Visa run to Cambodia

[BangkokReady]

23 hours ago, thaisail said:

The easiest way for foreigners to get a visa right now for Cambodia, is through this website:

You can't get visa exempt/on arrival?

Edited February 20, 2022 by BangkokReady

[daveAustin]

On 2/19/2022 at 12:25 PM, thaisail said:

They told me to: "Go to Hell"! At least that is what I thought they said. My wife later told me that they said, "Go to Laos!"

????

Nice trip report. Incredible what is required, however, when the place is already filled with it. 

[daveAustin]

DrJack. I hear you on disparity of retirement ext; guess we should think ourselves lucky they haven’t hoiked that up yet!

Edited February 20, 2022 by daveAustin

[KhaoYai]

11 hours ago, EricTh said:

Maybe the big boss realized that some people have been cheating the system by recycling the money. They have the discretion to do that.

Are you sure its at their discretion and not just something they take upon themselves?

[ubonjoe]

12 hours ago, BangkokReady said:

You can't get visa exempt/on arrival?

The e visa site may be the only place to apply now and many people have used in the past to avoid a long line for the visa on arrival desk.

No sure they are doing the arrive and apply for the visa on arrival now.

[erymax]

Hi all, I have been extending the permission to stay since 2017, came to Thailand 2015 with OA visa.

I am now married to Thai citizen. My next extension is end of May, how can I change the permission to  stay based on marriage? Have over 800K in the Bank. Do I need to leave Thailand? 

[DrJack54]

7 minutes ago, erymax said:

Hi all, I have been extending the permission to stay since 2017, came to Thailand 2015 with OA visa.

I am now married to Thai citizen. My next extension is end of May, how can I change the permission to  stay based on marriage? Have over 800K in the Bank. Do I need to leave Thailand? 

Change to based on marriage no problem.

You don't need to leave Thailand.

[erymax]

1 minute ago, DrJack54 said:

Change to based on marriage no problem.

You don't need to leave Thailand.

Thanks, I hope to get it @SriRacha immigration

[DrJack54]

16 minutes ago, erymax said:

Thanks, I hope to get it @SriRacha immigration

Some aspects discussed in this thread.

 

 

 

Edited February 21, 2022 by DrJack54

[brianthainess]

1 hour ago, erymax said:

Thanks, I hope to get it @SriRacha immigration

Just be aware that changing from marriage to retirement, your marriage ext.  and vice versa, will end the day you apply for retirement extension so you could loose a few weeks if applying earlier as an example. 

[erymax]

23 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

Just be aware that changing from marriage to retirement, your marriage ext.  and vice versa, will end the day you apply for retirement extension so you could loose a few weeks if applying earlier as an example. 

Thank you to making me aware of this. 

[Faranguz]

Hi @thaisail,

thanks for sharing your experience.

 

I've been in Thailand for a while, arrived with tourist visa and then used a couple of COVID extensions.

Now I can't get a new one.

 

Your thread is the first piece of information that seems to show an alternative solution.

Do you think in my case can work as well?

Have you used Covid extensions before?

[konaboy]

I am already living in Thailand

[ubonjoe]

43 minutes ago, Faranguz said:

I've been in Thailand for a while, arrived with tourist visa and then used a couple of COVID extensions.

Now I can't get a new one.

You can get another 60 day covid 19 up to March 25th at this time. Who told you that you could not get another one?

Unless you qualify for another type of visa the only one you could get in Phnom Penh is a tourist visa.

[Faranguz]

8 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You can get another 60 day covid 19 up to March 25th at this time. Who told you that you could not get another one?

Unless you qualify for another type of visa the only one you could get in Phnom Penh is a tourist visa.

the thai immigration told me i have to leave

[ubonjoe]

1 minute ago, Faranguz said:

the thai immigration told me i have to leave

That is false info. Which office told you that?

[DrJack54]

51 minutes ago, Faranguz said:

the thai immigration told me i have to leave

Immigration are making up their own rules. 

You could use an agent or go to another office with a TM30 for that location.

Should not be required but clearly they have an agenda.

Land borders are still closed. 

[Burma Bill]

On 2/19/2022 at 7:25 PM, thaisail said:

It was a first visit to Cambodia for both of us and we enjoyed the experience as a tourist there.

Thank you for your positive comments and I am happy to know you enjoyed your visit to Phnom Penh. I moved to Siem Reap in Cambodia 2 years ago having lived in Northern Thailand for almost 20 years. When it comes to visas, Cambodia does not have all the bureaucratic administration and monetary requirements that Thailand demands!

Edited February 21, 2022 by Burma Bill
additional information

[CrunchWrapSupreme]

On 2/20/2022 at 10:24 AM, In the jungle said:

In my case 60% of my living expenses come from my wife's business.  I own 25% of the business and put a significant amount of money into it

When I once had a job at a snooty BKK private school, and a nearby condo, the market next to it caught the wife's eye. She had always dreamt of opening a somtam shop. I said ugh, I'm just a teacher. A bit higher paid than others, but nonetheless. She said it'd only take a little, some stainless steel trays, some plastic containers. Then signage, lighting, the initial food... I was flipping out once this passed 30k baht. But she was a trooper, real motivated, especially when it started rolling in. She managed to turn my investment into about 200k over three months. She was nearly making more than I was.

 

I'm lucky I got me a hard worker, rather than some of my colleagues and their little princesses. But sadly Covid brought this to an end. It was promising to see, and gives us hope for trying something similar one day back in the States.

[BuckoA]

On 2/20/2022 at 2:28 PM, problemfarang said:

@thaisail

Thanks for the report. This is exactly what im going to do in a month.

Could you also add the documents, paper work you gave to thai embassy there please?

Also im little bit confused about thai pass. And couldnt find details about it in your report.. so please tell us little bit about that. And also please correct me if im wrong:

To apply thai pass, you already should have the visa, because its one of the dpcuments you need to add when applying.. and it can take between 3 to 7 days. Most reports say 5-7 days. So.. from your trip report, it seems there is something there.. i mean you wrote like you managed to get your thai pass eveb before you got your visa from thai embassy in cambodia.. many reports say they applied thai pass AFTER they got their visa from thai embassy and had to wait another 5 or 7 days to get the approval.. can you explain how did you do that so i will do the same.

@ubonjoe any ideas?

 

Thanks

 

 

Hi. You can apply for the Thai Pass before you go to Cambodia for the visa. 

[zzzzz]

On 2/20/2022 at 3:12 PM, MajorTom said:

I think its a misunderstanding. I recently applied and paid for a Cambodian e-visa with a foreign credit card. Zero problems.

agree;

2 friends have obtained a Cambodian visa with a foreign cc and no Cambodia tel#

in the last 2 weeks

 

tourist visas and Ordinary ( what is sometimes called the business visa) are currently NOT available on arrival

Edited February 21, 2022 by zzzzz

[thaisail]

On 2/19/2022 at 11:07 PM, BKKTRAVELER said:

Glad you had a nice trip overall, I always enjoyed going to Naga World in Phnom Penh in the past. Didn't get to see their second hotel though.

 

Anyway, just the fact that you had to go through bribing a Cambodian official and go through all the trouble (Singaporean connection) shows that things are still messed up for international travel...

I never felt that way about that Cambodian official. I really feel that he was trying to help me. He used his own money from his own bank account to pay his government for my E-Visa before receiving any money from me. He asked me for only $47 and he had to pay $36 for my E-Visa. He even sent me a scan of his ID card so that I could see that he was not trying to rip me off. So his "service charge was only $11. While the Singapore Bank charged $20 and the official's own bank in Cambodia charged him another $10. That is why I sent $50 to him and then he only received $40. I didn't have to put the exta $10 into his bank account in Phnom Penh but I promised to send him $50 which was $3 more than he asked for. I also invited him for a drink at our hotel because of how nicely he treated us. He never came by for a drink in the end and I regret this because he saved me hundreds of dollars by offering to help out with my visa so I would not have to spend 3 days in Bangkok going to the Cambodian Consulate. So please do not call it a bribe because I do not feel it was that way. 

[thaisail]

On 2/19/2022 at 11:24 PM, Cletus said:

"showing more than 40,000 baht wire transfers from my US bank each month for the past 12 months to my Bangkok Bank account but here in Chiang Khan that method of verifying income is not accepted by the big boss"

 

Thanks for your very detailed report.

So you showed the money transfers and that was not accepted? Uhm? The big boss...what? Why did you surrender and didn't fight for your rights, considering all the troubles of a visa run in the Covid era?

How do you fight against the government? In the the US, any foreigner can be denied entry by an American immigration officer. As you must know, each immigration office in Thailand acts independently and once they make their decision normal that is the end of the discussion. The only option I was aware of was to make a complaint to Bangkok about them not following the law. But I still have to deal with this same official when I go back in April for my one year marriage extension and complaining to Bangkok might make that process even more difficult. I can tell you more about what transpired after I was told to "Go to Laos" but a public forum is the right venue to talk about this. 

[thaisail]

On 2/20/2022 at 9:03 AM, EricTh said:

That should be the way how Thailand should welcome visitors with rapid test at airport , no quarantine and no insurance. Cambodia is doing it right and hope they will get more much-needed tourism money.

There was an insurance requirement but through my insurance company in Phuket, I was able to pay only $40 for the 5 day period. But that $40 was for 2 weeks which was the minimum time period. The policy was a European one from France and it was for $50,000 of covid and medical insurance.

[thaisail]

On 2/20/2022 at 9:05 AM, EricTh said:

@thaisail

 

Regarding the transfer of money to Cambodia, why didn't you use Instrarem or Transferwise?  It is easy and exchange rate is better than going through your friend in Singapore.

There were time restraints and when I tried to set up an account with Transferwise with Schwab Bank a year ago, it was not possible to set up at that time. It was on a Friday evening when I had to make this transfer so that I could start working on the Thailand Pass for two people my Thai wife and me. My friend in Singapore was able to do that transfer is less than 12 hours and by Saturday morning the money was in his account. I was very happy to just get this job done and I didn't mind the extra cost.

[thaisail]

On 2/20/2022 at 9:11 AM, EricTh said:

 

Maybe the big boss realized that some people have been cheating the system by recycling the money. They have the discretion to do that.

 

Putting 400k just for 2 months isn't a big deal. Compare with retirees who has to put 400k for 12 months, and 800k for 5 months in a year.

 

I am surprised immigration didn't require marriage extension holders to put 400k for the whole year.

Plus I have had the 400k in my Kasikorn account for the entire 12 months. However, on December 27, just before the end of the US tax year, I moved half of the money to my wife's Kasikorn account so that I wouldn't have to file an FBAR for the IRS in the US. My extension renewal date was February 15. I was advised against this by everyone but I felt confident that I could win my case with the 40k per month transfers in from Schwab to Bangkok Bank every month foe the pasr 18 months. I regret not reading more of this forum about what the others have been going through to get their marriage extension during Covid. Had I done my research, I would never have made such a careless move. But I took a chance and lost. I would have avoided this visa run if I had applied for the Covid 60 day extension which was offered to me by the IO. He actually asked me to come the next day and he would have given me that extension. But the next morning, he showed me the message from Bangkok that ordered them to stop giving the 60 day Covid Extension to anyone with a long term visa extension. So he really had no option but to tell me to "Go to Laos!"

[thaisail]

On 2/20/2022 at 9:40 AM, aussiexpat said:

"However, there is a problem with payment. First you have to have a Cambodian phone number and be able to receive the OTP code on a Cambodian SIM card. I tried to pay the $36 USD charge with several bank cards from the US and from Thailand also and none would work without receiving the Cambodian OTP to type into the payment window"

 

I really don't get this bit about requiring a phone in Cambodia to get an OTP for payment. Anyone applying for a tourist visa while outside of Cambodia would of course not have a Cambodia phone. Also, isn't the OTP sent by your bank to the phone number you have registered to them?

 

The part about finding some random official in Cambodia willing to pay for you just doesn't make sense either...who would do that? And why the whole Singapore friend transfer, if you transferred $70 to friends account why didn't you just transfer it direct to the Cambodia official? None of this payment makes sense?

 

You are right about the Cambodian phone number requirement. It absolutely didn't make any sense. But that is one of the sections that must be completed in the on line application for the E-Visa. I put in the Cambodian phone number for the hotel I was going to. If I had known someone in Cambodia with a mobile phone, I would have put down  that number on the form and then called him to get the OTP. But you are correct about the system with the OTP should be going to my phone number that I provide my bank. But you may know that for example, foreign cards used to purchase on line in Thailand are often rejected because of the banking regulations in Thailand. I had to stop using my Capital One US credit card for on line purchasing in Thailand and I had to switch to another US Bank card to be able to purchase on line in Thailand. So this problem is most likely caused by some idiot in Cambodia who set up the payment system. No doubt it will soon be corrected.

[thaisail]

On 2/20/2022 at 9:40 AM, aussiexpat said:

"However, there is a problem with payment. First you have to have a Cambodian phone number and be able to receive the OTP code on a Cambodian SIM card. I tried to pay the $36 USD charge with several bank cards from the US and from Thailand also and none would work without receiving the Cambodian OTP to type into the payment window"

 

I really don't get this bit about requiring a phone in Cambodia to get an OTP for payment. Anyone applying for a tourist visa while outside of Cambodia would of course not have a Cambodia phone. Also, isn't the OTP sent by your bank to the phone number you have registered to them?

 

The part about finding some random official in Cambodia willing to pay for you just doesn't make sense either...who would do that? And why the whole Singapore friend transfer, if you transferred $70 to friends account why didn't you just transfer it direct to the Cambodia official? None of this payment makes sense?

 

If you read my post carefully, you will see that I transferred the equivilant of $70 in Thai Baht to my Singapore friend's Thai bank account. That is simple to do with the Thai bank mobile apps.

 

As for sending money from a Thai bank to a Cambodian bank after 6pm on a Friday, that just doesn't seem to be possible. If anyone knows another way I could have done this transfer in 12 hours on a Friday night, I would love to know about it.

[thaisail]

On 2/20/2022 at 10:03 AM, DrJack54 said:

Folk on extensions retirement also need to live on money, however their funds are basically frozen in a Thai bank if using money in bank method.

The financial requirements for married guys is a joke.

Should be same requirements as for retirement. 

The argument that wife can contribute to living expenses via having a job is a nonsense. 

Being on a marriage visa extension has the benefit of being able to work in Thailand if there is an employer that will arrange the work permit. The retirement visa will prohibit work so that could be why more money is required. I was also told that the requirement for the retirement visa was 800k for three months before your extension expiry date but that as soon as you extension is approved, you can take take out 400k as long as you maintain that balance until 3 months before your extension date when you must increase your minimum balance to no less than 800k for the final 3 months before the extension expires. (Correct me if I am wrong, Joe)

[DrJack54]

36 minutes ago, thaisail said:

Being on a marriage visa extension has the benefit of being able to work in Thailand if there is an employer that will arrange the work permit. The retirement visa will prohibit work so that could be why more money is required. I was also told that the requirement for the retirement visa was 800k for three months before your extension expiry date but that as soon as you extension is approved, you can take take out 400k as long as you maintain that balance until 3 months before your extension date when you must increase your minimum balance to no less than 800k for the final 3 months before the extension expires. (Correct me if I am wrong, Joe)

For retirement extensions... 800k 2 months in bank prior to day of application and maintained for 3 months after then not below 400k and back up to 800k 2 months prior to next application.

Wash and repeat. 

 

I don't follow this comment that you made.

. "The retirement visa will prohibit work so that could be why more money is required"

 

The money pretty much remains in the bank, hence not assisting living expenses living here retired. 

Edited February 21, 2022 by DrJack54