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FYI..border extortion at Had Lek


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FYI.. I just paid 1900 Baht for a border run today.... 1600 for my 'visa' into Cambodia... tried everything I could think of, short of being arrested, but no way around paying that much and in Baht... then the immigration officer in Cambodia would not let me leave the country unless I paid him 300 more Baht... very bad experience... it seemed to be happening to many people....

Edited by ceiba
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14 minutes ago, ceiba said:

FYI.. I just paid 1900 Baht for a border run today.... 1600 for my 'visa' into Cambodia... tried everything I could think of, short of being arrested, but no way around paying that much and in Baht... then the immigration officer in Cambodia would not let me leave the country unless I paid him 300 more Baht... very bad experience... it seemed to be happening to many people....

Edited 11 minutes ago by ceiba

 

Greedy aren't they. Only 1800 baht at Chong Chom and 1200 baht at Chong Sa Ngom.:ph34r:

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Hat Lek is the most difficult Cambodian entry point I have used. I have succeeded in getting the visa on arrival at the official price using US$, but it took me over an hour, and very careful handling. For most, plonking US$30 plus 200 baht on the counter, saying that is all you have, might be easier. The 300 baht for same day return is normal (it induces them to ignore the real Cambodian immigration law that mandates an overnight stay). There are ways of avoiding it, but it requires some subterfuge.

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The key thing which a lot of people don't mention is that there are two people who take your money. The first is the visa on arrival guy and the second is the guy who puts the stamps in your passport. The thing to do is to tell the first guy that you are going to stay in Cambodia for a few days and he will have no excuse to extort money out of you. Only the second guy has to know you are going in and out on the same day.

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2 hours ago, edwardandtubs said:

The key thing which a lot of people don't mention is that there are two people who take your money. The first is the visa on arrival guy and the second is the guy who puts the stamps in your passport. The thing to do is to tell the first guy that you are going to stay in Cambodia for a few days and he will have no excuse to extort money out of you. Only the second guy has to know you are going in and out on the same day.

That strategy will still involve the 300 Baht for same-day return from the 2nd guy, but the first will attempt to extort you no matter how long you intend to stay.  I have found offering only 100 Baht "extra" (so about 1100 Baht total) just for the VOA, results in a tolerable wait-time of 10 to 20 mins for the VOA, but they will initially demand more.

 

5 minutes ago, phuketrichard said:

use hat lek, drive in with thai car an average of 2x /year, always pay $30 for visa and 100 baht/day for car.

never even been asked for more

Was this traveling with a Cambodian national?  Maybe the drive-through is different, but if you try walking through alone, speaking English, I think you will have a very different experience.

 

What the OP reported is not unusual.  Cambodian VOA-IOs have been reported to threaten violence for refusing to pay them their "extra" fees (not talking about the separate same-day return fee).

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35 minutes ago, edwardandtubs said:

 Do you stay overnight?

always as we go to Kep and visit family, why else drive the car in

Traveling with a Khmer has nothing to do with it as she doesn't need go buy a visa.  only gets stamped in and i dont say anything, only hand over my passport, photos, application for voa  and $30
funny thou, leaving she needs pay khmer immigration 100 baht....LOL

Edited by phuketrichard
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When crossing at Had Lek , I have always gotten a visa at the Cambodian embassy in Bkk, but at all other crossings I have never paid more than the official fee of 30$ now or 20$ until they jacked it up years ago.Some crossing they are more 'recalcitrant' than at others, then what does the trick is to get out your smartphone and start videorecording the corrupt 'transaction'.They are afraid as hell of having any record of their extortion, and you'll have your visa in no time.

 

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I have crossed at Koh Kong (Ban Hat Lek on the Thai side) many times.

 

An E-Visa costs $37 US.  I paste a friendly smile on my face and put $35 down along with my completed entry/exit visa form and sail through immigration.  That is more than the supposed cost of $30 but less than the E-Visa and far less than the 2000 Bt they ask for unless you head them off at the pass by putting your money down with the application.

 

Just wave off the health/fever check rip off.  If they get aggressive about me paying them a couple of hundred Bt to check if I have a fever I pull out a yellow card stock immunization form my doctor in the US gave me15 years ago, wave it under their noses saying have - have - have, and they back off.  You can easily make one up if you want - just Google immunization forms so you will have an official looking one and have fun modifying it, filling it in with any vaccination you want, and getting it printed.  White isn't very impressive so go with a colored card stock if the local printer has.  Mine is yellow and 4-1/4" wide and 11" long (1/2 of an 8-1/2"x11" sheet) folded into thirds.

 

You should pick up an extra copy of the entry/exit visa form when you enter Cambodia or Thailand the first time.  Fill out the exit part of your current visa form before you reach the border when leaving.  You can have the extra form all filled out when you reach the border on the next trip.  Pick up another entry/exit form each trip just like you were going to fill it out but instead stick it in your pocket for the following trip.  You would be amazed how much time and hassle this eliminates.

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Wait until you wake up with a horses head in your bed in you backpackers dormitory. Then you have real problems....only joking.

 

Come on, get real....you are travelling the world presumably...a couple of hundred baht is the least of your worries in the bigger picture. Put it down to experience and post it on you blog or facebook and move on and enjoy the rest of your adventure.

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On 12/22/2017 at 7:22 PM, khwaibah said:

 

Greedy aren't they. Only 1800 baht at Chong Chom and 1200 baht at Chong Sa Ngom.:ph34r:

Last time at Chong Chom they guy asked 'do I need a visa stamp",or words to that effect, I said no. 1000 baht for me and he told the IO 'he's already paid" and I think 50 baht for the missus. Ht the casino and back to Thai two days later. Plenty of booze and smokes in the bags too.

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Nothing has changed here, I crossed 15 years ago when it was $20, b...ch demanded 1,000 baht. I said I don't have any and she said I had to go back into Thailand and find an ATM ! Eventually she took the $20 and 200 baht. Ex-pats at a cafe in town said it had been going on for years, she had a huge house and everyone was  in on it right up the chain. I sent emails to Immigration in PP, newspaper in PP, no one bothered to answer. 

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On 12/22/2017 at 4:09 PM, ubonjoe said:

The 1600 baht for the visa is to much. Since that is e-visa crossing it might best to get one next time instead of being extorted at the crossing. See: https://www.evisa.gov.kh/

The 300 baht is the standard fee for not staying overnight in Cambodia which is a requirement for the visa on arrival.

 

Everybody paying in baht pays this price. Must be paid in USD to pay around $35.

And the fee can be bargained to 200 but not really worth the hassle !

 

 

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10 hours ago, tryasimight said:

Last time at Chong Chom they guy asked 'do I need a visa stamp",or words to that effect, I said no. 1000 baht for me and he told the IO 'he's already paid" and I think 50 baht for the missus. Ht the casino and back to Thai two days later. Plenty of booze and smokes in the bags too.

If you did not get a Cambodian Visa stamp in your passport and Thailand let you back in you were lucky.

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Must say I had a good laugh coming into Cambodia from south Vietnam, the man in the little hut put a thermometer next to my brow and said I was ok. He laughed with me. I’ll never forget that day, couldn’t get a taxi from where the bus stopped, ( Chao doc?) and ended up crossing the border on an old motorbike taxi me in a dress, suitcase in the middle, , covered in red earth dust as  there were road works. 

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13 hours ago, tryasimight said:

Last time at Chong Chom they guy asked 'do I need a visa stamp",or words to that effect, I said no. 1000 baht for me and he told the IO 'he's already paid" and I think 50 baht for the missus. Ht the casino and back to Thai two days later. Plenty of booze and smokes in the bags too.

why didn't you get the visa stamp if you paid for it ?  i've only crossed at chong chom twice.  the first time was in 2008 and i didn't get stamped out of cambo as i mistakenly went to the hut with the bright lights, which was the thai side.  they sent me back to the cambo hut to get stamped out.  did you get the entry and exit stamps but didn't bother having the visa put in your PP ?  i can understand doing that but not getting stamped out and not having the visa stamp, could lead you to having to pay all over again. of course, a couple thousand baht is not alot, especially when you are headed to the casino !!  that is why i just paid what they asked for, it wasn't go to be a day of saving money as i was about to enter a casino.

 

 

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  1. That border has been like that for years and years. The only way it will ever be stopped is for people to quite literally boycott all Cambodian borders, but unfortunately that will never happen. The gravy train on this scam goes very nearly to the top so there is no interest in stopping it, they would make those prices for visas official if they thought they could get away with it but $50 for a visa to Cambodia might put a few off so they charge it unofficially when you are trapped and already exited Thailand so the thieves win.  Imagine getting in or being accused any sort of real trouble in Cambodia and being at the mercy of those c..ts in uniform
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  • 2 years later...

Recently (early Feb 2020) I went through this border (Cambodia to Thailand) not planning to stay overnight in Thailand, but to return to Koh Kong the same day.
The Thai side seems much stricter now, as their line of questioning while entering implied I should not return to Cambodia until the next day.
When exiting the Thai side ~ an hour later, the officer graciously allowed for same day in/out, even though his line of questioning also implied making sure I was returning to Cambodia for some time. Then when applying for a new visa on the Cambodian side, the officers were surprised that I was granted entering/exiting the Thai side on the same day.
The Khmer officers confirmed that In/out on the same day on the Khmer side was not the issue, it was an issue on the Thai processing side, even though on this day they did process me through, but with questioning concern.

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