Applying for a Thai visa in Cambodia in Phnom Penh - personal experience
The total experience of obtaining a Thai visa in Cambodia based on the personal experience of the reader and the reviews of people in Runet. I decided to raise this topic because most readers already roughly understand what to expect in Laos, Malaysia or Myanmar. But Cambodia, until recently, was almost not considered as a place for obtaining a Thai visa. And there is not so much information on the nuances of this process on the net. I mean exactly the fresh nuances, which is very important in connection with the latest tightening of the screws at all the Thai embassies, starting with the Moscow one. For example, you won't be able to pay 1,000 baht and get a visa twice as fast without having certain documents (as was the case in 2012)..
The content of the article
Applying for a Thai visa in Cambodia
The Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh has exactly the same choice of tourist visas as elsewhere: a tourist one-time visa and a tourist multivisa. The tourist multivisa is a bunch of hassle and unimaginable amounts on the accounts that will have to be confirmed, so I will not even consider it within the framework of this post. Moreover, in Cambodia it is given only to Cambodian citizens, or to those who are able to confirm their place of permanent residence in Cambodia.
Cambodia visa can only be done in Phnom Penh.
general information
A single entry tourist visa is valid for 3 months from the date of issue and allows the holder of the passport to stay in Thailand for 60 days with the option to extend the stay for another 30 days, which is a total of 90 days (not three months, please note). To extend, you have to go to the Immigration office at the place of stay, from an hour and a half of your time, and 1900 baht for each passport.
Attention! At the time of this writing (February 2018) I would not recommend «forget» on extending visas for children. Now there are more cases when, because of the children's overstay, the whole family is denied entry, and everything goes to the fact that soon they will begin to fine both adult overstayers and children..
Consular fee, processing time
For a tourist one-time trip they ask for $ 40
For a multivisa - $ 200
It is obligatory to pay in US dollars and without change, bills of 2004 and older are not accepted.
The processing time is 2 working days (as they say on the embassy's website), but in fact - 3 working days. I handed it over on Monday morning - I took it back on Wednesday afternoon. There are no more moves to speed up obtaining passports with visas (very often they were written about in the reviews of 2007-2012).
That is, there are still offices in Cambodia that help to prepare and apply for a visa, but now they take bribes only for the work itself and do not in any way affect the acceleration of the process. Against this background, I would recommend using the services of visitor offices, which take care of all the troubles with documents and the settlement of clients for three days in budget housing.
Consulate opening hours
The processing time can be seriously affected by the Thai holiday schedule, so always plan your travel dates in advance. Here you can see a list of official holidays in government agencies in Thailand. The embassy is open from Monday to Friday, excluding holidays.
Acceptance time of documents: from 08:30 to 11:00. In fact, they can pick their noses until 9:30, until they finish all their morning chores. While this drawback is smoothed out by a small number of visitors, but if the flow grows, it will be fun.
Time of issue of documents: from 15:00 to 16:00. Here, purely Thai wind corrections are also possible, but in general, after lunch they are already moving faster..
Consulate of Thailand in Cambodia
List of documents for visa processing in Phnom Penh
A burning question for beginners and experienced ones, given how much Thais like to make sudden amendments or remember about mossy laws with restrictions and requirements. So, what does the embassy require on its website to obtain one visa:
- Completed Visa Application form (download in advance, print and fill out here).
- Two photographs 3.5 x 4.5 cm.If the photos are old, where the difference in age is clearly visible, they will not be accepted.
- Passport, before the expiration of which is at least 6 months at the time of submission.
- Copy of the passport
- Tickets to Thailand and back. Moreover, it is not indicated that these should be exclusively air tickets.. «Travel tickets» Are travel documents.
- Proof of financial condition. For a one-time student, $ 1000 per person, and $ 2000 for a family. How exactly to confirm, show cash or bank statement - not written.
- Accommodation booking confirmation.
Well, then there is a postscript that the embassy officer has the right to demand any document if necessary, can conduct an interview without warning, and that the money you pay when applying for a visa is non-refundable in case of refusal. And now, briefly about what we have in fact, from the personal experience of the author and accomplices on the Runet.
- It is preferable to show tickets to and from Thailand by air, despite the absence of direct hints. As practice shows, ground transport tickets are often not accepted as a travel document. Moreover, tickets back are either required and checked at the bases, then they are not required or given back. Really, a land of wonders and momentary mood.
- Do not forget to invest, and do not lose, in principle, an important piece of Thailand departure card. The site does not write about her, but they ask at the embassy.
- A copy of the passport is usually returned at the stage of submission of documents. But I do not recommend not to take it with you, because the Buddha knows them at what moment they will need these copies..
- Bank statements are still being checked half-eye. That is, control calls are not made to the bank (no one will explain anything to them there), they do not find fault with the lack of living seals, and, in principle, if there are adequate numbers on the account (not three million euros and not 1000 rubles), questions on certificates does not arise.
- What is typical for Phnom Penh - I have not seen anywhere a mention that a family member who travels at the expense of another family member must present a sponsorship letter. So, you can write it just to be on the safe side (in English), well, if someone in the embassy gets a flash of inspiration, then show.
Personal experience of one of the subscribers
As it turned out, in order to apply for a visa, an account statement was needed, and so that there was money for the whole family and for the entire period of stay. And round-trip tickets, these two moments worried me the most. In principle, there were no problems with money, except for one - how to get the original extract from Moscow in Phnom Penh. I even thought about it and calculated the option with UPS, and then decided to take a chance and printed the document on a printer. The printer turned out to be of high quality, made an almost perfect color copy. To this copy, I added a printout of the actual booked plane tickets with the dates that corresponded to the entry and exit from Thailand..
The money from us for the three was $ 120, plus one photo for each person and one completed questionnaire, no more papers were asked. I filled out the questionnaires right at the embassy, handed in documents somehow suspiciously quickly, and just as quickly received it on time. Obviously, they cannot check the bank statement, and if it looks convincing outwardly, then they do not examine it especially carefully. Most likely the same with tickets, but here I cannot say for sure whether they were checked or not - but the embassy has such an opportunity.»
In general, after a thorough study of the English and Russian-speaking segment of the Internet, I got the impression that the representative office in Phnom Penh belongs to the category of hemorrhoids. Despite their (so far) slovenly attitude towards checking the provided proofs, it is worth coming here only in extreme cases. Not the most friendly employees, nagging about passports with a long history of travel to Thailand, a free attitude to the work schedule, and stuff like that. Each trip to them is a lottery. Some write - in general, they slipped into the fool with a number of imperfections in the documents. Others spit and cannot leave for two weeks due to the fact that they are not in the stream with the holidays or innovations, or with the mood of the ambassadors.
On the map
Thai consulate
Thai consulate
In Cambodia, only one city can get a Thai visa and that is Phnom Penh..
In Cambodia, only one city can get a Thai visa and that is Phnom Penh..