8 Cambodia eVisa Application Mistakes Americans Make (and How to Avoid Them)
Almost every Cambodia eVisa correction we see from US travelers traces back to the same eight mistakes. None of them are hard to avoid once you know the list. Here is what they are and how to get the form right the first time.
What are the most common Cambodia eVisa application mistakes Americans make?
The most common mistakes are: entering your name or passport number differently from your bio page, uploading a photo that gets auto-flagged (smile, glasses, off-white wall, low resolution), applying with a passport under 6 months of validity or with no blank page, leaving the e-Arrival card until the airport, and applying too close to departure. Each one is avoidable. Copy your details off the passport bio page exactly, take a clean photo against a white wall, check your passport expiry and blank pages before you start, file the separate e-Arrival card within 7 days of arrival, and apply at least a week out so the 3-business-day clock has room.
Key Takeaways
- The top mistake is a name or passport-number mismatch — copy every detail off the bio-page machine-readable zone exactly, not how you usually write it.
- Photo flags (smiles, glasses, off-white walls, low resolution) are the single most common reason a US application loses a day; all are easy to avoid.
- A US passport under 6 months of validity or with no blank page gets you stopped at the US gate before you ever reach Cambodia.
- Skipping the separate e-Arrival card is the most common 2026 trip-stopper at the kiosk — it is a different form, $5 USD, filed within 7 days before you fly.
- Apply at least a week out: the eVisa takes 3 business days, weekends and US holidays do not count, and last-minute filing leaves no room for a correction.
Why these mistakes matter more than they look
The Cambodia eVisa is one of the easiest applications a US traveler will ever fill out — five things to gather, about ten minutes of typing, two uploads. The flip side is that the form is unforgiving about a small number of fields, and a slip in any of them does not fail loudly. Instead your file quietly gets held for a correction, you lose part of a day, and if your trip is close that lost day can turn into a missed flight.
On the Rejection & Resubmission desk, we keep a running log of every pattern that bounces a US application back. Year after year it collapses to the same eight mistakes. None of them are complicated, and none of them require you to be careful in some vague way — they each have a specific cause and a specific fix. Read the list once and you will sidestep the lot.
Below are the eight, in roughly the order they cost people time, with the exact fix for each. If you would rather follow the form screen by screen as you go, our step-by-step Cambodia eVisa guide for Americans walks every field in order. When you are ready, you can apply now and keep this list open in another tab.
Mistakes 1-3: getting your name and passport details wrong
The single biggest category of fixable rejections is a mismatch between what you typed and what your passport says. Cambodian Immigration reads your name, date of birth, and passport number against the machine-readable zone on your bio page, character for character. Your passport is the source of truth — not how you usually write your name, and not your driver's license.
Mistake 1: Name entered differently from the passport
Enter your surname (family name) and given names exactly as the bio page prints them, in the boxes the form labels for each. If your passport shows a middle name, include it in the given-names field; if it does not, leave it out. The errors we see most from Americans are splitting a two-part given name into the wrong boxes, adding a "Jr." or "III" the passport omits, and dropping a hyphen or apostrophe the passport keeps. If your name mismatches, our guide to fixing a Cambodia eVisa name mismatch with your passport walks through exactly how to correct it.
Mistake 2: A transposed passport number
US passport numbers mix letters and digits, and a single transposed or mistyped character is the top fixable rejection cause we log. The digit "0" and the letter "O" trip people up, as do "1" and "I". Type the number slowly, then read it back against the bio page one character at a time before you move on. If your form has a machine-readable-zone field, copy the two bottom lines of the bio page precisely, including every chevron character.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most common Cambodia eVisa mistake Americans make?
A mismatch between what you type and what your passport says — most often a name entered differently from the bio page or a transposed character in the passport number. Cambodian Immigration reads your details against the machine-readable zone character for character, so copy your surname, given names, date of birth, and passport number exactly as printed. Read the passport number back one character at a time, watching for O versus 0 and I versus 1.
Why do Cambodia eVisa photos get rejected?
The most common auto-flags are smiles, glasses of any kind (including thin frames), hats, shadows behind the head from indoor lighting, an off-white or colored wall, and resolution below 600 pixels. Use a recent photo against a plain white wall, neutral expression, glasses off, shot in daylight from a side window. Save it as a JPEG under 2 MB, ideally 600 by 600 pixels or larger, with no filters or beauty smoothing.
Can a passport problem stop me even after my eVisa is approved?
Yes. Passport validity and blank pages are enforced by the airline, not the eVisa validator. Your US passport must be valid for at least 6 months from your date of entry and have at least one full blank page for the entry stamp. If it expires inside that window or has no clean page, the carrier can deny boarding at the US gate even with an approved eVisa in hand. Check both before you apply.
Do I still need the e-Arrival card if I have an approved eVisa?
Yes. The eVisa and the e-Arrival card are two separate, mandatory steps for every air arrival in 2026. The eVisa proves you can enter; the e-Arrival card is the declaration Immigration scans at the kiosk. It is 14 fields covering your flight, accommodation, and customs, filed within 7 days before you land, and verified through us for $5 USD. Forgetting it is the most common 2026 trip-stopper at the airport.
How far in advance should I apply to avoid problems?
Apply at least a week before you fly. The eVisa is approved in 3 business days, and weekends and US holidays do not count toward that. A few days of buffer means that if your photo or a field gets flagged, the free resubmission has time to clear before your flight. The eVisa is valid for 3 months from issue, so there is no penalty for filing early.
I entered wrong information on my Cambodia eVisa — what do I do?
Do not start a brand-new application. Some details are correctable through a resubmission, and the right path depends on whether you have already submitted and what the error is. If Immigration flags your file, resubmission is free and the 3-business-day clock keeps running once you reply. For a wrong field you have already submitted, follow our guide on how to fix wrong information on a Cambodia eVisa.
Sources
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