I will be getting my Thai visa from the UK as I fly to BKK but was wondering about other places such as Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Indonesia as I have heard differing reports ie some say get them in UK and others say when you arrive.
Thanks and all advice/tips welcome!
Reply to this Hello Gareth 😊
Citizens of many countries can get a visa on arrival at Bangkok airport free of charge. The visa on arrival is good for 30 days. As far as I remember you can renew it twice(but double check this) . The way to do this is to go to another country and then come back to Thailand.
For Malaysia citizens of many countries also can get some kind of free of charge stamp on arrival to enter Malaysia.
You can get the visa for Vietnam at the Vietnamese consulate in Bangkok.
For the other countries I cant remember. Hopefully somebody else will come along and give more details. Which citizenship do you have anyway?
Mel
Reply to this Thanks Mel, I'm a British citizen. I have already sent off to T'finders for my Thai visa but will get the Vietnamese one from BKK and Malaysian one on arrival as you suggest.
Thanks for this info
G
Reply to this Or you can get your Visa enter Vietnam from your country by go to Vietnam Embassy to make your visa. tourist visa has limit 30days in Vietnam.
Reply to this Visa information from my South East Asia on a Shoestring by Lonely Planet book. It is a few years old so double check all the info.
Cambodia
Citizens of most countries can get a visa on arrival at border crossings and at Phnom Penh and Siem Reap airports. Apparently the border guards at land crossings overcharge so it is best to get the visa before arrival if travelling by land. The book does not say where to get the visa. At the Cambodian consulate, I presume.
Laos
To make it short it is best not to wait to get the visa on arrival because the authorities are temperamental. You can get it at Lao consulates or from travel agents in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. It lasts for 15 days but can be extended.
Mel
Reply to this I found it easy enough getting a visa on arrival in Laos - you just take the boat across from Chiang Kong and get your visa when you get off the boat, it takes about 20 mins, just take 2 passport photos - can't remember the cost - also we got stamped in for 30 days, (more than we expected).
Cambodia was also fine getting a visa on arrival - we took a bus from Ho Chi Minh to Pnomh Penh, and at the border, they just took everyone's passports, we had to wait around a while, go through passport control, then wait some more and then they handed us back the passports with the visa - I think it was about $20 so not too much. This was in 2007. If you book a bus through one of the guest houses in Ho Chi Minh, it should be fine.
Reply to this I am pleased to confirm that you can get visas for Vietnam and Cambodia here in Bangkok. I've just done it. The local travel agencies say you cannot do this but I went to the emabassies here in BKK.
Vietnamese one takes either 1 day or 4 days (1 cost 2,500 baht) and the Cambodian one takes 5 mins (how cool) and cost 1,100 baht. Be warned the Camb embassy has moved from where it is located on local maps. It is now up near the Laos embassy. Laos visas take 1-3 hours and the embassy shuts at 4pm. As the Laos and Camb embassies are a bit of a trek you may want to take motorbike taxi esp during rush hour!
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