There's a Thai consulate in Savannakhet/ Laos on the other side of Mukdahan's friendship bridge located at the Mekhong river where you can easily get a Non-O, based on marriage to a Thai citizen, without financial proof.

  The consulate is open from Monday to Friday but closed on all Thai and Laos holidays. It seems that applicants of Non-B visas who are working at a school do need a criminal check now.

Please see attached download form for Savannakhet

The fee is 5,000 Thai baht for a one-year Non-o, which is extendable to more than 15 months. You'll need:

1. marriage certificate, original and copy

2. copy of wife's ID, Tabien baan- ( house documents, included)

3. copy of your passport, 2 photographs

4. 5,000 Thai baht, they don't take Kip!!


You've got to be there in the morning, the best time is around 7 am, as many people apply for visas there. There's only one counter open, so please fill out your form and walk straight inside.

After reviewing your documents, you'll be given a ticket to pick your passport up the next day starting at 14.00 o' clock. But you can try it earlier and go back without hundreds of others.

Please be aware that you'll need to stay one night and nobody wants to take Lao Kip, you can pay everywhere with Thai baht or a foreign currency.

This type of visa allows you to work for a school, but some Immigration offices seem to not know the rules.

On a Non- O, ME, you'll have to leave the country every 90 days, no TM 47 report has to be done.

Lao beer is much better than Thai beer and you'll find some good places to hang out. Guest houses are cheap and good. The TukTuk guys are rip-offs and try to charge a lot of money for a short trip.

Make sure that you know how much you've got to pay before you sit on such a damn thing!


It's relatively easy to get there from let's say Ubon Ratchathani, around 130 km away. Buses drive from Ubon' bus station. Please see: https://pinoyexplorerblog.wordpress.com/2016/08/06/blog-post-title-3/

Cheers-

I'll be making the trip at the end of the month.

I expect to do a fly and ride. I might even work in a visit to Khon Kaen and get my Lao visa there.

On the return trip, a stay at Ploy Palace is planned a a leisurely pick up by Nok Air

gungchang wrote:I'll be making the trip at the end of the month.

I expect to do a fly and ride.  I might even work in a visit to Khon Kaen and get my Lao visa there.

On the return trip, a stay at Ploy Palace is planned a a leisurely pick up by Nok Air

Well, it's the end of the month, isn't it?

I wish I'd already gone. I'm a little concerned about floods.
I picked up my visa at the embassy so there's one less line to wait in. Bus station, hotel, and consulate are all within walking distance.

I remember when Vientiane was passing out free tourist visas. That was crowded. I hope that Savannakhet will be less of an ordeal.

The trip to Don Muang revealed that the airport link DMK looks ready to open anytime.

The Air Asia flight to Nakhon Phanom was on time. The airport reminded of Lampang. It was small, not jetways, and a big welcome sign - to Kalisan!

The transfer was by van. It took about two hours and it dropped us at the bridge. The bus across the bridge waited and continued on past the Thai Consulate and stopped at the bus station. I picked a hotel nearby. Our ride from thpe bus station will meet us 8:00 for the pilgramage to the consulate.

My wife meant to bring some Lao kip but instead brought Khmer riel and Vietnamese dong. It was fun when she tried to spend it.

Luck has held: no monsoon at the moment.

I will show up tomorrow with my application, my wife, her ID, her housing book, my passport, our marriage cert, our KR form, copy of everything except my wife plus a copy of my Lao visa with entry stamp.

Arriving with a visa in hand caused a small hiccup on both sides of the border. My wife, not to be outdone, had a few days less than six months on her passport and had to get a border pass. The Thais gave her a week but the Lao gave her three days (which is just enough).

The hotel coffee shop has samosa and blended fruit drinks and lots more. It's convenient.

We arrived at the RTC at ten past eight. I was the first in line.

The jumbo charged 100 baht for both of us, The trip took us a little way to the bus station and then a longer leg, perhaps too long to comfortably walk, to the consulate.

A truckload of people arrived, presumably Lao workers getting their papers to be able to work in Thailand.

A few others also came. It was not like Disneyland or airport during Chinese spring break.

The sign said 8:30 and the gate opened at 9:00

The counter window had mirrored glass.  It was a bit like a love hotel in Korea or Japan.

The unseen official took my passport and originals of the marriage certificate and kaw raw. He also took the copies of the passport title page, Lao visa with entry stamp, marriage certificate, kaw raw, wife's ID, wife's house book, and visa application. He returned the original mar. cert. & kaw raw.

He also returned my Lao arrival card a slip of paper dated with today's date, number 0000001. "It's done. Come back tomorrow at 2:00"

No form to fill in/out, nothing to run across the street to copy, nothing else to produce.

The weather continues to cooperate.

While in a tuk tuk Thursday, a local climbed in with us and rode for awhile and jumped out, all while it was in motion. It made me realize how vulnerable I was to a robbery, and the experience was unsettling. Our driver had to have felt the new passenger jump on board.

We arrived back at the consulate after 1:30 and I was tenth in line. My wife didn't know that the shuttle bus was the same price from the bus station and the bridge and gave the tuk tuk another 100 baht to take us all the way to the bridge and not just to the bus station. Having chartered the tuk tuk, he then picked up more passengers. This go us there half an hour faster, but I was really tired of giving these guys 100 baht notes. I was starting to feel like I was back in India.

Once across the bridge and at Thai immigration, I forgot to write my visa number on the arrival card.  The IO didn't see the new visa in my passport and asked me if this was my first crossing at this border. That question confused me and should have alerted me.  After we were on the bus, I finally got my reading glasses back on and looked at my passport and saw that I'd been given 30 days, not 90. I went back to the immigration counter and the IO fixed what was arguably my mistake. Back to the bus which still hadn't left and then on to the Mukdahan bus station. I got to give another 100 baht note to a tuk tuk driver (a woman this time) to get to Ploy Palace.

I was hot and sweaty and tired after all the running around to get to this point. I was glad that I'd decided to spend the extra time and money to stay at the hotel where the Nok Air van stops and leave tomorrow. There was no rush, no risk of waiting in the sun &/or the rain and no risk of missing the van.

We've been so concerned about monsoons and floods; yet there has been no rain and the cloudy weather has not been sweltering.  If anything, it's been comfortable at times.

Later today I can look forward to a few more waits and to giving a couple of more 100 baht notes to a taxi driver. Then it will be over and I can start planning my first step out step in border run. Hopefully we'll sell the condo within the next fifteen months and will have our bank balance back and be able to extend this visa.

Good things come to an end. I remember when Penang was fairly loose about non-im visas, and now they have a cap of 100 visas issued per day. Maybe S'ket is a little more lax to help its Lao hosts lure a little forex.

Whatever the reason, I don't expect this to last and I'm grateful that they didn't change the rules the day before I arrived.

Nok Air used the Ploy Palace van for the run to Ubon.

The flight was on time.

Aside from the traffic from Don Muang, all went well.

The only problems I see with the S'ket run is that it can be tricky to reach the consulate in the morning the same day you arrive in M'han. Likewise, getting to the return ride to Bangkok or wherever the same day you pick up your passport could be a challenge. We got around this by spending three nights in hotels. That may not be an option for everyone.

One last thought: dress nicely. I wore long pants. I didn't wear a tank top. This might be part of why I was processed so quickly at the consulate and why the IO changed my entry stamp at the border.

Looking ahead to border runs: (assuming home is BKK)

1) Air Asia (2,000 baht) to KL is great for a lone traveler.  Never leave the airport. 12 hours start to finish.

2) Nok Air (3,000 baht) to Mae Sot.  Walk to the border from the airport?

3) Air Asia to Hong Kong isn't the cheapest, but Disneyland has an old fart discount.

4) Air Asia to Ranong (>2,000 baht) and long tail to Burma. Requires at least a one night stay.

Interesting folks.....I have a question though.

I have been on this NON O multiple entry before. I am now on the 1 year extension based on showing 400,000 in the bank. What happens though if I cannot provide the funds for that come the next extension? This is a scenario I 'could' face, though not that likely. Would I need to leave Thailand and re apply...for what? a NON O?? I already have one!! I dont get what would happen in this situation.

I am not that worried about having to leave the country every 90 days for the medium term. In the long run, if I had to use this system I would eventually want to go back to the year extension. I get the system for converting to the one year extension based on money in bank. I am confused however what happens when you reverse it!!

Any info would be greatly appreciated .

Cheers.

Spidey............

By the way, if anyone knows of GOOD jobs that are going for next term in the Pathumtani area, let me know. I am now looking. I realise a lot of adverts will appear over the next month as schools rush to fill those positons......

Cheers again...

Spidey.

I don't know for certain, but I think you're going to return to S'khet.

You have a non-im, but it's been used and has been extended. Whether you leave the kingdom or visit immigration every 90 days, the visa needs to extended. Without 400K you can no longer do that.

I'm the opposite. I had the 800K or 400K in the bank before and am on a multiple entry O visa now. It has not been marked "used" and I make the border bounces.

I have a similar question: If we replace the 400K before this visa expires, can we extend it? I'm guessing that we can, but whether or not I'd need to pay for a re-entry permit is another matter.

Thanks for the answer. I suspected I would need to leave.......probably right but it just seems a bit silly.

I had the multiple entry NON O and then 'extended' it to a year when I could show the 400,000 in the bank. I am sure thats what happened, but I can reconfirm with the missus later. It seems though if its the other way around, meaning you cannot show 400,000 you need to leave again.....thats what you seem to be saying and how I am also understanding it....though why I need to leave again and cannot do it in country??? I dont know....they like to make things difficult I guess.

Stamp would have had a reliable answer, complete with legal citations.

Keep us up to date with what happens with immigration.

Will do. It looks like I will meet the requirements this time again....but forewarned is forearmed....

For our geriatric members, i.e., those who really prefer to fly, you might find this useful.

It has just come to my attention that the RTC in Saigon also issues O ME visas without a bank letter.

A letter from your Thai spouse requesting the visa is required.

S'khet, Lao is the only place I'd ever heard of that issued one-year visas based on marriage without requiring a letter from a Thai bank. That's where we went last August.

Now I hear that Saigon also does this. The consulate is only five km. from the airport; and that is a lot more convenient than flying to one city and spending hours in a van to Mukdahan and then crossing into S'khet.

There are flights early enough and late enough to make it possible to spend just one night. We had to spend three nights on the S'khet run.

Air Asia and Nok Air both fly DMK-SGN, and it's comparable to their fly 'n' ride fares to Mukdahan.

The visa for Vietnam is available online for USD17, and that's cheaper than a Lao visa.

The only downsides I can see are that one needs to lug one's luggage to the consulate, and there will be a bit of a wait at the airport for the return flight. There is, however, a lounge.  With wifi, computers, showers, and alcohol, it might be worth USD29.

Guess where we'll go next year!

gungchang wrote:
Guess where we'll go next year!

Vegas, the Glades, Bromley, Prague