Cambodia Visa
Almost every visitor needs a visa, it costs much the same online or at the desk, and the thing that has genuinely changed is where you are allowed to cross.
Last updated: August 2026.
Cambodia asks most visitors for a visa — there is no visa-free entry on an American, British, European, Australian or Canadian passport. The visa itself is cheap, quick and light on paperwork, available online before you fly or at the border when you land. Two things catch people out. The first is the entry point, because one entire border is shut and the online visa is not accepted everywhere. The second is the payment page: Cambodia attracts more copycat visa sites than anywhere else in the region.
Long stays work differently from the tourist visa, and differently from what most guides describe. Cambodia issues no standalone retirement visa and no standalone student visa. Both are extensions of stay granted inside the country on top of an ordinary visa you already hold, and the sections below set out how that actually works.
Tourist Entry
The tourist visa is type T: single entry, valid three months from the date of issue, good for a stay of 30 days from the day you enter. Validity and length of stay are different things — the three months is the window in which you may turn up, not how long you may remain (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visa types). Employment on a T visa is prohibited.
Nationals of the ASEAN member states enter without a visa for 14 to 30 days depending on the country. Beyond ASEAN, ordinary-passport exemptions are rare and no Western passport has one (visa exemption table, dated 20 February 2026).
e-Visa or visa on arrival
Both produce the same 30-day permission. The online route is worth it mainly for certainty at the desk and for airlines that ask to see a visa before boarding; the arrival route is worth it if you are deciding late.
| e-Visa (before you fly) | Visa on arrival | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | US$30 tourist (T); US$35 ordinary/business (E) | US$30 tourist; US$35 business — cash, US dollars |
| Where | evisa.gov.kh and nowhere else | The immigration desk, at an open entry point |
| Processing | About three working days | At the counter |
| Accepted at | Three airports plus two land crossings only — see below | Any open international entry point |
| Bring | Passport scan, digital photo, a payment card | A passport photograph and clean US dollar notes |
The tourist e-Visa fell from US$36 to US$30, and the ordinary/business one from US$42 to US$35, on 1 January 2025 (reported price change; the portal itself is the authority on today’s figure). The online portal issues five classes — diplomatic (A), official (B), courtesy (C), tourist (T) and ordinary/business (E) — and is run by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs directly, not by Cambodian embassies (MFAIC, Cambodia’s e-Visa). A sticker visa from an embassy is a third option; those fees are set per mission and differ from the online price, so ask the embassy that covers you.
Which borders are actually open
Every land crossing between Cambodia and Thailand is closed. The Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes an entry-and-exit-points table, dated 19 August 2026, which marks all seven Thai checkpoints — Poipet, Cham Yeam, Choam Sangam, Daung, Prom, O Smach and Preah Vihear — as closed for entry and for exit, beneath the note that “land border crossings between Cambodia and Thailand are currently closed due to ongoing conflicts” (Entry and Exit Points). They have been shut since late June 2025, and no reopening date has been announced.
That removes an itinerary rather than a formality. There is no visa on arrival at a closed border and no e-Visa either, so Bangkok to Siem Reap is a flight. Any guide still describing a bus through Poipet, or a visa on arrival at “major land borders” without qualification, is describing 2024. We set out what the closure does to the classic overland route in Bangkok to Siem Reap is flight-only.
Cambodia’s other land borders are unaffected. The crossings from Vietnam and Laos are open, and two of them take an e-Visa: Bavet, on the Ho Chi Minh City–Phnom Penh road, and Tropaeng Kreal from southern Laos. The remaining Vietnamese checkpoints are open but do not accept an e-Visa for entry, so arrive at those with a sticker visa already in your passport or take the visa on arrival. Exit is permitted at every open checkpoint.
| Entry point | Border | e-Visa accepted for entry |
|---|---|---|
| Techo International Airport (Phnom Penh) | — | Yes |
| Siem Reap–Angkor International Airport | — | Yes |
| Sihanoukville International Airport | — | Yes |
| Bavet (Svay Rieng) | Vietnam | Yes |
| Tropaeng Kreal (Stung Treng) | Laos | Yes |
| Eight other Vietnamese and Lao checkpoints | Vietnam, Laos | No — open, but e-Visa not accepted for entry |
| All seven Thai checkpoints | Thailand | Closed to entry and exit |
Separately from the crossings themselves, several governments advise against travel within roughly 50 km of the Cambodia–Thailand border (Government of Canada). Those advisories are specific to that strip: Siem Reap and Angkor sit around 140 km from it, Phnom Penh and the southern coast further still. Read the current advisory issued for your own nationality, note the provinces it names, and check whether your travel insurance excludes areas under an “avoid all travel” notice.
The e-Arrival card
Separately again from the visa, everyone flying into Cambodia files the Cambodia e-Arrival declaration — one online form that replaced the old paper immigration, customs and health cards. It must be submitted within seven days before arrival, it is free, and you keep the QR code to show at the desk (UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office). The requirement is written for arrivals by air at the three international airports; land arrivals have generally continued on paper, but the Cambodian embassy advises filing it in advance however you arrive, precisely because airline and border staff may ask for it (MFAIC, how to get a Cambodian visa).
There is exactly one official site: arrival.gov.kh, run by the General Department of Immigration, with an official app of the same name. Anything charging a fee for it is a third party.
Extending, and overstaying
A tourist (T) visa is extendable once. The ordinary/business (E) visa has multiple extension options, which is why it — and not the T — is the basis of every long stay in the two sections that follow (MFAIC, visa types). Apply before your current permission expires rather than after.
Overstaying carries a daily fine with no upper limit. Both the UK and Canadian advisories put it that way rather than publishing a rate; a figure of about US$10 a day circulates widely but is not published by the immigration department, so treat any number you are quoted as an estimate. Overstay by more than 30 days and you must leave the country as well as pay, with detention, deportation and a re-entry ban all possible (UK FCDO; Government of Canada).
Copycat visa sites
Cambodia has an unusually large ecosystem of commercial sites that copy the official portal’s design and wording, rank well in search, and charge a markup over the government fee for filling in the same form on your behalf. Some deliver a genuine visa, late. Some deliver nothing. Two checks make you safe:
- The domain must end in .gov.kh. There are only two: evisa.gov.kh for the visa and arrival.gov.kh for the arrival card. A name containing “cambodia” and “visa” in some order, ending in .com, .org or .info, is not the government however official the page looks.
- The price must match. If a site wants materially more than US$30 for a tourist e-Visa, or any money at all for the e-Arrival card, you are on a reseller.
Retirement & Long Stay
Cambodia does not issue a retirement visa. This is the most misreported fact about living in the country, and it matters practically: there is no form to submit from home, no retirement category at an embassy, and nothing on the online portal. What exists is an extension of stay, coded ER, granted inside Cambodia on top of an ordinary visa you already hold. People call it the retirement visa, and immigration prints ER on the sticker, but it is an extension — which is why you cannot arrange it before you arrive.
The route is two steps (MFAIC, the Cambodia Retirement Visa (ER)):
- Apply for the ordinary/business (E) visa, at a Cambodian embassy or online at evisa.gov.kh. It admits you for 30 days.
- Once in the country, apply at the immigration office, or through an agent, for the ER extension of stay. Your new sticker reads ER.
The ministry states the requirements as: you must be 55 or older, “although there may be exceptional cases”; you must show you are retired and no longer employed, with something such as a pension statement or a social security entitlement letter; and you must show sufficient funds to support yourself, by bank statement or a statement from your pension provider. Your passport needs at least six months’ validity. Health insurance is not required for the extension, but is recommended.
No minimum income figure is published. Agent sites and expatriate forums quote thresholds — around US$1,500 a month is the usual one — but neither the ministry nor the immigration department publishes an amount. Treat any specific number you are given as that agent’s working assumption rather than the rule, and prepare to show more rather than less.
The E visa carries four extensions of stay, and picking the right one matters more than the visa itself:
| Code | Who it is for | Durations | Entries |
|---|---|---|---|
| EB | Employees, freelancers and volunteers, and their dependants | 1, 3, 6, 12 months | 1 and 3 months single; 6 and 12 multiple |
| EG | Job seekers | 1, 3, 6 months | Generally single |
| ER | Retired, generally 55 or over, not employed | 1, 3, 6, 12 months | 1 and 3 months single; 6 and 12 multiple |
| ES | Students at a registered Cambodian school | 1, 3, 6, 12 months | 1 and 3 months single; 6 and 12 multiple |
Two consequences are worth planning around. A one- or three-month extension is single entry: leave the country on it and you cannot return on it, so anyone who expects to travel at all should take the six- or twelve-month option. And EB does not by itself grant the right to work — a separate work permit is still required, and the two are different applications. ER carries no such requirement, because it is granted on the basis that you are not working.
ER extensions are renewable indefinitely, so the arrangement is open-ended in practice even though each grant is finite. Fees rise with duration and are collected at the immigration office; they are not published in one stable public place, and agents add their own charge on top, so confirm the current figure before you commit rather than budgeting from a guide.
One route that often gets missed: anyone of Khmer origin or Cambodian ancestry, including a child born to a Cambodian citizen who now holds a foreign passport, can apply for the K visa — multiple entry, unlimited stay, valid until the passport expires. It is not transferable, so a new passport means a new application, and a foreign national married to a Cambodian citizen is not eligible and should use the T or E class instead (MFAIC, visa types).
Student Visas
Cambodia does not issue a standalone student visa either. Studying long term follows the same two-step shape as retirement: enter on the ordinary/business (E) visa, then convert to the ES extension of stay once you are in the country.
Because the E visa is one of the five classes the official portal issues online, a student in a country with no Cambodian embassy nearby can obtain the initial visa without travelling to one (MFAIC, Cambodia’s e-Visa).
For the ES extension the ministry lists two requirements: an enrolment letter from a registered Cambodian school, and proof of funds (MFAIC, E-class extensions of stay). “Registered” is the operative word. The letter has to come from an institution recognised in Cambodia, so an informal language course or an unregistered training outfit will not support an extension however genuine the teaching. Confirm in writing that the school can issue the letter before you pay any tuition, and ask to see one it has issued before.
Durations are the same 1, 3, 6 and 12 months, with the six- and twelve-month extensions multiple entry and the shorter two single entry — the same trap as ER. A student on a three-month extension who flies home for a holiday cannot come back on it. Renewal is by repeat application for as long as you stay enrolled, so keep the enrolment letter current; a lapsed course is a lapsed extension.
ES covers study, not work. Paid work needs the EB extension and a work permit, which are separate applications with separate requirements.
Before You Fly
- Passport. Valid at least six months from the date you arrive, with a blank page for the sticker. It must also be undamaged and complete — entry is normally refused for a damaged passport or missing pages (UK FCDO).
- Onward ticket and accommodation. The ministry lists a flight ticket and/or hotel booking among the supporting documents for a tourist visa, and there are recurring reports of airline staff refusing boarding to passengers without documentation, so carry both (MFAIC, visa types).
- Proof of funds. No Cambodian government source publishes a required amount, and neither the UK nor the Canadian advisory names one. Any figure you see quoted is somebody’s guess. Carry enough to cover yourself and be able to show it if asked.
- Cash, in US dollars. The dollar circulates alongside the riel, and a visa on arrival is paid in cash. Bring clean, unmarked notes — torn or written-on bills are routinely refused — and a spare passport photograph for the counter.
- e-Arrival. Filed within seven days before arrival, free of charge, at arrival.gov.kh. Save the QR code where you can reach it without a signal.
- An address. Expect to be asked where you are staying, so have the first night’s booking to hand rather than in an inbox you cannot open.
- Check which airport. Phnom Penh is now served by Techo International; the ministry’s checkpoint table lists Techo alone, the old Phnom Penh International having stopped taking civil flights in September 2025. Read the airport name on your ticket rather than the city.
- Leave on time. The fine for overstaying is daily and uncapped, and it is collected on your way out, when you have the least room to argue.
References
- Cambodia e-Visa — evisa.gov.kh — the official portal, operated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The only place to apply online.
- Cambodia e-Arrival — arrival.gov.kh — the official arrival declaration, run by the General Department of Immigration. Free.
- Entry and Exit Points — the ministry’s checkpoint table, dated 19 August 2026. The source for the Thai border closure and for which points accept an e-Visa.
- Types of Visas — classes A, B, C, E, T and K, with validity, length of stay and extension status for each.
- The Cambodia Retirement Visa (ER) — the retirement route in full, plus the EB / EG / ER / ES extension-of-stay table used above.
- Visa Exemption — which nationalities enter without a visa and for how long, dated 20 February 2026.
- How to Get a Cambodian Visa — the three routes (embassy, e-Visa, visa on arrival) and the e-Arrival advice.
- Cambodia’s e-Visa — which visa classes the online portal issues, and confirmation that embassies do not handle it. These ministry pages are published on the Royal Embassy of Cambodia (Berlin) site, which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintains.
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation — the department behind the visa system.
- General Department of Immigration — extensions of stay, arrival formalities and overstay.
- UK FCDO — Cambodia entry requirements — passport condition, the e-Arrival card and overstay penalties.
- Government of Canada — Cambodia travel advice — the border closure and the 50 km border-zone advisory.
- PacificAir — Bangkok to Siem Reap is flight-only — our own report on the closure, with the Thai and Cambodian press coverage behind it.
- Cambodia lowers electronic visa prices — a secondary trade source, used only for the 1 January 2025 fee reduction; the portal is the authority on the current price.
All of the above were checked in August 2026. Fees, open checkpoints and the border situation all change, and copycat sites move faster than official ones. Where anything here disagrees with a .gov.kh portal, the portal is right — check it last, shortly before you fly.