Visa Run Without A Cambodian Visa

[Micke]

There's a rumour circulating amongst expats that you can enter and leave Cambodia (just for the Thai visa runners) without applying for a Cambodian visa. It is said that if you pay the official, on arrival, 200 baht he will then stamp you in, even if you haven't got a visa. The money should be placed in the passport, not given to him directly.

Unfortunately, this is NOT true. I did this yesterday and after handing him my passport (with the money inside it) I immediately noticed that something was wrong. He started to look at all pages, he was looking for something.

Visa? he asked me.

Haven't got any, I said. That's why you got 200 baht.

No, can't do, he said. You go get visa.

He handed back my passport, without the money inside it.

How about my money? I asked. No response. I asked again, in Thai. He answered, in perfect English, "We haven't seen your money". His colleague nodded.

Nothing to do about it, just a little bit wiser and 200 baht poorer. I went to apply for a visa on arrival.

When I came back ten minutes later, he stapled the form in my passport, also in my friend's passport (my friend never had any chance to hand over the passport in the first place as I did, so he didn't loose any money).

So even after the official actually stole my money, he stapled the departure card. My friend's form also got stapled in his passport. Luckily, we knew about this already, so we took out the staples before we went to the departure building. And we didn't have to pay anything. Great advice, my thanks to Khun Jean. This is the post, please read more about stapled forms here:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=31299

And yes, the sars scam is still going on in Poipet. Just ignore them and they will not bother you.

The arrival and departure cards will you get at the arrival building. Don't accept them at the visa on arrival building as the guys there will try to fill them in for you, for a fee of course. I heard that they can ask for anything, even as much as 100 baht. Do it yourself, and yes, don't forget to bring a pen!

Regarding the post mentioned above: I can't tell if djlest's advice of how to do a visa trip actually works, I haven't tried it. Anyone knowing anything about this?

I just want to mention that you can get a Cambodian visa at their embassy near Lumpini park for 20 US$. If you apply in the morning you can get it in the afternoon but there is nothing to save as they will charge you 25 US$ (it used to be 20). If you can come back a few days later, I think it is three working days, you will however get it for 20.

And as many other people says, avoid the organised tours such as Jack Golf. Do it yourself instead. The bus to Aranyaprathet costs about 150 Baht from Morchit bus terminal.

Regards,

Mike

Edited June 12, 2005 by Micke

[Crossy]

Hmm, suddenly Jacks golf seems better value

No, honestly I agree that you can do the run much (well 600 baht) cheaper than the likes of JG.

BUT

I still stand by my opinion that newbies use JG at least for the first run, just to get an idea of what's occuring.

Just my opinion of course.

DC.

[simcity]

i took Jack few time , some with departure at 7.30 .

the last two times i went with them I took the departure at 5.30 , when I ring they tell me yes it will be a bus , but every time it is a horror story ( broken bus , cancellation of passengers ) and we finally go by Van .

Nothing really against the van but room legs with the one they have are not comfortable .

They have one more company living at 5 am , not sure about the van they have !

well 600 bahts less the beautifull lunch !

by the way living at 5.30 and back at around 2 is great , wonder about the schedule with the first poster ?

Edited June 12, 2005 by simcity

[nephilim]

Just wanted to add that having done the poipet run a few times both on my own and with JG's, I much prefer JG. They've always left at 7am sharp, never had any trouble and am usually at Petchaburi MRTA at 4pm or so, Bus is great and now has a 42inch plasma screen for when they show a decent movie.

[samran]

Unfortunately, this is NOT true…

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

"Unfortunate" that corruption isn’t accepted in a Thai government department….surely you don’t mean this?

He handed back my passport, without the money inside it.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Serves you right.

Corruption in Thailand is bad enough already. Don’t need poverty packers trying to make it worse.

[Micke]

If you read carefully, this topic was about corrupt Cambodian officials, not Thai.

And I was describing the possibility to get a CAMBODIAN entry and exit stamp without applying for the 1000 Baht tourist visa on arrival.

You can't bribe a Thai immigration official, and why should you? Everyone, well mostly everyone, gets a 30 day visa on arrival, for free.

I for myself have a 1 year non imm. multiple, and I don't mind paying for things related to my visa extensions. I was just checking out if a rumour was true or not. And it wasn't.

As for poverty packers, you can keep shit like that to yourself. There is no need for you, or anyone else for that matter, to hit someone on the head just because one wants to be helpful and give advices from own experiences on this forum.

Regards,

Mike

Edited June 13, 2005 by Micke

[simcity]

Sure the comment was not very nice , but to be honest this type of hint about saving a few dollars are more into the packer mentality news room !

To offer a bride to escape a visa is a no no for me , to know about the sticker is good info!

[Crossy]

Sure the comment was not very nice , but to be honest this type of hint about saving a few dollars are more into the packer mentality news room !

To offer a bride to escape a visa is a no no for me , to know about the sticker is good info!

I agree Sim. When I read the OP I immediately thought that Micke was a typical cheapskate backpacker attempting to save a few Baht

With that in mind I didn't think that Sam's post was particularly out of order. Maybe different now we have more information

Whatever, we now know that you can't get into Cambodia without the correct visa

[samran]

So the point of this post was to be what exactly?

Were you successful in slipping the Cambodian immigration bloke 200 baht you would have come to TV and written what? Perhaps something along the lines of:

“There is a rumour amongst Long-Stay challenged expats that you can slip 200 baht to a Cambodian official and they’ll stamp you in without a visa. Unfortunately, this is true.

"I discretely put 200 baht into my passport and the corrupt Cambodian immigration officer stamped me in and then out without the visa. I just wanted to warn anyone out there that this is reprehensible behaviour and you should not do what I did, as we should not be encouraging even more corruption in an already corrupt part of the world where officials are already doing their best to price gouge legitimate border travellers with other scams”

As you can probably tell, the b@stards at Poipet have already once tried it on me...I don't need others encouraging them.

Edited June 14, 2005 by samran

[pktkid]

Just wanted to add that having done the poipet run a few times both on my own and with JG's, I much prefer JG. They've always left at 7am sharp, never had any trouble and am usually at Petchaburi MRTA at 4pm or so, Bus is great and now has a 42inch plasma screen for when they show a decent movie.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

JG sounds good to me ! OK, I have my visa run due soon which I will be doing via Cambodia, as its my 1st time can someone give me a bit of info on JG ? Where do I go to book ?

I have to admit I didnt know I had to get a Cambodian visa 1st, am I right in saying these nice people at JG do all this for you and include the cost of the visa in the price you pay ?

[lopburi3]

Just wanted to add that having done the poipet run a few times both on my own and with JG's, I much prefer JG. They've always left at 7am sharp, never had any trouble and am usually at Petchaburi MRTA at 4pm or so, Bus is great and now has a 42inch plasma screen for when they show a decent movie.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

JG sounds good to me ! OK, I have my visa run due soon which I will be doing via Cambodia, as its my 1st time can someone give me a bit of info on JG ? Where do I go to book ?

I have to admit I didnt know I had to get a Cambodian visa 1st, am I right in saying these nice people at JG do all this for you and include the cost of the visa in the price you pay ?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I believe you call a telephone number to reserve and price is all inclusive - they advertise in the Bangkok Post Classified Section and the number can probably be found with a search here as believe it has been posted.

[350torana]

Interesting . I did a run to Had Lek last week.Came back from Cambodia minus 1200 baht . The Thai immigration official had a good look at my passport, gave me a smile then stamped it. I walked away , had a look at my passport, he had stamped me as departing Now, for those who have not been there, there is no real exit and return, just a line of 3 or 4 windows .

Anyways, walked back and explained the situation. Had to point out my brand new Cambo visa to get the point across, lots of "sorry, sorry" from him " mai pen rais" from me . He was really nice guy and seemed upset with what had happened. Took about ten mins to rectify the prob. wifey came up to the window and she had a good laugh with the immigration officials.

Might sound like dribbling, not related to this topic. But,I imagine at times they could miss a visa from Cambodia and stamp u through