Laos is a mountainous and landlocked country which shares borders with Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south, Thailand to the west, and Myanmar and China to the north.
Visitors to Laos must obtain a visa from one of the Laotian diplomatic missions unless they come from one of the visa exempt countries or qualify for visa on arrival. All visitors must hold a passport valid for 6 months.
Citizens of the following 15 countries can visit Laos without a visa (allowed length of stay in days is shown in parentheses):
30 days
Cambodia
Indonesia
Malaysia
Mongolia
Philippines
Russia
Singapore
South Korea
Thailand
Vietnam
15 days
Denmark
Finland
Japan
Luxembourg
Norway 1
Sweden 1
Switzerland
14 days
Brunei
Myanmar
Types Lao Visas currently available:
Labor (LA-B2) visas (or work visas) are issued to foreigners who already have work permits, ID cards and be legally employed by a registered enterprise in Laos, who hold a quota to employ foreign employees.
Business visas (some websites refer to this as Investor Visa) are issued to foreign citizens working or investing in Laos including foreign investors, stockholders, enterprise directors, deputy directors, technical officers, volunteers of Non-Governmental organisations, staff members of Diplomatic Missions, General Consulates, the United Nations Agencies and other international organizations, that hold ordinary passports.
Transit Visas are for travelers who will only transit through Laos to another country. Holders of the visa can stay in Laos for five (5) days, and it cannot be extended.
Visit visas are issued to foreign citizens intending to visit family member or relatives working in the Laos. Persons intending to attend a conference without formal requests from ministries of foreign affairs or their organization can obtain this type of visas too.
Expert visas are issued to foreign experts who are coming to work in international organizations, Non-Governments or projects in Laos. A proof of assignment such as employment contract is required to apply for this visa.
Diplomatic visas are only issued to foreign high level governmental delegations, diplomats, consular officers, heads of the United Nations Agencies and other International Organizations accredited in Laos and their dependents (spouse and children) holding diplomatic passports.
Similar to A1 visa, official visas are issued to members of governmental delegations, staff members of foreign diplomatic missions, consulates, United Nations Agencies and other international organization agencies and their dependents (spouse and children) holding official passports.
Courtesy visas are issued to foreign experts and their dependents holding diplomatic, official and ordinary passports visiting Laos under a subcontract with a project funded by the Lao Government’s bilateral cooperation or grant assistance, persons on official visits such as attending meetings and conferences invited by a government agency of the Lao PDR.
Student visas are issued to foreign students who will study in Laos for a duration of one to five years. It is a 12-month visa and it may be renewed year by year until completion of study course.
Spouse visas are issued to husbands or wives of other types of visa holders. The spouse visa will normally be for the same duration as that of the original visa holder. Holders for spouse visas may not undertake any work while in Laos.
Media Visas are issued to representatives of the foreign media, including registered journalists, members of the press, radio, film or print industries who cover events in Laos.
All Laos visas must be used within two months from the date of issue.
You can get Lao visa at Lao Embassies or Lao Consulates in your country or region.
However, if there is no Lao embassy or consulate in your area, you may need to plan your travel route to pass through one of Laos’ neighbor countries (Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China or Myanmar), there are Lao embassies in these countries.
You need at least two days to sort your Lao visa out before heading to Laos.
All applicants must download the visa application form, fill in the required details and submit it with mandatory documents to start the process for a Laos visa.
You can download Laos visa application form from internet or get directly from the embassy or consulate. It is recommended to contact nearest Laos embassy or consulate before starting prepare all required documents for application process.
Link for download Laos Visa Application Form