Here below is the border run experience from a customer who did border run on April 2022. As we know, Vietnam does not allow for visa extension in this period, so the best way to prolong the stay in Vietnam is doing border run. He stays in Ho Chi Minh city, 80 km far from Moc Bai border gate, so he decided to cross the border from Moc Bai (Tay Ninh, Vietnam) to Bavet (Cambodia), and re-enter Vietnam with a new E-visa. Of course, he applied the new E-visa through our website https://www.vietnamimmigration.com/apply-vietnam-visa/ and prepare carefully for the plan. Those who are interested in border run can read below for reference:
I did a border run at Moc Bai today to reenter VN using a 2nd evisa. Some details:
RAT Test: I got this done in Saigon instead of risking a positive in Cambodia. Went to Diag Lab on Yersin near Bui Vien for RAT, 135k on Traveloka. Got results by SMS in 20 min and went back to get a hardcopy.
To Bus Station: Take Bus 4 to An Suong station, it leaves from the bus stop around the corner from Diag Lab on Pham Ngu Lao. Download app ‘BusMap’ for info. There was a promo on GrabCar though so I used that for 154k. Took about 40min. I tried to just order GrabCar to Moc Bai but no cars accepted.
An Suong to Moc Bai: At An Suong station go to counter 3 of the Dong Phuoc company and ask for the bus to Moc Bai. This is a 16 seater private minibus, not a public bus. It cost 90k and takes 2h. The ticket lists the license plate number of your minibus. Bus was full but pretty good leg room and the AC worked. It does stop frequently. Don’t know how many minibuses go per day, perhaps every hour. I got to the station at 8:40am and was given a ticket for the 9:30 am departure. The minibus drops you off at the roundabout 20 minutes walk from the border office. Moto taxis will hoard your bus and drive you to the border for 30k (maybe you can bargain for less but I didn’t bother).
At Moc Bai: Walk into the VN immigration office ignoring anyone who talks to you. Go directly to the counter (seems the one saying ‘VIP’ is the one to go to). Hand in your passport with your evisa and 200k VND. I only put 100k and the officer told me “money” at which point I gave him another 100k and he was happy. I had to wait a while as the officer was processing bus loads of passports.
To Bavet, Cambodia: it’s only a short 5 min walk over to the Cambodia border office but there are moto taxis that can take you. Once you walk into the office they’ll be a large desk. You need to show your vax cert, Covid test, evisa and passport. It’s pretty confusing as one form for the vax is only in Khmer but ppl are pretty nice compared to the Viet side. After finishing all the forms you can proceed to the immigration counter to be stamped. No one asks for bribes. Cambodia deserves thanks for reducing corruption at this border.
You can then walk into Bavet. There is barely anything there now. All the hotel casinos seem dead. There’s a grocery store and a few outdoor restaurants. I walked around for a few minutes then just turned back to VN.
Back to Moc Bai: the first stop is a VN health area where shady guys will try to talk to you. I just ignored them and proceeded to the desk. Showed my vax, Covid test, and health decl QR and they let me through. If you don’t have the test you take it here for $10.
Go back to VN immigration. I gave the officer my passport and evisa. He then straight out asked me for “10 dollar” so I gave him 200k and he was happy. He looked at my passport for a while, I assume checking to make sure I actually had entered Cambodia. Finally stamped it and I was back in.
After that there’s another health area where they check docs (can’t remember if I gave them vax or Covid test but it was something like that).
Back to Saigon: there was a shady guy in the immigration hall offering a taxi back to District 1. Settled on 1.1 million, probably cld have gotten him down to 900k to 1m but I was tired so just used him. It was good, he dropped me directly at my hotel in D1. If I had used the minibus I would have needed to go back to the roundabout and wait for who knows how long.
Conclusions: VN immigration is corrupt AF but I guess 400k isn’t that bad for coffee money. Transport is an issue now since Bus 70-3 still isn’t running from Bui Vien park. Until it re-starts I would suggest looking into whether it’s cheaper to fly to Malaysia.
