Got stucked in Cambodia, need Urgent help

[kd2000]

Hi

I got stucked in poipet Cambodia trying to get 30 days exempt stamp. 

 

Arrived to poipet from Thailand by land yesterday. Got my Cambodian visa, headed straight back for reentry to Thai immigration.

Have been told by immigration officer to show up next day from 6am. 

 

Next day... 

Waited 4 hours in a que. 

After finally reaching the window, they pulled me away for an interview... 

What I found out there is that my Cambodian visa has no entry stamp, the interviewer seamed to be extremely upset by that fact, told me to go back to Cambodia and go to Thai consulate. She had warned me that if I go to properly stamp my Cambodian visa and get back again she will stamp my passport with a denial stamp and put me in trouble. 

On top of that she was rude and not willing to talk more.. 

 

I got back to Cambodian immigration to find out that no stamp at my visa is a scam. Finally got the stamp after paying "fine" 300 thb (negotiated from 700)

 

I'm polish national, 2 years old passport with 2 years of ed visa issued by hand to hand combat and ed visa cancellation. 

42 yo

 

What options do I have? 

 

I have not been prepared for that at all, very frustrated and stucked here. On top of it internet connection is horrible so it's hard to research the problem on.. 

I have all back in Thailand, need to get back asap. Going back to home country is no option. 

 

Thanks 

 

 

 

 

[BritManToo]

Bus to Siam Reap ($7), then plane to Bangkok (3,000bht).

No Cambodian entry stamp in your passport is not a scam, VISA purchase and Cambodian border control are two different buildings, you buy your VISA (room empty) then walk another 50m to the border entry (room packed) for the entry stamp.

[ubonjoe]

Go to a different border crossing and enter the country. The Poi Pet crossing is known to make problems for people trying to enter the country.

The nearest crossing is the Ban Laem crossing south of Poi Pet.

Map showing where it is located. https://goo.gl/maps/AtTBypzBghk

[phuketrichard]

As Brit man says above, Many people dont realize at Cambodia u go to one office to get ur voa

BUT another office to get stamped in/out

 

Ignorance is not always the officials fault. Been in an out of Cambodia dozens and dozens of times at all borders.

[kd2000]

2 minutes ago, phuketrichard said:

As Brit man says above, Many people dont realize at Cambodia u go to one office to get ur voa

BUT another office to get stamped in/out

 

Ignorance is not always the officials fault. Been in an out of Cambodia dozens and dozens of times at all borders.

Agree. My fault. I got disoriented by the chaos going here + on top would never think one would be able to enter a country without a stamp and anyone stopping you crossing the border technically illegal. 

 

What's more, surprisingly, the officials seamed very pleased to help me out to get the stamp through the back door for a bribe. 

 

That's why it got me thinking it was a scam...

[phuketrichard]

Not a scam, BUT Khmers love to make some extra $$$ to make problems go away  ????
its the Cambodian way

[kd2000]

31 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Bus to Siam Reap ($7), then plane to Bangkok (3,000bht).

No Cambodian entry stamp in your passport is not a scam, VISA purchase and Cambodian border control are two different buildings, you buy your VISA (room empty) then walk another 50m to the border entry (room packed) for the entry stamp.

 

24 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Go to a different border crossing and enter the country. The Poi Pet crossing is known to make problems for people trying to enter the country.

The nearest crossing is the Ban Laem crossing south of Poi Pet.

Map showing where it is located. https://goo.gl/maps/AtTBypzBghk

Thanks for quick reply. 

 

Just to make sure.. 

Is this issue really only in poipet? 

 

I got across this 

 

Its old but it says that all border check points on Cambodian border are no go! 

Is that not an issue anymore? 

Especially ban leam. 

 

 

[ubonjoe]

9 minutes ago, kd2000 said:

Its old but it says that all border check points on Cambodian border are no go! 

Yes very old.

It was that way for a short period of time. 

Since the rule limiting visa exempt entries at land border crossings to 2 per calendar year went into effect on January 1st 2016 it has been less of a problem at most border crossing.

[Lacessit]

20 minutes ago, phuketrichard said:

Not a scam, BUT Khmers love to make some extra $$$ to make problems go away  ????
its the Cambodian way

AFAIK it's the Thai way as well.

[kd2000]

1 hour ago, BritManToo said:

Bus to Siam Reap ($7), then plane to Bangkok (3,000bht).

It seams to cost about that on the net..

How to buy that flight from Cambodia?

Do you guys know if I will be able to purchase it at the airport directly from Air Asia office if there is any? 

 

I'm guessing a safe trip to sr is no more an option tonight? 

[BritManToo]

1 minute ago, kd2000 said:

It seams to cost about that on the net..

How to buy that flight from Cambodia?

Do you guys know if I will be able to purchase it at the airport directly from Air Asia office if there is any? 

 

I'm guessing a safe trip to sr is no more an option tonight? 

Bus and Vans leave every hour, just ask at any of the 'Travel agents' dotted around (3hr journey).

I can recommend the Garden Village Guesthouse and Pool Bar in SR, double room (fan) $10/night with aircon $12/night.

[cleopatra2]

57 minutes ago, kd2000 said:

Agree. My fault. I got disoriented by the chaos going here + on top would never think one would be able to enter a country without a stamp and anyone stopping you crossing the border technically illegal. 

 

What's more, surprisingly, the officials seamed very pleased to help me out to get the stamp through the back door for a bribe. 

 

That's why it got me thinking it was a scam...

I believe it was a scam. The last time I passed through Poipet there was a guy near the Cambodian immigration entry requesting to see passports and insisting that the Cambodian VOA had to be used same day issued and I would encounter an overstay issue.

My visa was 2 days old , having remained in the casino area.

 

I ignored him and proceeded through the Cambodian immigration with no problems. 

[kd2000]

3 minutes ago, cleopatra2 said:

there was a guy near the Cambodian immigration entry requesting to see passports and insisting that the Cambodian VOA had to be used same day issued and I would encounter an overstay issue.

Precisely so

 

My guess is they are letting people without stamp in purpose so to get them charged as for overstay later on.. 

Which border crossing point at which country would make it so easy to allow people to enter without a stamp?! 

3 minutes ago, cleopatra2 said:

 

 

[BritManToo]

1 minute ago, kd2000 said:

Precisely so

 

My guess is they are letting people without stamp in purpose so to get them charged as for overstay later on.. 

Which border crossing point at which country would make it so easy to allow people to enter without a stamp?! 

 

On the other hand, who enters any Asian country without checking the stamp in their passport (and how long they can stay)?

[phycokiller]

got stopped there myself. unless you have a hotel booking and ticket out or a lot of cash on you they want you to go to siam reap and fly

[kd2000]

21 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Bus and Vans leave every hour, just ask at any of the 'Travel agents' dotted around (3hr journey).

I can recommend the Garden Village Guesthouse and Pool Bar in SR, double room (fan) $10/night with aircon $12/night.

Will give it a go... 

Thank you so much! 

[kd2000]

4 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

On the other hand, who enters any Asian country without checking the stamp in their passport (and how long they can stay)?

True as well, it was my first time in Cambodia, confusing really 

[balo]

There is also a direct VIP bus from Sieam Reap to Bangkok , it takes about 8-9 hours .  They handle all the documents at the border for you. Fare is around 1100 baht. I traveled with them many times . 

 

https://www.giantibis.com/

 

 

 

[kd2000]

15 minutes ago, phycokiller said:

got stopped there myself. unless you have a hotel booking and ticket out or a lot of cash on you they want you to go to siam reap and fly

True, she was asking about cash. 10k wasn't enough thou 

[ChouDoufu]

any buses from siem reap or poipet via o'smach border crossing to ubon or buriram or surin?

[ubonjoe]

19 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

any buses from siem reap or poipet via o'smach border crossing to ubon or buriram or surin?

The are taxis that go from Siem Reap to the Chong Chom crossing in Surin.

[rumak]

kd.....you're fortunate to get some good info from a few of the members here.   nice to see you even said thank you !    good luck     at 42 yrs old you might have to come up with contingency plans for future road blocks

[lamyai3]

From the replies so far, the cheapest and simplest option is to just use the Ban Laem border as Ubonjoe mentioned. Other than Poipet, land borders are better points of entry than airports nowadays.

[CharlieH]

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[BigT73]

10 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

The are taxis that go from Siem Reap to the Chong Chom crossing in Surin.

Chong Choms a real friendly border crossing, everyone in immi both sides are really helpful and polite!  Just dont forget to tip the first window on the cambo side!  Its also not busy so your through pretty fast.  It costs 300bht not to stay over night if your coming from the Thai side and just need a quick extension.  Its a night and day experience compared to Poipet.

[lamyai3]

10 hours ago, kd2000 said:

True, she was asking about cash. 10k wasn't enough thou 

On a visa exempt entry into the country one of the rules is the need to show 10k baht cash or equivalent in either currency or travellers cheques (20k if you're entering on a visa). Not often checked, but when entry is denied it's one of the commonly used reasons. 

[BuckBee]

I would do a taxi to chong chom, has a great market on the boarder and good old style immigration practice .

Wouldn't cost too much and be entertaining ...

I wouldn't fly in as has potential for further immigration hassle due to your circumstances ...

[Kerryd]

Many years ago (12-13) I used to do the border runs to Ban Laem. I was told the extra 100 baht fee (at the time) for the entry/exit stamps (in Cambodia) was because I wasn't staying in the country. If I was entering Cambodia and going to be travelling around, even for just a few days, then there wouldn't be a fee to get the entry/exit stamp, but as I was turning around and leaving the country in a couple minutes (and obviously not contributing to their economy) they charged a fee to get the entry/exit stamps done at the same time.

(If you think that is a rip off, try booking a flight to a destination and flying back the next day. You'll have to select the option "must fly on these dates" or they'll tell you that no seats are available. When you check that box though, suddenly there are all sorts of seats available - but the ticket price has increased by anywhere from 50% - 150% !!

For some reason, the airlines don't want you flying back for at least 2 days. If your return date is 3+ days after your arrival - no problem. But if your plan is to arrive one morning and fly out that night or the next morning - it seems to be an issue even though the seats are clearly available. Maybe it's just a way to stiff business travellers or people who have no choice. Kind of like how they stiff people that want a Residence Certificate in 20 minutes instead of waiting for a week, or people who are only in Cambodia for a few minutes to get an entry/exit stamp.)

 

Last time I went to Cambodia was 2 years ago at Aranyaprathet/Poi Pet and I thought that was the weirdest border I've ever crossed. You come out from Thai Immigration and you are in Cambodia, free to simply just walk away.

You have to walk down the road to the large arch and get your visa from the building on the right, then walk another 100+ meters down the road to the little immigration office on the right to get your stamp. To me, it looked like I could have easily skipped both, hopped into a cab and went wherever I wanted (obviously not a smart thing to do but there are some who might try it for whatever reason).

Wasn't charged anything to get the entry stamp.
 

 

Couple days later I headed back to Thailand. No charge for the exit stamp.

(Huge frikken line to get through Thai Immigration. Something like 2 1/2 hours from the time I entered the line until I got to an IO.)

If I cross by land again, I will probably detour and go through Ban Laem instead. Less crowded and less hassle. Just don't arrive there early in the morning when all the Border Run buses are there. I found that arriving around 10ish or so was great as everyone (even the annoying beggars and touts) had disappeared). But again, that was a few years ago.

 

[phycokiller]

 

 

14 hours ago, kd2000 said:

True, she was asking about cash. 10k wasn't enough thou 

crazy rule, who wants to carry large amounts of cash in third world countries? theres no rational reason unless they dont have atms

[LucysDad]

1 hour ago, BuckBee said:

I would do a taxi to chong chom, has a great market on the boarder and good old style immigration practice .

Wouldn't cost too much and be entertaining ...

I wouldn't fly in as has potential for further immigration hassle due to your circumstances ...

 

 

Second worst border after Poipet.

 

I would go a tad further to Chong sa Ngam.