Enter Or Not Enter Cambodia

[travelmann]

Im On a non O b visa just did my first visa hop, is it possible to exit Thailand into no mans land and then re enter Thailand negating the need for a Cambodian Visa? and saving 800 baht or must I officially enter another country after all Ive been stamped out of Thailand?

[MJCM]

Nope can't, you must enter Cambodia and exit again, before re-entering Thailand

Edited November 25, 2011 by MJCM

[Soutpeel]

Nope can't you must enter Cambodia and exit again, before re-entering Thailand

I am wondering how the OP is on a " non O b visa"..

[7by7]

Question about Thai visas, not Cambodian; moved.

[McGarty]

The Thai side check your passport for your exit stamp from Cambodia. No exit stamp = no entry to Thailand

[Lite Beer]

Yes you have to get stamped into another country and get stamped out again.

[Thailaw]

The Thai side check your passport for your exit stamp from Cambodia. No exit stamp = no entry to Thailand

I agree that is what is required, but i have never seen them check. I have entered Thailand at Poi Phet and Klong Yai at least 8 times. My passport has had pages added 3 times and almost every page is full. It would take them more than 5 minutes to search for and find the most recent exit stamp from Cambodia. I am through in less than 10 seconds every time. They may check some, but I do not think that they check all. I think that the worst that could happen is that they'll send you back and you'll waste an hour.

[lopburi3]

Actually the worst - as was outlined on home page of Immigration site on the border with Cambodia - is you would be arrested for illegal entry, detained and sent to Bangkok for deportation. This had evidently happened in the past when Cambodia refused to allow entry after person departed Thailand and they had to return without a stamp.

[MTH]

Interesting lop, how long ago was this that Cambodia rejected entry from Thailand?

[tombkk]

The Thai side check your passport for your exit stamp from Cambodia. No exit stamp = no entry to Thailand

I agree that is what is required, but i have never seen them check. I have entered Thailand at Poi Phet and Klong Yai at least 8 times. My passport has had pages added 3 times and almost every page is full. It would take them more than 5 minutes to search for and find the most recent exit stamp from Cambodia. I am through in less than 10 seconds every time. They may check some, but I do not think that they check all. I think that the worst that could happen is that they'll send you back and you'll waste an hour.

Even if they don't check every passport, they can still make random checks. Why risk it?

[travelmann]

Thanks for the replies its interesting, so no mans land means nothing, hmm wonder who owns the casinos in there then??

Whem I fly from the UK I dont have an exit stamp form the UK yet am allowed into Thailand?

I dont know why the interest in my business visa, is the implication im a bit thick? .............that's fine so be it......if it is?.

Thanks for all replies.

[tombkk]

You need the exit stamp only when you arrive in Thailand by land.

The interest in the visa type comes from your description as "non O b". There is a non-O, non-OA, and non-B.

[lopburi3]

Interesting lop, how long ago was this that Cambodia rejected entry from Thailand?

It was on the old home page of Aranyaprathet Immigration website so had obviously been an issue. Believe that web site was replaced during the change of command structure about two years ago.

[Thailaw]

Actually the worst - as was outlined on home page of Immigration site on the border with Cambodia - is you would be arrested for illegal entry, detained and sent to Bangkok for deportation. This had evidently happened in the past when Cambodia refused to allow entry after person departed Thailand and they had to return without a stamp.

The case you cite is very different and is largely a "legal fiction" to deal with an awkward situation. Many people try to enter countries without proper documentation. They are simply denied admission if that works. If they were Cambodians without proper documents they would (and could) just be sent back, nothing more. The person trying to enter Thailand had tried to enter Cambodia and was refused. Thai immigration could/would not allow him/her to enter Thailand. They could not just leave him in the zone between Thailand and Cambodia for the balance of his/her natural life. Their only option to deal with him was to get him to a point were he could be sent to a country that would allow him entry. That required arresting him (taking him into Thai custody to bring him into Thailand) and taking him to a place where he could be sent to another country (which is not at the Thai/Cambodia border). This would be a major hastle and cost for the Thai government, and one that I suspect they would very much like to avoid if at all possible. The easiest and least costly avenue for Thai immigration if they notice that you have no exit stamp from Cambodia, is to scold you (after you fain a lack of knowledge, of course) and send you back to Cambodia immigration for the requisite entry and exit stamp into/out of Cambodia. They might even hold you for an hour or two to "punish" you.

Thai immigration posts that case on its web site as a caution to travelers that if you exit Thailand at one of its land borders without holding a visa to enter the adjoining country, you risk being refused entry into the adjoining coutry and Thailand will not allow you back if you are so refused. A good warning, unlikely, but it could happen.

I am curious if they would apply this rule if the person holds a valid multi entry visa into Thailand and (a) the time period for his present stay has expired on the day of exit and ( b ) the time period for his present stay has not exired and he is leaving Thailand for a holiday. I expect that they would try to find a way around the rule and allow you back at least in the case of clause ( b ), but I am not entirely sure. I hold a 1 year, multi-entry visa for Thailand. A few years ago, I had a meeting scheduled in Delhi with 3 days advance notice. I had no time to get a visa for India. I traveled to India with 2 expired India visas in my passport which the airline accepted for travel with a bit of convincing from me. When I arrived in Delhi, immigration saw no valid visa, and gave me a 3 day landing pass and kept my passport at the airport, which I collected when I departed. I stayed in India for 3 days, had my meetings and left. There was no entry or exit stamp for India in my passport. Thai immigration let me back into Thailand without question. This was at the Bangkok airport and not at a land border, and of course different rules can apply.

Edited November 26, 2011 by Thailaw

[Thailaw]

The Thai side check your passport for your exit stamp from Cambodia. No exit stamp = no entry to Thailand

I agree that is what is required, but i have never seen them check. I have entered Thailand at Poi Phet and Klong Yai at least 8 times. My passport has had pages added 3 times and almost every page is full. It would take them more than 5 minutes to search for and find the most recent exit stamp from Cambodia. I am through in less than 10 seconds every time. They may check some, but I do not think that they check all. I think that the worst that could happen is that they'll send you back and you'll waste an hour.

Even if they don't check every passport, they can still make random checks. Why risk it?

If you ever cleared Cambodia immigration at Poi Phet, you would not ask this question! It depends on the risk and the consequences of them checking and not finding an exit stamp from Cambodia in your passport. If you want to pay $20+ for the thrill of clearing Cambodia immigration, be my guest. I have never tried the "straight back into Thailand" route, I go to Cambodia for holidays, but I suspect that some have done it successfully.

[Thailaw]

Thanks for the replies its interesting, so no mans land means nothing, hmm wonder who owns the casinos in there then??

Whem I fly from the UK I dont have an exit stamp form the UK yet am allowed into Thailand?

I dont know why the interest in my business visa, is the implication im a bit thick? .............that's fine so be it......if it is?.

Thanks for all replies.

You raise a good point. The casinos are on Cambodian land. That area has been given special status for ingress and egress to encourage people to come and spend money there, and for developers to invest money and build hotels and casinos there (I expect that they would not have made the investment without significant concessions in addition to this special treatment). When Thais needed a visa to enter Cambodia, now they do not, they could get a free several day visiting pass to travel to the casino zone. I am not sure, but it may be the case that foreigners can get a pass to enter the casino zone and re-enter Thailand (assuming that they have a valid visa for Thailand) without needing an exit stamp from Cambodia. There is a separate "travel pass" lane at Thai immigration at Poi Phet. If so, this would not satisfy the visa requirement to leave Thailand.

As a separate legal matter, I think that the Thai policy/rule on requiring an exit stamp in your passport to enter Thailand is wrong. You are required to leave Thailand before the visa period expires, nothing more. When you clear Thai immigration you have "left" Thailand, and when you walk to the area before Cambodia immigration you are on Cambodian soil. Thailand should not require more, and require an exit stamp from Cambidian immigration. But, this is a minor inconvenience and who is goining to fight the rule for $20 and a wasted hour? If you live in Phuket and own a 50 foot yacht and sail into international water, you have left Thailand and should not have to show that you landed and cleared immigration in another country before re-entering Thailand. I am not sure what the actual rule is on this, if there, in fact, is one.

Edited November 26, 2011 by Thailaw

[tombkk]

The Thai side check your passport for your exit stamp from Cambodia. No exit stamp = no entry to Thailand

I agree that is what is required, but i have never seen them check. I have entered Thailand at Poi Phet and Klong Yai at least 8 times. My passport has had pages added 3 times and almost every page is full. It would take them more than 5 minutes to search for and find the most recent exit stamp from Cambodia. I am through in less than 10 seconds every time. They may check some, but I do not think that they check all. I think that the worst that could happen is that they'll send you back and you'll waste an hour.

Even if they don't check every passport, they can still make random checks. Why risk it?

If you ever cleared Cambodia immigration at Poi Phet, you would not ask this question! It depends on the risk and the consequences of them checking and not finding an exit stamp from Cambodia in your passport. If you want to pay $20+ for the thrill of clearing Cambodia immigration, be my guest. I have never tried the "straight back into Thailand" route, I go to Cambodia for holidays, but I suspect that some have done it successfully.

I have cleared Cambodia immigration at Poi Pet, with a valid eVisa for Cambodia in my passport. I was actually travelling to Cambodia and on to Vietnam by land (surveying the Southern Economic Corridor), which is not what this thread is about.

[bangkokburning]

I've done this crossing many times and can inform of the following:

There are many eyes upon you. The dodger would have to more or less come out of the visa building OR possibly if/when asked by the cops where you were headed without your Cambodian visa (!!). You could say - gambling! :-) That may or may work, as barang you might get forced to obtain a visa regardless.

On return, with for sake of argument, you had no visa and hence no exit stamp - you'd be busted. Very easy to spot - No big green visa. If you had a bunch of these, I would be first to say that you might get away with it. If caught out you would say - I don't need a visa, I just went gambling.

Bear in mind that if you have a fresh Thai visa on entry, you might have went gambling but you are obviously doing a visa run. In this case, they could be real asshats.

My hunch is that WITHOUT A VISA they would null your exit - you are now overstay and tell you to go scurry for an extension (which will not be forthcoming). In this case, best you simply leave and forget any extension or sob story.

WITH A VISA - they might give you a week and tell you to clean your desk out and get the F out of dodge.

At the very least, at 2pm, they will kick you back over the border for processing which by that time of day, instead of taking 30 mins R/T will be hours and you might even miss minivans to points forward and be forced to use Aran bus terminal IF the buses are still there OR take a GH for a minimum of B400 of which scant few are located near the bus station and by near I mean <1km.

Now the ordeal has cost you countless hours and far more than US20.

Cannot do this at the airport as well. Your are supposed to provide boarding pass upon entry which is written in your pp along w/ the entry stamp. Sure you could say you lost it but if you did not lose it and were only lying, youd be in the sh*t. You would at least need a plan to include an inbound flight arriving roughly when you front up. Again, lots to lose and not much upside compared to a rt to Penang.

Edited November 26, 2011 by bangkokburning

[bangkokburning]

Thailaw: Point well taken about "leaving Thailand" but follow the logic and you could just do a turnaround in the airport for another month and we both know this won't "fly". Perhaps this is a legal grey area we will never know about truly but suffice to say the manner of its enforcement is such that one must physically leave (visa run minibus dodgers excepted).

[ROMANOBA]

CORRECT. Formally and legally it's none of thai authorities business if you entered Cambogia or not, but obviously there is some kind of agreement about this issue, otherwise Cambogia would lose millions os USD in revenues.It's obviousd that fromt the VERY MOMENT you stamp out your paspoort out of Thailand, thai laws and tules do not apply any more.But I tried one time, and NO WAY.Logic does not apply to this kind of things...

Nope can't, you must enter Cambodia and exit again, before re-entering Thailand

[silentnine]

Thailaw: Point well taken about "leaving Thailand" but follow the logic and you could just do a turnaround in the airport for another month and we both know this won't "fly". Perhaps this is a legal grey area we will never know about truly but suffice to say the manner of its enforcement is such that one must physically leave (visa run minibus dodgers excepted).

it would be hard to do a turnaround at the airport as a arrivals and departure people are seperated. also thats why domestic and intenrational are also seperated.

[tombkk]

Thailaw: Point well taken about "leaving Thailand" but follow the logic and you could just do a turnaround in the airport for another month and we both know this won't "fly". Perhaps this is a legal grey area we will never know about truly but suffice to say the manner of its enforcement is such that one must physically leave (visa run minibus dodgers excepted).

it would be hard to do a turnaround at the airport as a arrivals and departure people are seperated. also thats why domestic and intenrational are also seperated.

It is not possible to do a "visa run" at the airport without actually leaving by plane, we discussed this in another thread recently. If you do not board the flight you are supposed to board, the airline has to inform immigration, customs (for any duty-free goods you might have bought) and the VAT refund desk (in case you refunded any VAT). You have NOT left the country.

I find this logical, but at the land border it is more difficult: Once you have left Thai land and walked to the casinos, which are in Cambodian land but before you get the entry stamp, I would have thought you'd left Thailand and can return. Apparently, the Thai authorities see that differently.

How does that work in the South, do you also have to get an entry/exit stamp pair from Malaysia before being allowed back in?

[IMA_FARANG]

I've made a Cambodia border run 4 times previously with my multi-entry visa.

You need to exit Thailand, getting stamped out of Thailand.

Then you are allowed to re-enter Thailand....and they will want to see your Cambodian visa when you re-enter.

As for actually staying in Cambodia...that isn't required...all the Thais want to see is your visa from Cambodia.

I used a visa run service here in Bangkok...everything included in the fee (2900 Baht) including the Cambodian visa.

Yes, it does take up pages in your passport. Every time you enter with a valid non O you get another 90 days on re-entry to Thailand.

If you want to, once your stamped out of Thailand, you can just re-enter the queue for re-entry to Thailand.

As I have a U.S. passport I can have extra pages put into ny passport at the U.S. embessy. I realise that U.K. passports can't do that however.

The place I used was a small place where that visa run service seemed to have a "special relationship" (i.e. we got preferential service by the immigration of both countrys) with the visa run company...I guess some kind of "profit sharing" agreement.

Except for the space required in your passport with those 4 useles visas...the whole thing couldn't have been easier.

Basically just a day trip from Bangkok with a 1 hour stop at the Cambodian border...and having to walk about 100 meters or so.

Edited November 27, 2011 by IMA_FARANG

[PoorSucker]

How does that work in the South, do you also have to get an entry/exit stamp pair from Malaysia before being allowed back in?

Yes, two small stamps, no visa to Malaysia.

[jobsworth]

The rules are very simple and all we as foreigners need to do is to respect them and obey them.

It could not be simpler. We are very lucky to have found a country like Thailand.

[tombkk]

How does that work in the South, do you also have to get an entry/exit stamp pair from Malaysia before being allowed back in?

Yes, two small stamps, no visa to Malaysia.

Oh, so you do need to enter and exit Malaysia?

[tombkk]

The rules are very simple and all we as foreigners need to do is to respect them and obey them.

It could not be simpler. We are very lucky to have found a country like Thailand.

The question in this thread is what the rules are, please see the title of this thread. Nobody intends to disrespect the rules, but in order to obey them, we must know them first.

[lopburi3]

Cambodia/Laos/Burma/Malaysia land crossings will normally be checked for exit stamp out of other country.

[normac44]

Countries like New Zealand now have the electronic chip in your' passport, hence no stamp on arrival or departure. I have gone from NZ to Thailand without any departure stamp from NZ and had no problems.

[lopburi3]

There is no issue for air travel - but land entry will require an exit stamp - it is nothing new.