Do You Need the e-Arrival Card at a Cambodia Land Border? Answer for US Travelers

What actually happens crossing at Bavet from Vietnam

Bavet is the crossing almost every overland American uses, paired with Moc Bai on the Vietnamese side, on the main road between Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh. The drill is the usual two-country dance: you clear Vietnamese exit formalities, walk or ride the short stretch across no-mans-land, then present yourself at the Cambodian arrival post. That Cambodian post is where your arrival declaration is collected.

1. 1
   Sort your eVisa first

   Have an approved Cambodia eVisa, printed, before you leave Vietnam — it is the one document the border will not generate for you.

2. 2
   Clear Vietnam exit

   Complete Vietnamese exit formalities at Moc Bai, then walk or ride the short stretch across to the Cambodian side.

3. 3
   Reach the Cambodian arrival post

   Present yourself at the Cambodian post at Bavet, where your arrival declaration is collected in person.

4. 4
   Complete the arrival paperwork

   Fill out the paper arrival form the officer gives you at the desk — there is no airport-style kiosk to scan a digital card.

5. 5
   Hand over passport and eVisa

   Give the officer your passport and approved eVisa with the completed arrival slip to be stamped in.

6. 6
   Refuse any unofficial fee

   Legitimate entry is your eVisa plus the arrival declaration — decline any extra cash "stamping" or "processing" fee.

In practice that means a paper arrival form handed to you at the desk, or filled out at the counter, rather than a QR code you generated at home. You hand over your passport and your approved eVisa, complete the arrival slip the officer gives you, and you are stamped in. There is no airport-style kiosk row at a road border, so do not arrive expecting to scan a digital card you prepared in advance — the overland process runs on the paperwork at the post.

The single most important thing to have squared away before you reach Bavet is your eVisa, because that is the document the border will not improvise for you. Have it approved and printed before you leave Vietnam. Our full walkthrough of the Cambodia-Vietnam Bavet border crossing on an eVisa for Americans covers the order of operations, the touts to ignore, and the scam fees to refuse at the desk.

A word on the scam fees, because Bavet has a reputation for them: legitimate Cambodian entry is your eVisa plus the arrival declaration, full stop. If someone at the desk asks for an extra cash "stamping fee," a "processing fee," or a "quarantine fee," that is a shakedown, not a real charge. Stay polite, ask for a receipt, and the request usually evaporates. Knowing the real process is exactly what protects you here — there is no surprise digital-card fee waiting at a land border.

Why almost every American flies in (and skips this question)

For the overwhelming majority of US travelers, the land-border question is academic, because they arrive by air. The instinct to drive in usually comes from the old backpacker loop that hopped between Bangkok and Cambodia overland — and that route is gone. All seven Thailand-Cambodia land borders have been closed since June 2025, with the Thai side confirming through early 2026 that they remain shut. If your plan was Bangkok-to-Siem Reap by road, that plan no longer exists; you fly.

That leaves the Vietnam side as the only live overland option, and even then most people pick the plane. A flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh is under an hour against roughly seven hours of bus and a border-post wait, and flying means the arrival declaration is the clean digital e-Arrival Card you file from home. If you are weighing the road against the runway, our guide on Thailand to Cambodia now that the borders are closed lays out why air is the default in 2026.

There is also a practical reason flying makes the whole arrival smoother: you control the timing. The e-Arrival Card is filed in the calm of the 7-day window before you go, checked before you ever reach the counter, and presented as a tidy confirmation. At a land border you are completing the declaration in person, in line, with whatever the desk hands you. Neither is hard, but the air route lets you do the work in advance instead of at the crossing.

If you do still want the overland adventure, it is entirely doable on the Vietnam side as long as your eVisa is sorted — that is the non-negotiable. Our list of Cambodia land borders that accept the eVisa for US citizens shows which crossings honor the eVisa and which do not, so you arrive at the right post with the right document.

What to sort before you go, either way

Whichever way you enter Cambodia, two things settle the whole arrival: your visa, and your plan for the arrival declaration. Get those straight and there is no scenario at the airport or the border that catches you out. Here is the short checklist that covers both routes.

• An approved Cambodia eVisa — required for both air and land entry. Apply ahead, get it in 3 business days, and print it before you travel. This is the one document the border will not generate for you.
• Flying in? File your verified e-Arrival Card within the 7 days before you land. It is 14 fields, $5 USD, and checked end-to-end before it reaches Cambodian Immigration.
• Crossing overland from Vietnam? You complete the arrival paperwork at the Bavet desk on the spot — there is no digital card to prepare in advance, but your eVisa still has to be approved and printed.
• Either way, carry a printed copy of your eVisa. Phone batteries die and border Wi-Fi is unreliable; a paper copy never fails.
• Refuse any unofficial cash "fee" demanded at a land crossing. Legitimate entry is your eVisa plus the arrival declaration — nothing extra changes hands.

The thread through all of it is the same: the e-Arrival Card is the air-arrival declaration, the land border handles its own paperwork at the desk, and your eVisa is the constant that both routes demand. If you are not certain the e-Arrival Card even applies to your trip, our plain answer on whether US citizens need the Cambodia e-Arrival Card settles who has to file and when.

Next steps and related reading for Americans: apply for your Cambodia eVisa so you arrive at any port with the one document that carries across air and land, file your verified e-Arrival Card if you are flying in, compare the e-Arrival Card at land borders versus air, and read the Bavet border crossing walkthrough before you cross from Vietnam.