What Is the Cambodia e-Arrival Card? A Plain-English Guide for 2026

The Cambodia e-Arrival Card in one paragraph

If you are flying into Cambodia, you will be asked for a Cambodia e-Arrival Card before you reach the immigration desk. It is the digital version of the arrival paperwork that used to be handed out on the plane: one online form, filed before you travel, that tells Cambodian Immigration who you are, how you are arriving and what you are bringing with you. The official name is the Cambodia e-Arrival, often shortened to CeA, and most travellers simply call it the e-Arrival Card.

The idea is simple. Instead of filling in three separate paper forms with a borrowed pen in the last hour of a long flight, you complete one form online in the days before you go. The system checks it, returns a QR code, and that code is what the officer scans when you land. The paperwork is done before you board, so the arrival itself is quicker.

What did the e-Arrival Card replace?

Before 2024, arriving in Cambodia meant three pieces of paper: an immigration arrival card, a health form and a customs declaration. The Cambodia e-Arrival replaced all three with one portal. The system was first announced for the new Siem Reap Angkor International Airport, which opened in late 2023, and it became mandatory for arriving travellers in 2024.

The practical upshot is that there is no separate customs form to fill in after you collect your bags, and no health slip to hand over. Everything Cambodia used to collect on paper at the border is collected once, online, before you travel.

Who needs a Cambodia e-Arrival Card?

Every traveller flying into Cambodia needs one. That covers tourists, business travellers, people visiting family and people returning for a second or third trip. It does not depend on your nationality, and it does not depend on your visa: Cambodia’s own guidance is that all travellers must complete the e-Arrival even if they have already been granted a visa.

• Travellers with a Cambodia eVisa need one. The visa and the arrival card are two separate steps.
• Travellers who plan to get a visa on arrival need one. The card is filed before you fly, and the visa is dealt with at the airport.
• Visa-exempt travellers, such as citizens of most ASEAN countries, still need one, because the card is not a visa.
• Each person in a group files their own card, children included. There is no single card that covers a whole family.

If you are travelling with children, our guide to the e-Arrival Card for families covers how to file one card per person in a single sitting.

What about land and sea arrivals?

The e-Arrival system is built around air travel. The official system lists Cambodia’s three international airports as its checkpoints, and travellers crossing overland have reported completing paper arrival forms at the border post instead. Rules at land and sea crossings are less clearly published than at airports, so we cover them separately in our guide to the e-Arrival Card at land and sea borders.