Cambodia Business Visa for Australians: 2026 E-Class Guide (Meetings, Work, Long Stays)
The Cambodia Business eVisa is much broader than "paid work" — it covers meetings, conferences, freelance gigs, due-diligence trips, and anyone staying longer than 30 days. $90 USD (~$137 AUD) all-in, 3 business days, and the only Cambodia visa you can extend in-country.
Who needs the Cambodia Business eVisa, and how does it differ from the Tourist?
The Cambodia Business eVisa (Type E, also called the E-Class or Ordinary visa) is for Australians doing anything that isn't pure leisure — business meetings, sales calls, supplier visits, sponsored conferences, due-diligence trips, paid work, training, or any stay longer than 30 days. $90 USD (~$137 AUD) all-in, approved in 3 business days. Same initial 30-day stay as the Tourist, but the Business eVisa is the only one that can be extended in-country (1, 3, 6, or 12 months) — which is why digital nomads, retirees, and anyone on an extended trip use it.
Key Takeaways
- The Cambodia Business eVisa (E-Class) is for meetings, sales calls, supplier visits, sponsored conferences, due-diligence trips, paid work, freelance gigs, training, and any stay longer than 30 days — far broader than "paid work" alone.
- $90 USD all-in (~$137 AUD), approved in 3 business days, same online flow as the Tourist eVisa.
- It is the only Cambodia visa that can be extended in-country — 1, 3, 6, or 12-month extensions through a Cambodian immigration agent once you arrive.
- Same passport and photo specs as the Tourist eVisa — and unusually for a regional business visa, no sponsor letter, employment contract, or company invitation is required at the application stage.
- The e-Arrival Card is still separate and mandatory. Business eVisa or Tourist, every air arrival files it.
Why this matters for business-trip Aussies in 2026
Cambodia's investment story is louder than most Aussies realise. Manufacturing capacity has been quietly relocating out of southern China since 2023, the Phnom Penh–Sihanoukville logistics corridor is being rebuilt around the new Techo International Airport, and ASEAN financial integration has pulled in a fresh wave of Australian banks, consultancies, and mining-services firms running scoping trips through the country. The result, in 2026, is more genuine business travel between Australia and Cambodia than at any point since 2019.
Most Aussies still default to the Tourist eVisa for those trips. That is a mistake — and an expensive one if Cambodian Immigration takes a closer look at the purpose of your visit. The Tourist eVisa is not a catch-all. Cambodia issues a separate Business eVisa (the E-Class, sometimes called Ordinary) precisely for the trips Australians most often misclassify, and the gap between the two routes opens up the moment your stay runs over 30 days or your trip touches anything paid.
This is the deep-dive on the Business eVisa for Australian travellers in 2026 — who actually needs it, what it costs, how the extensions work, and how it compares against the Tourist. If you want the wider eligibility picture first, the Do Australians Need a Visa for Cambodia pillar is the place to start, and the Cambodia eVisa vs Visa on Arrival comparison covers the airport-arrival side. For the umbrella reference on cost, documents, and processing time, see the official Cambodia eVisa for Australians hub.
What "business" actually means for Cambodian Immigration
The single most common misframing among Australian travellers is treating the Business eVisa as a paid-work visa. It is much broader than that. Cambodian Immigration reads the Business (E-Class) category as the category for anyone whose trip is not pure leisure — and the list of trips that fall outside pure leisure is longer than most Aussies expect.
Below is the working list we apply when an Australian traveller asks which one fits. If your trip touches any of these, the Business eVisa is the safer and almost always the correct route.
- Sales meetings or client visits — e.g. a Sydney account director flying into Phnom Penh for a week of pitches with garment manufacturers.
- Supplier visits and factory inspections — e.g. a Melbourne footwear brand auditing a contract producer in Kandal or Kampong Speu.
- Sponsored conferences and trade fairs — e.g. an Adelaide fintech founder speaking at a regional summit in Phnom Penh.
- Due-diligence trips for investment or acquisition — e.g. a Brisbane private-equity analyst spending three weeks on-site reviewing a target.
- Investor scouting and market-entry research — e.g. a Perth resource-services executive scoping office space and partner introductions.
- Paid work, contract, or freelance gigs — e.g. an Aussie designer on a four-week project with a Phnom Penh agency, paid in USD.
- Sponsored training or professional development — e.g. an Australian NGO worker running a two-week capacity build with a local team.
- Board meetings or governance trips — e.g. an Australian director sitting on the board of a Cambodian subsidiary, flying in quarterly.
- Any digital-nomad or remote-work stay longer than 30 days — e.g. a Melbourne software developer based in Siem Reap for three months.
- Any retirement, sabbatical, or long-stay reconnaissance — e.g. an Aussie couple spending six months trialling life in Kampot before deciding to settle.
- Any trip where you genuinely plan to stay longer than 30 days, for any reason — the Tourist eVisa caps at 30 days with no extension since November 2025.
The pattern across that list is the same. The Business eVisa is the category for trips that have a structured purpose or a duration longer than a normal holiday. It is not just for executives on payroll. A freelance designer, a sabbatical retiree, and a remote-working software engineer all fit cleanly inside it.
Tourist eVisa vs Business eVisa: the honest side-by-side
Here is the honest comparison for Australians choosing between the two routes in 2026. The fields that matter to a business trip are the bottom three — extendable in-country, best for, and not suitable for.
When Tourist isn't enough — three Aussie scenarios
Scenario one: a Sydney consultant flies into Phnom Penh for what she calls a holiday, but spends three afternoons in client meetings on her firm's behalf. Cambodian Immigration treats that as business travel. The Tourist eVisa technically does not cover it, and a candid answer to the officer at the desk — "I'm here for two meetings and then a few days at Angkor" — gets her flagged. The Business eVisa is the clean route. Same price difference as a cup of airport coffee.
Scenario two: a Brisbane software engineer is working remotely for an Australian employer while based in Siem Reap for six weeks. The trip is leisure in shape, but the work is paid and the stay is over 30 days. The Tourist eVisa caps at 30 days with no extension since November 2025 — there is no legal path to stay longer on that visa. The Business eVisa, with a 1-month extension lodged in-country, is the correct and only route.
Scenario three: a Perth retiree couple are spending three months in Kampot trialling life there before deciding whether to relocate. No paid work, no meetings, no business contacts — but the stay is 90 days. Same answer. The Tourist eVisa cannot stretch beyond 30 days. The Business eVisa, with a 3-month extension, fits the trip cleanly.
In-country extensions: how the Business eVisa keeps working
The single biggest reason the Business eVisa exists for Australians in 2026 is the extension. The Tourist eVisa is a hard 30 days. The Business eVisa lets you stay another 1, 3, 6, or 12 months on top of the initial 30 — and the extension is lodged inside Cambodia, with a Cambodian immigration agent, while you are already in the country. It is the only visa that supports this. Our Australian application walkthrough covers the upfront online form; the extension flow comes later, on the ground.
Documents required (and what is NOT required)
The Cambodia Business eVisa application asks for the same short pack as the Tourist. Five items, all of which most Aussies already have on hand. Roughly ten minutes online if your passport and a fresh photo are ready on the same device.
- Australian passport — at least 6 months validity from your planned date of arrival in Cambodia, with at least one full blank page for the entry stamp.
- Digital passport-style photo — 4×6 cm, plain white background, taken in the last 6 months, no glasses, no hats, no smile, neutral expression. JPEG, under 2 MB.
- Clear scan or phone photo of your passport bio page — both edges visible, no glare on the laminate, all text legible.
- Working email address — the approval PDF lands here.
- Payment method — Visa, Mastercard, AmEx, PayPal, Apple Pay or Google Pay. AUD equivalent shown on your card statement.
Now the unusual part. The Cambodia Business eVisa is one of the few regional business visas that requires zero corporate documentation at the application stage. No sponsor letter from a Cambodian company. No employment contract. No formal invitation. No return flight ticket. No hotel booking. No bank statement. Compared with the Vietnam DN visa, the Thailand B visa, or the Indonesia C312, this is a remarkably light pack. Our Cambodia eVisa documents required guide for Australians lays out the full document set in detail.
That doesn't mean Immigration won't ask casual questions at the airport about the purpose of your visit — they sometimes do. But the application itself sticks to the basics. If you can complete a Tourist eVisa, you can complete a Business one. The price step from $80 USD (~$122 AUD) to $90 USD (~$137 AUD) is a $10 USD difference for a visa class that opens up a fundamentally different trip.
How extensions work in-country
Once you are in Cambodia on the Business eVisa, extensions are arranged through a Cambodian immigration agent — not directly with the General Department of Immigration. Most Aussies use an agent based in Phnom Penh or Siem Reap; the agent takes your passport, lodges the extension paperwork, and returns it stamped a week or two later.
Four extension lengths are available: 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months. All four are renewable — you can stack a 6-month extension on top of an earlier 6-month one, for example, and run a full year in-country on the same original Business eVisa. The 12-month extension is multi-entry, which matters if you plan to slip out to Bangkok or Singapore midway.
Indicative agent fees are a moving target — Cambodian agent pricing fluctuates with demand and with the riel-dollar rate — so we don't quote exact AUD figures here. As a working ballpark in 2026, expect the 1-month extension to be the cheapest per-month rate to start but a poor value for stays longer than a few weeks. The 3-month and 6-month extensions tend to be the sweet spots: the per-month rate drops sharply, and most Aussies on extended business trips or digital-nomad stays land in one of those two buckets. The 12-month extension is the best value per month for genuine long-stayers and retirees.
Process time is typically 7 to 14 days for the agent to return your stamped passport. Recommendation: start the extension paperwork at least 2 weeks before your initial 30-day stay expires. Cutting it closer than that puts you at risk of overstay — the Cambodian overstay penalty is $10 USD per day from day one, payable in cash at the airport on exit, and an overstay over a few weeks long can affect future visa applications.
Common Aussie use cases mapped to extension length
Choosing the right extension length up front saves money and a second trip to the agent. Here is the working map we use with Australian travellers, based on the trips we see most often.
- 1 month — short consulting gigs, extended due diligence, or an executive who needs a few extra weeks past the initial 30 days to wrap up a contract or close a deal.
- 3 months — a quarterly assignment, a single-project contract for an Aussie freelancer, or a structured business development trip with multiple supplier visits. One of the two sweet-spot rates.
- 6 months — digital-nomad seasonal stays (the classic dry-season Aussie in Siem Reap), longer contract work for an Australian employer with a Phnom Penh client, or a sabbatical. The other sweet-spot rate, and the most common pick among Aussie remote workers we process.
- 12 months — long-term contract work, retirement reconnaissance (an Aussie couple trialling a full year in Kampot or Kep before deciding to stay), or any Aussie with a genuine multi-year plan in Cambodia who wants the multi-entry flexibility for trips home and to Singapore or Bangkok.
The honest framing on cost: the 3-month and 6-month extensions deliver the best Australian-dollar value per month of stay. The 1-month is convenient but expensive per day; the 12-month is the cheapest per day but only makes sense if you genuinely plan to use most of it. Our Cambodia visa cost guide for Australians has the full upfront-vs-extension cost picture.
Thailand
Visa-free 60 days
Bangkok in, Siem Reap out — but the land border's closed.
Read the 2026 update →Vietnam
eVisa required ($25 single / $50 multi)
Classic Indochina pairing. Phu Quoc beaches are visa-free for 30 days.
See the combo guide →Laos
eVisa $50 or VoA $35–40
Overlooked third stop on the Indochina loop.
Plan the Laos route →Singapore
Visa-free 90 days (SGAC needed)
Where most Aussies stop on the way through.
Sort the stopover →Indonesia
e-VOA required ($35 + Bali levy)
Bali or Cambodia for your next trip — or both?
Compare the two →Border presentation and arrival in Cambodia
Arrival on the Business eVisa is identical to arrival on the Tourist. Print two A4 copies of the Business eVisa approval PDF — one for entry, one for exit. Carry your Australian passport with at least 6 months validity. Have your e-Arrival QR code saved to your phone, screenshot for offline access.
Open airports for Aussie arrivals are KTI (Phnom Penh — the new Techo International Airport), SAI (Siem Reap), and KOS (Sihanoukville). Land entry is realistic only from Vietnam at Bavet, or from Laos at Tropaeng Kreal — all seven Thailand–Cambodia land borders have been closed since June 2025.
The immigration officer may ask the purpose of your visit. Answer honestly — "business meetings," "client visit," "sponsored conference," or "remote work for an Australian employer" are all standard answers. There is no trick question here, and the Business eVisa is the visa that explicitly authorises those activities. Queue time is typically 10–20 minutes through the manual desk, faster through the e-gate. The Cambodia visa processing time from Australia guide covers the timing side end-to-end, and the Smartraveller advisory is the official Australian government view.
Next steps and related reading for Australians: apply for your Cambodia eVisa when you are ready to lodge, bookmark our Cambodia visa hub for Australian citizens as the single canonical reference, skim the FAQ on Cambodia visa business visa for quick answers, and use our glossary of Cambodia visa terms to decode any acronym in this guide.
Frequently asked questions
Who needs the Cambodia Business eVisa?
Any Australian whose trip is not pure leisure, or whose stay runs longer than 30 days. That covers business meetings, sales calls, supplier visits, sponsored conferences, due-diligence trips, paid work, freelance and contract gigs, sponsored training, board meetings, and any digital-nomad or retirement-reconnaissance stay over 30 days. The Business eVisa (E-Class) is much broader than 'paid work' alone — it is the catch-all category Cambodian Immigration uses for structured-purpose or long-duration visits.
Can I use the Tourist eVisa for a business meeting in Cambodia?
Strictly, no. The Tourist eVisa (T-Class) covers leisure, family visits, and sightseeing. A trip that includes client meetings, sales calls, supplier visits, or any paid work falls under the Business eVisa (E-Class). The price step is small — $80 USD (~$122 AUD) to $90 USD (~$137 AUD), a $10 USD difference — but the visa class is the right one for the activity. Cambodian Immigration sometimes asks 'purpose of visit' at the desk, and the honest answer should match the visa in your passport.
How long can I stay in Cambodia on the Business eVisa?
The initial stay is 30 days from arrival, identical to the Tourist eVisa. The difference is the extension. Once you are in Cambodia, the Business eVisa can be extended through a Cambodian immigration agent for 1, 3, 6, or 12 months — and the extensions are renewable, so a long-stay Aussie can run 12 months or more on the same original Business eVisa.
Can I extend the Cambodia Business eVisa in-country?
Yes — and it is the only Cambodia visa that supports this. The Tourist eVisa cannot be extended (the old auto-extension ended in November 2025). Business eVisa extensions are arranged through a Cambodian immigration agent in Phnom Penh or Siem Reap, take 7–14 days to process, and are available in 1, 3, 6, or 12-month lengths. The 12-month extension is multi-entry, which matters if you plan to leave and re-enter Cambodia during a long stay.
Do I need a sponsor letter or company invitation?
No. The Cambodia Business eVisa is unusual among regional business visas for requiring zero corporate documentation at the application stage. No sponsor letter, no employment contract, no formal invitation from a Cambodian company, no return flight ticket, no hotel booking, no bank statement. Compared with the Vietnam DN visa, Thailand B visa, or Indonesia C312, the document pack is remarkably light. Just passport, photo, email, payment.
What if I'm a digital nomad or freelancer?
The Business eVisa is the route for you. Remote work paid from outside Cambodia, freelance contracts, design work, software development, content work — all of it sits inside the E-Class. The 6-month extension is the most common pick for Aussie digital nomads doing a dry-season stay in Siem Reap or Phnom Penh, and the 3-month extension fits shorter project-based work. Both extension lengths land on the best per-month rate.
How do extensions work and how much do they cost?
Extensions are lodged through a Cambodian immigration agent (not directly with the General Department of Immigration), typically in Phnom Penh or Siem Reap. You hand over your passport, the agent files the paperwork, and your passport is returned stamped 7–14 days later. Agent fees fluctuate with the local market, so we don't quote exact AUD figures, but the 3-month and 6-month extensions tend to deliver the best per-month value. The 1-month is convenient but expensive per day; the 12-month is the cheapest per day but only makes sense for genuine long-stayers. Start the paperwork at least 2 weeks before your initial 30-day stay expires.
Can I switch from a Tourist eVisa to a Business eVisa once I am in Cambodia?
No. Visa class conversion inside Cambodia is not supported for Australians on the eVisa system. If you enter on a Tourist eVisa and then realise you need the Business class — for an unexpected meeting, an extended stay, or a freelance gig that came up — your two options are to exit Cambodia and re-enter on a fresh Business eVisa, or to live with the 30-day cap. The cleanest answer is to apply for the Business eVisa from Australia before you fly if there is any chance your trip touches business activity or runs over 30 days.
Sources
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