The two border forms
We file each register inside its own window and send the completed form back one to two days before that crossing. US$10 per traveller for both.
Border form filingວັນທີ · Dates
Your travel dates decide three Lao deadlines.
None of the three is a fixed date you can look up. Each one is counted backwards from a day only you know, which is why no guidebook states them and why travellers meet them late. The rules are printed in full below, and they are all you need in order to handle every one of these yourself.
The three rules, in full
This is the entire calendar. There is nothing else to know and nothing held back.
| Deadline | Counted from | Opens | Closes |
|---|---|---|---|
| The arrival register | the day you enter Laos | 3 days before you arrive | the day before you arrive |
| The departure register | the day you leave Laos | 3 days before you leave | the day before you leave |
| The train counter | the day you want to travel by train | 6 days before departure, at 06:30 Vientiane time | when the seats are taken |
- The arrival register. Those three days are the days you are packing, or already in another country on your way here.
- The departure register. Those three days fall while you are still travelling inside Laos, several weeks after you thought about paperwork.
- The train counter. Popular morning departures are taken within minutes of the counter opening, and the counter opens on Vientiane time rather than yours.
Laos is still extending these registers to new crossings. Confirm the crossings that apply to you on the official portal before you travel.
Your dates
Enter the dates you already know. Nothing is sent anywhere: the arithmetic runs in your browser, and this page has no way to record what you type.
If you would rather not hold the dates
The forms are free and the tickets are sold to the public. Neither is available on the day most travellers remember to deal with it, and that is the only thing we sell.
Laos-China Railway tickets
We are in Vientiane, on the official application, at the hour the counter opens. Nobody holds privileged access to that counter, and we do not hold any either.
Train bookingQuestions about the dates
How many days before arrival can I submit the Laos arrival form?
Three. The register opens three days before the crossing it covers and accepts a filing until the day before that crossing. It cannot be opened earlier, and the portal will not hold an early submission for you.
Why are there two windows rather than one?
Because each register belongs to one crossing rather than to the trip. The arrival register counts back from the day you enter Laos and the departure register counts back from the day you leave it. On a two-week trip those windows are more than two weeks apart, and filing the first does nothing for the second.
What are the Lao border forms going to cost me?
Nothing, if you file them yourself. The government charges no fee and the official portal is open to anyone. The dates on this page are all you need in order to do it without us.
Do these dates apply at every Lao border crossing?
No. Four crossings keep a digital register: WATTAY INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, LUANGPRABANG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, PAKSE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT and FRIENDSHIP BRIDGE 1. At any other crossing there is no form to file and no window to miss, and the declaration is handled at the barrier instead.
When exactly do Laos-China Railway tickets go on sale?
The counter sells the next seven days, meaning today and the six days after it. A departure therefore becomes purchasable 6 mornings before it leaves, when the counter opens at 06:30 Vientiane time. Nobody holds priority access to that counter, and neither do we.