ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:
A passport and visa are required. Visas are issued upon arrival in Laos to foreign tourists and business persons at most border crossings.
You will need two passport size photographs and $30 at Wattay Airport, Vientiane; Friendship Bridge,
Vientiane; and Luang Prabang Airport. Visas on Arrival are not available at the Chong Mek border crossing.
Foreign tourists are generally admitted to Laos for 15 days with a visa on arrival or for 30 days with a visa issued at a Lao
embassy. The Department of Immigration in Vientiane will only extend tourist visas for one day. It is sometimes possible
to get an extension for an additional 15 days by submitting an application through a tour agency. Foreigners who
overstay in Laos risk arrest, and they will be fined $5 for each day upon departure.
Foreign tourists planning on entering Laos at any international checkpoint where Visas on Arrival are not available must
obtain a visa in advance. Check with your nearest Lao Embassy as these are subject to change at short notice.
Immigration offices at some of the less used border-crossing points are net well marked. Travelers should make sure that
they complete immigration and customs formalities when they enter Laos. Travelers who enter Laos without completing
these formalities may be subject to fine, detention, imprisonment, and/or deportation.
VISA NOTES
A Laos TOURIST visa is usually issued for a SINGLE entry within
three months from the date of issue for a period of stay not to exceed 30 days. The visa may be extended in Laos for a further 15 days.
A Laos BUSINESS visa is usually issued for a SINGLE entry within
three months from the date of issue for a period of stay not to exceed 30 days. The visa may be extended in Laos for a further 30 days.
A multi-entry business visa can only be issued after a business joint- venture has been established. Higher consular fees apply.
Passport must have at least six months validity remaining, and one
blank visa page in order for the visa to be issued. TDS can assist
with expediting U.S. Passports whether new issue, renewal, and
adding visa pages.
Frequently asked questions:
Q. Do I need to get a visa before visiting Laos?
A. Not if you enter via the Friendship Bridge, Wattay (Vientiane) International Airport or Luang Prabang International Airport. You can also get a visa at Ban Muang Kao / Chong Mek
Q. I have heard that it is cheaper to get a Lao visa in Bangkok - how do I do this?
A. The cost of a visa in Bangkok is about $10 cheaper in Bangkok - but by the time you get to our embassy (which is situated right out of town) and back, and then return to pick up your visa, you will have wasted a lot of time and money. The cheapest, fastest and easiest option is to get a visa on arrival at Vientiane Airport, Luang Prabang Airport or at the Friendship bridge.
Q. I heard that you can get Visa on Arrival at the border with Thailand at Chong Mek - is this true.
A. There was a time when you could do this, but this is no longer the case.
Q. How long is a tourist visa valid for?
A. 14 days, but you may extend it for $US3 a day, at any travel agent in in Vientiane.
So, here I am traveling to Laos, a country that I just picked up a guide book for a few days before leaving Thailand. I was lucky to find out that the borders opened up between Laos and Thailand a few days before I left for Laos. Did I have plan....not really, but thought that I might travel for Laos for a week and than Cambodia for a week before hitting up Malaysia...Again, I found out the beauty of not planning every detail out before you leave for a trip!
It started with a 6-hour bus journey from Chiang Mai to Chiang Khong (border town in Thailand with Laos). The landscape was mixed with trees, mountains, rice fields that shined so green with the sunlight, and tiny villages. The tiny villages (100 people) usually had a few homes, a general store, 1-2 food stands, and maybe a temple. The larger villages (1,000 people) had more homes, a couple stores and food stands, several temples, and a school or two. Most of the roads and villages were clean with very few animals or trash on them....a nice change from some of the other countries visited on this trip! I made it safely to Chiang Khong, got my Thailand exit stamp by customs, and took a slow, long boat across the Mekong River to Huay Xai, Laos. A quick 30 US Dollars and a completed VISA application, I was issued a 30-day VISA for traveling in Laos. I found it amazing that only 30 years ago did the US lose a secret war with Laos from 1961 to 1975, which would result in Laos becoming a Communist Nation and they were issuing VISAs at the border to American citizens.
"Unlike the war in Vietnam, the secret war in Laos remained in the hands of the CIA and avoided direct deployment of U.S. troops. This lack of American casualties tended to hide its massive scale. After the war's end, the New York Times observed that "some 350,000 men, women and children have been killed, it is estimated, and a tenth of the population of three million uprooted." Between 1965 and 1973, more than two million tons of bombs were dropped on Laos -- far more than the U.S. had dropped on both Japan and Germany during World War II." I will share more of this information when I write about my visit to the War and Former President Kaystone Phomvihane Memorial and Museum in Vientiene (the country's capital).
Huay Xai is a small border town that is completely different than its Thai bordertown of Chaing Khong in terms of infrastructure, cleanliness, and technology. It was an amazing contrast and woke me up to the struggles of a third world country and the impacts of a war on a country's progress! I stayed at a simple guest house paying by a combination of Laos Kip (10000 Kip = 1 Dollar), Thai Bhat, and US Dollar. The Laos economic system is quite unstable and the reason right now for three currencies to be used in the country. It makes for fun buying things at the market!
On the 26th, I departed Huay Xai by what the locals refer to as a "deadly boat," but I found it to be one of the more pleasant journeys of my trip. Eight passengers (3 westerners and 5 locals), one boat operator, and lots of luggage are crammed into this long, flat, speed boat that is fueled by some type of red liquid. The luggage is up front, passengers in the middle, and the operator in the back with a simple control of an outboard motor. Now, as we are crammed into spot, the operator hands to you a helmet with shield and a life vest and basically smirks at the westerners, like "sure you will be able to handle this!" Apparently, the speed of the boat mixed with the many whirlpools and debris in the Mekong River cause the occassional crash of these boats......and YOU PAY FOR THIS!!! Once we were all in the boat, it took off at lighting speed moving so smoothly on the water, which made me want to hook up a rope and start wakeboarding on the glassy river water. The trip lasted about 6 hours with short mechanical breakdown in the middle of the river due to engine overheating. The scenery on the Mekong River is breathtaking and gets better as you get closer to Luang Prabang, where limestone cliffs align the river banks. I was lucky on this trip, as I was up front and could extend my legs on the luggage and over the boat and than just relax and observe all the debris that the operated continued to avoid. In the end, we all made it to Luang Prabang safely and were going to be shown why this city was listed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
More to come about my love for Laos!
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