The law was amended a few years ago so that visitors arriving by air (from most countries) still get 30 days on arrival but those arriving by land only get 15 days.
The good news is that you can get as many 15 day stamps as you like.
The bad news is that it is quite time consuming & costs just over the 30USD a time for a Laos visa.

You could remove that aggravation by making a trip to the Thai Embassy at Vientiane.
There with minimal paperwork you could get a Tourist Visa. You would then be given a 60 permission to stay in Thailand on your return across the Friendship Bridge.
it is a two day exercise to get a Visa from the Embassy. Hand in passport, application, photocopies, pictures & money between 10am & noon one day.
Pick up passport containing Visa between 1pm & 3pm the following working day.
It will, therefore require at least an overnight stay in Laos.
The Embassy is open Monday to Friday only...

Well, I don't really want to stay a couple days in Laos. From what you say it sounds like if I go into Laos on my 30th day and return the same day I will have another 15 days. That would mean I might be over 1 or 2 days my 15 day visa when I leave the country in Bangkok. I would then have to pay a fine for being over stay 1 or two days. I think last time the fine was about 1000 bht for one day. Do you know what the fine is per day for overstaying your visa? If it would only cost me couple thousand baht for two days I might just do that instead of making another trip to Laos.

Looks like I should have checked into this before I came. I was pretty sure going to Laos one time (which I wanted to do anyway) would do it for me.

Sorry to bother you, but another question... Does it cost about $30 for each person visiting Laos, for myself and my Thai wife also? And who collects the money, Thailand, Laos, both?

thanks for the help.

If he's planning to stay 6 weeks, he only needs one visa run to lao I figure. True ?

Peterplay wrote:If he's planning to stay 6 weeks, he only needs one visa run to lao I figure. True ?

That would depend if 15 days will take him up to his departure date.

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up2you,

Options:

1. About a week or so before your current visa expires, go to Udon Immigration with outbound air ticket in hand and ask for an extension. If they're feeling generous you may get an extension up until your departure date. No guarantees, cost about 1,900bt.

2. Make a border run, get 15 days. If that's not enough:

a. Go to Udon Immigration with outbound air ticket in hand and ask for an extension, you might get 7 days. No guarantees, 1,900bt.

b. Take your chances at departure and pay the overstay fine.

c. Make a border run to Thai consulate and get a 60 day tourist visa.

You should have got a 60 day tourist visa before you left, only $25. Cheaper and less hassle than the above options.

Good luck...

up2you wrote:Well, I don't really want to stay a couple days in Laos. From what you say it sounds like if I go into Laos on my 30th day and return the same day I will have another 15 days. That would mean I might be over 1 or 2 days my 15 day visa when I leave the country in Bangkok. I would then have to pay a fine for being over stay 1 or two days. I think last time the fine was about 1000 bht for one day. Do you know what the fine is per day for overstaying your visa? If it would only cost me couple thousand baht for two days I might just do that instead of making another trip to Laos.

Looks like I should have checked into this before I came. I was pretty sure going to Laos one time (which I wanted to do anyway) would do it for me.

Sorry to bother you, but another question... Does it cost about $30 for each person visiting Laos, for myself and my Thai wife also? And who collects the money, Thailand, Laos, both?

thanks for the help.

If your wife is traveling on a Thai passport it's free if you go before 2PM. Your cost is either $30 or $35. More if you use baht.

I believe that IF YOU ARE LUCKY you might get away with being 1 day overstay at the airport, on the way out of the country. You will certainly get fined for being 2 days over, although I am uncertain what the daily fines are now.
Without wishing to sound 'preachy' I have always avoided overstaying a visa like the plague.
I know that a great many people are unconcerned about it & the penalties inflicted are normally pretty minor. However, if you were caught by officials on a bad day they have pretty draconian laws behind them if they ever decide to make an example of someone. So I try not to give them that chance.

up2you wrote:Sorry to bother you, but another question... Does it cost about $30 for each person visiting Laos, for myself and my Thai wife also? And who collects the money, Thailand, Laos, both?

If your wife is traveling on a Thai passport then she does not have to apply for (& so pay) for the entrance visa to Laos.
I believe that it is free to enter for all ASEAN passport holders. The cost (hence my vagueness on the matter) varies between 31 & 35 USD for non-ASEAN passport holders depending on their country of passport.
There are also some (very minor) charges to be paid for customs (or something ) on the Laos side, but no more than 50 baht each maximum I think.
The bus will also cost you (I believe) 10 to 15 baht each, both ways, depending on the day you go....
You are not charged anything (unless having overstayed ) by Thai Immigration either going or returning...

However, if you were caught by officials on a bad day they have pretty draconian laws behind them if they ever decide to make an example of someone. So I try not to give them that chance.

Thanks for the tip, sounds like good advise.

My wife has a Thai Passport. Thanks for the info on transit to Laos. You mentioned taking the bus, does that mean we can't drive into Laos?

Hi,
I used to stay for six weeks. I used to go to Imm in Patts and get a extra 12 days stamp in my P.P. Believe you can get up to 21 days max extension, form TM7, on your 30 day Permission to Stay stamp, but not certian, at a cost of 1900B plus photos etc. Had to show return ticket. Done in less than an hour. But as people have said you should have got a "O" visa before you came, less hassle IMHO, and cheaper. Fron U.K. a single entry "O" visa for 90 days costs, about 25GBP's.
If you are in Udon go down to Imm. and ask them, and they will tell you what to do. They are in the same grounds as the police statinn, and open at 0800Hrs. They are very helpful. You can go to Lao, but you have to stay overnight, and for the cost to enter Lao on a British P.P. is 35US dollars alone, then a hotel for the night. so not worth it IMO.
The bus when i used it last, for crossing the bridge, was 35B. each way. Then you have to have 2 P.P. size photos. Then the cost of getting into Lao from the bridge.
Cheers Doug.

up2you wrote:

However, if you were caught by officials on a bad day they have pretty draconian laws behind them if they ever decide to make an example of someone. So I try not to give them that chance.

Thanks for the tip, sounds like good advise.

My wife has a Thai Passport. Thanks for the info on transit to Laos. You mentioned taking the bus, does that mean we can't drive into Laos?

No you can't (unless you have something akin to a passport for the car). After passing through the Thai check point a bus (20bt) takes you across the bridge to the Laos check point. While there you can do a bit of shopping at the duty free. If you arrive before 2PM your wife doesn't pay anything, totally free to cross over & back. You will to have pay $35 or 1300bt.

douglas wrote:Hi,
I used to stay for six weeks. I used to go to Imm in Patts and get a extra 12 days stamp in my P.P. Believe you can get up to 21 days max extension, form TM7, on your 30 day Permission to Stay stamp, but not certian, at a cost of 1900B plus photos etc. Had to show return ticket. Done in less than an hour. But as people have said you should have got a "O" visa before you came, less hassle IMHO, and cheaper. Fron U.K. a single entry "O" visa for 90 days costs, about 25GBP's.
If you are in Udon go down to Imm. and ask them, and they will tell you what to do. They are in the same grounds as the police statinn, and open at 0800Hrs. They are very helpful. You can go to Lao, but you have to stay overnight, and for the cost to enter Lao on a British P.P. is 35US dollars alone, then a hotel for the night. so not worth it IMO.
The bus when i used it last, for crossing the bridge, was 35B. each way. Then you have to have 2 P.P. size photos. Then the cost of getting into Lao from the bridge.
Cheers Doug.

Only if he's going to the Thai consulate, other wise no reason to stay over night.

I am of rather a different opinion to Doug.

Having come so far as from the USA I would have thought that as you have to expend the time & money to go to Laos then a visit to Vientiane is well worth making the effort to do.

It will cost you about 200/250 baht for the trip to the capital & probably about 300 for the trip back again to the Bridge - lots of competition at the bridge,not so much when you are returning!! (Often best to arrange with the guy that takes you in to return you for the same price as well, as long as he does not think he is in a Formula 1 race...). Check that it is NOT a tuk tuk before you go with the driver, while the road surface is good it is not 30 Kms in the back of a tuk tuk good & well worth forking out an extra 50 baht for air conditioned comfort.

Just about everywhere takes Thai Baht - but they do give a pretty lousy exchange rate. If you want to feel like a millionaire (OK, I exaggerate, but only just there are 255.61 Kip to the Baht at the moment) just about any bank will be happy to exchange Baht or USD to Kip for you..

Rooms are probably slightly more expensive than for the equivalent in Udon, but not horrifically so. I have usually found food to be more expensive as well, but probably still a greater variety than Udon even now..

I have always found it quite a change to Udon & something surprisingly different for just a stone's throw away..

Overstaying is frowned upon and if you have any trouble with the police and your visa has expired you could end up in jail. Play it safe and avoid overstays.

Ok, lots of info.. Sounds like going into Laos is a bit more trouble than I thought but with the info you've given should help if I need to do that. I'm going to try the Immg office first, see what they say. I'm only two weeks into my 30 day visa now does anyone have thoughts on if I should wait till close to expire or better to go early see what they say? I feel stupid now I didn't get a visa before I came, I thought it would be easy to just pop over to Laos and back, problem solved. One thing I'm sure of I don't want to overstay so I'll go to Laos twice if I have to.

But it does sound like just to get my visa stamped I can go over and come back the same day, right? Still learning the ropes... thanks

papaguido wrote:If you arrive before 2PM your wife doesn't pay anything ...

So I assume she'll have to pay after 2pm. Is that new?
I thought ASEAN and Japanese visitors to Lao didn't have to pay.