Does anyone have experience of one the visa agencies - or anyone else - providing fake documentation to support entry on a 'working visa' at the moment? Any recommended help on this? There's still no sign of the government reinstating the old 'Ordinary' visa that you could easily convert to a long-stay one, so it seems the only way to come back is to have the appearance of an offer of employment! (I'm old enough to qualify for a 'retirement visa' now. Is it possible to apply for one of those from outside the country??)

phuketrichard wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 2:36 pm

Giles wrote: ↑Thu Jan 13, 2022 2:20 pm Does anyone have experience of one the visa agencies - or anyone else - providing fake documentation to support entry on a 'working visa' at the moment? Any recommended help on this? There's still no sign of the government reinstating the old 'Ordinary' visa that you could easily convert to a long-stay one, so it seems the only way to come back is to have the appearance of an offer of employment! (I'm old enough to qualify for a 'retirement visa' now. Is it possible to apply for one of those from outside the country??)

today ( tomorrow might be different) just come in on an online tourist visa and convert it to an ordinary visa/extension than

there is no retirement visa

Can you convert a tourist visa to an ordinary visa?
Earlier (pre-COVID) if you wanted an ordinary visa, you had to request it on arrival.
I recall one guy telling me he had slipped up, he’d arrived and requested a tourist visa, but what he needed was an ordinary visa (he planned on working here) and so he had to do the equivalent of a visa run, and requested an ordinary visa on re-entering Cambodia, which he could then extend and use for employment purposes.

As land borders remain closed and the issuing of VOA's remains suspended, a Visa run is not possible. However, many agents are openly advertising now that they can facilitate a conversion from an e-Visa or T-type Visa to an EB or ER EOS...at an extortionate fee, how long this will continue to be available is anyone's guess.

To the OP, don't get sucked in to purchasing fake documents from an "agent", not only will they charge you an arm and a leg, if discovered by the Embassy that the documents are fraudulent then your Visa application will be declined and you may face blacklisting from entry.

There is also no Retirement Visa...you need to enter the country on an E-type (Ordinary) Visa (often still incorrectly referred to as a Business Visa), and then you can apply for an ER (Retirement) Extension of Stay (EOS).

The criteria for issuing of E-type Visas varies from Embassy to Embassy, most require business/employment related supporting documentation from a registered Cambodian company, however there are soime which require little to no supporting documentation, the Honorary Consulate in Canada being one such example.

Converting a Tourist visa to an 'O' - or directly to the desired EOS - would be sweet. But that certainly used not to be possible. And I very much doubt if it is 'officially' allowed now.... but of course everything is possible for a price.

A contact in PP just told me there's a rumour that VOA is going to be reinstated next week! Here's hoping!!

Giles wrote: ↑Sat Jan 15, 2022 3:42 pm Converting a Tourist visa to an 'O' - or directly to the desired EOS - would be sweet. But that certainly used not to be possible. And I very much doubt if it is 'officially' allowed now.... but of course everything is possible for a price.

A contact in PP just told me there's a rumour that VOA is going to be reinstated next week! Here's hoping!!

*E-type (Ordinary) Visa - no such thing as an 'O' Visa

Currently there are only a handful of agents who can facilitate the conversion of an e-Visa or T-type Visa to a long term E-type Visa Extension of Stay, the DoI are only allowing this as a temporary measure, and it is not official. It will cost you appx $150-200 on top of the Visa EOS fee usually charged by the agent.

When land borders reopen and Visas on Arrival are available again, then it will be much simpler and cheaper...and yes, the DoI, MoH and other relevant Ministries/Departments are currently discussing reinstating VOA's but there has been no final decision made yet.

Reading this I think I did the right thing by returning before my retirement Visa expired even though it cost me a week in quarantine

PSD Kiwi - if there's one thing I really hate, it's a pedant who's always wrong.

Just because something is not currently available doesn't mean "it doesn't exist" or "there's no such thing". The 'O' visa has been available in the relatively recent past, was a key part of the visa system for a long time, and - I'm pretty sure, but to be honest, haven't actually checked (fair disclosure there - I used to be a lawyer) - is still on the books as part of the visa regime there. It is currently suspended, but could easily be reinstated at any moment. Therefore, it does "exist", it just isn't "available".

But I hear it might be today or tomorrow.


And also, things can 'exist' as an idea even if they have no current practical expression in the real world.

Stop being such a curmudgeonly nit-picker. If a visa expert or qualified lawyer tells me that 'legally' something doesn't exist, I respect that. If an Internet troll with too much time on his hands tells me that, I think, "Oh, just grow up!"

Ha! It looks like PSD Kiwi may be an admin over on Khmer440. I hadn't realised.

I started the same thread over there, and just replied to a comment on there (to the effect that the Kiwi was the most respected authority on the entire Internet about Cambodia visa issues) that this was very sad, because he/she (in comments on these two threads) hasn't shown any knowledge at all, or even an ability to deal incisively and usefully with the terminology and concepts involved.

Guess what - the whole thread was deleted seconds later! And I was permanently barred from the site.

Might not have been Kiwi who did it, but.... there was nothing in that comment of mine, or in the original post, or in the rest of the thread, that would remotely justify that kind of action.

Ok, I implied - with reasons - that Kiwi seemed to me to be more of a troll than an 'authoritative source'. No swearing, no abuse; fair comment.

But, if that can get you kicked off a forum.... kind of ups the evidence for the 'troll' verdict, I think.