Despite the alleged visa on arrival program posted on Myanmar governmental websites, your best way for a visa to Myanmar (outside your home country) is the Myanmar Embassy in Thailand.

The Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok is reliable and can be fast in the event you are in a hurry. When I arrived at 8:30am there was already a line of about 30. Continue down the block (away from Sathon Road) and you will see a couple of yellow signs for a copy shop that’s tucked into an aspect street.

Here you can get the required photocopies of your passport and flight reservation (only required for same-day express visas). They also do passport pictures. You can actually pick up the Myanmar visa application right here for a couple of baht cash and fill it out at tables right here or while you are waiting in line for the visa segment to open.

When I returned with my visa application a few minutes later on the line had exceeded 40. By 9 am when the doors opened (promptly), the line had to be close to 80. Despite the figures, it took about 15 minutes prior to I was inside the air-conditioned waiting around room. From there the line moved a little bit more gradually. In thirty minutes I handed my application in at Window 1, the clerk looked it over for something lacking, she glued the photo on (the duplicate center even included a paperclip with the application for the second needed photo). She gave requested me why I required an specific visa. Technically they don’t have to give it if you have no evidence of the requirement to rush it (ie. a flight departing too soon for you to wait around). I had a flight that day to Vietnam and my Myanmar flight which was too close to my return date to Bangkok to get a visa. So I had each itineraries to show her, but later in the day I found other travelers who merely had claimed the impending flight with out any paper proof.

For a vacationer visa you’ve to consist of a short work history. What were your last two jobs, starting and finish dates, work phone number, job title. It is important not to include the obvious red flags: journalist, photographer, human rights activist, rabble rouser, terrorist, missionary.

When the clerk at the initial window affirms that you simply have stuffed in everything essential and supplied all the paperwork, you receive a quantity and wait to go to Window 2 to pay the fee. This was about another 5 minutes wait for me. Cash only (Thai baht) and plan for precise change because there’s no guarantee they’ll have it. (I paid 1260 baht on February 1, 2013). You hand in the paperwork as well as your passport, hand over the money, and obtain a receipt telling you to return at 3:30pm that day (hrs can change but will be posted outside the door) with the receipt to collect your passport. I was back on the Sky train system by 10 am. One hour from doorways open to heading home.

I returned at about 3:15 and the line was one hundred individuals lengthy! When the doorway opened, it moved fast as the line break up into normal visas (Window 1), express visas (Window 2 and the clear majority that day), and business visas (Window 4). Regardless of the lengthy line, I was inside in below 15 minutes and up to the counter to gather in another 15 minutes, so a 30-minute wait from when the doors opened at 3:30pm.

There is also a new Visa on Arrival in Myanmar. Or so the authorities formally says. The Myanmar Visa on Arrival isn’t suggested. (Please read in the event you require convincing.)

Give your self time and do it with a few days to spare in the event you can. It takes two business days normally, or one business day for a charge, and the express visa (as indicated right here) for one more charge. The Embassy of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar in Bangkok is closed on each Thai and Myanmar public holidays.