How to renew your Thai visa in Vientiane: practical guide

The Thai Embassy in Vientiane is a good option when it comes to renewing your visa for Thailand. Indeed, as I explained in the 5 reasons to visit Vientiane, the capital of Laos is easily reachable from anywhere in Thailand. In our case I had also chosen our guesthouse so that we could get there easily.

The Heuan Lao GH was only 2 km from the Thai consulate, so it was on foot that we could reach the building early in the morning. The opportunity to enjoy the morning atmosphere. It was a question of making a student visa (non-immigrant ED), so it was equipped with the documents provided by the school and various documents to provide, here is a list:

Documents required to apply for a visa:

Passport valid for at least 6 months + photocopy (main page + previous visas if you have any)
A form to fill out
1 passport photo
Acceptance letter from the establishment in Thailand issued by the institute, in my case a language center to learn Thai but it can also be a university or even a company receiving an intern.
Pay the 2000 Baht (around €45) fee, knowing that this amount is non-refundable if your visa application is refused for any reason.

It's a fairly easy and quick process if you have everything prepared in advance, which was my case. When I arrived, I took the form in question, filled it out, there was practically no queue. I stuck the photo and hop, gave everything and paid. All that's left is to come back within 48 hours (generally, except weekends and public holidays of course)

Knowing that during a first visa application you will be entitled to 90 days, this is normal, the extension giving the right to 1 year must be done in the country where you will have to pay a renewal fee of 1900 Bahts (otherwise it would be too easy to have 1 year directly…;-)

If you renew your tourist visa for Thailand, it is relatively the same process.

Here is the route to take from the Heuan Lao guesthouse hotel to the Thai consulate:

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entrance to the Thai embassy in Vientiane

visa waiting room at thai embassy in vientiane

Photo above of the consulate from the blog by Benjamin Williams, with his kind permission.

After the "I fill out the paperwork" stage, we were free to visit. The priority now was to book a bus to go to Vang Vieng, because if I'm going to come to a country and get a visa, I always say to myself why not visit a little. We'll find one for that same afternoon.

Since the journey is rather long, the earlier we arrive, the more we will see there, so ok for the afternoon bus. Which left us only a few hours to visit Vientiane. For my part, it was not very inconvenient because I would still have time when I came back from Vang Vieng (after having collected my passport) while Jitima will have to go back to work.