Cambodia clamps down on expat visas

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Big Boy
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Cambodia clamps down on expat visas

Post by Big Boy »

Thoughts........... this going to affect a few people that I know.

Cambodia clamps down on longstay expat business visa extensions

Cambodia’s laid-back attitude to long-stay visa extensions is about to change completely, with new regulations likely to rule the country out for retirees and others wishing to volunteer or earn cash online.

Over the last several years, many expats living under Thailand’s ever-tightening immigration rules and regulations have moved to the adjacent country, but the new requirements just published by the Cambodian government are likely to prove unsuitable for many new arrivals. At present, the new regulations are relevant to the EB six- and 12-month business visa extensions, used by many retirees to guarantee hassle-free volunteering and digital working, both of which are forbidden to holders of Thailand’s so-called retirement visa extensions. The changes to the Cambodian visa system will also affect younger, self-employed expats looking to earn online whilst living in the formerly welcoming country. It’s possible the new requirements will kill the country’s popularity with expats.

Effective now, expats wishing to extend EB visas will need to produce an employment letter, work permit card, business license, employment contract and document explaining the reasons for wanting an extension. This effectively cuts out freelance writers, digital nomads and those wishing to volunteer, and refers to those already in possession of a six-month or one-year EB visa. Cambodian law firms, visa agents and travel agents received a list of the new requirements at the end of last month.

Full story: Emigrate.co.uk
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Re: Cambodia clamps down on expat visas

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Amazed nobody has commented on this yet, when I was there a couple of years ago there were so many expats that had left Thailand for this exact reason.

It seems that the gringo species is no longer wanted anywhere in Asia.
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Re: Cambodia clamps down on expat visas

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I've been talking to a friend over there about it, and he says it'll never happen.

Maybe he's right, or maybe his head is stuck in a bucket of sand.
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Re: Cambodia clamps down on expat visas

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The whole phenomena of expats working on-line is a very tricky one.
when living there I thought the problem of the derelict ex-pat druggies was a BIG problem
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Re: Cambodia clamps down on expat visas

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Westerners are becoming less welcome in Asia in general and it's getting to the point where you are mostly only given a brief tourist visa in many places now so they can fleece you and then send you on your way. They have China to turn to now for what they need and almost all of these countries (with the exception of South Korea and Taiwan) are ruled, and will be for decades to come, by inward looking military Juntas, intolerant communists or religiously controlled and inclined conservatives, which dream of turning the clock back, with about as much latitude as the Spanish Inquisition.

As for Cambodia, think they are jumping the gun here as they will turn off a large foreign currency faucet that I'm not sure if many there will like being turned off. As for Hun Sen, the Khmer Rouge district commander that switched sides at the very last minute to save his bacon...should have gone on trial for crimes against the Cambodian people long ago. A place ripe for revolution.
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Re: Cambodia clamps down on expat visas

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oakdale160 wrote: Thu Oct 12, 2017 6:03 pm The whole phenomena of expats working on-line is a very tricky one.
I don't see how or why. What is the problem with someone working online, earning money in another country, and spending it in their chosen one, be it Cambodia or Thailand? Logically the country they're in is benefiting from inbound cash, but logic doesn't apply in Asia.
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Re: Cambodia clamps down on expat visas

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buksida wrote: Fri Oct 13, 2017 10:34 am
oakdale160 wrote: Thu Oct 12, 2017 6:03 pm The whole phenomena of expats working on-line is a very tricky one.
I don't see how or why. What is the problem with someone working online, earning money in another country, and spending it in their chosen one, be it Cambodia or Thailand? Logically the country they're in is benefiting from inbound cash, but logic doesn't apply in Asia.
Taxation of the individual may be problematic,governments like to keep tabs on earners.
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Re: Cambodia clamps down on expat visas

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Then that should be the problem of the country they're earning in, not the one they're spending in.
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Re: Cambodia clamps down on expat visas

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buksida wrote: Fri Oct 13, 2017 11:13 am Then that should be the problem of the country they're earning in, not the one they're spending in.
That's an interesting statement. If physically working in, let's say Thailand, there is an argument that it is the work they are undertaking in Thailand that earns them money, not from where the income stream is?

I assume the same applies for Thais who do similar on-line work?
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Re: Cambodia clamps down on expat visas

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I guess that's why online work is a grey area, if they're being paid from the US but sitting on a laptop in Thailand, which country has rights to claim taxes?
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Re: Cambodia clamps down on expat visas

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I used to do more or less steady freelance work for an American company and I was never expected to pay any taxes. At the same time, should I ever have been expected to pay tax here? Not only was I employed in the US as such, but as a foreigner I am not entitled to any benefits here.
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Re: Cambodia clamps down on expat visas

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I still pay my taxes in the UK, and I'm not entitled to any benefits there either. If I go back, it needs to be as a migrant :?

:offtopic:
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Re: Cambodia clamps down on expat visas

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Big Boy wrote: Fri Oct 13, 2017 1:03 pm I still pay my taxes in the UK, and I'm not entitled to any benefits there either. If I go back, it needs to be as a migrant :?

:offtopic:
Returning to the UK. If as a visitor, then you're entitled to nothing for six months or so. If returning to the UK to settle, benefits etc are immediate. My son returned a year ago after 11 years here. Stated that it's for settlement and he got all the usual benefits as if he hadn't left. Same for my daughter also settled in the UK as of a year ago.

Sorry. Off topic but you started it!!... lol
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Re: Cambodia clamps down on expat visas

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buksida wrote: Fri Oct 13, 2017 10:34 am
oakdale160 wrote: Thu Oct 12, 2017 6:03 pm The whole phenomena of expats working on-line is a very tricky one.
I don't see how or why. What is the problem with someone working online, earning money in another country, and spending it in their chosen one, be it Cambodia or Thailand? Logically the country they're in is benefiting from inbound cash, but logic doesn't apply in Asia.
I suppose if you're running a repressive military dictatorship, having a lot of western free spirits swanning around your country, demonstrating what freedom looks like, isn't really a good idea. These type of regimes don't care about the economy, the people at the top will always have enough and they'd rather have everyone else poor and uneducated.
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