Do Australians Need the Cambodia e-Arrival Card? Yes, and Here Is Why

When Australians should file it

The e-Arrival Card can only be submitted within the 7 days before you arrive in Cambodia. Earlier than that, the form will not accept it. Inside the window, the best time is once your flights have stopped changing: two to four days before you fly suits most travellers.

Australians have one extra thing to think about: time zones. Your arrival date is a date in Cambodia, which runs three hours behind Sydney and Melbourne on standard time and one hour behind Perth. If you try to file at the very first moment you think the window opens, the system may still treat you as a day too early. Filing a few days inside the window avoids the question altogether.

Many Australians reach Cambodia with a connection, often through Singapore, Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur. The flight the card wants is the one that lands in Cambodia, so a traveller flying Sydney to Singapore to Siem Reap enters the Singapore to Siem Reap flight, not the Sydney departure.

The form also now asks for your departure date from Cambodia and your next destination. If you are flying home, your next destination is Australia. If you file with us and have not booked onward travel yet, you can say “not booked yet” and we will email you to add the details later.

If your passport and flight details are in front of you now, you can apply online here and we will file your card when the window opens.

Where the answer is less clear: land and sea

The e-Arrival Card is built around air travel. Cambodia’s official system lists only its three international airports: Techo International (KTI) in Phnom Penh, which replaced the old Phnom Penh International Airport (PNH) in September 2025, Siem Reap Angkor International (SAI) and Sihanoukville International (KOS). If you are flying in, the answer is always yes.

Overland is different. The Thailand–Cambodia land border has been closed since 2025, so the classic Bangkok-to-Siem Reap bus route is not an option at the moment. Travellers crossing from Vietnam or Laos have reported completing paper arrival forms at the border instead of the e-Arrival Card. The rules for land and sea entry are less clearly published, so if you are arriving by road, river or boat, confirm the process for your crossing before you travel.

Our guide to the Cambodia e-Arrival Card for land and sea borders covers what is known so far.

What if you land without one?

Cambodia does not publish what happens to a traveller who arrives without an e-Arrival Card, so we will not guess at penalties. What you can count on is delay: extra questions at the desk and time spent sorting it out at the end of a long trip from Australia, when you would rather be heading for your hotel. Filing before you leave home is the simple way to avoid it.

If you spot a mistake after filing, you can edit and resubmit the card as long as Immigration has not yet processed you. Check your name, passport number and dates against your passport before you fly, not in the queue.

Filing it yourself or with us

You can complete the card yourself. Australians use a filing service because a small typo shows up at the worst moment, at an immigration desk after a long flight, and because the 7-day window is easy to miss in the busy last week before a holiday.

When you get your e-Arrival Card through us, we check every field against your passport before we submit it. If you book more than a week ahead, we hold your details and file the moment the window opens, then email you the QR code.

Every speed includes free resubmission if Immigration flags a correction. We do not need a photo from you to file the card.

Planning the whole trip? Our guide to Cambodia entry requirements for Australians in 2026 puts the passport, visa and e-Arrival Card in order, with what to expect at the airport.