Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Cambodian Immigration. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Visa differences impede progress toward a Schengen-style south east Asia. Yeah I urge those who are watching this video, go check out that article in detail. The thrust of it goes into a different direction. I'm going to concentrate a little bit more on Cambodia Immigration. 

I talk about it a little bit because a lot of the folks that come out here to Thailand oftentimes, especially long staying tourists that are out here for like 6, 8 weeks, couple of months, oftentimes want a little change of scenery and they may hop out, go to Malaysia, Vietnam Cambodia, sometimes Philippines so I kind of keep tabs a little bit. I keep my fingers somewhat on the pulse of Immigration Policy in those different jurisdictions. Quoting directly: "The Cambodian Immigration service last week reported there were no plans to lift the US$30 tourist fee. 

Yeah look, this talk of a Pan-ASEAN Schengen-style Visa, I am not saying ii is pie in the sky, and I'm not saying it's outside the realm of possibility but it is going to be a long time, and this situation in Cambodia is the perfect example. Look at the end of the day, Cambodia is not nearly the wealthy nation that for example Thailand is or Vietnam for that matter and they don't get nearly the numbers of tourists that either of those jurisdictions get so volume is not something that they're relying upon. But they still use these Visa fees as a means of raising revenue and so long as they are doing that, I don't see a scenario where they are going to rescind that fee. Again, I think it is going to be a long time before Cambodia does that because they are going to have to need to build up economically before they are going to view that as warranted. Remember, each of these national Immigration Offices in each of these countries has different prerogatives and they have different mandates and they have different exigencies on the ground. 

Again Cambodia isn't the same as Thailand where they get a large volume of Tourists so they make the money a different way. Their volume is smaller; they get revenue directly from the Visa fees. Do I think that's going to change? Probably not anytime soon, but we will certainly keep you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.