The Cambodia 30-Day Stay Cap Rule: How It Is Counted and Two Legal Ways to Stay Longer (Australians, 2026)
The Tourist eVisa gives you 30 days in Cambodia, single entry — entry day counts as day 1, departure day counts as day 30. Overstay costs $10 USD (~$15.20 AUD) per day in fines paid in cash at the gate. Here is exactly how the count works, what overstay actually costs, and the two legitimate ways to stay longer.
How does the Cambodia 30-day stay cap actually work for Australian Tourist eVisa holders?
The Cambodia Tourist eVisa allows a single entry and a stay of up to 30 days. The day you enter Cambodia counts as day 1, and the day you depart counts as day 30 — both stamp days are included. If you leave on day 31 or later, Cambodian Immigration charges an overstay fine of $10 USD (~$15.20 AUD) per day, paid in cash USD at the airport, before they let you through the gate. The Tourist auto-extension scheme ended in November 2025, so the only legitimate paths to a longer stay are a paid extension at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Phnom Penh (before day 30) or a fresh $90 USD (~$137 AUD) Business eVisa applied for from outside Cambodia after you leave and re-enter.
Key Takeaways
- The Cambodia Tourist eVisa is single entry, 30 days. Entry day counts as day 1, departure day counts as day 30 — not 31 days, not "30 nights".
- Overstaying costs $10 USD (~$15.20 AUD) per day, paid in cash USD at the airport on departure. Beyond 30 days of overstay it escalates fast — fines, deportation processing, and a potential entry ban.
- The Tourist auto-extension ended in November 2025. You cannot stay longer "by paying a top-up" inside Cambodia without a formal process.
- There are exactly two legitimate ways to stay past 30 days: a paid extension at MFAIC in Phnom Penh, or a fresh Business eVisa from outside the country on re-entry.
- Plan the stay length before you apply. The all-in $80 USD (~$122 AUD) Tourist eVisa is locked to a 30-day cap; if your itinerary is already pushing past three weeks, the $90 USD (~$137 AUD) Business eVisa pays for itself in flexibility.
Why the 30-day cap trips up Australians
Australians book Cambodia trips longer than they realise. The flights from Sydney and Melbourne are long enough that a five-night trip feels rushed. A typical itinerary creeps from 10 days to 14, then 18, then "we should add Kampot at the end". By the time you are pricing the Tourist eVisa, the trip is brushing 25 days. Add a single extra week and the cap suddenly matters.
The 30-day stay cap is the firm limit on a single Cambodia Tourist eVisa. It is not a soft target. Cambodian Immigration stamps your entry day, counts forward thirty calendar days, and treats day 31 onwards as overstay. The fine is paid in cash USD at the airport on the way out, and there is no app to settle it from your phone. It is also not the kind of rule that the gate officer waves through — every Aussie traveller who overstays pays at the counter.
This guide explains exactly how the 30-day count works (with worked examples), what overstay costs in real Australian dollars, and the two legitimate routes that exist if you want longer. If you are weighing up the Tourist eVisa against a longer-stay option from the start, the Cambodia Tourist visa for Australians explainer and the Cambodia Business visa for Australians guide both cover the pricing and use-case logic in detail. The smoothest way to get sorted before your flight is to official Cambodia eVisa for Australians on our site.
How the 30-day count actually works (worked examples)
The count is calendar days, inclusive of both stamp days. Entry day is day 1. Departure day is day 30. There is no "grace day" and the airline does not get to round it. If you land at KTI (Techo International, the new Phnom Penh airport) at 11:55pm on the 1st of July, your entry day is the 1st of July — those five minutes count as day 1. The 30th day is therefore the 30th of July, and you must be airside through Immigration on or before the 30th of July.
Worked example — a clean 30-day trip
You land in Phnom Penh at 7:30pm Monday 6 July 2026. Day 1 is Monday 6 July. Count forward: day 7 is Sunday 12 July, day 14 is Sunday 19 July, day 21 is Sunday 26 July, day 28 is Sunday 2 August, day 30 is Tuesday 4 August. Your departure flight must be on Tuesday 4 August at the latest — even a Wednesday 5 August departure flight is one day of overstay and a $10 USD (~$15.20 AUD) fine at the gate. Pick a Tuesday 4 August flight before midnight Cambodia time and you are clean.
Worked example — the "30 nights" mistake
A lot of Aussies plan in nights, not days. "We are doing 30 nights in Cambodia" sounds like a clean fit for a 30-day visa. It is not. Thirty nights between an entry day and a departure day is actually a 31-day stay — the entry day plus 30 nights equals 31 stamp days. Worked example: land Saturday 4 July, sleep 30 nights, fly out Monday 3 August. Day 1 is the 4th, day 30 is the 2nd of August, so the 3 August departure is one day overstay, $10 USD (~$15.20 AUD) at the gate. Re-book to a Sunday 2 August departure and you are inside the cap.
Worked example — late-night arrival on the 1st
You land at 11:55pm on the 1st of July. Five minutes later it is the 2nd of July, but your entry stamp is dated the 1st of July. Day 1 is the 1st, not the 2nd. Day 30 is the 30th of July, not the 31st. The five minutes does not "round up" — Cambodian Immigration uses the stamp date, full stop. This is the one nobody plans for. If your inbound flight lands close to midnight, build a one-day buffer at the back end.
A quick check
Stamp date + 29 = your last legal departure date. Land on the 6 July, your last legal departure is 4 August (6 + 29 = 35, which is 4 August in the same calendar month-roll). If you can do that maths in your head you will never overstay by accident.
The numbers at a glance
Here is the locked-in 2026 picture for the 30-day cap and the two legitimate workarounds — paid extension inside Cambodia, and a fresh Business eVisa from outside the country on re-entry.
What overstay actually costs at the gate
The overstay fine sits at $10 USD (~$15.20 AUD) per day. It is paid in cash USD at the Immigration counter in the departures hall at KTI (Phnom Penh), SAI (Siem Reap), or KOS (Sihanoukville) before they stamp you out. Cards are not accepted at the fine counter. Riel is not accepted. Australian dollars are not accepted. If you do not have USD cash on you, the airport currency-exchange booths will do the conversion, but the rate is sharper than what you would get in town — budget an extra 5-8% on top of the fine if you have to exchange at the airport.
For modest overstays — a day or two, the most common Aussie scenario — the maths is straightforward: $20-30 USD (~$30-45 AUD) cash at the counter, a brief delay at the gate, no further consequence. For week-long or longer overstays the picture changes. Cambodian Immigration writes the overstay record into the system, which means future visa applications get flagged, future entries face longer questioning at the gate, and the next eVisa decision can be slower than the standard 3 business days while the prior record is reviewed.
Past 30 days of overstay the situation tightens further — deportation processing rather than a fine counter, a potential entry ban of 6 months to 3 years, and the formal travel record. The Cambodia overstay fines and recovery guide for Australians has the deep dive on the worst-case end of the scale and the steps Aussies have used to recover a clean travel record afterwards.
No travel insurance on overstay days
Almost every Australian travel insurance policy includes a clause that voids cover on any day you are out of compliance with the destination's visa rules. An overstay day is a non-compliance day. A hospital admission or a stolen-bag claim on day 31 of a 30-day visa is uninsured. This is the underrated reason to never plan around overstay even when the fine looks small.
Route 1 — Paid extension at MFAIC in Phnom Penh
The first legitimate way to stay past 30 days is to extend the Tourist eVisa inside Cambodia at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MFAIC) office in Phnom Penh, before day 30. This is a paid process, takes a few business days, and gets you an additional 30-day window stamped into your passport. The Tourist auto-extension that used to be processed by some travel agents ended in November 2025, so the route now is the official MFAIC counter rather than an agent shortcut.
The practical limits to know: MFAIC is in Phnom Penh, not Siem Reap or Sihanoukville. If you are spending your whole trip up north, you either travel down to Phnom Penh for the appointment or you skip this route entirely. The extension does not work after day 30 — you must apply while still inside the original 30-day window, and ideally with at least 5-7 business days of buffer before the cap so the paperwork clears in time. The application asks for your passport, the original eVisa PDF, recent photos, accommodation address, and the fee in cash USD.
The choice between the extension route and a fresh Business eVisa from outside Cambodia comes down to where you are physically when you make the decision and how long you actually want to stay. The Cambodia visa extension vs fresh eVisa guide for Australians walks through that decision side-by-side with the maths. If you are looking specifically at the longer-end extensions, the Cambodia 12-month visa extension and the Cambodia visa extension agents in Phnom Penh guides cover the agent-assisted versions, including which agents are still operating in 2026.
You cannot extend after you leave
If you depart Cambodia even briefly — a day trip across to Bavet, a quick Vietnam-side stop, an emergency flight home — the eVisa is exhausted (single entry) and the extension route closes. After departure your only path back is a fresh eVisa from outside. The Cambodia Tourist extension after departure guide covers the most common after-the-fact scenarios.
Route 2 — Fresh Business eVisa from outside Cambodia on re-entry
The second legitimate route is to leave Cambodia at or before day 30, apply for a fresh Business eVisa from outside the country, and come back in on the new visa with another 30-day stamp. The Business eVisa is $90 USD (~$137 AUD) all-in, approved in 3 business days, delivered as a printable PDF by email, single entry. Critically it is extendable inside Cambodia for 6 or 12 months once you are back in — which is what makes it the right answer for trips that are clearly going to run long.
The mechanics work because the eVisa application is processed outside Cambodia and your re-entry is treated as a fresh entry stamp by Cambodian Immigration. The thing to plan for is the brief departure — most Aussies pick a 1-3 night side trip to Vietnam or Singapore to bridge the gap. With all 7 Thailand-Cambodia land borders closed since June 2025, the side trip is by air. The fresh eVisa is approved well inside your time outside Cambodia if you apply on the day you leave.
For trips that are clearly going past 30 days from the planning stage, skipping the Tourist eVisa entirely and starting on a Business eVisa is usually cheaper than two visas plus a side-trip flight. The Cambodia Business visa explainer, the Cambodia Tourist vs Business cost difference guide, and the Cambodia frequent traveller visa strategy for Australians together cover the planning maths.
Planning the decision before you apply
If your trip is locked at 14-21 days, the Tourist eVisa is the right product and the 30-day cap will never be a live concern — you have plenty of slack. If your trip is creeping past 25 days at the planning stage, your decision is sharper. The Tourist eVisa is single entry and capped at 30; if your itinerary is bumping the cap before you have left Sydney, you are paying for stress you do not need. The Business eVisa at $90 USD (~$137 AUD) is $10 USD (~$15 AUD) more than the Tourist and removes the cap concern entirely by being extendable inside Cambodia.
The other planning move is on the back end of the trip — pick a return flight on day 28 or 29 rather than day 30. The extra one or two days of buffer covers airline reschedules, weather delays, and the occasional missed connection out of Phnom Penh. Aussie airlines rebook trans-Pacific legs with reasonable warning, but a 24-hour push from a day-30 flight to a day-31 flight crosses the cap. Day-28 flights cost the same as day-30 flights, give you a buffer, and remove one variable from the trip.
The supporting reading: the Cambodia eVisa cost for Australians 2026 explainer has the locked all-in pricing, the Cambodia eVisa processing time guide explains the 3-business-day window, and the Cambodia first-trip planning checklist covers the back-end buffer logic for travellers doing this for the first time.
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.
Thailand
All 7 land borders to Cambodia closed since June 2025; fly via KTI/SAI/KOS
The fresh-eVisa bridge trip from Thailand now means flying both ways.
Read the 2026 update →Vietnam
eVisa required; Bavet land crossing open
The classic short bridge trip for the fresh-Business-eVisa route.
See the combo guide →Laos
eVisa $50 or VoA $35–40
A slower but cleaner overland re-entry option via Tropaeng Kreal.
Plan the Laos route →Singapore
Australian passport visa-free 90 days; smoothest stopover
The smoothest 1-3 night bridge trip for a fresh Cambodia entry.
Sort the stopover →Indonesia (Bali)
e-VOA $35 + Bali tourism levy
Bali after Cambodia rather than re-entering — a planning alternative.
Compare the two →Frequently asked questions
Does the 30-day Cambodia stay cap include arrival and departure days?
Yes — both stamp days are inside the count. Your entry day is day 1 and your departure day must be on or before day 30. A flight landing in Phnom Penh on 6 July at any time of day uses 6 July as day 1; the last legal departure is 4 August. There is no grace day and no "rounding" for late-night arrivals.
What happens if I overstay my Cambodia Tourist eVisa by a few days?
Cambodian Immigration charges a fine of $10 USD (~$15.20 AUD) per overstay day, paid in cash USD at the Immigration counter in the departures hall before they stamp you out. For 1-3 days of overstay the consequence is the fine and a brief delay at the gate. For longer overstays the record is written into the system, which can flag future visa applications, slow future entries, and at the extreme end (past 30 days of overstay) trigger deportation processing and a potential entry ban.
Can I extend my Cambodia Tourist eVisa to stay longer than 30 days?
Yes — through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFAIC) office in Phnom Penh, before day 30. The Tourist auto-extension scheme ended in November 2025, so the route now is the official paid MFAIC counter rather than the old agent shortcut. You apply with at least 5-7 business days of buffer before day 30, in Phnom Penh in person, with your passport, the original eVisa PDF, recent photos, and the fee in cash USD.
Is it cheaper to extend in Cambodia or to leave and get a fresh eVisa?
It depends on the side-trip cost and how long you actually want to stay. A paid MFAIC extension is one set of fees and no flights. A fresh Business eVisa from outside is $90 USD (~$137 AUD) plus the cost of a 1-3 night side trip — usually Vietnam or Singapore by air, because all 7 Thailand-Cambodia land borders have been closed since June 2025. For one more 30-day window, the extension route is usually cheaper. For a much longer stay or repeat trips, the Business eVisa is usually the better answer because it is itself extendable for 6 or 12 months once back inside Cambodia.
Can I leave Cambodia for a day and come back on the same eVisa?
No — the Tourist eVisa and the standard Business eVisa are both single entry. The moment you stamp out of Cambodia, the visa is exhausted, even if you only crossed for a day trip. To re-enter you need a fresh eVisa, applied for from outside Cambodia. The 3 business day processing time means you typically apply on the day you leave and the new visa arrives well before any 2-3 night side-trip wraps up.
What is the actual fine maths if I overstay by a week?
7 days at $10 USD (~$15.20 AUD) per day = $70 USD (~$107 AUD), paid in cash USD at the airport on departure. Above the fine itself, three things change: the overstay record is written into the Cambodian Immigration system, future visa applications can be flagged for additional review (longer than the standard 3 business days), and any travel-insurance claim from days 31 onwards is voided because the cover does not extend to non-compliance days.
Does the 30-day cap apply to the Business eVisa as well?
The initial Business eVisa entry is also 30 days, single entry, but the Business eVisa is extendable inside Cambodia for 6 or 12 months, multiple entry once extended. That is the key difference: the Tourist eVisa is 30 days and locked, the Business eVisa is 30 days and extendable. For trips you already know will run past 30 days, the $90 USD (~$137 AUD) Business eVisa is usually the cleaner pick from the start.
Can I just pay an overstay fine and use it as a cheap extension?
Not advisable. The maths might look workable for a 1-2 day overstay, but the cost is not just the fine. Your travel insurance voids on overstay days, the Immigration record stays on your file, future Cambodia entries face longer questioning at the gate, and at the past-30-days end of the scale the consequence is deportation processing rather than a fine counter. The extension route or the fresh Business eVisa are the legitimate paths and worth using.
Sources
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