Who can file here from 31 August 2026
Only people living in Laos on a settled basis, and citizens of the country. Vientiane was among the first to announce the worldwide rule — in a post of its own on 27 August, several days before it closed technically inside the e-visa form. For everyone else the channel is shut: if Laos is not where you live, this is not your consulate.
There is a second Thai consulate in the country, in Savannakhet, and a resident may file at either of the two. Which consulate your country is assigned to is on the map.
How filing works
The application goes in online, but the route requires you in person: the 10,000 baht fee is paid in cash at the consulate desk, and most applicants sit an in-person interview. The interview is unhurried, and an interpreter is not required — the consulate accepts translation through a phone app. A decision takes two and a half to three weeks.
What the package has to carry:
- a police clearance certificate — from the country of citizenship or the country of filing;
- three months of bank statements with a minimum balance of 500,000 ฿ per applicant, children included; for the main applicant a sponsorship letter is the formal alternative;
- marriage and birth certificates — with consular legalisation only; a notary or a translation agency stamp is not enough here.
How it worked before 31 August
Through the summer of 2026 the consulate ran steadily, and part of the flow moved here after the Vietnamese posts tightened and Phnom Penh stalled — which is why timelines grew from a week and a half or two to the current two and a half to three weeks. Open sources say almost nothing about Vientiane, and the real picture only ever came together from watching live applications.
From the practice that still holds for residents: Russian citizens have their bank statements certified at the Russian embassy in Vientiane, around $5 a page, and baht in cash is exchanged at city banks at a normal rate — there is no need to bring the sum with you.
What we track here
The chronicle of interviews: what gets asked, how the tone shifts, who stops being called in. Plus the way financial requirements are recalculated — the consulate has its own arithmetic, and it is worth knowing before filing rather than after.
A package you have assembled yourself we check before filing — the Preflight Check: $300, a written report within two working days. Full support all the way to the visa is the Solo Route and Family Route.
The state of every consulate is on the live board, and the consulate assigned to your country is on the map.