Weirdness at the Moc Bai border

Im just putting this out there for others just in case it hasnt been mentioned before. Not sure if this is a new thing or if its common but its just my experience. Did a border run with mostly Viet Kieu from America on a bus and when we crossed the border the immigration officials kept our passports and visas until we returned. They would not allow crossing into Cambodia unless we handed it over for them to keep. They kept for 24 hours until we returned. Not sure what the reason for this was but we were not allowed to cross into cambodia and keep our passports. I thought this was extremely odd and possibly illegal? Ive never heard of this happening anywhere ever before. Luckily it worked out and they had it ready when we came back into Vietnam but it had everyone on the bus really freaked out and worried. Anyone else experienced this? My only guess is they want to force you out the way you came in but its still really weird. What if you wanted to tour cambodia and then head to laos or fly back or any other number of options. Its all very, very strange. - @jrharvey

And the Cambodian officers allowed you to enter Cambodia without a passport?

@Aidan in HCMC

The Cambodian officers were the ones that kept the passports. Vietnam let us through and Cambodia kept everyones. Just edited my post to clarify.

@Aidan in HCMC The Cambodian officers were the ones that kept the passports. Vietnam let us through and Cambodia kept everyones. Just edited my post to clarify. - @jrharvey

Was your border run and your new VN eVisa done through an agent? If so, the Cambodian officers may have been aware that you were looking to do a turnaround back to VN.

With a Cambodia VOA, you are supposed to stay 24 hours, so if you want to turn around and come straight back in to VN a small "donation" might be asked of you (100-200K VND). See here (Link to Gov't of Australia's smarttraveller.gov.au). Under subsection TRAVEL/Visas and border measures/Visas, Land Border Crossings it states "Day trips are not permitted at land border crossings."

We did take a bus through an agent but Im on a VEC so no VN E Visa. Had an E Visa to get into Cambodia, not visa on arrival.  Im pretty sure they knew we were all there for a visa extension in VN but the plan was to stay a night in Cambodia regardless. That last part you mentioned about the 24 hour rule makes a lot more sense. Maybe this is a new way to enforce that rule? Not sure but myself and everyone else thought the forcefull holding of a passport for 24 hours was a bit odd. If something were to happen while in Cambodia its a very risky move.

@jrharvey

Or imagine if you wanted to travel on to a third country. I'm sure that if you informed them of your intent to travel onward they'd have given you back your passport.

Was the agent with you?

Either way, it's certainly odd that they held your passport.

They've every right to deny you entry, but to hold your passport....?

@jrharvey It's a simple method to track people coming into the country on visa runs. I'm not sure what all the "concern" is about. You were coming back anyway. And, of course you carry photocopies of your docs, right?

Or maybe they were made aware of your visa run intentions and wanted to get a headstart on the paperwork before you turned around. You carry photocopies of your docs, right?