Burma Visa report 2011
 

We received our visas today. It took two and a half weeks this year to get our visas back from Washington, DC. When we went in 2009, it took a week to get our visas back.

Burma is expecting the largest number of visitors ever this year. So expect your visa to take longer than usual. The visa is good for 90 days from the date of issue, meaning that you have to enter Burma by that date. Once you enter Burma, it is good for 28 days.

Great info, thanks Kathie. We are heading to Burma in early February after spending a few weeks in Thailand, so this is very timely information. When are you going to Burma?
Also, I was reading through your last trip report this past weekend -- an incredible amount of information! Seems like we have a lot of overlapping interests in art, architecture, and history :-)
I wanted to ask you...do you have a local travel agent that you work with in Southeast Asia?
Thanks, Kathie!
Jennifer

We'll be in Burma the last half of November.

I use Santa Maria Travel In Yangon for travel to Burma. Other than that, I really don't use travel agents, preferring to book it all myself.

In Burma, you need an agent to book flights and hotels if you are staying in mid or upper range places.

I've been blogging a bit about our planning process at www.travelindependently.com if you are interested.

Thanks Kathie. We are sending ours off now (in Canada) for our December departure but one of the ladies needs her passport back for a trip to Mexico in November, so hope it all goes well.
I will report back how long it takes here, but they said a week to 10 days so I hope that is still true.
Ours says, 'Visa is valid for Three months from the date of issue with 28 days stay.' I read that to mean that it expires three months after it is issued. Maybe the Canadian one is different from the US.

Hi Kathie,
On an unrelated topic, what time does your return flight leave from Sittwe to Yangon. I have a flight that leaves at 2, but am wondering if this gives me enough time to get from Mirauk U to the Sittwe airport, in case of unforseen delays. I wonder if should switch to a flight that leaves at 4:45.

Shelly I think our flight out of Sittwe was about 2pm. We made it in plenty of time did leave MU very early though. As it turned out we were there in plenty of time if the flight had gone on schedule it ended up being a couple of hours late.

What time did you leave Mirauk U?

I think we left the hotel about 530/600am ish

live42day, the visas are the same, let me clarify.

Our visas were issued Oct 4, they have a "valid until" date of Jan 2, ( a use-by date). So I can enter Burma any day from now until Jan 2, and I can stay up to 28 days, even if I enter on Jan 1.

It is very common for visas to have a window when you can enter, then a maximum duration.

Shelly, our flight also leaves early afternoon, probably the same flight as yours and Jules.

Hey I just got another free Fodors Book! I am so excited, they used one of my pictures in the African Safari (Tanzania) book. I am published! I need a new travel book on Turkey so this is great timing. I just had to tell someone.

Congrats, Debbe!

Thanks, Kathie. We will check out Santa Maria Travel and your blog. We go back and forth on booking ourselves vs having others book for us. Depends on who gets the best rate and how easy it will be to change if there is a shift (as there always is) in our itinerary.

Also, @live42day, we have two passports, which allows us to travel on one while getting visas on another. Eliminates the stress. :-)

Is that legal having two passports from the same country?

He didn't say the passports were from the same country. Perhaps he is like you and has dual citizenship.

Do see if you can get better prices elsewhere. For the places we stayed in 2009 and for the places we are staying this year, Santa Maria's prices were better. A friend made changes in her itinerary while in Burma, and SM handled them easily. The issue for you might be how many visitors there are in Burma, and whether there is availability. Perhaps by February there will be fewer visitors. The mid- and upper range hotels are pretty full for Nov Dec Jan right now, and flights may be full as well..

@Hanuman - it is legal to have two passports from the same country. One passport I have is for 10 years (my regular issued passport) and one is only good for 2 years (the passport I send out for visas while traveling on the other).
@Kathie - yes we are seeing prices that are higher than they were a few years ago. Very good for the country and local tourism industry!

Interesting and thanks for letting me know. I presume this is for US passports right?

I am watching all the Burma comments with great interest. My husband and I are booked on the non-stop Vietnam Airlines flight from Hanoi to Yangon on the 27th of this month. After watching the airfares fluctuate for months, I nabbed a GREAT price of $200 pp for roundtrip on their website. I tried to pay in cash (dong) at Vietnam Airlines in Hanoi...but no go! I had to use credit card online.

I also booked our trip using Santa Maria. They will be arranging visas and most everything for us. So far...they have been very good! Made changes we requested and when finalized I received email from Vietnam Airlines saying that they cancelled the Sunday night flight home and rebooked us for their Monday Flight. This was ok...since we did not have any conflicts. I contacted Santa Maria and within one day we had extended our stay and added a short trek. So....upfront Santa Maria has been good to deal with. You must wire deposit...which made my husband nervous--but all comments here said that is what to do. So it is done...and hopefully all will go well.

Have a wonderful trip, Gail. Santa Maria has been great for us, so glad you've had a good experience as well.

Do look at my new thread on money changing - you may be the first Fodorites to get a chance to see/use the new exchanges. I will look forward to your report!

I just saw your report on money--and we will see what Santa Maria people have to say. We arrive in Yangon late and depart early the next morning. So I am not sure on the "front end" of our trip if we will get to check the bank situation out. But if I hear or see anything and have internet access, I will be sure to post here.

Gail, we are just passing through Yangon on our way in, land from Bangkok then go right to a domestic flight to Mandalay. Santa Maria is delivering our documents to us at the airport, and I asked them to exchange $US 200 for us at the airport.

On our first trip, we arrived in Yangon on a holiday so the market was closed. Santa Maria excahnged $100 for us at the prevaling rate of 1000 kyat to the dollar. So you can ask Santa Maria to exchange money and you'll get a good rate. The exchange rate outside of Yangon is not as good.