Visa requirements for Lao citizens

Lao citizens need a Schengen visa, which covers all member states for up to 90 days in any 180-day period.

Of the 198 countries whose entry rules are known in both directions, Laos and 37 of them let each other’s citizens in without a visa obtained in advance (visa-free, on arrival or with an ETA; an e-visa counts as a visa).

133 countries ask holders of the Lao passport for a visa beforehand, although their own citizens enter Laos without one: Albania, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina and 128 others.

The reverse holds for 8 countries: holders of the Lao passport get in without a visa obtained in advance, but their citizens need one for Laos (Bangladesh, Burundi, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Ivory Coast and 3 others).

97 countries ask holders of the Lao passport for a visa obtained before travel from an embassy, a consulate or a visa centre. 11 of them have an embassy or consulate on record in Laos.

86 countries have no embassy or career consulate on record in Laos, so the application usually goes to one of their posts in another country. Counting the post an official diplomatic list names for Laos, or else the nearest one within 2,000 km, those posts are most often in Vietnam (15), Thailand (6) and Malaysia (6).

The United States refused 84% of visitor-visa (B1/B2) applications from citizens of Laos in fiscal year 2025, by the State Department’s adjusted refusal rate. 195 of the 197 nationalities with a published rate had a lower one and 1 a higher one; the middle value was 32%.

Visa-free travel with the Lao passport

By continent, the Lao passport is visa-free in 11 countries in Asia, 4 countries in the Americas, 3 countries in Africa, 1 country in Europe and 1 country in Oceania. The longest visa-free stays for Lao citizens are allowed in Ecuador (90 days), Haiti (90 days), the Seychelles (90 days), Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (90 days), Zambia (90 days) and Thailand (60 days).

Visa on arrival

Lao citizens can get a visa at the airport or land border of Bangladesh, Burundi, Cape Verde, the Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Guinea-Bissau and 15 others.

E-Visa and electronic travel authorisation

An e-Visa, applied for online before the trip, is how Lao citizens enter Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Australia, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Benin and 49 others. Ivory Coast, Kenya, Suriname and Taiwan ask instead for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA), a lighter online check than a visa.

Laos’ neighbours

Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam admit Lao citizens without a visa. For the other neighbours, the rules are: China (visa required).

How the passport compares

Among neighbouring passports, the Thai passport ranks 111th (80 destinations), the Chinese passport ranks 113th (78 destinations), the Vietnamese passport ranks 159th (53 destinations), the Cambodian passport ranks 162nd (51 destinations) and the passport of Myanmar ranks 181st (42 destinations). Of the 198 passports in the data, 15 can enter visa-free, 155 get a visa on arrival and 28 need a visa from an embassy or consulate for Laos.