I've heard of the "scam" at the Poipet border crossing where immigration officers ask for extra money or 1500 baht for visa on arrival and if you insist on paying the official rate ($30_ for your visa you'll be waiting a good long while for it to be issued.

I've never heard of that at Cambodian airports.

I flew in to Phnom Penh airport yesterday.

Exit plane, go downstairs.

The line on the far left side of the long assembly line immigration counter is to apply for visa on arrival.

It's often a bit of a scrum there, as it's unclear if it's one line, or 2-3 lines, or just push your way to the front.

I got to the back of the line but then saw that people were just cutting right in front of me from the left. I said "fuck this" and just walked around/past the line skippers and right up to the counter. I'm not going to stand in a line like a sucker if there is no line control at all.

So I hand my passport to a friendly female immigration officer.

It seemed some people were handing over money in this section of the counter even though it's designated for applications not payment, the payment area is to the right. So I had $40 in my hand when I handed her my passport.

She takes the passport and says "Do you need the visa quickly?"

I should have said "Yes" just to find out what happens next.

Instead I said "No" and pointed me to the back of the "visa payment" line, which was like forty people deep.

I got in the back of that line, the staff were holding up passports and calling people up to pay.

I thought I'd be there for a while, but they called me out of order very quickly and I paid and then walked over to "visa collection" and only waited like 30 seconds there.

Not sure why I seemingly got expedited service even though I didn't request or pay for it, maybe they prioritize the Western passports over Chinese, or over Chinese who don't pay tea money?

Anyway, has anyone else been asked at a Cambodian airport if they want their VOA quickly, or asked to pay a fee to expedite the process, and if so what was your experience?

Right now the MO if it isn't busy with long lines seems to be just quoting you a price $5 higher than it should be.

The second time I entered back in 2017 there was a huge crowd. I noticed a uniformed guy just outside of the booth to the right, handing a passport to someone. I went over to him and said I was in a hurry and could he do it quickly. $30 plus a $5 bung and I had my passport back in 5 minutes.

It was at that point I fell in love with the place.

I crosse Koh Kong border on 27/ and was asked37 dollar for a turist visa, i said to the officer: oooh, Koh Kong border is more expensive then PP airport ?? !! He just smiled and didnt answer. Later i checked my visa and there was no price on it, i thaught at PP-airport the have the price on it, or am i wrong ??
With the 30-years been trucking all over europe, including eastern-europe before they came in the EU i learned (and also on my recent road-trip to KOW), that the guy in the uniform is always right, thats rule nr 1. And if he is wrong, he goes back to rule nr 1 and is still right. And they know they have a stamp in their hand and you wont move for a meter if they dont use their stamp. Thats in the whole world the same. I could have discussed about the 7 dollar surcharge ofcourse and been scammed by some other document from my car, ofcourse. I just payed and smiled to him !! Luckily we were released from all those scamming custom-officers when the borders opened in europe in 92 !!