Either works — Cambodian Immigration accepts your eVisa on your phone screen or on paper. But the travelers who never sweat the question are the ones who carry both. Here is the short answer for Americans, and the one backup that turns a dead battery into a non-event.
Either is accepted. Cambodian Immigration at Techo International Airport (KTI) will take your eVisa shown on your phone screen or printed on paper — there is no rule requiring one format over the other. The practical answer for Americans is to carry both: keep the approval PDF saved offline on your phone for a fast scan at the desk, and bring one printed copy as a backup for a dead battery, a shattered screen, or no signal. Whichever you show, the officer wants to see the entire eVisa page, not just the QR code, so make sure the full approval is visible. The eVisa is the document you carry; the separate e-Arrival Card you file in the week before you fly returns its own QR code, which is scanned at the first kiosk before you ever reach the Immigration desk.
Both formats are accepted. You can show your Cambodia eVisa on your phone screen at the Immigration desk, or you can hand over a printed copy — Cambodian Immigration at Techo International Airport (KTI) takes either one. Nobody at the desk will turn you away for choosing the wrong format, because there is no wrong format. That is the honest, two-second answer.
So why does this question come up so often? Because "accepted" and "smooth" are not the same thing. A phone is faster until the battery dies, the screen cracks, or the airport Wi-Fi will not load the PDF you never saved offline. A printout never runs out of charge but is easy to leave at home, and a corner-only photo of your eVisa is not enough for the officer to read. The travelers who never think twice about this at the desk are the ones who quietly carry both. The format is not the risk — being caught with neither is.
This guide gives you the format answer, then the small habits that make either one bulletproof: what Immigration actually needs to see, how to save the PDF so it works with no signal, and where the eVisa and the e-Arrival QR fit in the KTI arrival flow. When you are ready, you can apply for the eVisa in a few minutes, and our Cambodia visa for United States citizens pulls cost, documents, and processing into one reference. Sort the visa first — everything at the airport assumes it is already approved.
Before you decide phone or paper, it helps to know what the officer at KTI is actually checking. The eVisa is delivered as a printable PDF by email after it is approved in 3 business days, and it carries your name, passport number, visa type, validity dates, and a reference number, alongside a QR code or barcode. The officer reads the whole page to confirm the visa is valid and matches the passport in their hand — not just the QR.
That last point is where most avoidable friction comes from. Travelers screenshot or photograph only the QR code or only the top corner of the approval, assuming the code is the document. It is not. If the officer cannot see your name, passport number, and the validity dates on the same page, they ask you to find the rest — and at the desk, with a queue behind you, that is the slowest moment to be scrolling. Show the entire eVisa page, however you carry it.
On a phone, the officer glances at your screen, sometimes scans the QR with a handheld reader, checks it against your passport, and waves you through. On paper, they take the sheet, do the same check, and often keep or stamp it. Neither is faster in a way you will notice when both are done right. The difference shows up only when something goes wrong — a phone with no battery cannot show anything, and a printout you left in the hotel safe cannot either.
Worth being precise about one thing: the eVisa is not the only document the officer wants. They also check your US passport and confirm your e-Arrival declaration was scanned at the earlier kiosk. Our guide to what to show at Cambodia Immigration on arrival lays out the full set in order, so you are not guessing what to have in hand when you reach the front of the line.
If both formats are accepted, the question stops being "which one" and becomes "what happens when my chosen one fails." That is the framing that matters, because the failures are mundane and common — not edge cases.
Carrying both costs you one sheet of paper and the 30 seconds it takes to save a PDF offline. There is no downside and a long list of small disasters it quietly prevents. If you want the deeper case for the paper side specifically — and whether a print is ever strictly required — our explainer on whether you have to print the Cambodia eVisa for the airport covers it in full.
There is also a middle path worth knowing about: a screenshot of the full eVisa page saved to your photo library, which works offline even when the email will not load. It is not a replacement for a printout, but it is a strong second layer on the phone side — and having it ready matters most when the line is long and the officer wants the page up fast. Our read on the KTI Immigration wait time shows when the desk gets busiest, so you know when speed at the front of the queue actually counts.
Carrying both only helps if each copy is set up right. A phone copy that needs Wi-Fi to open and a printout of just the QR code are two ways to carry the eVisa and still get stuck. Here is the five-minute setup that makes both copies reliable before you leave home.
When your approval email arrives, open the PDF and save it to your device, not just to the email. On an iPhone, open the PDF and use Save to Files, or share it into your Books or photo library. On Android, download the PDF and confirm it is in your Files or Downloads, not only sitting in Gmail. Then turn on airplane mode and check you can still open it. If it opens with no signal, you are set. As a second layer, take a screenshot of the full eVisa page so it lives in your camera roll, which is the fastest thing to pull up at the desk.
Print the entire eVisa PDF on a single sheet of standard paper — black and white is fine, Cambodian Immigration does not need color. The whole page matters: your name, passport number, visa type, validity dates, and the QR code all need to be legible. Do not print a phone photo of just the QR; print the actual PDF. Fold it once and keep it with your passport, not buried in checked baggage, so it is in your hand when you reach the desk.
If you are leaning on the phone copy, treat your battery like a document too. Land with charge to spare by topping up on the plane or in the layover, and carry a small power bank in your personal item. American travelers often arrive at KTI after 20-plus hours of travel with a phone that has been working hard the whole way — the printout exists for exactly that arrival.
One reason the phone-or-print question gets tangled is that two different QR codes are in play at KTI, and travelers mix them up. The eVisa and the e-Arrival Card are separate documents, checked at separate points, and knowing which is which removes most of the confusion at the airport.
The e-Arrival Card comes first. It is a mandatory arrival declaration of 14 fields that you file within the 7 days before your flight, and submitting it returns a QR code. That e-Arrival QR is the very first thing scanned at KTI, at a kiosk before you reach the Immigration desk. It is almost always shown on the phone, because you only just received it and there is rarely time to print — though a screenshot of the confirmation is still smart insurance.
Once the eVisa PDF is approved in 3 business days and emailed to you, save it to your device and confirm it opens in airplane mode.
Print the entire eVisa page on a single sheet — name, passport number, visa type, validity dates, and QR — and fold it with your passport.
Within the 7 days before arrival, submit the 14-field e-Arrival Card ($5 USD) and keep its returned QR ready on your phone.
At KTI, the e-Arrival QR is the first thing scanned, at a kiosk before you reach the Immigration desk.
At the desk the officer checks your passport and full eVisa together, on phone or paper — whichever you choose is accepted.
The eVisa comes second, at the Immigration desk itself, and that is the document this guide is about — the one where phone or print is genuinely your call. The officer there checks your passport and your eVisa together. To see the full sequence and the order each scan happens, our Techo airport arrival walkthrough takes you gate to taxi step by step.
Practically, that means you may end up showing your phone for the e-Arrival QR at the kiosk and then your printout for the eVisa at the desk a minute later — and that is completely normal. Keep the e-Arrival screenshot easy to reach for the kiosk, and keep your eVisa printout folded with your passport for the desk. Two checks, two documents, two formats if you like. No conflict.
Did this guide help you?
إذا كانت رحلتك إلى كمبوديا ستستمر أكثر من 30 يوماً، فإن نوع التأشيرة التي تدخل بها يحدد كل شيء. تأشيرة السياحة الإلكترونية (النوع T) محدودة صراحةً بـ30 يوماً دون إمكانية التمديد. تأشيرة الأعمال الإلكترونية (النوع E) هي الفئة الوحيدة التي يمكنك تمديدها داخل البلاد — لمدة 1، 3، 6 أو 12 شهرًا. إليك كيفية اختيار الأمريكيين الصحيح قبل السفر.
Three things cross the counter at Cambodia Immigration: your US passport, your eVisa, and your e-Arrival QR code. Here is exactly what the officer wants to see, in what order, and the small mismatches that turn a 30-second stamp into a side-desk detour at KTI.
With every Thailand–Cambodia land border still closed, Bavet is now the main overland way into Cambodia from Vietnam. Six hours from Ho Chi Minh City, one printed eVisa, no e-Arrival Card — here is how US citizens actually do it in 2026.
One more thing that has nothing to do with format but trips Americans up at the same desk: the tourist visa auto-extension ended in November 2025, so your 30-day single-entry stay is firm with no automatic grace period. And do not plan a land crossing as a fallback — all seven Thailand–Cambodia land borders have been closed since June 2025, so flying into KTI is the route in.
Bangkok in, Siem Reap out — but the land border is closed, so fly between them.
Read the 2026 update →Classic Indochina pairing. Phu Quoc beaches are visa-free for 30 days.
See the combo guide →The overlooked third stop on the Indochina loop.
Plan the Laos route →
