Cambodia Crossing - DIY

[yourauntbob]

Hi Everyone, I am sure this has been discussed a thousand times but I am sure the rules may have changed a bit since i lived here 3+ years ago and would like confirmation.  I am in the LOS for 42 days, flew in and received 30 day visa on arrival.  My wife has family in Sa Kaeo and we plan to go visit while we are here.  My plan was to hope the boarder  and make like a turns style on one of these trips for my 14 day visa.  We have a car so I was just going to do this myself.

 

My questions are as follows:

 

Will I need any visa to get into Cambodia, or is this easily done at the boarder?  (the last time i went was on one of the shuttle run buses many years ago and they arranged for the visa).

 

Does anyone know the current fee?

 

Other than a copy of my ticket back to the USA, do I need anything else for the Thai immigration folks?

 

Is the boarder open 7 days a week, are there times of operation?

 

Anything else I should keep in mind/do/ have ready?

[ubonjoe]

You got a 30 day visa exempt entry not a visa on arrival.

You can extend your 30 day entry for a 30 day at an immigration office for a fee for of 1900 baht.

The 15 day visa exempt entry no longer exists at land border crossings and only 2 entries per calendar year allowed at them.

If you choose to do a border hop you will need a Cambodian visa on arrival the current fee for it is $30. 

Border crossings are open everyday of the year.

[yourauntbob]

Thank you for clarifying I received exemption.

 

"The 15 day visa exempt entry no longer exists at land boarder crossings and only 2 entries per calendar year"

 

sorry, this statement was confusing.  I am only here for about 6 weeks and returning home.  will not be back until at least 2018.   will i get 15 more days (or 30 or whatever)?

[ubonjoe]

Visa exempt entries are 30 days by air or land now.

IMO it would be easier to get the extension than doing a border hop.

[yourauntbob]

thanks for the information and clarification.  curious why you believe the extension would be easier? 

 

my thought was that being near the boarder already it would be quicker to exit and leave than sit in an immigration office for several hours waiting for them to call my name.  money is not an issue but it seems the Cambodian visa is about half the price of the extension.  that being said, i am open to the extension if it is easier.

[ubonjoe]

The Poipet crossing is not the friendliest crossing and can be busy at times. They might even notice you did not get the extension and ask you why you did not get it when you leave the country.

For the extension it depends upon which office you go to and how bust they are. A many you could be in and out in less than an hour for the 30 day extension.

[BritTim]

If you do the border hop, you must queue

• at immigration on the Thai side to get stamped out of Thailand;
• at the visa on arrival application counter on the Cambodian side;
• at immigration on the Cambodian side to get stamped into Cambodia;
• at immigration on the Cambodian side to get stamped out of Cambodia; and
• at immigration on the Thai side to get stamped back into Thailand.

At the busy Aranyaprathet/Poi Pet border point you would most likely use from Sa Kaeo, the queuing can be time consuming. You can pay someone to do the queuing for you, but you are then looking at higher cost than for an extension. All this is in addition to travel time, and dealing with the car parking mafia at the border.

At most immigration offices, the extension, inclusive of waiting time, will take under an hour. Yes, there are some busy and less efficient offices where it can take longer, but this is not the norm.

[IMA_FARANG]

Not quite what you are talking  about, but in my first two years in Thailand I  regularly did "border hop" runs to Cambodia for another 90 day entry on my multi entry visa.

Still possible from Bangkok I believe.

12 hours in a 16 passenger mini bus van with two "toilet stops" in both directions and a 1 hour "lunch and visa" break at the Cambodian border.

But at nearly 71 years now, that kind of thing is a bit to much for me these days.

 

[reenatinnakor]

I did PoiPet a few weeks ago. I have been on a 60 day tourist plus 30 day extension... So this is another 30 days in addition to all that. I got a Cambodia evisa online, it's about 30 usd I think, then simply print that out, no need to queue in Cambodia. At PoiPet you can do everything yourself or pay some tout 600 thb to get your passport stamped in and stamped out whilst you wait at the kiosk. Wasn't many foreigners when I was there so I guess I missed the minibus loads of border runners that frequent there. Got my passport back in 10 mins. Then I went to lose money at the casinos for a few hours before walking back across the bridge.

Make sure you get the arrival card otherwise you have to walk back down the stairs again... I have so many stamps on my UK passport so the women at Thai immigration asking me loads of questions even though it's my first ever land crossing and you are allowed two per year. Eventually they stamped me thru so now I got another 30 days... Plus can do another extension, I think!

[yourauntbob]

Thanks to UbonJoe and all that commented.  Sounds like my plan would work but should get the visa in advance for Cambodia.  I will take the comments above into consideration and potentially just do the extension.

 

 

[reenatinnakor]

48 minutes ago, yourauntbob said:

Thanks to UbonJoe and all that commented.  Sounds like my plan would work but should get the visa in advance for Cambodia.  I will take the comments above into consideration and potentially just do the extension.

 

 

 

Make sure it's the official Cambodian Govt evisa site and not one of the Google paid ads one that will charge you 90 usd. 

 

It's this url....

 

https://www.evisa.gov.kh/