Cambodia Business eVisa Purpose Range for Australians: Meetings Through Paid Work in 2026

Worked example: a 2-day Aussie executive meeting trip

Picture an Aussie sales director flying Melbourne to Phnom Penh for a 48-hour meeting trip — two days of supplier review meetings, dinner with the local distributor, and back on a Friday-night flight. The reflex is to default to the Tourist eVisa because it is $10 USD (~$15 AUD) cheaper and the trip is 'only meetings'. The right answer is the Business eVisa, and the reasoning is straightforward: the trip's primary purpose is business activity, the visa class is required to match that purpose, and the $10 USD (~$15 AUD) gap is trivial against the cost of a Melbourne-to-Phnom Penh business-class fare.

The mechanics on the Aussie executive's side are identical to a Tourist application. Same online form, same passport bio-page scan, same passport-style photo, same 3-business-day approval, same printable PDF delivered by email, same 30-day stay on arrival, same 3-month validity from issue. The only differences are the $90 USD (~$137 AUD) all-in fee instead of $80 USD (~$122 AUD), the E-Class designation on the printed stamp, and the option to extend in country if the meeting trip stretches beyond 30 days.

The Cambodia business meeting trip guide for Australians runs the 3-to-7-day short-stay flow end-to-end, the Tourist vs Business cost difference guide breaks down where the $10 USD (~$15 AUD) goes, and the Australians need a Cambodia visa pillar is the place to start if you are still on the wider eligibility question.

Worked example: a 5-day Aussie conference delegate

Conferences and summits are the second-largest profile we see on the Business eVisa desk. Picture a Brisbane fintech founder flying in for a 5-day Phnom Penh innovation summit — three days of programmed sessions, two days of side meetings with sponsor companies and pitch judges, and a closing-night networking dinner at one of the Riverside hotels. The visa class is unambiguous: Business eVisa, $90 USD (~$137 AUD) all-in, approved in 3 business days, delivered as a printable PDF by email.

A common question from Aussie conference delegates: 'Is attending a conference really business activity if I'm just listening to sessions and networking?' The answer is yes. Cambodian Immigration's E-Class explicitly covers sponsored events, conferences, summits, and trade shows regardless of whether the delegate is presenting, exhibiting, judging, attending, or simply networking. The visa class follows the trip purpose, and the trip purpose is professional development plus business networking — which is Business activity by every reasonable definition.

The cost framing is helpful too. A 5-day Aussie conference trip typically runs $4,000-7,000 AUD on flights, hotel, registration, and meals. The $10 USD (~$15 AUD) gap between Tourist and Business is a rounding error on that budget. Any company travel policy worth the name treats the right-class call as table-stakes hygiene, not as a cost-optimisation decision.

Worked example: a 3-week Aussie consulting engagement

Picture a Canberra DFAT-contracted governance consultant on a 3-week in-country engagement — scoping interviews in week 1, a stakeholder workshop in week 2, a draft-report briefing and contracting follow-up in week 3, then a flight home from KTI on the final Friday. The Business eVisa is mandatory here because the consultant is doing paid work for the duration. The Tourist eVisa is not a valid choice; misclassifying a paid engagement as Tourist creates real exposure for both the consultant and the contracting Australian managing-contractor.

The mechanics fit cleanly inside the 30-day single-entry stay. Apply 10-14 days before flight, $90 USD (~$137 AUD) all-in, approved in 3 business days, delivered as a printable PDF by email, valid 3 months from issue, and the 30-day stay on arrival covers the entire 21-day engagement with a week of slack at either end. No extension required, no Phnom Penh agent paperwork, no special arrangements. The same Business eVisa that covers a 2-day flying meeting trip covers a 3-week paid consulting engagement without modification.

The Cambodia Business visa for Australians anchor covers the consulting use-case in depth, and the Business visa supplier and factory visit guide runs the procurement-and-due-diligence variant. For consulting engagements stretching past 30 days, the next worked example covers the extension path.

Worked example: a 6-month extended engagement

Picture a Hobart tech delivery lead on a 6-month core-banking rollout — continuous in-country presence in Phnom Penh, monthly weekend rotations back to Tasmania for family, and a hard go-live date 5 months after kickoff. The right visa state here is a Business eVisa at entry plus an in-country extension to cover the rest of the engagement. The 30-day stay limit on a single-entry Business eVisa is the first gotcha for Aussie professionals on long engagements, and the in-country extension path is the standard fix.

The flow looks like this. Apply for the single-entry Business eVisa at $90 USD (~$137 AUD) all-in 10-14 days before the first flight in. Land at KTI, settle into the Phnom Penh accommodation, brief a local immigration agent on the engagement length within the first two weeks. Hand the agent the passport at day 14-16 along with the application form, government extension fee, and agent processing fee, and the agent lodges a 6-month extension at the General Department of Immigration. 7-14 business days later the passport comes back with the extension stamp in, and the working state is set for the rest of the engagement. The Business visa extensions guide for Australians runs the full mechanics, and the 12-month extension guide covers the longer-stay milestone for anyone whose engagement stretches past 6 months.

Multi-entry Business eVisa at $150 USD (~$229 AUD) all-in is the alternative for teams flying in and out monthly across the engagement, instead of one continuous stretch. The eVisa multiple entry guide for Australians covers when multi-entry pays off, and the extended engagement guide for Australians runs the 4-12 week consulting profile end-to-end.

When NOT to use the Business eVisa

The Business eVisa is the right class for any non-leisure trip — but it is not the right class for everything. Pure leisure trips, family-visit holidays, and the Angkor Wat-plus-beach loop most short-haul Aussie holidaymakers fly in for are squarely Tourist eVisa territory. The $10 USD (~$15 AUD) saving on the Tourist class is real and worth pocketing if the trip is genuinely a holiday. Misclassifying a holiday as Business is uncommon (the price gap runs the wrong way) but is technically wrong; immigration officers occasionally raise the question if a clearly-holiday traveller's stamped class is Business.

Volunteer work for an unpaid NGO placement is the one genuine edge case. The Business eVisa is the safer pick if the volunteer is performing a defined role with set hours over a defined timeframe (most structured volunteer placements). The Tourist eVisa is the right pick if the involvement is incidental — a few days of casual help at a friend's NGO during an otherwise-leisure trip. When in doubt, the Business eVisa is the conservative choice; the Aussie-timezone support team can walk through the call before you apply.

For the standard Tourist case, the Cambodia Tourist visa for Australians anchor is the right reference. For trips that sit on the edge between Tourist and Business — long-stay independent travellers, retirees considering longer visits, digital nomads — the edge-cases guide and the digital nomad visa guide both cover the right-class decision in depth.

Next steps and related reading for Australians: apply for your Cambodia eVisa when you are ready to lodge, bookmark our Cambodia visa hub for Australian citizens as the single canonical reference, skim the FAQ on Cambodia visa eligibility for quick answers, and use our glossary of Cambodia visa terms to decode any acronym in this guide; for a structured side-by-side evisa vs visa on arrival comparison, see the dedicated comparison page.