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vietnam visa run

jojio (54 posts) • 0

Hey now.

so when doing the Laos visa run, one does not necessarily need to go into Laos....just stamp out of China, and jog across the road, stamp back in, catch the next bus north...however, takes a whole weekend, and getting up near 1000kuai!

now, we have the nice fast and comfy train to Vietnam....
anyone have visa run experience with that border recently?

read: does one really need to go into vietnam?

any stories appreciated.

hate to clog my passport with full-page visas.

Peter99 (1246 posts) • 0

Check with your nationality and the Vietnam visa-on-arrival. They have recently enlarged this arrival visa thing, and theres a chance you may get a small '2 week stay' stamp in the corner of your passport page - depending on your nationality. Sure better than the Laos 1.5 page system. (Sure: avoided if they still allow turning at border there, this has been questioned recently). The train is pretty okay too, only a few hours to Hekou. I dont do visa runs myself, but happen to cross these borders a lot, and if had to do a choice between Laos and Vietnam, it sure would be Vietnam. Just due to the convenience. Whether you can turn around at the bridge without crossing the border, have no idea, but if your nationality gives 'ok' for the arrival visa stamp, its worth to have a coffee across the border. The stamp is cost free, they dont ask onward tickets, and these days it takes a minute or two.

Edit: It actually goes under the name "Visa exemption". List of countries here:

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_policy_of_Vietnam

bluegrass14 (126 posts) • 0

Has anyone tried doing a Visa turn-around at the Vietnam border without actually entering into Vietnam? Also, how far from the customs border does the train stop?

AlexKMG (2387 posts) • 0

Can't do it unless you're from one of those visa free countries. Hekou north stop is very very far from border but they have a public bus which will drop you off at end stop almost at crossing.

jojio (54 posts) • 0

been down 2-3 times, nice little visa run, except for aforementioned full page crap. nice little hostel about 50 kuai in laocai if you wanna drink cheap hanoi vodka on the stoop and watch locals. bread, pho, not china for a minute. all good.
i guess in the end, it would maybe be possible to just go directly upstairs to china re-entry, but if you didnt have the viet visa and they turned you away youd be kinda out of luck, and stuck on the bridge for a long time.
not that brave yet.

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