Cambodia eVisa System Down — What Australians Should Do (2026)
Sometimes the Cambodian eVisa portal — or our checkout — just will not load. Most of the time it is a brief outage at the Phnom Penh end, sometimes it is your bank or network blocking us, and very occasionally it is genuinely broken. Here is how to tell which, and what to do if your flight is 48 hours out.
The Cambodia eVisa system is down — what should I do as an Australian?
First, confirm it is actually an outage and not a bank decline or a local network block — the symptoms are different and so are the fixes. If the Cambodian eVisa portal itself is down, wait it out: most Phnom Penh-end outages last 30-90 minutes and cluster in the KH-evening window (Aussie late night), weekends, and the first weekend of the month for scheduled maintenance. Through us, your eVisa is approved in 3 business days and delivered as a printable PDF by email once submission succeeds — if our checkout is the unreachable side, reload after 5 minutes; the engineering team in Sydney gets a Slack alert inside 90 seconds. Whatever you do, do not try to submit twice when systems flake — a duplicate fee on a single passport gets both files voided.
Key Takeaways
- Cambodian eVisa portal outages cluster in three windows — KH evenings (Aussie late night), weekends, and the first weekend of the month for scheduled maintenance.
- An outage looks different from a bank or network block — outage = white page or timeout, bank block = error code mentioning your card, network block = page loads everywhere except your wifi.
- Don't submit twice when systems flake. A duplicate fee on a single passport gets both files voided by Cambodian Immigration and the refund is slow.
- If your flight is in 48 hours and you still cannot apply, the visa-on-arrival fallback works at KTI, SAI, and KOS for $30 USD (~$45 AUD) in cash — only at those three airports.
- Through us, an outage on our checkout triggers a Slack alert in the Sydney office within 90 seconds — Aussie-timezone support replies on the same channel.
Why this matters in 2026
A Cambodian eVisa portal that will not load at 11pm Sydney time on a Sunday is one of those small problems that feels enormous in the moment. You have probably already packed the carry-on, you have probably already shown your partner the flight details, and the visa page is the last thing standing between you and feeling sorted for the trip. Then the page returns a timeout and your brain leaps to the worst-case interpretation immediately.
The reality is that almost every outage Aussies hit on the Cambodian eVisa system is short, predictable, and self-resolving. The Phnom Penh-side eVisa unit runs maintenance windows on Khmer-evening hours and the first weekend of the month, and KH-evening is Aussie late night — so an Aussie hitting submit at 11pm Sydney on a Sunday is hitting the portal at exactly the worst moment in the Khmer week. The fix is almost always to wait 30-90 minutes and try again, but knowing which type of outage you have changes what you do in the meantime.
This guide walks through the three failure modes (Phnom Penh outage, your bank or card blocking us, your home network blocking us), how to tell them apart in 60 seconds, what to do for each, and the visa-on-arrival fallback if you are inside the 48-hour window with no working portal. The Cambodia visa processing time from Australia overview has the standard timeline context if you want to plan around the usual windows. For the umbrella view across cost, processing time, and documents, see the Cambodia eVisa for Australian travellers hub.
Outage, card block, or network block — how to tell which in 60 seconds
The single most useful thing to know is that 'the system is down' usually means one of three very different things, and they have different fixes. Five seconds of diagnosis up front saves hours of frustration. The trick is in reading the symptom precisely.
Symptom 1 — white page, infinite spinner, or timeout
If the page never loads at all — a white background, an endless loading spinner, a browser timeout, or 'this site cannot be reached' — that is almost always a portal outage on the Cambodian end. The portal is unreachable, no payment has been attempted, and nothing has touched your card. The fix is to wait. Try again in 30 minutes, then in an hour, then in three hours. Set a quiet timer rather than refreshing every 60 seconds.
Symptom 2 — an error code mentioning your card or bank
If you get to the checkout, fill in card details, hit pay, and see an error referencing your card or bank — 'declined', 'do not honour', '3D Secure failed', 'CVV mismatch' — that is your bank, not the portal. The portal is up, your application is sitting on the server waiting for a successful payment, and the issue is between your card and the merchant. The fix is to retry with the card unblocked (a quick call to your bank usually does it), or to use a second card. The Cambodia eVisa card-decline troubleshooter for Aussies walks through what each error code means.
Frequently asked questions
How long does a Cambodia eVisa portal outage usually last?
Most Phnom Penh-end outages last 30-90 minutes and self-resolve once the local operations team catches them. Scheduled maintenance on the first Sunday-evening Khmer time of each month can run 2-4 hours. If a portal is unreachable for longer than 4 hours, that is genuinely unusual and worth checking downdetector or asking in an Aussie travel group to confirm the scope.
Can I tell if it is the Cambodia eVisa portal that is down, or my end?
Yes — the 60-second test is to try the page on your phone over mobile data with home wifi switched off. If the page loads on mobile data, the issue is your wifi or laptop. If it does not load anywhere, the portal itself is likely down. Cross-check on downdetector or our public status page to confirm scope.
What if my card keeps getting declined on the Cambodia eVisa checkout?
That is a bank issue, not a portal issue. Aussie banks sometimes flag a USD charge from a Cambodian merchant gateway as suspicious, especially on first international use of a card. The fix is a 3-minute call to your bank to authorise the charge, then retry. If a second card on a different bank also declines, that is worth flagging on support — Aussie-timezone responders can tell you whether the issue is broader.
Should I submit twice if the system flakes on the first attempt?
No. A single passport submitted to MFAIC twice gets both files voided by Cambodian Immigration, and the second fee on your card has a slow refund path. If the first submission completed and you have a confirmation email, the application is in the queue — wait for it. If the first submission never completed and you have no confirmation, you can safely retry once the portal is back up.
My flight is in 48 hours and I cannot apply — what do I do?
If the portal genuinely cannot be reached after diagnostic, the visa-on-arrival counter at KTI, SAI, or KOS is your fallback — $30 USD (~$45 AUD) cash, processed at the airport after you land, 30-day single entry, available at those three airports only. Carry proof of return flight and a screenshot of the Cambodian government VOA eligibility page on your phone for the Aussie gate agents at Sydney or Melbourne.
Why does the portal seem to fail more on Sunday nights from Sydney?
Because Sunday evening Sydney time is late evening Khmer time on a Sunday — outside Cambodian business hours and immediately before the first-weekend-of-month maintenance window. Phnom Penh operations staff have lighter coverage at that hour, so any minor glitch sits unresolved longer than it would in the Khmer business day. The fix is to apply Tuesday-Thursday between 1pm-7pm Sydney time when possible.
Sources
Did this guide help you?
From our blog
Itinerary
Cambodia 14-Day Itinerary for Australians: 2026 Slow Trip (Siem Reap + Phnom Penh + Kampot + Koh Rong)
Four nights Siem Reap for the temples, three for the harder history of Phnom Penh, three for the slow river days of Kampot, three for the warm water of Koh Rong, one buffer night for the day you wish you had. Here is the honest 14-day Cambodia plan for Aussies in 2026 — costs in AUD, transport in plain English, eVisa timing baked in.
12-Month Extension
Cambodia 12-Month Visa Extension for Australians: 2026 Long-Stay Pathway Guide
The 12-month Business eVisa extension is the longest commitment-level Cambodia stay Aussies can buy in-country. ~$300–400 USD (~$457–609 AUD) through a Phnom Penh agent on top of the $90 USD (~$137 AUD) Business eVisa, 7–14 business days. Best per-month rate of any extension — but only worth it if you genuinely plan to use the back half of the year.
Itinerary
Cambodia 7-Day Itinerary for Australians: 2026 Trip Plan (Siem Reap + Phnom Penh)
Three nights in Siem Reap for Angkor, three nights in Phnom Penh for the riverfront and the harder history, one buffer night for the day you wish you had. Here is the honest 7-day Cambodia plan for Aussies in 2026 — costs in AUD, transport in plain English, and the eVisa timing baked in.