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Cambodia Immigration Update

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing, I don't do this very often or I haven't done one of these, well I did one recently on Vietnam but I haven't done a Cambodian Immigration update in some time, mostly because I think expat sites and things over in Cambodia are covering this but I have had some correspondence recently where folks have asked me: "Hey what is going on with some other countries in region with respect to their Immigration rules and things in a comparison and contrast with Thailand." For the most part most of the tourists especially that come to Thailand, a large number of them seem to go to Cambodia and Vietnam with a  great deal of frequency, more so I would say than other countries in the region. I don't necessarily consider the Philippines part of the land base of Southeast Asia but I do know that there has been in the past a lot of traffic between Thailand and the Philippines. 

A recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: In Reopening Tourism, Cambodia Trying to Avoid Making Thailand's Mistakes. Quoting directly and to just paraphrase, Cambodian Initiative, they are looking to reopen their tourism to some degree not unlike Thailand's although there seem to be some contrast between the Thai re-opening and the Cambodian re-opening. Starting over here: "The main thrust of the Cambodian initiative is to open the 12th century Angkor Wat archaeological site to fully vaccinated foreigners from October, 2021. They would be accommodated and relax in the neighboring town of Seam Reap which like Pattaya is currently a ghost town because of the collapse of international tourism." Quoting further: "Superficially, the plan looks rather like the Phuket "Sandbox" initiative but there are important differences. Whilst international arrivals in Phuket will need advanced clearance from Thai Embassies abroad and be subject to insurance and entry fees, Cambodia would allow groups of foreigners simply to land and show their passports and vaccination certificates to Immigration Authorities. The important thing is to cut the bureaucracy at the international checkpoints." Quoting further: "The Cambodian Ministry of Tourism said no final decision had yet being taken but the vital thing was to simplify the entry procedures as much as possible." So interesting. Cambodia seems to be trying to reopen to some degree too but they do not have for example what is noted in there, they are talking about the procedures at Thai Embassies most notably the Certificate of Entry process. As we have noted in other videos on this channel the COE or Certificate of Entry is now an integral part of being able to enter Thailand even for Thai nationals. This isn't just for Visa seekers. Everybody presently that wants to come to Thailand has to seek a Certificate of Entry. How long that will continue remains to be seen. I think the author in this Pattaya Mail piece again, and I urge people to go check this out. A lot more content in here. I just pulled an excerpt out of this. It is: In Reopening Tourism, Cambodia Trying to Avoid Making Thailand's Mistakes. That is pattayamail.com. A good point is made I think. Cambodia is doing it differently. They are not trying to front load having all of this Certificate of Entry procedure, they are just checking things when people come in. 

There is something to be said for that especially in light of the fact that I can't imagine there is going to be a huge volume of people at least in these first few months so it seems logical to presume that folks on the ground at Immigration would have the time to review documentation especially vaccination documentation before being permitted to enter the country. There is always the possibility that if documentation is deficient, you can give that person a choice. Either return to your home country or where ever you came from or go into quarantine here and then we will let you out? So again, not optimal for the traveler that is stuck in that rather unfortunate position but it is something to think about.

Maybe Thailand will take a look at this as the month’s progress and hopefully we start to see things ease off over here but it looks like Cambodia is making strides to re-opening, it looks like presently to tourists in the Angkor Wat region in October of 2021.