{"id":1579,"date":"2010-02-12T18:22:58","date_gmt":"2010-02-12T11:22:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/travelwithpaulie.com\/blog\/?p=42"},"modified":"2011-11-23T00:31:32","modified_gmt":"2011-11-23T00:31:32","slug":"vientiane-thai-visa-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paulgoodchild.me\/blog\/vientiane-thai-visa-run\/","title":{"rendered":"Vientiane and the Thai visa run"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do you need to renew your tourist visa for Thailand?\u00a0 Perhaps Vientiane is a option if you are travelling nearby.\u00a0 I’ve just returned from neighbouring Laos on a so-called “visa run” and I’m going to lay out just some of the details you may be interested to know in case you need the same thing.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Thai visas<\/h2>\n

When you fly<\/em> into Thailand you will typically receive a visa-on-arrival and for me holding a UK passport I get a 30 day tourist visa.\u00a0 If you come overland<\/em>, they’re not quite as generous and you receive only 15 days.\u00a0 There’s not a lot you can do with that, but it might be all you need.<\/p>\n

If you want to stay a while longer as a tourist, you must leave the country and come back again through immigration.\u00a0 If you only need 15 days or less, you could just pop out overland to Cambodia or Laos and back in again.\u00a0 If you require much longer than that you will likely need to go through the process that I’ve just undertaken, detailed below.\u00a0 This will afford you a tidy 60 day tourist visa versus the 30 days you’re allocated with visa-on-arrival.<\/p>\n

A basic how to on the Thai visa run via Nong Khai<\/h2>\n

I’ll lay the steps out here and elaborate on them a little as I go along.\u00a0 One point in particular I’ll note first is… don’t stress!\u00a0 This is easy and shouldn’t tax you hardly in the slightest – jot down the details, or print them so you have a reference but don’t worry about this, that, and what ifs, as I’ll try to cover all the main points here you need.<\/p>\n

To do all that I’ve laid out below, you will need to bring with you the following items (of course you can generally get most of them for a fee at the locations where they are required):<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. 3 passport sized photographs (you can pick these up also at the Thai side of the Friendship Bridge (\u0e3f100 for 8 pieces)<\/li>\n
  2. A photocopy of your passport identity page<\/li>\n
  3. Cash for the Laos visa (~\u0e3f1500, ~US$35) – if you can, bring LAK as it’s cheaper<\/li>\n
  4. Your Passport =)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Here goes…<\/p>\n