Laos runs its own eVisa system directly, at laoevisa.gov.la, and its official information page reads like an instruction manual rather than marketing copy. That is useful. An instruction manual tells you exactly what happens if you get a step wrong, which is the part most travel advice skips.
The three steps, as the government describes them
The site states the process plainly: “Step 1: Provide the application details and upload the necessary documents. Step 2: Review your application and pay the fee online. Step 3: Download the eVisa Approval Letter.” There is no embassy visit built into this. The whole transaction happens on the site.
The photograph is not a formality
The page specifies that “the size of the photograph must be 4x6 cm, as per ICAO Standard photograph,” and warns that submitting a photo outside that spec “can delay the visa application process.” Note the word: delay, not automatically reject. But a delay on a trip with fixed flight dates functions the same way a rejection would, so it is worth getting the photo right the first time.
Enter only through one of nine named ports
The eVisa is not valid at any Lao border crossing — only nine, named specifically on the page: Wattay International Airport (Vientiane Capital), the Lao–Thai Friendship Bridge I (Vientiane Capital), Luang Prabang International Airport, the Lao–Thai Friendship Bridge II (Savannakhet Province), Pakse International Airport (Champasack Province), the Lao–Thai Friendship Bridge IV (Bokeo Province), Boten International Checkpoint (Luang Namtha Province), Boten Railway Station (Luang Namtha Province), and Khamsavath Railway Station (Vientiane Capital). If your itinerary routes you through anywhere else, this eVisa is not the document that gets you across.
What happens without the approval letter
At the arrival port, the page states, “the authorities will verify the information on your approval letter with the details on your passport as part of the immigration process.” And it is unambiguous about the alternative: “Without the Lao eVisa approval letter, your entry will be denied.”
Processing takes three working days — usually
The government’s own timeline is “usually 03 working days after submitting the application and pay the visa fee,” on the condition that your information is accepted the first time. If it isn’t, or if you apply around a public holiday, “the processing time could be longer.” Build in slack; this is not a same-day product.
The fee amount and letter format go unstated
The page never states whether the approval letter needs to be printed or can be shown on a phone screen — it tells you to “download” it, and separately says officials will check it against your passport, but the format expected at the port is not spelled out anywhere we can quote. It also does not state the fee itself, only that whatever you pay is non-refundable. For both of those, check the application portal directly before you travel.
Match your entry point to the nine-port list
Start the application with a compliant photo, well before your trip, since a rejected photo costs you days you may not have. Book your entry through one of the nine listed ports — not a nearby alternative — and keep the approval letter accessible, in whatever form gets you through immigration cleanly, since the government’s own text does not tell us which form that is.