Poipet NIGHTMARE What the hell?????

[KarminLine]

I have Australian passport expires in 2024.

I have been in Cambodia on extended VISA for 5 months.

I was two days over my Cambodia visa.

I get to Poipet, go through Cambodia Departures. I tell the official, "Hey I am two days overstay, but I am coming back in right now, do you want me to pay now or when I check back in for Ordinary Visa?"".

He takes me over to the Cambodia Arrivals, and he gives them the $20. Then he says to me, "Now just go over to Thai side Arrivals, check-in, then go across the road to Departures, and check-out, then come back here".

I get to Thai Arrivals, and the whole place is empty except for right over in the back corner there are about 20 foreigners seated in a corner on the other side of immigration.

I go to the immigration desk, the guy takes my passport, I tell him, "I am just coming and going back to Cambodia to renew my visa in Cambodia".

He tells me to fill out the Arrivals form. I just put that I have $250US, and I am staying in Thailand for 1 hour. It asks "Where are you staying" and purpose of visit. I put N/A for residence and write, "I am just checkout out and in of Cambodia to renew my Cambodia visa".

He then takes this and my passport over to the superintendent lady where there are also 20 foreigners all looking miserable and seated at her mercy. My passport has not been stamped yet by Thai immigration.

She then looks at the passport and my form and she asks me, "How much money you have?" And I said, "I don't know about $250US but I have credit card I have $2000US on my credit card." (There are ATMs everywhere outside if she wanted me to go show her more money). She then says dogmatically, "No credit card not good. You overstayed your visa two days in Cambodia". I said to her, "Yeh and I paid the fine, that is not a problem in Cambodia, now I am going back to get new visa, I have done this before".

Then she says "No you are not allowed into the Kingdom of Thailand" and she hands me this form and says, "Sign this". I read the form and it's like Twilight Zone. It says that I am being detained, and  I must remain at BLANK residence until the authorities come to deport me.

Meanwhile I am looking now over to all the other foreigners and asking them, "Is this happening to you to?" And then some of them nod, and there is a Japanese guy, Germany guy, Indian guy,, French guy, and they are all angry and all seem to be in same position, she wants them to sign this document. I read the document and told her, "I'm not signing that. I have not entered the Kingdom and you must give me my passport back now and I will go back and talk to Cambodia immigration". She then said, "No, you must sign document first, then I can stamp your passport". I then tell her, "No, I am not signing your document'". Meanwhile, she is continuously being interjected by all the other people for the same reason. She is running around like her hair is on fire. The Japanese guy is on the phone to his Embassy, the Frenchman is on the phone to his Thai girlfriend, and everybody is angry/scared/nervous/confused. After the superintendent woman demanding I sign the document she finally gave up and she called the Cambodia immigration and told me to talk to them. I could not understand him, so she grabbed the phone off him. Eventually, the superintended woman took all our passports and gave them  to a man in plain clothes and told us all we are going over to Cambodia immigration. So we all walked over to Cambodia arrivals and then say and waited outside. Eventually an official came out and gave me back my passport. He showed me that the EXIT STAMP had now had CANCELLED stamped on it, and he gave me back my $20 fine money. And he told me now I was free and that I should go back to Siem Reap (where I have been living for 4 months) and then fly out to Bangkok instead and do it that way.

Well, well. I am still here 24 hours later in Siem Reap totally confused. Here attached is all the documents I have anonymized enough for common public not to know who I am.

All in all I only lost $7 for the bus to Poipet, and then $15 for the taxi back to Siem Reap. And now each day I am here $10 fine for every day.

I don't know what to do. If I go to Bangkok will I get the same problem? I had done this visa-run three months ago but to Cham Yeam border in the south-west and there was no problem at all. So I don't know what happened with new laws or anything.

She also stamped something in my passport, I don't have any idea what it is or what right she had to since I was not allowed in the Kingdom for NO REASON. When I asked her , "But why?". The only answer I could get was "It's the law!"

I also asked her three times to call my Embassy and she refused.

Looking forward to your feedback here on this forum, thanks.

 

Edited July 21, 2018 by KarminLine

[anon789561]

good old poipet up to the usual tricks. they don't want the hassle of visa runners at that border, for whatever reason. if you go through the forum you will see that is completely normal for poipet. avoid at all costs if it's a visa run, even your first i would say but you overstaying in cambodia gave them the excuse they needed. don't worry about it, fly in or go to another crossing

BTW your message sounded a bit stressed which i understand, if you came across like that at poipet then there's no talking your way out. they don't like people getting irate. no one does for that matter but certainly not thai immo and absolutely not poipet immo. lesson learnt. don't try to border hop at poipet.

you're embassy wouldn't have been able to do anything so there was no point in trying to call them. the law states it's at the discretion of the officer, they say no, it's no. go to another border, should be fine or fly, should also be fine

Edited July 21, 2018 by Happy enough

[Denim]

 

You were unlucky and met a jobsworth.

 

However , worth noting that Thai immigration are getting twitchy about overstays .......even ones from a neighboring country. 

 

In future people would be well advised to save themselves a headache and try to jump through any immigration hoops that will keep them the right side of immigration laws.

[anon789561]

2 minutes ago, Denim said:

 

You were unlucky and met a jobsworth.

 

However , worth noting that Thai immigration are getting twitchy about overstays .......even ones from a neighboring country. 

 

In future people would be well advised to save themselves a headache and try to jump through any immigration hoops that will keep them the right side of immigration laws.

i don't think she was unlucky at all. that's poipet. they'll do anything to put border hoppers off going there but to go there with an overstay was a no before she even left for the border

[anon789561]

there's another border a bus away that you should go to tomorrow and you won't have the problems poipet gave you. search the forum. brit tim is usually clued up on that kind of stuff. hopefully he'll be logged in soon enough to give you the correct details to get from poipet to the other border as cheaply and quickly as poss

 

[BritTim]

Another land crossing would be OK. This is a Poipet special. The big problem you have is that immigration officials have almost unlimited power to deny visa exempt entry. They can just say "no". 

 

Were you approached by someone on the Cambodian side who said they could solve the problem for a price? I firmly believe that the real reason they are being difficult at Poipet is that it opens up all kinds of scope for bribes. The Thai officials have noted the extra income the Cambodian side are making from extra charges, and want some of this themselves. Since corruption on the Thai side needs to be done more discreetly, they need to use Cambodian intermediaries to broker the special services. The senior officials on the Thai side retain plausible deniability.

 

Eventually, the complaints will probably reach the ears of officials who worry about Thailand's image. At that point, there may be a crackdown on these activities. Until then, Poipet is to be avoided for visa exempt entry, and possibly even for entering with a visa.

[gilo]

You should be okay crossing at Battambang so long as you have not had two or more land entries in your passport this year (as that is the max allowed) if u have had your two visa exempt land entries already then you will have to fly into Bangkok...or might be better to border bounce through Vietnam and not have the stress of dealing with the vagaries of Thai immigration. Good luck.

[KarminLine]

21 minutes ago, Happy enough said:

there's another border a bus away that you should go to tomorrow and you won't have the problems poipet gave you. search the forum. brit tim is usually clued up on that kind of stuff. hopefully he'll be logged in soon enough to give you the correct details to get from poipet to the other border as cheaply and quickly as poss

 

Thanks. The scammer taxi men gave us the impression now that we were kind of being escorted directly to Siem Reap Airport, since was an "over stay". It took me about an hour in the taxi to realize I was actaully free to overstay anymore i wanted. So when we go to Siem Reap I stopped the taxi and got a tuk tuk back to my apartment where Iive. My dog was happy to see me.

 

So now I am thinking, well they could just do the same gig at me at Bangkok. So maybe bus to Vietnam and get a visa online like I did last time? Don't know. Really pissed off about all this. The flight-cost is a new phone I need. So I preferred the bus option.

[KarminLine]

17 minutes ago, gilo said:

You should be okay crossing at Battambang so long as you have not had two or more land entries in your passport this year (as that is the max allowed) if u have had your two visa exempt land entries already then you will have to fly into Bangkok...or might be better to border bounce through Vietnam and not have the stress of dealing with the vagaries of Thai immigration. Good luck.

Yeh I think I will go the long bus to Phnom Penh from Siem Reap which goes on to the Border to Saigon. Then pretend I am going to Saigon for holiday but then just get off bus and come back in to Cambodia. I live in Cambodia on Extended Holiday visas (3 months/6 month) because Cambodia is the most easy going with all this visa crap. Cambodia don't care about overstay, "You over-stayed? Oh great! $10/day thankyou, in cash!" Although I am not sure on the rest, if you go over 30 days then it becomes criminal...I don't know man they keep changing all the goal posts.

[KarminLine]

38 minutes ago, BritTim said:

Another land crossing would be OK. This is a Poipet special. The big problem you have is that immigration officials have almost unlimited power to deny visa exempt entry. They can just say "no". 

 

Were you approached by someone on the Cambodian side who said they could solve the problem for a price? I firmly believe that the real reason they are being difficult at Poipet is that it opens up all kinds of scope for bribes. The Thai officials have noted the extra income the Cambodian side are making from extra charges, and want some of this themselves. Since corruption on the Thai side needs to be done more discreetly, they need to use Cambodian intermediaries to broker the special services. The senior officials on the Thai side retain plausible deniability.

 

Eventually, the complaints will probably reach the ears of officials who worry about Thailand's image. At that point, there may be a crackdown on these activities. Until then, Poipet is to be avoided for visa exempt entry, and possibly even for entering with a visa.

Yeh this Thai official was not open to bribes. When I was on the phone to the Cambodian official she handed over to me I started saying to him, "Hey is there any way we can fix this, like I pay some kind of fine or something? This is very inconvenient for me". But in the end even the Cambodian side didn't try rip me off. I really think their whole scam failed because I refused to sign that Expulsion of the Alien document.

 

Another observation I noted was that she was stopping EVERY foreigner. And I think in the end she rounded up us trouble makers to get rid of us back to Cambodia because the whole, "Don't be fooled into signing that Alien document" was catching on to everybody. So they had to get rid of us to stop us telling everyone, "Don't sign it! You are not in the Kingdom of Thailand!"

 

So, just wild guessing their scam here. First she gets me to sign that Alien expulsion document. THEN she stamps me into Thailand. So now she can pretend first she stamped me in THEN she expelled me? And now then I am locked in some horrible hotel room with padlock and toilet water, and then a Cambodian guy would come over at some stage, "Hey I can get you out of this situation, just $300, You have $300 right? Because you needed $300 to get into Thailand. So you give me $300 I can talk to the Thai authorities and get you out and then you free to go into Thailand" - Some scam like that.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 21, 2018 by KarminLine

[ChouDoufu]

you couldn't take a bus north from siem riep and cross at o'smach?

there's a large border market there, food and cheap lodging.

stay overnight for shopping.

 

what about the cambo ordinary (business) visa?  "they" say you can

get one on arrival with no documentation required, then can easily

have an agent extend it.

 

[anon789561]

34 minutes ago, BritTim said:

Another land crossing would be OK. This is a Poipet special. The big problem you have is that immigration officials have almost unlimited power to deny visa exempt entry. They can just say "no". 

 

Were you approached by someone on the Cambodian side who said they could solve the problem for a price? I firmly believe that the real reason they are being difficult at Poipet is that it opens up all kinds of scope for bribes. The Thai officials have noted the extra income the Cambodian side are making from extra charges, and want some of this themselves. Since corruption on the Thai side needs to be done more discreetly, they need to use Cambodian intermediaries to broker the special services. The senior officials on the Thai side retain plausible deniability.

 

Eventually, the complaints will probably reach the ears of officials who worry about Thailand's image. At that point, there may be a crackdown on these activities. Until then, Poipet is to be avoided for visa exempt entry, and possibly even for entering with a visa.

so what's the quickest easiest and cheapest border by land to get to, sorry to mention you tim but i think i asked last year in case they didn't let me back through and you knew the whole route. or did i mistake you for a different member?

[KarminLine]

You know, if Thailand don't want all the western white drug-addicts in their country, then why don't they just make it $10 per day to stay in Thailand?

So you visting Thailand for 20 days? That will be $200 upfront. And it is $15 fine for every day you overstay.

 

Why don't they just work out a better system? So I could pay $3650 to stay in Thailand for one year with multiple entries and I get discounted days for the days I am out.

 

I mean, there are so many better systems they could offer where then they will have the best of the world living there and not all your drug addicts. They doing everything WRONGLY.

 

I made $350,000 last year. I don't care. To me it's just, "You treat me like that Thailand - My dog was at home locked in the apartment in Siem Reap and here I was thinking you are about to throw me in prison without a phone, for nothing, for some bazaar border-scam you guys have invented. I thought asians were smart, what scam is this one?"

Edited July 21, 2018 by KarminLine

[anon789561]

1 minute ago, KarminLine said:

You know, if Thailand don't want all the western white drug-addicts in their country, then why don't they just make it $10 per day to stay in Thailand?

So you visting Thailand for 20 days? That will be $200. And it is $20 fine for every day you overstay.

 

Why don't they just work out a better system?

haha. you can post your suggestions to the bin. it is what it is. you'll be fine at a different border. plan a route to the next crossing. poipet isn't like other border crossings, for whatever reason. the next nearest border will be fine i'm sure

[KarminLine]

1 hour ago, Denim said:

 

You were unlucky and met a jobsworth.

 

However , worth noting that Thai immigration are getting twitchy about overstays .......even ones from a neighboring country. 

 

In future people would be well advised to save themselves a headache and try to jump through any immigration hoops that will keep them the right side of immigration laws.

She was pretty sex though. Nazi women turn me on.

[KarminLine]

Looks like then for border crossings you are better to get the scammer-boys to handle it all for you, that is how they move the extortion money. If I had done that then I would not have had any problems and just lost $10-20 for the scammer boys.

Edited July 21, 2018 by KarminLine

[KarminLine]

Then maybe book a hotel one night and come back the next day to recross the border? Cause that was another blank on that form, "Where you staying, how many days"

[anon789561]

4 minutes ago, KarminLine said:

Then maybe book a hotel one night and come back the next day to recross the border? Cause that was another blank on that form, "Where you staying, how many days"

you could try but it's poipet. they'll more than likely refuse you again. you need to work out a bus journey, as i assume you're on a budget, to the next nearest border. google and TVF are your friend.

if you're very close to poipet then try again 1st thing in the morning but expect to get refused and have a journey planned to the next border which i thinks only a few hours away.

search the forum and google and figure it out

 

Edited July 21, 2018 by Happy enough

[blackcab]

A post and a reply to it have been removed.

[KarminLine]

1 hour ago, BritTim said:

Eventually, the complaints will probably reach the ears of officials who worry about Thailand's image. At that point, there may be a crackdown on these activities. Until then, Poipet is to be avoided for visa exempt entry, and possibly even for entering with a visa.

There was even a Cambodian guy there who was just doing a visa run from Cambodia for his Japanese girlfriend. This superintendent was stopping EVERYBODY.

The things is, everybody there was LEGIT. They had all their paper work, everything. The money, met all the requirements. This woman superintendent was just MO, "Today, because I can, I am banning EVERYBODY"

And NOBODY signed that document she was forcing on us. NOBODY. Just read it. You would have to be drunk or on drugs to sign it.

Edited July 21, 2018 by KarminLine

[Spidey]

9 minutes ago, KarminLine said:

There was even a Cambodian guy there who was just doing a visa run from Cambodia for his Japanese girlfriend. This superintendent was stopping EVERYBODY.

The things is, everybody there was LEGIT. They had all their paper work, everything. The money, met all the requirements. This woman superintendent was just MO, "Today, because I can, I am banning EVERYBODY"

And NOBODY signed that document she was forcing on us. NOBODY. Just read it. You would have to be drunk or on drugs to sign it.

Ah! I get it now, she was on her period.

 

Have some understanding for her.

[Thailand J]

1 hour ago, KarminLine said:

I made $350,000 last year.

That is a lot. May I ask how did you make the money, what job or business ?

[Time Traveller]

 

1 hour ago, KarminLine said:

You know, if Thailand don't want all the western white drug-addicts in their country, then why don't they just make it $10 per day to stay in Thailand?

So you visting Thailand for 20 days? That will be $200 upfront. And it is $15 fine for every day you overstay.

 

Why don't they just work out a better system? So I could pay $3650 to stay in Thailand for one year with multiple entries and I get discounted days for the days I am out.

 

I mean, there are so many better systems they could offer where then they will have the best of the world living there and not all your drug addicts. They doing everything WRONGLY.

 

I made $350,000 last year. I don't care. To me it's just, "You treat me like that Thailand - My dog was at home locked in the apartment in Siem Reap and here I was thinking you are about to throw me in prison without a phone, for nothing, for some bazaar border-scam you guys have invented. I thought asians were smart, what scam is this one?"

If you look at it from the viewpoint of info you gave Thai immigration.

1. You didn't have the minimum money to be let into the country (despite your rockstar salary )

2. You didn't have an address to stay in thailand

3. You previously overstayed visa in Cambodia. 

 

Seems pretty obvious you would be rejected. You said you were going to return straight back to Cambodia, but given the 3 points above, would you grant someone entry into thailand? Once people are admitted into thailand, that are under no obligation to do what they said they were going to do. 

 

With so much money, why are you're legging it over the border in Poi Pet to renew a visa overstay and not even carrying enough money and then complaining? 

Guess money doesn't always equal brains.

[Thailand J]

12 minutes ago, KarminLine said:

I take Thai girls to Israel, then keep their passports and sell them to old Israeli Rabbis who keep them in their basements as sex slaves.

 

No seriously. I am what they call a Midex. Million Dollar Executive.

A company worth over 500 million dollars hires me and I have full access to every aspect of their company. I even tell their CEO what to do. I am given 6 months to turn the company around.

I take 1%. So last year I made them $10 million. When the year before they made -ve 25 million.

I work for banks. Long nose guys. I am a long nose guy. High IQ. People, well you goyem, you are kind of like, you know how you look down on a down-syndrome kid? That is how us Ashkenazis look down on your goyem.

 

I don't like doing business with the asians though. They too smart.

I don't know.

I don't look down on  down-syndrome kids.

if $350,000 is true I made 3 times more then you did last year.

Edited July 21, 2018 by Thailand J

[KarminLine]

1. You didn't have the minimum money to be let into the country (despite your rockstar salary )

 

I HAD $250 CASH + $2000US ON MY CREDIT CARD 100 METERS AWAY TO PULL OUT OF THE ATM

 

2. You didn't have an address to stay in thailand

YES IS ID. THE DEPARTURES CENTER 100 METERS AWAY FOR MY 20 MINUTES STAY IN THAIALAND

 

3. You previously overstayed visa in Cambodia. 

BECAUSE CAMBODIA DONT CARE. THEY LOVE IT. YOU PAY $10 PER DAY. THEY LOVE IT. YOU CAN TURN AROUND AND COME STRAIGHT BACK IN NO PROBLEMS AFTER YOU PAY THE FINE.

[KarminLine]

1 minute ago, Thailand J said:

I don't know.

I don't look down on  down-syndrome kids.

if $350,000 is true I made 3 times more then you did last year.

WELL HOPEFULLY NEXT YEAR WILL BE BETTER. NOW THAT I MADE A NAME FOR MYSELF. I ALREADY GETTING OFFERS BUT I WAS PLANNING ON RELAXING IN CAMBODIA ANOTHER YEAR AND STARTING UP SOME NGOS. I REALLY LOVE THE CAMBODIA PEOPLE AND WANT TO SET UP SOME MANUFACTURING PLANTS SO THEY STOP BUYING ALL THEIR STUFF FROM CHINA.

[KarminLine]

By the way everyone, still not one person is able to tell me what would have happened had I signed that document.

[anon789561]

2 minutes ago, KarminLine said:

WELL HOPEFULLY NEXT YEAR WILL BE BETTER. NOW THAT I MADE A NAME FOR MYSELF. I ALREADY GETTING OFFERS BUT I WAS PLANNING ON RELAXING IN CAMBODIA ANOTHER YEAR AND STARTING UP SOME NGOS. I REALLY LOVE THE CAMBODIA PEOPLE AND WANT TO SET UP SOME MANUFACTURING PLANTS SO THEY STOP BUYING ALL THEIR STUFF FROM CHINA.

that's honourable. can you or at least your 'ngo' hmm sort your visas, WP and insurance for you. you see the problem?

ngo's using free labour from clueless kids. go to another border and think is this part of the world really for you. you seem like like you have alot to learn. i wish you the best

[blackcab]

Please do not type in CAPS.

[Thailand J]

3 minutes ago, blackcab said:

Please do not type in CAPS.

.....must be the happy herb pizza.