Cambodia Visa for Volunteering and Teaching English (US Citizens)

Why the visa choice matters for volunteers and teachers in 2026

Cambodia draws a steady stream of American volunteers and English teachers — gap-year students between high school and college, education majors logging a semester abroad, retirees giving a year to a rural school, and church or NGO groups running short missions in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and the provinces. Teaching English is one of the most common reasons a young American lands in Cambodia for the first time, and the country's NGO sector remains one of the densest in Southeast Asia.

Almost all of them book the Tourist eVisa by reflex. It is the cheaper, more obvious option, and it is what every tourist forum recommends. For a true two-week sightseeing trip that is correct. For a structured teaching placement or a months-long volunteer commitment, it is the wrong visa — and the gap between the two routes opens the moment your stay runs over 30 days or your trip has a fixed working purpose rather than a vacation itinerary.

This is the full picture for US citizens volunteering or teaching in Cambodia in 2026 — which visa class actually applies, why teaching counts as Type-E activity even when unpaid, how the extensions cover a semester or a year, and where the gray areas sit. If you are still deciding between classes, our deep dive on the Cambodia Business visa (Type-E) lays out exactly who needs it, and the quick decision guide on which Cambodia visa you need walks you to the right class in under a minute. For the umbrella reference on cost, documents, and processing, see the Cambodia visa for United States citizens hub.

Why volunteering and teaching are Type-E, not Tourist

The single most common misunderstanding among American volunteers is that "unpaid" means "tourist." It does not. Cambodian Immigration does not sort visa classes by whether you get a paycheck — it sorts them by the purpose of your visit. A trip with a structured working purpose, paid or unpaid, sits under the Business eVisa (Type-E). Teaching at a school, running a classroom, working a placement at an NGO, or committing to a recurring volunteer role all fit that definition cleanly.

Think of it the way the officer at the desk does. A tourist arrives to see Angkor Wat, eat in Phnom Penh, and lie on a beach in Kep. A volunteer arrives to do a job — even a charitable, unpaid one — for a fixed organization over a fixed period. The first is leisure. The second is a structured-purpose visit, and that is the Type-E category. The fact that no money changes hands does not move it back into the tourist box.

Here are the activities US travelers most often misclassify as tourism when they actually belong on the Business eVisa:

• Teaching English at a school, language center, or community program — paid or volunteer, full-time or part-time.
• A structured placement at an NGO or charity — disaster relief, healthcare support, construction, child-welfare, or community development work.
• A gap-year volunteer program between high school and college, or a college service-learning semester arranged through a US university.
• Faith-based or church mission work that runs longer than a short visit, or that recurs across multiple trips in a year.
• Internships with a Cambodian organization, an international NGO branch, or a development agency — again, paid or unpaid.
• Research, fieldwork, or documentary work tied to a host institution or program.
• Any volunteer or teaching stay that runs longer than 30 days — the Tourist eVisa caps there, and the old auto-extension ended in November 2025.

The pattern is the same across that list. If you have a host organization, a role, and a schedule, you are not on a vacation in the eyes of Cambodian Immigration. The Business eVisa is the class built for exactly that — and applying on it from the start avoids an awkward conversation at the airport and the cap that the Tourist eVisa hits at 30 days.

Tourist eVisa vs Business eVisa for volunteers and teachers

Here is the honest side-by-side for a US citizen choosing between the two routes in 2026. For a teaching or volunteer placement, the fields that matter most are the bottom three — extendable in-country, best for, and not suitable for.

Three American scenarios where Tourist falls short

Scenario one: a recent graduate from Ohio signs on to teach English at a language center in Phnom Penh for a four-month contract. The role is part-time and modestly paid. The Tourist eVisa caps at 30 days, so it cannot cover the placement at all — and even if it could, teaching is a Type-E activity. The Business eVisa, with a 3-month extension lodged in-country, is the correct and only route.

Scenario two: a college student from Oregon does an unpaid summer placement with a child-welfare NGO in Siem Reap, six weeks total. No salary, no contract — just a volunteer agreement with the host. The student assumes "unpaid means tourist" and books the Tourist eVisa. Wrong twice over: the stay runs past 30 days, and structured NGO work is Type-E regardless of pay. The Business eVisa with a 1-month extension fits the trip cleanly.

Scenario three: a retired teacher from Arizona commits to a full school year volunteering at a rural primary school. Nine months, no pay, a genuine give-back trip. The Tourist eVisa cannot stretch beyond 30 days, and the auto-extension is gone. The Business eVisa, extended in-country in 6-month blocks, is what carries the placement from arrival to the end of the school year.

The short mission-trip gray area

There is one honest gray area: a short, one-off mission or service trip of under two weeks, where the line between "tourist who helped out" and "volunteer with a role" is genuinely blurry. Many American church and school groups run these on the Tourist eVisa without issue, because the trip looks and behaves like leisure with some good works attached. Our advice: if the trip is under two weeks, one-off, and informal, the Tourist eVisa is defensible. The moment it becomes structured, recurring, or longer than 30 days, move to the Business eVisa.

Documents required (and what volunteers do NOT need)

This is where American volunteers and teachers are usually relieved. The Cambodia Business eVisa asks for the same short pack as the Tourist eVisa — five items, all of which most people already have on hand. Roughly ten minutes online if your passport and a fresh photo are ready on the same device.

• US 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 — 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, so use an inbox that accepts PDF attachments.
• Payment method — Visa, Mastercard, American Express, PayPal, Apple Pay, or Google Pay.

Now the part that surprises most volunteers. The Cambodia Business eVisa does not ask for a single document from your host organization to apply. No letter from the school. No NGO sponsor invitation. No proof of placement, no volunteer agreement, no return flight ticket, no hotel booking, no bank statement. You apply as yourself, with the five items above, and the host organization sits entirely outside the application. Compared with teaching and volunteer visas in many other countries, this is a remarkably light pack — and it is one of the things that most surprises Americans coming from heavier processes. The ordinary E-class visa explainer covers exactly what the application asks for and why the document set stays this short.

One practical note for teachers and longer placements: the eVisa gets you into the country and authorizes the activity, but a salaried, ongoing teaching job at a registered Cambodian institution may also involve a separate work permit handled by your employer once you are on the ground. That is your employer's process, not part of the visa application — but it is worth asking your school about before you fly, so nothing is a surprise after you arrive.

How extensions cover a semester or a year

The initial Business eVisa stay is 30 days — the same as the Tourist eVisa. The difference, and the reason it works for volunteers and teachers, 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 on top of the initial 30 days. It is the only Cambodia visa that supports this, and the extension is what carries a short visa into a full placement.

Extensions are arranged in-country, not directly at a government counter. Most Americans 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. Processing is typically 7 to 14 days, so start the extension at least 2 weeks before your initial 30-day stay expires. Cutting it closer risks an overstay — the Cambodian overstay penalty is $10 USD per day from day one, payable in cash at the airport on exit, and a long overstay can affect future visa applications.

All four lengths are renewable, so you can stack extensions to match any placement. A semester teaching contract usually fits a 3-month extension. A school year or a long NGO posting fits a 6-month extension, renewed once. A multi-year commitment can run on a 12-month extension, which is also multi-entry — useful if you plan to leave Cambodia for a holiday break or a quick trip to Bangkok or Singapore and re-enter.

Agent fees fluctuate with the local market, so we don't quote exact figures here. As a working guide in 2026, the 1-month extension carries the highest per-month rate, which makes it poor value for anything but a short top-up. The 3-month and 6-month extensions are the sweet spots — the per-month rate drops sharply, and most volunteers and teachers land in one of those two buckets. The 12-month extension is the best value per month for genuine long-stayers. If your placement might outgrow a single trip, the digital nomad and remote work visa guide covers the same long-stay extension mechanics for Americans living in Cambodia.

Placement length mapped to the right extension

Picking the right extension length up front saves money and a second trip to the agent. Here is the working map we use with American volunteers and teachers, based on the placements we see most often.

• 2 weeks or less, one-off and informal — a short mission or service trip can sit on the Tourist eVisa, in the gray area described above. No extension needed.
• Up to 30 days, structured — a month-long teaching intensive or a fixed volunteer month fits the initial Business eVisa stay with no extension at all.
• 1 month extension — a six-to-eight-week placement, a summer NGO internship, or a short teaching contract that runs just past the initial 30 days.
• 3 month extension — a single semester of teaching, a quarter-long NGO posting, or a service-learning term arranged through a US university. One of the two sweet-spot rates.
• 6 month extension — a full school year of volunteering or teaching (renewed once to cover nine or ten months), or a long-term placement with a development agency. The other sweet-spot rate, and the most common pick among Americans on year-long placements.
• 12 month extension — a multi-year teaching post, a long-term NGO career role, or a retirement-era give-back commitment, with the multi-entry flexibility for trips home and regional breaks.

The honest framing on cost: the 3-month and 6-month extensions deliver the best value per month of stay, which is exactly where most volunteer and teaching placements land. 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. If you are a student arranging this through a university program, the Cambodia visa for American students explains how the ES study-extension path differs from the volunteer route, and our guide on whether US citizens can work in Cambodia on a tourist visa is worth a read if you are still tempted to cut corners on the Tourist eVisa.

Arriving in Cambodia as a volunteer or teacher

Arrival on the Business eVisa is identical to arrival on the Tourist eVisa. Print two copies of the Business eVisa approval PDF — one for entry, one for exit. Carry your US passport with at least 6 months validity. Have your e-Arrival QR code saved to your phone, with a screenshot for offline access in case airport Wi-Fi is slow.

Open airports for US arrivals are KTI (Phnom Penh — the new Techo International Airport, which replaced the old PNH on 9 September 2025), SAI (Siem Reap-Angkor), 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, so a Bangkok-overland plan into a Cambodian placement does not work in 2026.

The immigration officer may ask the purpose of your visit. Answer honestly — "teaching English," "volunteering with an NGO," or "a placement at a local school" are all standard answers, and the Business eVisa is the visa that explicitly authorizes those activities. There is no trick question here. Queue time is typically 10 to 20 minutes through the manual desk, faster through the e-gate. The US Embassy in Phnom Penh publishes current entry and local-conditions guidance that is worth a five-minute read before you fly, especially for a long placement.

Next steps and related reading for US citizens: apply for your Cambodia eVisa when you are ready to lodge, bookmark the Cambodia visa for United States citizens hub as the single canonical reference, read the full Business visa (Type-E) guide, and use the quick decision guide if you are still unsure which class fits your placement.