Laos Guide
Entry Requirements
Visas are required for all foreign visitors to Laos except Thais. A thirty-day visa-on-arrival is available for $35 (US dollars, cash only, plus one photo) to travellers flying into Vientiane's Wattay Airport or Louang Phabang Airport. This visa is also available to travellers crossing one of the five routes across the Mekong from Thailand. The fee is $35 and one to two photos are required, depending on the border crossing point.
For a longer visa, you will have to apply in advance at a Lao embassy or through a travel agency. Many visitors do this while staying in Bangkok or Hanoi. In Bangkok, you can apply for a fifteen- or thirty-day tourist visa directly from the Lao embassy; for B1000–1600 (depending on your nationality), fifteen-day visas are not significantly cheaper. You will need two passport photos, and if you apply before noon, it may be ready the same afternoon. An alternative option is to apply through a travel agent in Bangkok; they charge B750 for a fifteen-day tourist visa, and B1200–1800 for a thirty-day tourist visa; allow three working days for processing. There is a Lao consulate in Khon Kaen in northeastern Thailand that can also issue visas, though fees and processing times are variable.
Travellers from Vietnam can get visas for Laos at the Lao embassy in Hanoi or at the consulates in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, as well as at the six border crossings. A thirty-day visa costs around $50, and requires two passport photographs.
Travellers who cross into Laos from Voen Kham in Cambodia must obtain a Laos visa from the Lao embassy in Phnom Penh.
Non-extendible, five-day transit visas ($25–30; three working days) are also offered at the Lao embassy in Hanoi and the consulate in Kunming, China, for travellers flying to Bangkok who wish to make a stopover in Vietiane.
Visa extensions can be applied for at the immigration office in Vientiane on Hatsady Road. The extension charge is $2 per day; the maximum length of your visa extension is usually fifteen days. Officially, only the immigration office in Vientiane can issue visa extensions, but it's always worth trying in other towns. Both airport and border immigration offices generally charge $10 per day for overstays.