Tourist Visa Phnom Penh

[jacob29]

4 hours ago, phuketrichard said:

PP will give MAX 3 visas in a row

the above is NOT  exactly in a row ( ie as leaving thailand and applying for a new visa the next day)

 

Having a few weeks/months between visas is easy everywhere to do

Thanks for clarifying. I didn't think people were trying to do a straight 180+ days anymore, due to risk of being turned away at immigration, especially since reports of the computer automatically flagging anyone with over 180 days.

 

Happened to a friend (told he cannot return for a year), and have heard multiple reports of similar on forums. Not sure if these people were just unlucky.

 

[JackThompson]

3 hours ago, jacob29 said:

Thanks for clarifying. I didn't think people were trying to do a straight 180+ days anymore, due to risk of being turned away at immigration, especially since reports of the computer automatically flagging anyone with over 180 days.

 

Happened to a friend (told he cannot return for a year), and have heard multiple reports of similar on forums. Not sure if these people were just unlucky.

 

There is no 180-day rule, though some rouge IOs who don't like the existing rules have been purported to quote an old, rescinded police order, which only ever applied to Visa Exempt entries - not Tourist Visa entries. 

There is a 6-Visa-Exempt (maybe ever) computer-flag, though - and who knows how many unknown (to us) rules that might flag people coming in.

Unless your friend was banned from entry, he simply needs to avoid Thai-Airports and the Poipet border crossing, where IOs are known to make up rules that do not exist. 

 

There are only 2 rules for denying entry to a person with a valid visa - not having 20K Baht in cash or travelers checks to show (not plastic), or working illegally in Thailand (best to have some proof of your origin of funds).  

Note that the airline-database says 20K via plastic is also acceptable for entry to Thailand, but we have seen many reports of IOs using lack of this in cash to deny entry - even though an ATM was mere feet away.

[jimlek]

I've not used the travel agent next to Paddy Rice Irish Pub for a visa,but I used him for a flight to Penang. His price was the best,as was his service. Did it all,while I had a beer at Paddy's.

[jethro69]

Time to dig this out again, hope no recent changes. Would need a Setv. Checked my PP, currently only 2 METV's in and one SETV from Phnom Penh last year. Bangkok Bank book is available, which will show Funds arriving from outside, could eventually been covered with the foreign account as well. Would have flight tickets in/out PNH, but the flight to overseas most probably not yet, however could get a cheap 30$ AA trowaway ticket if needed. Hotel bookings getting for free on Agoda, just cancel them in due time, never bothered to get anything written from my Landlord.

Worst case szenario, getting over to Vientiane and apply there. Are there buses from PnH to Vientiane without crossing Thailand, have one exempt entry left, but wanna keep it for emergeny.

[phuketrichard]

On 4/19/2017 at 9:23 PM, Nick ZepTepi said:

You have to use one of the many agents. They make a call you get a yes/no or you need this evidence first. Pay your money collect a few days later.

Sent from my Redmi Note 2 using Tapatalk
 

use any agent in town, 2 nights stay $40-50, overnight $50-60

Saves you,4 tuk tuk trips and waiting in line twice..

 

[lkv]

4 hours ago, phuketrichard said:

use any agent in town, 2 nights stay $40-50, overnight $50-60

Saves you,4 tuk tuk trips and waiting in line twice..

 

As far as I understand, the overnight option is no longer available, there is a 3 day and a 4 day turn around available via agents. 50 and 45 dollars respectively. At least with Lucky Lucky.

 

Tuk tuk trips, I don't know why 4 trips are needed, I counted 2. Hotel to agent to hotel. It would also be 2 if it was hotel to embassy to hotel. Which is not advisable for the reasons other posters described (everybody needs a cut - corruption).

 

Other than that, you can book rikshaw on PassApp that would cost KHR 3,000+ for short distances, i.e. less than 1 dollar (1$=KHR 4,000). So when you do pay a full dollar, you are being generous.

 

 

Edited April 23, 2018 by lkv

[jethro69]

Well I'm planning to stay around 2 weeks anyways, so that's not the point, if it takes 1;2;3;or 4 days. Used the hotel last year, for the visa, but who knows who they used. The Agent near Paddy rice seems to have a quite good reputation, better than Lucky, but most of the bad reviews (Lucky) were about their bikes. Paddy is just much closer as I'll stay closer to the riverside nowadays. BTW, didn't have a Guinness for quite long time. 

[phuketrichard]

3 hours ago, lkv said:

As far as I understand, the overnight option is no longer available, there is a 3 day and a 4 day turn around available via agents. 50 and 45 dollars respectively. At least with Lucky Lucky.

 

Tuk tuk trips, I don't know why 4 trips are needed, I counted 2. Hotel to agent to hotel. It would also be 2 if it was hotel to embassy to hotel. Which is not advisable for the reasons other posters described (everybody needs a cut - corruption).

 

Other than that, you can book rikshaw on PassApp that would cost KHR 3,000+ for short distances, i.e. less than 1 dollar (1$=KHR 4,000). So when you do pay a full dollar, you are being generous.

 

 

2 ROUND TRIPS= 4 singe trips if u do it on ur own and u save this by using an agent which u can walk too.

friend got his overnight last month,  $60...agent next to Hometown suites street 172

was told 2 nights $45, some offer 3 nights for $40

 

I REFUSE to use rickshaws an relax sitting behind some old guy peddling.. Would love to see all these gone...

Edited April 23, 2018 by phuketrichard

[lkv]

6 hours ago, phuketrichard said:

2 ROUND TRIPS= 4 singe trips if u do it on ur own and u save this by using an agent which u can walk too.

friend got his overnight last month,  $60...agent next to Hometown suites street 172

was told 2 nights $45, some offer 3 nights for $40

 

I REFUSE to use rickshaws an relax sitting behind some old guy peddling.. Would love to see all these gone...

Yeah you're right about the round trips. :)

 

It's not actually a rickshaw they just call it that, it's a motorised slightly smaller but brand new tuk tuk that fits 3 people. Looks way better than the ones on the street. And arrives in 2 minutes.

 

I would totally advise whoever is travelling to Phnom Pehn to use PassApp. 2 dollars would likely get you an SUV from hotel to agent.

 

Edited April 23, 2018 by lkv

[jethro69]

Sounds good, you get a price estimation before booking, and how you'll gonna pay ? Cash ? or you have to deposit a CC same as Uber ?

 

I guess you find the app in the usual stores?

Edited April 24, 2018 by jethro69

[JackThompson]

On 4/23/2018 at 7:23 AM, jethro69 said:

Are there buses from PnH to Vientiane without crossing Thailand, have one exempt entry left, but wanna keep it for emergeny.

I doubt there is a bus direct, but you can take a series of transports up to the Lao border.  I would guess the first hop would be a comfortable ride (Big Ibis) to Siem Reap.  One crossing has VOA (I read one report of a bit of extortion on the price).  Savannakhet is closer than Vientiane by about 9 hours.

[lkv]

16 hours ago, jethro69 said:

Sounds good, you get a price estimation before booking, and how you'll gonna pay ? Cash ? or you have to deposit a CC same as Uber ?

 

I guess you find the app in the usual stores?

Download the app from the usual stores.

 

Yes, you do get a price estimation before you book. Plus minus few hundred KHR = 10 us cents ?

 

You pay cash. The driver shows you the cost on his phone at the end of the trip, distance is calculated by the app based on GPS. They take KHR or USD at a rate of 4,000 KHR for 1USD.

 

No CC needed. I did register with email and Cambodian number though. You do get e-mail receipts at the end of every trip.

 

Took about 15 trips during my 4 day stay, every single time these "rikshaws" came within 2 minutes or so.

 

Most I have paid for 4-5 kms (long distance for Phnom Pehn) was about 7,000 khr (less than 2 dollars). This is for the 3K start tariff "rikshaws".

 

Did not use them to/from airport but that's worth a try. I used GrabCar for that, at a cost of 32K (USD 8). Perhaps the SUV on PassApp comes at a lower or similar cost.

Edited April 25, 2018 by lkv

[jethro69]

Small update, as I'm just back from Phnom Penh.

Used the guy near Paddy Rice as recommended. He was a bit confused as I had my form already filled in on the computer. Seems not a lot of folks doing that. Had copies of my BankBook, but he prefered the printout of my foreign bank account. Had flight tickets in and out of Thailand, but he just took the flight out with him. I was thinking to use an old ticket and just change the dates accordingly, but then I found a pretty cheap return flight to EU for 540€, so I had a real one anyways. He told me as well, there might be a chance that the consulate might request an interview, so that might be more common nowadays, however everything went smooth in my case.

Cost 50 US$.

Flow in to Swampy with Thai, (they were actually cheaper than AirAsia).

Almost empty plane, only short waiting time at immigration. Had a printout of the flight tickets, and a bit over 20K bath. Nothing needed, no questions asked, so easy process.

Will mail the guy next year, if everything still the same, so I'll take eventually the bike down there, if the plane ticket into Thailand is not needed.

[lkv]

@jethro69 Do you mind me asking, was this the first visa issued in PP, or did you have others before from PP in your current passport?

[jethro69]

I had one last year in my current passport, so this was the second.

In between I had a METV, and I used a visa exempt via land border, as the METV would have expired just during Songkran. Not the best time to travel in this region.