Popular Post roly Posted November 3, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted November 3, 2014 (edited) Hi, here's a very quickly written-up report note from my recent trip to Vientiane to get a new ED visa (this is my third year of study). I successfully got a new education visa, there were a few minor issues exiting Thailand - see below. Total price for 4 days and all expenses, application fees in Laos, hotels, etc, etc was about 18,000 baht for me and my other half. School fees in Thailand were extra on that. Sorry this is a bit long, but here's the lowdown on my entire ED visa application. And by the way, I DO go to school and can speak and read Thai moderately well - improving all the time :-) My school issued instructions that said to pickup a cancellation letter, go to the immigration office on day of current visa expiry, cancel the visa and pay 1900 baht and get a week in which to leave. A month before my visa was due to expire (Sunday 26th October) I booked a flight from Bangkok to Udon on Tuesday 28th (my 'extra week' according to the school instructions) and some hotels, with the return flight back from Udon to Bangkok on Friday 31st. Total flight cost was 690 baht each way including taxes, though I took my g.f. so it was double that. Pretty good so far. Since my visa was due to expire on Sunday 28th, I planned to visit the local (Hua Hin) immigration trip on Friday 26th. On Thursday 25th I went to school to pick up the paperwork and paid the school fees (10,000 initially). The farang boss of the school said "it's all changed, just go straight to Laos" and that there was no need to do any visa cancellation malarkey, and also that there was no possibility of any other ways around going to Laos if you know what I mean. Anyway, since I'd booked everything already, that meant I would actually overstay by a few days by not having the extra week from immigration and having to go on the Tuesday I'd already booked. Tuesday 28 Nov Anyway, with my paperwork from school, I took the mini bus to Don Muang on Tuesday for an afternoon flight. Arrived at Udon Thani about 5pm or so then took the VIP mini van to Nong Khai - 200 baht each (travelled with my girlfriend). I had read the border would be closed so I planned a night in Nong Khai and had already booked the Tanzeno hotel (about 1000 baht I can't remember the figure), which was 2 mins walk from the Thai border checkpoint - massive new hotel on the right with blue writing - highly recommended hotel to stay if going to Laos the next day - though it's a bit of a tuk tuk trek to the river if you want to go out in the town that night. Some young farang couple did seem to try and cross the border, but I'm not sure whether it was open as I just went to the hotel. Maybe it was open, if so it was fairly deserted. Wednesday 29 Nov Woke up early despite the bottle of sangsom with the tuk tuk driver in Nong Khai the night before. Went to the Thai border at 7.15 - only a few people there so I thought great I can go through quickly and straight to the Thai consulate in Laos. I went to the special overstay desk to pay the 3 days overstay (1500 baht) but had to wait 5 mins for an official to arrive. He dealt with another guy overstaying then me. My girlfriend went though on the counter next to me. I handed the passport over and he said that I had to cancel my visa!!!! hmmmm....and that the immigration office was in the town. It seemed that I was not even allowed to leave the country! So - tuk tuk (60 baht) about 3km up the road to immigration - it was now about 7.30. Someone there said it opened at 8.30 so I had to wait an hour. At 8.30 it opened and there were also a few other farangs there who had been told the same thing. The official said we needed cancellation letters (that could be done there) and had to fax to their number. Imagine if they said I had to cancel in Hua Hin where I live, I would have just gone mad. I waited until 9am for my school to open, and asked them to fax a cancellation letter. They said it would be an hour but they couldn't fax it as they don't have a fax machine and apparently they were not able to go to a nearby shop and fax from them. They emailed me. By this time (10am) I was waiting at a coffee shop over the road from immigration when the email came through, so I popped back across the road to immigration. Tried to find someone who would let me print the letter - eventually a lady there said I could email it and she would print. After she had checked her email like 10 times, she finally got my forwarded email with the PDF attachment, but couldn't work out how to open it and didn't want me to help. What's wrong with people not even knowing how to use a fricking computer! Aaargh. So, after about 15 minutes, I gave up and went to look for an Internet shop/fax machine. An official said there was a place over the road - turned out it was just a restaurant with a printer, so I emailed the receptionist my school letter. She couldn't get into her email. I then went to log into my email but remembered I'd recently changed the password (to a REALLY long one) and couldn't find where I'd written it down, and when I found it in a password app on my phone, I'd looked at the wrong one and couldn't log in either, so I'm almost as bad as everyone else in this technically inept story about trying to achieve something as simple as faxing a damn letter to a fax machine!!!!!. My girlfriend then went to her email but couldn't work out how to login either (by this point getting quite annoyed). I then started to look for fax apps on my iPhone. By this time, the restaurant lady managed to get into her email, and get the letter, and print it - but no it was too small because she had printed it at A6 size. My girlfriend suggested this would be ok. Oh dear. I then tried to help - it was all in Thai on Windows, but eventually the three of us managed to work it out and printed the letter on A4 (hurray!). Back to immigration - got the visa cancelled about 20 mins later - had to pay 20 baht for a photocopy there too - my girlfriend said don't tip them as that was already too expensive! :-) There was no fee of 1,900 baht (which the school instructions explicitly said there would be) and there was no 7 day extension either! Though that may be because I said I was leaving the same day. Now, back to the border by tuk tuk - got there about 11.30 by this time - so back to the overstay desk - nobody there as the guy was on a break. Waited another 20 mins or so and he came back, checked everything, cautioned me about overstaying and took the 1500 baht and let me through. Next - take the bus (20 baht) to the Laos entry checkpoint close by - hardly anyone there and a guy popped his head out of a window and handed out forms then closed the hatch with a "on break" sign (someone had written in pencil below it "4 beer"). Once they were completed I paid 1,500 baht for the visa (think it's cheaper to pay in $) and then waited another 20 mins or so while the hatch stayed closed. I followed the toilet sign in the meantime but when I got to the building over the road where it indicated, the toilets were locked - so I had a sneaky cigarette and helped two soldiers (I think) carry a cupboard up some stairs as they seemed to be struggling - this was kind of behind the buildings near the locked toilets. I then went back to check the visa status. Anyway, managed to get the passports back with Laos visas in them and a guy approached asking if we wanted a taxi/people carrier to the city. It was now about 1pm (so this was already about a 5 hour delay due to the earlier visa cancellation confusion), and he said it was 300 baht - I can't remember if it was each or for both people. We went through the barriers to actually enter Laos (nobody could work out how to go through, seems you have to buy a token or scan your passport but the guy just let us through). Now our taxi guy took us to AV hotel which I'd already booked - 10 min walk from the river. We paid the taxi guy and he asked if we wanted a lift tomorrow, but we just took the card and said maybe. Evening - went out, found a bar (Bpor Bpen Yang) and drank beer Laos! :-) happy at last... Oh by the way, DTAC pay as you go didn't work for me in Laos - I just had no service the whole time I was there. My girlfriend has a DTAC contract (pay monthly) and hers worked fine on one of the local Laos networks. Maybe she had roaming on and I needed to tell DTAC or something, not sure. Last time I was in Laos on AIS, it just worked I recall, several years ago. Thursday 30 Nov Woke up around 7, skipped breakfast and headed outside the hotel about 7.30. Yesterday's taxi man was there waiting even though we had not agreed that he would come. Anyway it was convenient so we just went with it. He took us to the embassy - about 20 mins I think. Through the streets he pointed out a garage selling Land Rovers and Lamborghinis! wow. At the embassy/consulate it was now about 7.45, and the taxi guy pulled up outside opposite, at a little white tent with a guy in there - obviously his mate/partner etc trying to get us to sign up for more stuff. He said he'd provide a form and complete it for me and check it for 100 baht, which I agreed. He did an OK job - everything correct, cut the photos (you need a white background, I had a white shirt too just in case). He said I could pay a few thousand more and didn't even need to queue up (a friend of mine did that last week and got a visa without having to wait around, he went straight back to the hotel and picked it up the next day - about 3,000 baht), but I declined and said I'd queue up and do it all myself. The guy seemed quite annoyed. There was a massively long queue - I later found out I was number 290 - so even getting there at 8ish is cutting it a bit fine. At 8.30 the queue started to move slowly, through the gates a desk handing out hand written numbers (in blue felt) with your queue number on. Looking back you could maybe just write one yourself ;-).....there is no shade, so you may get sunburnt while queuing, so take an umbrella. There's a small shop in the grounds selling snacks, drinks and beer (I had a beer Laos), and a smoking area behind where there's no ashtray so you're obviously just meant to throw it on the ground - seems weird to me. After I got the number (290) I basically just smoke and drank beer, even though logic tells me that's not really a good idea at an official place like that, but still everyone else was. An official at the front kept holding up cards with numbers on: 20-29, 30-31, etc, in groups of ten. Each group of ten took maybe ten minutes each...around 11am my number was called, I handed in the school paperwork and form, and passport. They guy checked everything for about 1 minute, then that was that - I then had to go to the second building next door to pay 2000 baht (and another 10 or 20 baht fee for something), which was another wait of around 30-40 minutes I guess. Around midday I had finally left the embassy with a receipt/number and everything done. Friday 31st I assumed that since I already had a number from the day before, there was no point to queue up for hours for the embassy to open at 1.30. I had told the taxi driver from the day before to come around 2pm (I hadn't paid him anything up until then). We went to the morning market (just a shopping mall, which was average), and got back at 1pm and he was already asleep in his car in the hotel car park, so we just went to the embassy then and arrived about 1.15. There was nobody queueing outside, so I just got a new number (110 I think) from the security guard - ahh, so it would have been worth getting there early as today's queue is totally different from the day before's number. Went to the restaurant opposite to eat - about 30 mins later I went into the embassy and waited another 20 mins or so, and my number was called out, he handed me the passport. That was all done. Took the same taxi guy to the border, and paid him 1000 baht for all the journeys. Checked out of Thailand and a guy asked if we wanted to go to Udon in his mini bus - we took up his offer and went across the bridge, to the Thai immigration checkpoint. He said we could avoid the queue and pay 20 baht each and use an available desk - so we all paid 20 and wandered over to a just-opened booth, where the guy processed us all quickly. Nobody asked me about learning Thai or to speak Thai at any point on the whole trip. Back on the mini bus, we got to Udon an hour later and on the flight back to BKK. It was by then 8.15 so I just stayed in a hotel close to the airport and took a mini bus back to Hua Hin the next morning at 9am from Mo Chit - which took around 2.5 hours as the guy drove like crazy. Arrived at home finally at midday, so it was basically 4 days exactly, and cost me more than 15,000 baht (some details below). Costs (excluding school fees and spending money for food/beer) - 2 x return flights to Udon Thani = 2,500 baht - 2 people in mini bus to BKK and back again = 800 baht - 2 people to Nong Khai from Udon = 400 baht - 3 x nights hotels = 5,000 baht (approx) - Entry into Laos = 1,500 baht - 1 x taxi guy for trips between hotel/embassy/border = 1,000 baht - ED visa application fee = 2,000 baht - Assistance to complete the form above = 100 baht 13,300 baht + spending money on beer etc (a few thousand extra I guess) - total trip price was probably more than 18,000 baht. The biggest pain in the ass was the school telling me the wrong information "just go straight to Laos with the paperwork" when it was not correct at all - in fact they had instructions printed out (which turned out to be half accurate) but has said ignore them, and hence caused me an overstay of 3 days, and 5 hours wasted at the border. All in all, I'd rather have paid the 18,000 baht here and not had to go to Laos - it was a huge hassle (and I didn't really have the time or spare cash to waste) and my girlfriend insisted on coming along, which was also annoying at times (sorry!) for various reasons such as shopping for handbags and walking slowly.... lol Hope the above helps - it's past midnight so apologies for the inarticulate details, just wanted to get the information down here before I forgot. PM me for any other details. Cheers, Roly Edited November 3, 2014 by roly 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jonathan Fairfield Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Great info, thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffreyO Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Hrm, I wonder what time I should queue up to avoid the long line in the morning... 7:00am? I wonder if that would get me into the first 50... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frimu Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Thank you! I will go for my 3rd year in Savannakhet in 3 weeks, so this was helfpul for me. I will bring up that cancellation letter thing with my school. That seems to be a new requirement. Last year it worked without for me. You said something like you better would have paid the 18k somewhere else and not leave the country. But I'm told by my school, that this option to extend the visa longer than one year in Thailand itself no longer exists. Also read that here in the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
globalmedia8 Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 is this last year or should Nov read Oct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamiesilver Posted November 4, 2014 Share Posted November 4, 2014 Wait until they start complaining no students want to study here anymore.They will probably blame westerners for that in some way...Why dont they look at what International countries are doing to allow them to study abroad?Its so much easier than trying to create a system that sucks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roly Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 Sorry it was this year, I wrote November when actually it was October! :-) The cancellation letter thing needed to be done in Thailand before you cross the border, and it doesn't take very long as long as you have the letter - the problem for me was actually getting it faxed to the immigration office then struggling to print it out. The funny thing was my girlfriend (who is Thai) kept saying: "this is why Thailand will never go up, because nobody knows how to do anything on computers" but when it was her chance to print the email, she couldn't do it either. LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roly Posted November 6, 2014 Author Share Posted November 6, 2014 Also I just heard from a friend today who is doing the exact same trip, that he had some big problems at the border and got to the embassy too late today so will have to apply tomorrow (Friday) and extend his trip. He's quite annoyed. I'll find out what the issues were in due course I guess and post on here, if he doesn't anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lilleOle Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Also I just heard from a friend today who is doing the exact same trip, that he had some big problems at the border and got to the embassy too late today so will have to apply tomorrow (Friday) and extend his trip. He's quite annoyed. I'll find out what the issues were in due course I guess and post on here, if he doesn't anyway. What kind of big problems did he have while entering...? Funny thing, which might be new, is all visas (cancellations too), are put into a computer system and they take your photo. Did takeforever at Hua Hin immigration as the nice lady had no clue how to operate a pc (I had to help her a little) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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