Of the 4.5 mn tourists who visited Laos in 2025 only 19000 were Indians. Although Laos and India have a history of diplomatic relations for the last 70 years, Laos as a tourist destination has not really caught the attention of Indian tourists the way the neighbouring countries of Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia have. Of late there have been many negative reports about the immigration process and the deportation of genuine Indian tourists on the grounds that they are not in possession of at least 1000 USD per head though social media reports also speak of higher figures. Tightening of the process seems to be a fallout of the Cyberscams and human trafficking involving Indian citizens and the onus is shifted to the Airlines who often act far beyond their brief and err on the positive side to avoid any penalties from the Laotian authorities. An interesting piece of trivia reveals that about 1000 Indian Nationals have been rescued from cyberscam employment and human trafficking so far.

Malati and I visited Laos in October this year (2026) and stayed for over two weeks in the country. Armed with an online E- visa, hard copy, an arrival QR code the immigration formalities at Luang Prabang International Airport were a cakewalk and not a single question asked at all – though we were well equipped with cash, credit cards, hotel bookings, and return tickets. Though I must add that Bangkok Airways at Bangkok did ask us about our cash holdings and did not press the issue further though our cash in hand was nowhere near the 1000 USD per person.

Laos offers a E-Visa to Indian nationals as also Visa on Arrival at all international airports and some land crossings as shown alongside. If you are entering by any other route neither the Visa on Arrival nor Evisa facility maybe available. There are some 30 odd international crossings where travellers can enter but the most common are the international airports or the crossings from Thailand across the Friendship bridges or train from Thailand – all of which are covered by the E visa and Visa on arrival .

Applying for a E- visa is very easy through an extremely informative and user friendly portal https://laoevisa.gov.la/ . In three simple steps – Submit details – Review and pay – Download. The Evisa is generated on a payment of 50 USD with a processing time of two to three days. Entry must be at one of the nine crossings. The application form asks for very minimal details. Like most countries a validity of 180 days from the date of travel is a prerequisite – Point to note here that the hard copy of the E-Visa must be carried – for some strange reason they do not accept a screenshot! Sample of the E Visa is alongside. Do take care of the specifications of the photographs and the passport while uploading the documents.The visa is valid for a period of 60 days from the date of issue – i.e you must enter Laos within 60 days but the stay is permitted for a max of 30 days and single entry only. In case multiple entries are required you need to apply for a regular visa from the Laotian Embassy. To the point of repetition that this facility is not available at all border crossings.

In case you opt for a Visa on arrival,you need to fill the Visa on Arrival form available at the counter and carry with you two photographs and pay a fee of USD 40 dollars in cash per person – Ensure that the notes are crisp, uncreased and new looking and have no markings of any kind.This is quite a problem across Laos and many of my 20 dollar bills were not accepted as they did not look new enough! The authorities are quite friendly and allow you to cross the immigration barrier to the ATM to draw out cash (LAK) but do not bank on this – Travellers have reported no cash or connectivity issues and random conversion rates .Else the process is easy though some basic questions are quite normal – Also in case of your opting for a Visa on Arrival you will face some (what I call Illogical and unnecessary) pre scrutiny at boarding by the airline mostly related to the amount of cash carried. Expect this as there is a stiff penalty on airlines for inadequate scrutiny. Showing bookings and returns tickets and credit cards may not work. It is very easy to get a Evisa and unless you are very hard pressed for time or landed in Laos on a whim my suggestion is that you should not opt for this option .

Laos has separate digital arrival and departure forms LDIF – Lao Digital Immigration Form (unlike say Thailand where only a digital arrival card TDAC) and can be filled only three days before arrival or departure.The form is available on the Laos Immigration department ( https://www.immigration.gov.la/en/home ) which is different from the site where you apply for the evisa . Again an extremely user friendly site – easy to understand and navigate. The output is a QR code – Sample of Arrival form and departure QR code are given below. The process and output is the same for the departure register and arrival QR code and can be shown on the mobile phone. However just before landing like in good old days the airline also handed us a physical copy of an arrival departure card- I could not figure out the logic behind this. Follow the process in details at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bolNSbY8Pi0. The QR code scan seems to be infructious as I proceedeed straight to the form for both arrival and departure forms – I did not need to scan the QR code. Maybe the website was not updated! When you land present your E Visa and Arrival QR code and when you leave Laos simply present your departure QR code – adequate if you show it on your mobile phone – NO hard copy required – “Modern age” countries have done away with stamping the passport and I was very happy to have an entry and departure stamp recorded in my passport !!!!

As an additional input, I was unable to access the Laos visa website and had to resort to porting from my Iphone. Was not a good idea as I always had the niggling doubt that the payment gateway may fail me. In case you have a similar problem suggest don’t break your head with the internet service provider but use one of the agencies such as Atlys or similar who will do the job for a very small fee and no hassle.

Photos and image credits – Websites of the immigration authorities of the LAO Peoples Democratic Republic