Do Lao passport holders need a visa for Greece?

Yes, a Schengen visa, and there is a step on this route that applicants for most other Schengen countries do not have. Germany receives and decides Greek visa applications in Vientiane under a representation arrangement, but Greece is the one country in that arrangement that asks you to contact its embassy in Hanoi first.

Visa required

Yes, a short-stay Schengen visa

Who handles it in Laos

The German embassy in Vientiane, on Greece’s behalf

Step others do not have

Contact the Greek embassy in Hanoi first

Where you lodge it

The VFS Global centre in Sisattanak district, Vientiane

Who decides

The German embassy. VFS takes the file, not the decision

Lead time

Four to six weeks in peak season

Fee

90 euros adult, 45 euros for children aged 6 to 11

Entry requirements

• A Lao passport and the standard short-stay Schengen application file.
• Confirmation that you have approached the Greek embassy in Hanoi, which Greece asks for before the application is lodged in Vientiane.
• Travel medical insurance valid across the Schengen area for the whole trip.
• Proof of accommodation, onward travel and means for the stay.
• Biometrics, given in person at the visa application centre.

How a Lao applicant applies for a Greek visa

Start with Hanoi, not Vientiane. Germany’s embassy lists the Schengen states it represents in Laos and attaches a condition to exactly one of them: for Greece, contact the Greek embassy in Hanoi first.

The application itself is then lodged in Vientiane. Germany represents Austria, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and Spain there, so the German embassy is the right address for a Greek visa even though Greece is the country you are visiting.

Applications are submitted at the VFS Global visa application centre on Thadeua Road, Watnak village, in the Sisattanak district of Vientiane, which is where biometrics are captured.

VFS handles submission and fingerprints and charges its own service fee. The processing and the decision stay with the embassy, so paying the centre does not buy an outcome or speed one up.

Allow four to six weeks before your intended departure in peak season, which is the embassy’s own advice rather than a rule of thumb.

Good to know

• Greece is the exception in the arrangement, and it is the detail that costs people a fortnight. Germany represents seven Schengen states in Laos: Austria, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Six of them you simply apply for in Vientiane. Against Greece alone the embassy adds a condition, that you contact the Greek embassy in Hanoi first. So a Lao traveller comparing notes with a friend applying for Italy or Spain is not looking at the same process, and the difference is a step that happens in another country before the file is even opened.
• The country deciding your Greek visa is Germany, which sounds wrong and is not. Under a representation arrangement the German embassy in Vientiane receives the application and makes the decision on Greece’s behalf. That matters for practical reasons rather than symbolic ones: the checklist you follow, the appointment you book and the office you chase for an answer are all German, so guidance written by Greek consulates elsewhere may not describe the process you are actually in.
• The visa application centre is a post box with fingerprint scanners, not a decision maker, and the fee structure hides that. VFS Global takes the file, captures biometrics and charges a service fee on top of the visa fee. The processing and the decision remain with the embassy. Nobody at the centre can approve, refuse or expedite anything, so a delay is not something the counter staff are able to fix and paying more at that window buys you nothing on the outcome.
• Four to six weeks is the embassy’s own peak-season figure, and on this route the appointment is the part that runs out rather than the processing. The application cannot be lodged until there is a slot, the slot is booked through VFS rather than the embassy, and the Hanoi step sits in front of all of it. Anyone who has already bought a ticket before starting has put the three slowest things on this route after the one fixed date they cannot move.

Frequently asked questions

Related pages

• Do Guatemalan citizens need a visa for Greece?
• Do Ukrainian citizens need a visa for Greece?
• Check visa requirements for any passport

Other destinations for Laos passport holders

• Laos passport holders visiting Canada
• Laos passport holders visiting United Kingdom

Sources

Every fact on this page was checked against the official sources below on 26 August 2026.

• German Embassy Vientiane — General information on visa applications and entry to Germany: the embassy represents "Austria, Finland, Greece (please contact the Greek Embassy in Hanoi first), Hungary, Italy, Portugal and Spain"; applications are submitted at the VFS Global Visa Application Centre at Watnak Quartier, Thadeua Road, Watnak Village, Sisattanak District, Vientiane; applicants should schedule an appointment with VFS Global a minimum of four to six weeks before the intended departure date in peak season; "the further processing and decision-making will still be handled by the Embassy", with VFS charging a handling fee (vientiane.diplo.de). Read 2026-08-26.
• Schengen short-stay visa fee: 90 euros for adults and 45 euros for children aged 6 to 11, in force since 11 June 2024.

Entry rules change without notice and the official source is always the authority. Confirm with the embassy or immigration portal before you book.