Category: visa documents
Vietnam E-Visa or Visa on Arrival?
December 16, 2018
Is it best to get a Vietnam E-Visa online before you travel to this SE Asian country, or is a Visa on Arrival, with a letter of acceptance all that is needed? I’ll include a few pictures from the start of our trip to Vietnam so you can see why it is worth getting a visa to this beautiful country.
When do I need a visa?
This question came up a few times in the last several months as we prepared for our trip to a new country. What is expected when a traveller arrives depends on the country. The rules depend on what passport you hold and what you plan to do in the country as a tourist or as a business person.
When we visit the United States as a Canadian tourist, all we need is a valid passport. A visa is not required. A 30-day visit to Thailand is just another stamp in your passport. Laos, Cambodia, and Nepal require $42, $35 and $25 paid in US dollars and a special visa application form completed upon arrival. It takes about 10 minutes to process the visa and it is stuck into your passport.
Visa for India
India requires a visa to be completed ahead of time, either at the Embassy or online as an e-visa. Rather than take a day off work to visit the Embassy in person, submit my documents and have a personal interview, an e-visa seemed the easiest option.
The cheapest one used a government site. It asked many questions including your parents’ names and birthplaces. It worked fine right up until the payment process when it said there was an error and quit. After the second try, I recorded the number they gave so I didn’t have to re-enter all my information. Even after I contacted their contact information, I could not complete the payment of my e-visa on this website.
A commercial India e-visa site had my documents to me in within a week. I printed the visa but when I forgot my paperwork at home (it could happen to anyone), the page could be printed from the email available on my phone. When arriving in Delhi, the e-visa line was separate from the regular visa line and took less time to be processed.
Visa for Vietnam
Vietnam requires a visa for all tourists. You can apply online to the Vietnamese Embassy in Ottawa in Canada. You send them the application, a scan of your passport and a passport-type picture. They mail you a visa once your payment and application are approved. The cost in November 2018 was $25 US.
Again, everything worked fine until I tried to upload our pictures and they weren’t approved because our ears weren’t showing. I didn’t have any other “official passport pictures” but I could probably have taken some myself and used those instead.
Letter of approval
If you search “Visa to Vietnam from Canada” in Google, the first page only refers to applying for a letter of approval for a visa. Our daughter took this route. You complete an application with your name, date of birth and passport number. The fee is $17 US. The company sends you a form to complete and an approval letter with your name, date of birth and passport number. The same approval letter is sent to everyone who was approved on the same day. It includes everyone’s name, birth date and passport information which seemed rather odd.
When she arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, there were 24 lines of about 50 people in each waiting to go through immigration. There was one ASEAN line, but no line just for Vietnamese. Luckily she entered the Visa on Arrival line first. We heard of another traveller who got all the way to the front of the immigration line with his approval letter, only to be sent all the way back to the Visa line.
She submitted the completed form, the letter of approval, her passport and another $25 US to the Visa department. And then she waited for an hour and 15 minutes. Immigration returned her passport with the visa and she could now enter the regular immigration line. That took another 30 minutes. Luckily we didn’t have a connecting flight.
Vietnam e-visa
A Vietnam e-visa has been available since February 2017. It appeared at the bottom of my visa Google search page under related searches. Even when I clicked on it, it was another half a page before any information was available. The site I eventually found and used was the Vietnam Immigration Portal.
I submitted my name, birth date, and passport information as well as scanned my passport, scanned the same photo I tried unsuccessfully to use on the Embassy site and paid $25US. Within 3 days I had a page to print, which I did not leave at home this time.
We entered the immigration line and although it took some time because of all the people, we had no trouble entering Vietnam. We only needed our passport and the Vietnam e-visa paper.
And the winner is…
My experience is that a Vietnam e-visa is fast and easy to obtain and can save you hours at the airport.
Luang Prabang, Laos…a visa run holiday
January 28, 2017
Since our visa extension was expiring soon, (see the blog on Travel Documents for Thailand), we decided to take a trip to Luang Prabang, Laos and have a visa run holiday. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1995, the town was described by the global body as “an outstanding example of the fusion of traditional architecture and Lao urban structures with those built by the European colonial authorities in the 19th and 20th centuries. Its unique, remarkably well-preserved townscape illustrates a key stage in the blending of these two distinct cultural traditions.” We can certainly see what is special about it and I want to share that with you.
Trip to Laos
Laos Airlines flies directly from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang every afternoon. It only takes an hour and cost us $234 USD each which included a box lunch on the plane. It was a propeller plane, but saves a stopover in Bangkok and it was an easy flight over the forested mountains into Laos.
We had completed our visa forms and arrival/departure cards on the plane. Since I amazed myself by packing some clothes and my camera gear into my daypack, we were quick to arrive at the visa line. We had pictures, passports, forms and $42 USD ready to go and moved quickly into a new country where we would be allowed to stay for 30 days if we wanted to.
A puzzle we haven’t been able to solve is why it costs more for Canadians to enter Laos than it does for anyone else in the world. It is $35 for Americans and only $40 for citizens from Afghanistan. Another part of the puzzle is why you pay in American dollars. They do accept Thai Baht, but the exchange rate they offer would discourage most travellers so have American currency. Fortunately we exchanged some Thai money for American at the airport in Chiang Mai.
Laos Money
Money in general is challenging to sort out here. The kip has been so devalued, that $1 CAD is the equivalent of about 6000 kip. A million kip is about $160. Although they have a 100 000 kip note, the bank machines often run out of cash. Many places take Thai baht or American dollars, but few places take credit cards. Once you leave the country, there are few places that will take kip in exchange for another currency.
The money exchange offices do a good business exchanging mostly American dollars into kip. We didn’t bring cash except for the visa payment so we used the ATM to take out money from our account at home. The exchange rate was much better for us than if we exchanged it at the booth. We did discover, however, that the ATM’s close to the money exchangers charged a 3% fee to withdraw funds. The bank ATM’s charged a flat rate of 20 000 kip (about $3). I read later that a bank machine near the market doesn’t charge any fees for withdrawals. This could be related to the company or bank that owns the ATM, but it would be worth paying attention to the fees, depending on whether you are taking out a large or a small amount of cash.
Phonesaseuth Guesthouse-link
I found a guesthouse on TripAdvisor, but chose to book it directly through the guesthouse website. I had also emailed the owner to let him know when we were arriving. For $35/night we got a room with a king size bed, tv, fridge and shower. It also included a hot egg breakfast with a large warm, white baguette and real drip coffee. The use of a bicycle and pick up and delivery to the airport were also part of the package. The webpage describes the bridge across the Nam Kham (the route to the main part of the city) as a rickety, rackety bridge. It was surprisingly sturdy, however. They have to take it down in the rainy season or it would just wash away.
The guesthouse is only 6 years old and was built where a coconut forest used to exist. It was built in the French Colonial style to match the UNESCO preservation expectations. It feels old but has wonderful wood stairs and dark furniture. The front staff here speak excellent English and went out of their way to make us feel welcome, even returning our missing phone to us at the airport.
Laos Expectations
I knew that Laos was a poor country with the GDP only $3000 per capita. During the Viet Nam War, this country was hit with more bombs by the Americans than Germany received during WW 2. The number of people living in poverty is very high as are illiteracy levels. I expected something much different that what I saw.
People here live in a fertile land. Forests cover the mountains and the Mekong River provides water, transportation and fish. The rainy season renews the land. Tourists flock here to see the old French buildings and experience a part of Asia that moves much more slowly and quietly than most other towns and cities.
The people themselves are so resourceful. Old houses are converted into guesthouses and cafes serve french food, Laotian food and even wonderful fusion food using fresh local ingredients. Silk, cotton and bamboo from Laos are woven into beautiful handmade scarves, bags and wall hangings. The textile industry is bustling here but you might not notice it for the artistic appeal of the products. Even old bombs are used to make metal items like spoons. There is a day market and a night market where they sell these products. Check the travel menu page for more pictures and details on Laos Textiles.
French Architecture
Farmers have terraced the land and grow lots of rice. Other fields are divided into small raised beds and grow lettuce, herbs and other fresh vegetables. We saw a water buffalo dairy on a side trip.
Kuang Si Waterfall
We rented a scooter and rode to a Natural Preserved area about 25 km away. The road was pretty smooth, although narrow considering it is the main road through the country from China to Cambodia. There were a few potholes but we did ok. The views on each side of the road were quite a contrast. The infrastructure still needs some work in Laos.
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- Left side views
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- Right side views
Bear Rescue Center
There was a village outside the park with lots of stalls selling fruits, grilled meat and locally made textiles. We had to pay about $3 to get in to this Area. The first thing we saw were bears! I love surprises.
The Bear Rescue Center was similar to one we visited for grizzly bears in West Yellowstone a couple of years ago. They rescue Asiatic Bears that trapped by poachers or whose mothers were killed. They are on display in large natural areas part of the time and in cages the rest of the time. We watched as a keeper placed food around the enclosure for the bears to find. These animals seemed pretty comfortable and I didn’t see any clear paths where they had been pacing. They were sleeping, eating or wrestling with each other. We saw about 12 bears altogether.
Waterfall
The park had many groups of people from all over the world. They were swimming in the pond, walking along the paths, taking pictures of the waterfalls and just enjoying the beauty of nature. The park contained several picnic tables, pathways, bridges, changing rooms and signs describing the importance of the many plants and animals. Like many of the places we are finding in Asia, this park could be anywhere in the world.
The falls themselves drain the mountains and eventually the water ends up in the Mekong River that starts in Tibet and after flowing through Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia, passes through Viet Nam into the South China Sea. In this area, the water flows over limestone. As the rock breaks down from the flow of water, it gets carried along. The light reflects off the calcium carbonate in much the same way as the light does on glacier water in the Rockies, giving the ponds a lovely blue color.
The overall drop is 85m. If you look carefully you can see some swimmers standing 2/3 of the way up on the highest falls. In other places, it looked like the water was just flooding into the jungle. It is such a spectacular place that is so well preserved in a part of the world where people are more attuned to trying to feed their families.
I will leave you at the park and continue in another post describing the Royal Palace and some of the amazing food we discovered in Luang Prabang, Laos.
Travel Documents for Thailand-Lots of Options
January 15, 2017
Wat Chedi Lueng, Chiang Mai
Travel Document Requirements
This post is not so much of a story as a lesson on how to obtain travel documents. My examples are specifically for Thailand, although you would probably have to follow most of the same steps to travel to another country for an extended time. I’ve included a few pictures for those of you who are not needing all this information at this time.
Ebb and flow of traffic in Chiang Mai
For those of us who travel to the United States, Mexico or even Europe, a passport is all you need to enter the country as a tourist, even if you are planning to stay for an extended time. If you plan to stay as a student or to work in another country, then you are no longer a tourist and will usually need some kind of visa. Our children had student visas when they attended university in Pennsylvania and Mississippi. Melissa has a special kind of work visa now to enable her to stay in California to teach, but only at the school that hired her. Owen married an American so he has a “green card”. This is a visa that allows him to live in and work at any job in the United States.
The purpose of the visa is a way to keep track of who is visiting and to ensure that tourists are not taking jobs away from the residents. Immigration also wants to make sure that visitors have enough money or a ticket to leave the country. Hotels have to register our passport/visa number with the police who come by several times a week to check on the location of the tourists. Although the economy here is dependent on traveller’s dollars, they also don’t want their culture disappearing by being overrun by outsiders. Northern Thailand was never captured and they don’t want to start now.
Visa Waiver Stamp
If we were visiting Thailand for less than a month, we would only need our passport and an ongoing ticket showing that we were not going to remain in the country for more than 30 days. We would receive a visa waiver stamp. Everyone entering Thailand also completes an arrival/departure card. The departure card is stapled into your passport until you leave so they can check that you haven’t over stayed. The same is true for citizens of 51 other countries. Some countries can stay 15 days or 90 days and others need a visa to enter for any length of time.
For people staying longer than 30 days as a tourist, there are options. I will share what I have learned, but the rules are changing quite frequently and I am definitely not an immigration lawyer. I will put some links to websites in the blog that I used for information. Blogs are useful on the “how to” part of the paperwork, as long as they are relatively current. We have also gained information from talking with other people who have visas that are different from ours.
Single Entry Visa
Most visas are applied for from your country of residence. You can either visit a consulate office in person, or send your documents and forms to a consulate and have them sent back to you with your visa. Fortunately for us there is a Royal Thai Consulate in Edmonton, Alberta. It has limited hours, but was able to process our visa the same day. We needed our passport to have at least 6 months before expiration. There also have to be enough blank pages remaining for the visa and the stamps when you arrive. The new Canadian 10 year passport made that part easy. We needed to complete an application form found on-line and provide 2 pictures that are 4X6 cm. This is different from Canadian passport pictures (5X7 cm). You also have to pay cash for the fee.
We chose a single entry visa. This means that we entered Thailand and stayed as a tourist for 60 days. At the end of that time, we visited the immigration office in Chiang Mai and extended it for 30 more days. It cost us $40 CAD for the visa and about $70 to extend it. If we had left Thailand before the 60 days were up, we could have paid for a re-entry permit at the immigration office, or at the airport the day of the flight. They cost about $40 and are necessary if you will still be covered by your original visa days when you return. I only just found this existed while doing some research for this post. The answer was on a blog, not an official government page.
How it works for us
This visa works just fine for us as we want to get to know Thailand first anyways. Once our 90 days are up, then we can leave the country and come back in as new tourists with the 30 day visa waiver stamp. It can also be extended for 30 days and $70 if needed. We are travelling to Laos on January 22 for 5 days. We leave for Cambodia on February 16 before the 30 days are up. After a trip to Krabi in the south with Melissa in March, we will travel to Nepal for 10 days before returning to Chiang Mai to fly home on April 1. This will ensure that we are not in Thailand more than 30 days at a time after our visa runs out. The number of times you can come and go is officially unlimited. Those who are in and out the country more often are likely to be scrutinized more carefully at immigration and can be denied entry. They really want you to apply for a proper visa from outside the country.
Visas for other countries nearby
The countries that we are visiting require visas but these are purchased at the border/airport when you arrive. They also require forms, cash and a different size picture. We paid about $15 each at home for the wrong size pictures. A local photo place here did 6 pictures each for about $4 and they are correct. Laos charges $35 USD for Americans and $42USD for Canadians. They also expect you to pay in USD. The Thai bhat price converts to a much higher amount. It can be very confusing, even with the advantage of Internet searches.
Multi Entry Visa
Canadians, and many others can also enter Thailand on a multi-entry visa. It costs $200 and requires a copy of your bank statement to show that you can afford to stay in the country for up to 6 months. ($7500 in the bank for 6 months prior to applying) This visa allows you to come and go from the country without a re-entry permit. When re-entering the country it gives you 60 more days to remain in Thailand, instead of the 30 days for the single entry. It can also be extended at the end for another 30 days at the immigration office.
I have learned most of this from people who have this type of visa. It has been in effect for about a year yet it was difficult to find anything official on this visa, except that it exists and how much it costs. Blogs and in person seem to be the best way to understand how these work. I think it is a better choice for those that want to use Thailand as a home base and travel to other countries throughout their visit here.
Retirement Visa
People who choose to live her full-time or longer than 6 months can apply for a retirement visa. You have to be 50 years old, have a pension and/or savings in the bank, a medical check, a criminal record check, and a lease agreement. This visa also requires you to check in with immigration every 90 days. It is a more complicated process as you need re-entry permits each time you leave the country and have lots of paperwork to complete in the beginning. There are some changes that may require you to have Thai health insurance which you can only obtain if you are under the age of 70. Many retirees here have international health coverage or their own emergency account. The advantage, though, once you have this visa is that you can just apply to have it renewed each year. I have met many people who are on this visa, but I don’t know as much about it yet.
I was intending to share our experience with getting our extension at the Immigration office in Chiang Mai, but I didn’t realize how much I had learned about visas. That discussion will continue in another post.
Student monks
Elephant Parade
There are no exciting pictures for this topic, but being in Thailand wouldn’t be possible without a visa so I will share a few of my favorites. I have also added some pictures from the Parade of Elephants art exhibit in the city. It raises awareness for elephant care after a young elephant stepped on a land mine and received a prosthetic leg. These can be found in the menu under travel.
Wat Muen San-made of silver