Cambodia eVisa History: What's on Your Record and How It Affects Future Aussie Applications

Prior approvals: nothing changes

This is the most common scenario and also the most over-thought. You applied for a Cambodia eVisa in 2023, were approved, used it, flew home, and now in 2026 you are looking at applying again. The short truth: nothing about your prior approval changes the new application. The form is the same, the price is the same, the 3-business-day window is the same, the document requirements are the same.

The one genuine returning-traveller advantage is that you already know which fields trip people up. Passport expiry inside the 6-month window. The accommodation field needs to match what you put on the e-Arrival Card later. The photo specs are unforgiving on heavy side-shadow. By application three or four, most Aussies fill the form in 15 minutes instead of 35. That is the only meaningful upside, and it lives in your head, not in the system.

If you want a refresher on what each field expects in 2026, the documents-required guide for Australians covers every input on the form. The Friday-application timing guide covers the question of when in the week to submit if you want the 3-business-day window to land sensibly across an Aussie weekend.

Prior rejections: a re-apply, not a ban

A Cambodia eVisa rejection feels heavier than it is. It is not a ban. It does not blacklist you from Cambodia. It does not even prevent you from applying again the same day. Most rejections are technical — a photo that did not pass the face-match algorithm, a passport scan with a fingertip on the bottom of the data page, an accommodation field with a misspelled hotel name, a passport expiring inside the 6-month window. Cambodian Immigration sends a short rejection notice naming the flagged field, and you re-apply with the correction.

What a same-day re-apply looks like

• Read the rejection notice — the flagged field is usually named explicitly.
• Fix the input (new photo with a sunlit white wall behind it, a clean passport scan, the correct hotel address).
• Submit a fresh application — the prior rejection does not prevent a new submission against the same passport.
• Processing restarts at 3 business days from the new submission, not from the original.
• Pay the new application fee — Cambodia does not refund rejected applications, which is why an end-to-end pre-check before submission is worth doing.

What does sit on the file after a rejection: the fact of the rejection, the flagged field, and the timestamp. A single rejection is almost invisible to the next application — the system treats it as a standard cleanup. A pattern of repeated rejections against the same passport (four or five in a short window) can trigger a manual look, particularly if the flagged fields look like an attempt to game the system rather than a genuine fix. That is rare. Most Australian rejection cases are one-and-done.

Prior overstays: the only history that genuinely follows you

Overstays are the one category where the record actively matters. Cambodian Immigration logs an overstay against your passport number with the number of days, the airport or land border you were caught at, and any fine paid. Overstay fines are $10 USD (~$15 AUD) per day from day 31 onwards, capped at $300 USD (~$457 AUD) before deportation procedures kick in. The fine is usually paid at the desk on exit. The flag stays on your file regardless of whether the fine was paid.

On your next eVisa application, the system pulls the overstay flag and pushes the case into a manual review queue. Manual review extends processing past the standard 3 business days — typically to 5 to 8 business days — and triggers a closer read of the new application. In most cases the new eVisa is still approved, particularly if the overstay was minor, the fine was paid on exit, and the new application is straightforward. In a small number of cases — typically longer overstays without fine payment, or repeat overstays — the new eVisa can be refused.

The honest "I overstayed five years ago" answer

Most Aussies who overstayed by a couple of days years ago, paid the fine on exit, and have not been back since are not facing a real problem. The flag is on your file, but the system reads it as a minor closed event. A new Cambodia eVisa application in 2026 against the same passport will likely route through manual review, take 5 to 8 business days instead of 3, and be approved. The two things that change the picture: declare honestly on the application if there is a free-text field (there usually is not), and consider applying for the Business eVisa instead of the Tourist if the original overstay involved a long stay — the Business class signals you understand the longer-stay path now.

The embassy route for cases involving any kind of historic immigration friction is covered in the Cambodian embassy in Canberra guide for Australians. The Tourist-versus-Business decision after an overstay sits inside the broader visa-type comparison guide.

Wrong purpose declared: the permanent record

The single most damaging item that can sit on a Cambodia immigration file is a 'wrong purpose declared' flag. The classic case: an Australian enters on a Tourist eVisa and is later found running paid work — teaching English, freelancing for a Cambodian client, taking sales meetings, doing supplier visits, due-diligence trips, attending conferences as a speaker, or working at a sponsored event. Tourist is the wrong product for any of those, and if Cambodian Immigration logs the breach the flag is permanent.

The practical effect on future applications: every subsequent eVisa for that passport routes through manual review. Tourist applications carry a higher risk of refusal — the system reads them as a repeat of the original misdeclaration. Business applications usually still go through, on the basis that the applicant is now applying for the correct class. The processing window stretches to 5 to 10 business days in these cases. The flag does not have a published expiry — once it is on the file, it stays.

The cleanest answer if you suspect this flag is on your file: apply for the Business eVisa at $90 USD all-in (~$137 AUD) from your next trip onwards, and never apply for the Tourist eVisa again. The Business class is designed for meetings, paid work, conferences, sales calls, supplier visits, due-diligence and sponsored events, and is the correct product for any traveller whose Cambodia activity touches paid work in any form. Switching products signals to Immigration that the original miscategorisation has been corrected.

Putting your record into perspective

For most Australians, the eVisa history conversation is shorter than it feels. If your record is clean — prior approvals only, no overstays, no breaches — nothing on the file changes anything about your next application. Apply fresh, allow 3 business days, fly. If your record has a single old overstay that was settled at exit, your next application will probably route through a slightly longer review window and then go through. If your record has a 'wrong purpose declared' flag, the answer is to switch to Business eVisa from now on.

The two genuine returning-traveller advantages — faster form-filling and a clearer sense of which Cambodia airport (KTI, SAI, KOS) makes sense for your itinerary — are covered in the Cambodia airports guide for Australians and the country pillar at do Australians need Cambodia visa.

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 eligibility for quick answers, and use our glossary of Cambodia visa terms to decode any acronym in this guide.