The friendship bridge that connects Thailand and Laos is a convenient way to travel between the two countries.
Our two months travel in Thailand had come to an end. We had crammed in so many cities and experiences but it was now time to familiarise ourselves with a new currency, new cultures and traditions, new etiquette and a new language. But first, we had to cross the border from Thailand into Laos.
Overstaying Your Visa In Thailand
“We’ve messed up, BIG TIME!”
Not the words you particularly want to hear as you step out of the shower to get ready to leave for your first border crossing in South East Asia.
What Joanna was referring to was that we had managed to overstay our visa by ONE WHOLE DAY! We arrived in Thailand on the 15th of October and had it in our heads that we had a two month visa; not the 60 day visa we actually had. We even arranged to leave on the 14th, a day early, to make sure there was no problems. As we now discovered, this was actually one day late.
What Happens If You Overstay Your Visa In Thailand?
Doing a bit of research gave us lots of differing information about what would actually happen at the border. Worryingly, the most unsympathetic information came from the Thai Embassy itself. Phrases like “legal actions could be taken up against your person”, “they will imprison you regardless of the length of time you overstayed, even if it’s just one day” and “imprisoned and denied your freedom” did little to help us relax!
The reality of the situation is quite different. First of all, avoid being arrested if you overstay your visa! You will almost certainly spend the night in a Thai prison. I’ve stayed in a few hostels that were not that great but I’m absolutely certain that they are all much preferable to spending even just one night in Thailand’s notoriously cruel prisons.
The good news is that if you overstay your visa by just one day, nothing much will happen. In fact, at many airports, they will do nothing at all (Bangkok airports do not impose a fine). Land borders are different. If you overstay by 2 days or more, then you will certainly be fined 500 baht per day. This is up to 90 days, after which you will also be banned from returning to the country for a year. The length of this ban increases as your overstay increases. But overstaying for just one night is different, right?
Overstaying Your Thai Visa By One Day
On land borders, overstaying by one day may carry a fine. It depends on who you’re dealing with. When we arrived at the border crossing, there were 3 entry points: two normal and one for overstays. We tried the normal one first but they pointed us to the overstay. Trying to explain what happened made no difference. We had overstayed and that was that. Our passport was stamped showing we had left a day late and we both got a 500 baht fine. We had to fill in a document as “alleged convicts” and then we were let through. Phew! The stamp does not affect future travels; we could still return to Thailand any time.
Arriving at Nong Khai Border Crossing
If you are staying in Nong Khai, a tuktuk from the centre to the border crossing should cost you around 60 baht. We had been quoted 100 baht but we refused and walked away and the driver then accepted our offer.
The driver will drop you at Nong Khai Customs Boundary Post (map). If you have not overstayed your welcome, like we had, you should just be able to walk through, remembering to get your visa stamped by border control on exit.
Thailand Laos Friendship Bridge Opening Hours
The Thailand Laos Friendship Bridge is open from 6 am to 10 pm, every day of the week.
Crossing The Thailand Laos Friendship Bridge
Once through customs, you will have the option of private tuktuk (you won’t have to search for these), train or bus. We caught the bus with all the locals (15 baht each). The bus takes less than 10 minutes to cross the Friendship Bridge and drops you right at the Laos passport control.
Entering Laos Via The Friendship Bridge
As you enter the Laos customs, you will see two windows on your left hand side (numbered 1 & 2). You need to pick up the visa-on-arrival documents from here and return them completed with a passport photo and some US dollars. The cost of the visa depends on your place of birth. It is anywhere between $30 and $42. Joanna paid $30 for her Polish passport; I paid $35 for my English passport.
Once you have handed in your completed documents, you will then wait around the corner at ‘window 3’. Someone will shout your name and return your passport and exit documents with a receipt. Make sure you have the correct stamps and your exit visa before you leave this point!
The whole process took around 15 minutes. From here, you do not have to queue again. Follow the signs for visa-on-arrival travellers and you will exit into a heaving mass of tuktuk drivers, desperate for your custom. My advice is to ignore them and get the public bus. It is cramped but the journey is only around 25 minutes and drops you in the most central bus station in Vientiane.
ATM & SIM Card
Before we took the bus, we drew some money out at one of the many ATMs, though they only paid out 1 million maximum. Laos ATMs charge per transaction so it is better to draw out bigger amounts. We then bought a SIM card from Unitel (5 gb of data for 50,000 kip for 30 days) so we were good to go.
Welcome to Laos!
