Doing the visa run

Posted by Mr Tuk Tuk on February 18th, 2011 filed in Expat life, Living here

Unfortunately for many expats in Thailand, border runs are still a fact of life that many of us hate. One of the most popular places to make a visa run is to Cambodia. The border at Phoi Phet is the closest to Bangkok, and takes just two or so hours to arrive at. Take a bus from Mo Chit Bus Terminal to Aranyaprathet, which is the town on the Thai side of the border. These days the bus will drop you right at the border, so you no longer have to worry about dealing with tuk tuks that won’t take you to the border, or try and scam you along the way. Be warned, the market area at Aranyaprathet is still full of people who are looking to rip you off and scam you anyway.

The first thing to watch is any luggage that you have. Before you even get off the bus, a friendly person will no doubt have placed your luggage on a cart and will be ready to move it for you. A good idea is to politely decline as you should keep your luggage on you at all times. Also ignore anyone telling you anything about visas. No one on the Thai side needs to see a Cambodian visa, and Cambodian visas can be made once you get into Cambodia itself. So whatever you do, don’t stop and hand over your passport to anyone, no matter what they are claiming. Once in Cambodia is where the real fun starts. You will come across a number of official looking people who will all demand to see your passport and ask you about your visa. The visa office is situated immediately after Thai immigration. This is the only place to get your visa. So don’t hand your passport to anyone sitting out on the road, even if they do have a badge and a uniform. The real officials are inside the visa office.

Passing through immigration is relatively easy from there. However, you might have to pay a bit extra if you want them to stamp you in and immediately stamp you out. Nevertheless, the important thing is to avoid these scams whilst getting in to Cambodia at the Phoi Phet border.