Korean Job Discussion Forums

[poppy56]

I appologize if this has already been posted. I am going to Cambodia this August and was wondering if I can get my visa on arrival or should I get before I go. I will travelling from Vietnam so crossing at a land border not through the airport.

[mellinger]

Yup, you can get the visa when you arrive.

If I recall it's $20 and there isn't too much of a hassle to get it. Of course this is at the airport and you said you will be going by land.

I've read that there are many scams along the land border when trying to get your visa there (mostly up-pricing). So it might be best to get it in advance. I have also read, that you can now get an E-visa which is $25, online and you'll get your visa by pdf in email 3 days later. But, you can only use that E-visa at the Moc Bai border crossing for Vietnam.

So in the end, it might be easier getting in advance from the consolate, but depends on where you'll be entering.

Hope this helps a little.

[Highwayman]

1. Bring a passport photo. If you don't have one, the first ripoff will be related to this problem.

2. At the border, the bus company may stop (a few kms from the border) and make you sit around for ages, insisting that you give them your passport and cash so they can go get your visa. They have some deal. They gave me a headache over it one time (coming from Thailand) and almost flipped out when the other passengers were hesitant to hand over their passports because I said I was getting my own visa at the border. I think the cost worked out the same in the end anyway. I just didn't like the stop near the border and the bullshit.

3. At the Thai border, they will probably refuse USD and want Thai baht at a very, very highly unfavorable conversion. You have to grease palms. If you don't, they will get pissed off and make you wait around for an hour or more. They will just flat out refuse to give you a visa. Even if you say you have nothing but USD, you will have to grease palms.

I haven't crossed any landborders (Viet or Thai) in about 5 years. So maybe things have changed. Since then, I've only flown. No BS at the airport. They're surly pricks in immigration a lot of the time, but no palm-greasing needed. Just remember your $20 and your photo.

[candyteacher]

You can get a visa on arrival, at both land and air crossings.

I did the arranyaprathet/poipet crossing in March. If you know what your doing its pretty simple. If coming from Thailand use public transport, don't use a tour company, these are normally scams.

You can get a bus from the bus station in Bangkok to approx 5k from the border. Then get a tuk tuk to the border, your driver is undoubtly try to bring you to a fake embassy, just say no and tell him to keep going.

You then get stamped out of Thailand and walk across the border to the Cambodian side, you fill out a simple form, pay $20 and maybe a small bribe depending on whos working there. Its $20 dollars, not any more some officials will try get more out of you. You then go to Cambodian immigration and get your passport stamped.

From there get a free shuttle bus to the transport hub and can get either a taxi or bus to Siem Reap.

The border is plauged with scammers, who will tell you the borders closed/ you need a visa/ you need a taxi etc, just ignore them.

My advice is get out of Poipet ASAP, its like a wild west.

[Izyb]

Hello, I went from Vietnam to Cambodia and was scammed a tiny bit. Basically I got a relatively cheap bus ($7usd) from Saigon to Phnom Penh. They took my passport off me on the bus to do my visa application on arrival. It's a very simple process. They charged me $25 for it and I didn't really seem to care cause I thought that was pretty cheap.

But basically, the visa only costs $20 and in a way takes longer if they do it for you. Next time I'd insist to do it myself, as it seemed to be faster when people were going through solo (although, no one on my bus did it solo). They keep $5 for the cost of doing your visa. I didn't require a passport photo or anything, but take one just in case.

This was in Feb of this year too so fairly recent. Have fun in Cambodia - I left a bit of my heart there

[wintermute]

The bus between HCMC and Phnom Penh is really convenient and a pleasure to use compared to getting from Bangkok to PP by land. Only 4.5-5.5 hours, good straight roads all the way, and the buses usually go all the way, so no tout hassles at the border.

In my experience, the bus staff collected the passengers' passports when they got to the border and gave them to immigration. After some time the border staff gave them back one by one by calling out names. All in all a painless process.

Can't remember the specifics of payment, but with the regular services there is a low risk of scamming. I say get a decent bus, let them help with the paperwork, and go with the flow. Do your best to get a fair price, but if you end up paying an extra $5 or $10, don't worry about it.

Have a good trip!

[poppy56]

Thanks everyone for the tips. I ended up getting an Evisa since I am going to cross at the one border with Vietnam that accepts them. It was really easy, cost me $25 and was done in 2 days.