In pursuit of a Cambodian visa. Do I need a visa? Yes & No
Firstly, there is no embassy of Cambodia in Norway. So, I had to call the embassy in Belgium, where they told me that I do not need a visa. Reading on the web, most people holding a Bangladeshi passport claimed they need a visa in advance. I called them back and said, I read online, and everyone said I need a visa. The officer asks me then “What will you do?” All furious and angry, I reply, I am calling to know what I need to do. Later I figured he meant, what I will be doing in Cambodia, not condescending me for my visa status. With that drama shaking off my confidence, I then called the embassy of Cambodia in UK to understand the issue better, who on the contrary confirmed that I wouldn’t need a visa. So, I asked them to confirm this via email, so that I could have a written statement. Upon hearing that request they told me that I should get a visa before going.
How do I get a visa? ‘Just come to the embassy and apply’; was the standard response.
The embassy of Cambodia is in UK. So, to go to UK I would need another visa. Interestingly to get a visa for UK, I need to travel to Sweden, since UK does not have an embassy in Norway.
Can I apply online? No, you need to send in the papers by post.
So, I collected all my papers, and was about to send them when I realized that the instructions say send in cash for the processing fees. DHL refused to put the cash in the envelope since, it is illegal to send cash by post. I called back the embassy and told them the same and they still insisted saying ‘send the cash by post’. They just didn’t want to listen to the fact that it was illegal. At the end I called a friend,Christos Makris, who lives in UK, to go the embassy and pay them in cash. Once they had the cash they were happy.
[ ✔ ] Visa
The drama is over, time to book some tickets now. Found some cheap tickets to fly through Hong Kong.
All set and done, almost about to book, my meticulously detailed obsessed friend Manolis Platakis jokingly remarked on whether I would even need a transit visa for Hong Kong. We both looked at each other as the joke turned into a concern. I called the embassy of China in New York, since that was the embassy that was open at that time zone, and they confirmed that I do indeed need a visa even if I am transiting through the airport. Finally booked the tickets via a different route.
And lastly, as Last Week Tonight with John Oliver would say : Transit Visa’s “How is this still a thing?”
Read more on what happened next: Stuck Between Borders
