Chong Jom Cambodian Visa Scam

[Wat dee]

I escorted my friend cross the border in Chong Jom. Cambodian side demanded 300 baht "service charge" to get his passport back! I told them to get ******(read smiling and 10 minutes of polite arguing with my limited Thai) Eventually we walked throw with his passport and without spending single bath.

I Have a friend who crosses the border there frequently and he say most falangs just pays the 300!

Do You and why?

Edited March 11, 2014 by Lite Beer
Profanity removed

[ubonjoe]

I am sure he he paid for a Cambodian visa.

The 300 baht fee is for not staying overnight. It is charged at other crossing as well. It is not a scam.

[Jip99]

If you are passing through the border to a further destination there is no 300 Baht charge.

I had one situation where a traveler was asked "you return to Thailand?". He said "Yes" and was promptly charged 300 Baht and stamped out of Cambodia. When I pointed out that he was actually going on a 4 day trip to Siem Reap the money was refunded and a new stamp put in his passport.

It is not a published, legitimate charge as far as I am aware. It is therefore a 'scam' or a 'border practice'.

Chong Chom also usually charge 100 Baht for each Thai entry - also not published anywhere and, to be fair, it was not applied on my last visit.

He would have had to pay for a visa at the visa office before crossing over to Cambodian immigration (where the 300 Baht is levied for visa runs).

How much did he pay for the Cambodian visa ?

Edited March 11, 2014 by Jip99

[ubonjoe]

I think it is a fine more than a fee. Rules say day trips are not allowed.

Tourist visas may be issued in a passport or issued in an

e-Visa format, printed on a separate piece of paper.
Warning:
- Day trips (i.e., arriving and departing on the same day) to

Cambodia are not permitted.

- Except when arriving and departing in Phnom Penh (PNH).

Source: http://www.staralliance.com/en/services/visa-and-health/#

[cooked]

I was told, when I went there because I was on overstay, that if I paid ฿2000.- and spent 24 hours in the monkey house, I could get an 'O' visa and not pat the ฿20 000.- I owed. Now that's a scam I think.

I finished off going to Vientiane instead.

[forgetit]

Whenever I was entering Cambodia I was asked what my destination would be. I told them that I was just going down the road to the shops They told me same day return would be 300 Baht when leaving Cambodia and I would agree. Before going back to the border I would put 100 Baht in my passport and hand it over to the Cambodian immigration. Never been asked to pay the additional 200 Baht.

[Wat dee]

Reading some of the replies above, I get the idea that 300 is not real official cost but fabricated to increase persons involved income.

Why they let Us pass with out payment ? Why 100 was enough for one of the posters above?? If there were real grounds for that 300 they would enforce it 100% and give You a receipt.

So that in my opinion qualifies as a scam!

[Jip99]

Reading some of the replies above, I get the idea that 300 is not real official cost but fabricated to increase persons involved income.

Why they let Us pass with out payment ? Why 100 was enough for one of the posters above?? If there were real grounds for that 300 they would enforce it 100% and give You a receipt.

So that in my opinion qualifies as a scam!

I think you have to view it in the light of Asia and regional corruption in general.

It is certainly nothing to get steamed up about and consistency you will not find in Thailand/Cambodia.

I spoke to the guys at the Cambodian visa desk. They made no bones about the fact they were poor and only had a small salary and had to "make a business" out of issuing visas. The guy at Chong sa Ngam had previously tried to tell me that he gad to buy his own stamps and visa forms !! (we paid him $25 a time).

We initially agreed to pay an extra $1 a head for our group. Later we decided that we could not afford problems at the border as sometimes we had 39 people passing through! Therefore we agreed to pay $25 per ahead for a visa - and I have to say we get great service.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying I condone that and I have previously stood there with a $20 note and a beaming smile and waited patiently to get my visa sticker. However, when you are responsible for a tour group going through there it is worth paying a little more to get the job done smoothly.

[phuketrichard]

I was told, when I went there because I was on overstay, that if I paid ฿2000.- and spent 24 hours in the monkey house, I could get an 'O' visa and not pat the ฿20 000.- I owed. Now that's a scam I think.

I finished off going to Vientiane instead.

this makes absolutely no sense.I

I cross and have crossed this border many times with my thai car, sometimes i needed a visa sometimes not ( as for awhile i had a year Cambodian visa)

i have never been asked to pay more than $20 for the visa.

Edited March 12, 2014 by phuketrichard

[Jip99]

I was told, when I went there because I was on overstay, that if I paid ฿2000.- and spent 24 hours in the monkey house, I could get an 'O' visa and not pat the ฿20 000.- I owed. Now that's a scam I think.

I finished off going to Vientiane instead.

this makes absolutely no sense.I

I cross and have crossed this border many times with my thai car, sometimes i needed a visa sometimes not ( as for awhile i had a year Cambodian visa)

i have never been asked to pay more than $20 for the visa.

You have taken a Thai car over through Chong Chom ?

[phuketrichard]

Chong Chom,/O'smach south of Surin?

yes , many many times over the past 6 years, its the best border crossing for taking a thai car in ( the other is Koh Kong.

[smedly]

just recently I did a visa run to Cambodia - I actually changed Thai baht into a $20 note before leaving, they demanded $25 and I argued and refused to pay it, eventually they accepted the $20 but then demanded 300 baht which I also refused, after a 10min wait I eventually handed over a 100 baht note and got my passport back - unfortunately these scumbags are getting greedy and taking the piss - unfortunately Thailand is forcing this hassle to all and losing out on possible extra income if they developed a system that didn't involve visa runs

These visa runs are becoming a very very unpleasant experience

[cooked]

Chong Chom,/O'smach south of Surin?

yes , many many times over the past 6 years, its the best border crossing for taking a thai car in ( the other is Koh Kong.

So you drive without insurance?

Sent from my GT-S7500 using Tapatalk 2

[cooked]

I was told, when I went there because I was on overstay, that if I paid ฿2000.- and spent 24 hours in the monkey house, I could get an 'O' visa and not pat the ฿20 000.- I owed. Now that's a scam I think.

I finished off going to Vientiane instead.

this makes absolutely no sense.I

I cross and have crossed this border many times with my thai car, sometimes i needed a visa sometimes not ( as for awhile i had a year Cambodian visa)

i have never been asked to pay more than $20 for the visa.

We are talking about visa scams, and I was talking about the fact that I was on overstay. The man offered this solution as an alternative to paying ฿20 000.- Why is that nonsense?

[phuketrichard]

I was told, when I went there because I was on overstay, that if I paid ฿2000.- and spent 24 hours in the monkey house, I could get an 'O' visa and not pat the ฿20 000.- I owed. Now that's a scam I think.

I finished off going to Vientiane instead.

this makes absolutely no sense.I

I cross and have crossed this border many times with my thai car, sometimes i needed a visa sometimes not ( as for awhile i had a year Cambodian visa)

i have never been asked to pay more than $20 for the visa.

We are talking about visa scams, and I was talking about the fact that I was on overstay. The man offered this solution as an alternative to paying ฿20 000.- Why is that nonsense?

1st; overstay is handled at Thai immigration

he would not have been able to give u an "O" visa there, you can not get any visa at any land border only stamps in an out on the thai side. IE no visa is issued

2nd we are talking about scams on the Cambodian side

3rd. once he saw u were on overstay, if u didn't pay they would heve arrested you , not allowed you back into Thailand and allow u totravel north to Nongkhai and on to Laos.

Calling you out on this one

Yes i drive without insurance,

[cooked]

OK.

1. Thai immigration sent me there. The police rang Kap Choeng and said, as I had, that the date stamp for my next visa extension was almost unreadable, which is why I was so late. My fault I know.

2. No we aren't, we are talking about Cambodian visa scams. As in obtaining an O visa in Cambodia.

To go to Phnom Pen for an 'O' visa I first have to pay my overstay. OR, according to this nice policeman, pay ฿2000.- and spend 24 hours in the monkey house. There were in fact already two guys in there, I gave them two warm beers.

3. Yes, he was talking about arresting me, as mentioned above, wasn't he?

Feel better now?