Name Mismatch on Your Cambodia eVisa? How Americans Match the Passport Exactly

Field-by-field: surname, given names, middle name, suffixes

Here is how each name element maps onto the application, with the specific slip that bounces each one. Work through your bio page top to bottom and the form fills itself in.

Surname (family name)

Type your surname exactly as the bio page prints it, including any hyphen, apostrophe, or space inside it. If your passport shows a hyphenated surname like "Smith-Jones", keep the hyphen. If it shows two words like "De La Cruz", keep both words and the spaces. The error we see most here is dropping a hyphen ("SmithJones") or collapsing a two-word surname into one. Match the passport, punctuation and all.

Given names — first and middle together

Put your first name and your middle name (if the passport prints one) in the given-names field, in that order, separated by a single space. If your bio page shows "MARY ELIZABETH", type "Mary Elizabeth" — both names, in order. The common Americans’ mistake is leaving the middle name out because they never use it, or because there was a separate middle-name box on some other form they filled out recently. The Cambodia eVisa wants the full given-names string the passport carries. If your passport prints only a first name, type only the first name.

Suffixes: Jr., Sr., II, III

This one is binary. Look at your bio page. If a suffix like "JR" or "III" appears in the given-names line on the passport, include it on the application exactly as shown. If the passport does not print a suffix — and many US passports do not, even when the person uses one daily — leave it off the application. Adding a "Jr." your passport omits is a mismatch; so is dropping one your passport keeps. The passport decides, not your habit.

A handful of other small things trip the name field too: typing in all capitals when the form is case-insensitive (harmless, but check the form’s guidance), using an accented character your US passport renders without the accent, or pasting from an email signature that adds a credential like "MD" or "PhD" the passport never carries. Strip anything the bio page does not show. If a different field is the problem rather than the name itself, our guide on how to fix wrong information on a Cambodia eVisa covers what is correctable and how.

Married names, maiden names, and recent changes

Name changes are the other big source of mismatches for Americans, and the rule is simple even when the situation is not: apply in the name your current passport shows, full stop. The eVisa is tied to the passport you travel on, so the application name has to match that book — not your married name if the passport still shows your maiden name, and not your maiden name if you have already updated the passport. If you hold a second nationality, the same logic decides which passport to use for your Cambodia eVisa: apply in the name on the book you will actually present at the kiosk.

If you married and have not yet renewed your passport, your bio page still prints your maiden name. Apply in your maiden name. You will travel on that passport, Immigration will scan that passport, and the eVisa must match it. Bringing a marriage certificate does not let you apply in a name your passport does not carry — the system matches the passport, not your legal history. The same applies in reverse: if you already renewed into your married name, apply in the married name and forget the maiden name entirely.

Do not mix the two names anywhere on the application, and do not try to include both. A hyphenated combination of maiden and married names only works if that exact combination is what your passport prints. If your passport says "GARCIA" and your new married name is "Reed", the application says Garcia. The day your renewed passport arrives showing "Reed", that is the day your eVisa name changes too — and if you have already applied under the old name and your passport changes before you fly, you will need a fresh application matching the new book.

If your passport is also close to expiring, sort the renewal before you apply, not after. A routine US passport renewal through the State Department runs several weeks, and applying for the eVisa on a book you are about to replace just means doing it twice. Our Cambodia eVisa required documents checklist for US citizens lays out the passport validity and blank-page rules alongside the name match, so nothing about your passport surprises you at the gate.

You already applied with a mismatch — now what?

First, do not panic and do not start a brand-new application. A name mismatch is one of the most routine corrections there is, and starting over usually creates a duplicate that slows you down rather than speeding you up. If your file is flagged, you will get an email telling you what to fix. Reply with the corrected name and the 3-business-day clock keeps running — you do not go to the back of the queue, and there is no extra charge.

If you noticed the mismatch yourself before any flag came back, that is even better. The correction can usually be made on the existing file rather than a new one, which keeps your place in line. Have your passport bio page in front of you when you reach out so the corrected name can be confirmed against it in one pass. The whole point of catching it early is that a mismatch found before approval costs minutes, while a mismatch found at the airport costs a flight.

It helps to know the difference between a held file and a true rejection. A name mismatch is a correctable hold: free resubmission, clock keeps running, eVisa still arrives as a printable PDF. A true denial is a different animal and far rarer for US travelers. If you want to see what actually triggers an outright rejection rather than a fixable correction, our guide to why Cambodia eVisa applications get rejected lays it out so you know which bucket your situation falls into.

A 30-second check before you submit

Run this short routine before you hit submit and a name mismatch never reaches the queue. It takes about half a minute and it catches every pattern on our log.

• Open your US passport to the bio page and put it next to the screen — not your driver’s license, not your memory.
• Read your surname off the passport and confirm it matches the surname field letter for letter, including any hyphen or space.
• Read your given names — first plus any middle name, in order — and confirm the given-names field matches exactly.
• Check the suffix: if the passport prints "Jr." or "III", it is on the form; if it does not, it is off the form.
• Confirm every hyphen and apostrophe is preserved, and that no credential (MD, PhD) or nickname has crept in.
• Glance at the two machine-readable lines at the bottom of the bio page and confirm the letters and order agree with what you typed.

That is the entire check. If all six line up, your name will match when Cambodian Immigration scans your passport at the kiosk, and the most common fixable hold for US travelers simply cannot happen to your file. The same passport you applied with is the one you carry through the gate, so the two will always agree.

Getting your name right the first time

The whole skill here is one habit: treat your US passport bio page as the only source of truth and copy your name from it, not from how you usually write it. Family name in the surname box, first and middle in the given-names box, suffix only if the passport shows it, every hyphen and apostrophe preserved, the machine-readable zone as your tiebreaker. Do that and your Tourist eVisa ($80 USD all-in) or Business eVisa ($90 USD all-in) lands as a printable PDF inside 3 business days, with free resubmission and US-timezone support if anything ever does need a fix.

One last reminder that applies to every Cambodia trip in 2026: the visa is one form and the e-Arrival card is a different form, and both are mandatory for every air arrival. Your name has to match your passport on both. The visa application happens now; the e-Arrival is filed within 7 days before you fly. The Cambodia visa guide for United States citizens stays the single canonical reference for everything around the trip.

Next steps and related reading for Americans: apply for your Cambodia eVisa with your passport open beside you, run through the required documents checklist before you upload, scan the full list of application mistakes to avoid, and read how to fix wrong information on a Cambodia eVisa if you have already submitted with a slip.