Having solidified my plans of visiting both Vietnam and Cambodia, with some apprehension I turned my attention over to the matter of procuring visas for both countries (which in itself surprised me, as most countries don't require visas for US nationals). The memories of schlepping to the Honduran embassy twice only to be given the runaround by ignorant staff are still fresh in my mind, despite occurring a few years ago (here and here). Luckily, my travel agent informed me that she could handle the Vietnam visa bit, and sent me the appropriate application forms and requirements. The steep cost ($125) caught me by surprise - but looking on the bright side, I guess this means they have shed their Communist ways and become capitalist pigs as well.
Turning to Cambodia, I learned somehow of their innovative e-Visa program, where the application process is conducted entirely online. Initially skeptical of a small, impoverished country managing to offer such a convenience, curious how anti-terrorist background checks can be performed and incredulous as to how visas can be "bought" online as if it were a book on Amazon, I decided to give it a shot anyway.
After filling in the standard biographical information, the website requires the applicant to upload a passport-size photograph, and provides several hysterical illustrations of unacceptable pictures. Digital camera in hand, I commandeered Indra who sat in the next cubicle and off we went in search of the suitable white background demanded. Eventually we decided that the pillar beside the printer would suffice, and Indra by trial-and-error managed to snap a photo that showed just the right balance of face and shoulders. Not such an easy task, what with other employees picking up their printouts and shooting amused glances.
Picture having been uploaded, the final step was payment. Amazingly enough, Paypal was an option, so I selected that. Compared to Vietnam, price wasn't so bad, only $20 + $5 fee. (The same cost as procuring the visa on arrival in Cambodia). A confirmation email arrived in my Inbox indicating that approval notification would follow in three business days. I was thoroughly impressed up to this point, but was blown way further when the approval email arrived the next day and I was able to download my e-Visa in PDF format!!! Not quite the emotional sort, but tears of joy almost (almost!) came running down my cheeks. Convenient? Check. Hassle-free? Check. Has the Honduran embassy made plans to copy this innovative program yet?!
Note: At the time this blog post was written, the Cambodia e-Visa site had recently undergone an upgrade process and encountered "problems" (sigh, those IT guys). In short, the site is off-line and non-functioning, and has been so for almost a month (uh oh). However, as the site states, "the government official in-charge of the Cambodia e-Visa operation currently rectifying the problem in order to ease the operation to the normal operational function". Let's hope so.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment