Cambodia e-Arrival Card vs Cambodia eVisa: What’s the Difference, and Do You Need Both?

Where the two documents have to agree

The eVisa and the e-Arrival Card are separate, but on arrival they are read together, alongside your passport. That means they have to tell the same story. The most important overlap is the passport itself: your visa was issued against a specific passport number, and your e-Arrival Card must be filed on that same passport.

• Same passport: if you renew your passport after getting your visa, sort out the visa before you file the e-Arrival Card on the new passport.
• Same name: spelled identically on the visa, the e-Arrival Card and the passport, including every given name.
• Consistent dates: your arrival date on the e-Arrival Card should fall within your visa’s validity period.
• Consistent purpose: a business trip on a tourist visa can raise questions, whatever your e-Arrival Card says.

Four common confusions, cleared up

“My eVisa came with a QR code, so I have done the e-Arrival.”

No. Your eVisa document may carry its own code, but it is not the e-Arrival Card. The e-Arrival Card is a separate submission with a separate QR code, filed within 7 days of arrival.

“I will get a visa on arrival, so I will do the arrival card at the airport too.”

The visa on arrival is handled at the airport, but the e-Arrival Card is designed to be filed before you fly. Filing it in advance means one less thing to do in the arrivals hall.

“The e-Arrival Card is a kind of visa for short trips.”

It is not a visa of any kind. Cambodia states plainly that the e-Arrival is not a visa. It gives you no permission to enter; it records your arrival.

“One e-Arrival Card covers my whole family.”

Each traveller files their own card, children included, just as each traveller who needs a visa needs their own visa. Our guide to the e-Arrival Card for families covers filing for a group.

Getting both sorted

Think of the two as bookends. The eVisa is the first thing you do after booking your flights; the e-Arrival Card is the last thing you do before you leave home. Do the visa early, file the card inside the 7-day window, keep both matched to the same passport, and your arrival in Cambodia should be the quickest part of the journey.

We handle both. We file the Cambodia arrival card for you, checked against your passport, with your QR code delivered by email: $20 Standard within 24 hours, $35 Rush within 2 hours, or $60 Super Rush within 15 minutes, per traveller.