alex_den;274155 wrote: Hi Mate,
In 9/2011, I had cross the border Vang Tao Chong Mek and the NEW OFFICER refused me can't into Thailand with motorbike from Vietnam although i had cross this border into Thailand success in 4/2011
So, you can try another border at Savannakhet or Vieng Chan, some guy Vietnamese had into Thailand at border Vieng Chan success with motorbike from Vietnam.
Good luck
Although this thread is a bit old, I just wanted to provide a little bit of an update.
The OP is right. There is NO policy to allow any Vietnamese vehicle entry into Thailand. After all, Vietnam refuses entry to Thai registered vehicles, so why should Thailand allow entry to Vietnamese ones? What an unfair and one sided policy this would be, but fortunately they don't allow it. Thailand does what Vietnam applies to them on a reciprocal basis, as it should. I've asked customs officers at virtually every Thai-Lao checkpoint, including Pakse/Chong Mek, Savannakhet/Mukdahan, Tha Khaek/Nakorn Phanom and Vientiane/Nong Khai to confirm: Vietnamese vehicles can NOT enter Thailand, not cars, not trucks and most certainly not bikes as they are usually not permitted to even cross any of the bridges, except larger motorcycles (250cc up) crossing the 1st Friendship Bridge between Vientiane and Nong Khai or the 4th Friendship Bridge, however, these bikes can't be registered in Vietnam. In practice mostly Thai, Chinese and third country foreign registered bikes cross at either bridge - I've never once seen a Lao one cross and I've been across the 1st Friendship bridge and to Nong Khai in general many many times. I went across these 4 crossings where I spoke with customs between Vientiane and Pakse all last November (2014) so my info is pretty up-to-date. And for the record, I speak fluent Thai as well as Lao so there were no misunderstandings.
In fact, it's not just the Thai officials, but the Lao officials won't allow a Vietnamese vehicle to exit for Thailand and I confirmed this by speaking to Lao customs at Vang Tao near Pakse. This means that Vietnamese bikes generally won't even get as far as Thai customs as the Lao won't allow them to leave. Additionally, they won't allow Cambodian vehicles to exit for Thailand either; Cambodian vehicles need to enter Thailand directly from Cambodia - third country crossings aren't allowed. This explains the trouble experienced by many drivers/riders heading from Laos to Cambodia directly. This seems to be an unofficial policy in the region - you can only make crossings directly from one country to the next one e.g. Thai vehicles to Laos, Cambo vehicles to Thailand; with a few exceptions, for example, Singapore/Malaysia to Laos via Thailand or vv. is OK. However, as Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore are quite open to the entry of foreign registered vehicles they usually make some exceptions to this rule. For example, Laos generally permits the entry of a third country foreign registered vehicle entering the country from Cambodia, but as mentioned heading in the opposite direction is a bit of a hit and miss.
Anyone that could enter Thailand with a Vietnamese bike in the past was probably very lucky and found a loophole or a customs agent who didn't know the rules - in particular, if they are trying to enter from Laos, which in turn now generally doesn't allow Vietnamese bikes in anymore. Coming in from Cambodia might be easier as there is no official system there with no insurance for foreign registered vehicles and the Thais might just turn a blind eye to the rules as they rarely see much traffic crossing into Thailand, but I wouldn't bother as it's all a bit uncertain - also, I'm not sure that a Vietnamese vehicle entering from Vietnam is legally allowed to drive outside of the border province they entered; in practice Cambodia turns a blind eye to it but still, it's risky if you get caught by the police.
AEC 2015 might change things but so far there are no indications of any changes ahead and in fact, the last couple of years has seen a couple of countries, in particular Laos and Vietnam tighten their regulations on the entry of foreign registered vehicles, in the case of Laos this has mostly been limited to motorcycles with rules depending on the size of the bike, entry point, number of motorcycles entering at one time etc., while Vietnam is trying a last ditch attempt to prevent any foreign registered vehicles (except Lao and Cambodian registered cars, buses and trucks) from entering solo to prevent these vehicles being sold illegally (vehicle tax in Vietnam is the 3rd highest in the world, thus all types of vehicles except small scooters and motorcycles are very, very expensive there) and a secondary reason I guess is they don't want to risk accidents occurring in a country with only a rudimentary ambulance system and very basic medical care outside of the major 3 cities (Hanoi, HCMC and Danang).
