Organising visas for Vietnam, Laos and Thailand

I was at the travel agent last friday to get my flight ticket from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City and got some information about the visas i have to get before i leave.

To tell you my plans: I got a flight to Bankgkok at 1. January evening, return flight is at the end of march.
So i plan to fly straight ahead to ho chi minh city, Vietnam after my arrival in Bangkok. After roughly a month i go further to Laos. At the end of February i go back to Thailand to pick up my girlfrind and we stay the rest of our time in Thailands islands (plus eventually a trip to the north).

So why i do not get my visas in bangkok and go directly from there? Actually i’ve been in Bangkok several times and i’m not very keen to spend there some time. I want to get the asian big city thrill in Saigon, where i’ve never been before.

Bad thing about that is that i cannot fly straight ahead further after arrival. I do have to spend 1 night in bangkok and my plain to Vietnam goes the next day, air france by the way (sounds strange, doesn’t it? flying from Thailand to Vietnam with Air France..). I have to make a 30 day visa on arrival there, or i had to stay at the airport the whole night (!!).

So here are the visa plans:
- 30 day visa for vietnam
- 30 day visa for Laos
- 60 day tourist visa form Thailand

You can download the visa application forms here:
Thailand
Vietnam

For Vietnam you could actually stay up to 3 month for a charge of 20$. It can be obtain at the immigration office (Hanoi or Saigon, takes about 3 days). I’ll take the 60 day thai visa, ’cause i’m not very keen about doing any visa runs.

A strange thing which i didn’t know before are the several period limits in which you have to enter (and exit for Vietnam) the according country. Here are the period limits:

- Vietnam: 3 months (entry and outgoing)
- Laos: 2 months
- Thailand: 3 months

Actually i’m not so keen about booking flights and stuff at travel agents here in switzerland, but the globetrotter agency got me the flight for the cheapest price i found. Apart from that i wanted to get these informations about the visa stuff i’m sharing now with you. While remembering back the duane guards at the hat Lek thai-cambodia boarder with the big guns and the strict bureaucratic attitude i wanted to stay on the save side and not play with visas like with poker cards.

Maybe i leave out the Visa appliance for Laos in advance, i’m sure i can get that in Vietnam and i’m sure it doesn’t take weeks..
Other sources in the internet write that the Lao Visa can be obained also on arrival.

Loads of encypted letters i’ve got to send the next days then..