Cambodia eVisa Stuck on Pending — What Aussies Should Do
Status Fix9 न्यूनतम पठन
Cambodia eVisa Stuck on Pending — What Australians Should Do (2026)
A 'Pending' status on your Cambodia eVisa past day 3 looks worse than it is. The clock counts business days only, weekends and Cambodian public holidays don't tick, and chasing too early — or worse, re-submitting — usually makes it slower. Here is the calendar arithmetic and the fix sequence.
My Cambodia eVisa still says 'pending' — what should I do?
First, check the calendar. The 3-business-day Cambodian Immigration window does not count weekends or Cambodian public holidays, so a Thursday submission with a Khmer holiday on Friday can legitimately land on the following Wednesday. Through us, your eVisa is approved in 3 business days and delivered as a printable PDF by email — if you are past business day 5 and still pending, reply on the original confirmation thread and we follow up with MFAIC directly. Whatever you do, do not re-submit a second application while the first is still pending — it creates a duplicate that costs you the second fee and usually voids both files.
चाबी छीनना
The 3-business-day clock does not count weekends, Australian public holidays, or Cambodian public holidays — a Thursday submission with a Friday Khmer holiday can land on Wednesday.
'Pending' or 'In Review' means your file is sitting in MFAIC's processing queue in Phnom Penh — it has not been flagged, it has not been declined, it is simply waiting its turn.
Don't re-submit while your first application is still pending. It creates a duplicate file, the second fee comes off your card, and Cambodian Immigration usually voids both.
Day 5 (business) is the right time to start chasing — earlier than that and the file genuinely has not been touched yet.
Through us, chasing is part of the price. You email or reply on the original thread and we follow up with MFAIC directly — Aussie-timezone support keeps the loop tight.
Why this matters in 2026
A status bar that has read 'Pending' for four days does something specific to the Aussie brain — you start refreshing the inbox every 20 minutes, you start mentally rehearsing the call to the airline, you start wondering if you should just submit a second application to be safe. None of that helps. Cambodian Immigration's processing queue at MFAIC in Phnom Penh runs on Khmer business hours and Khmer public holidays, and the queue does not care that your Sydney clock has rolled over to a fifth working day.
The fix is to do calendar arithmetic before doing anything reactive. Once the maths is right, almost every 'stuck on pending' situation Aussies see resolves on its own inside another business day. The cases that need actual intervention are rare — and even those have a clean, free path through us. The one thing that turns a routine wait into an expensive problem is re-submitting while the first file is still in the queue. We see that mistake almost weekly, and it is the only one that costs you real money.
This guide walks through the calendar maths, what 'pending' actually means at MFAIC's end, when to start chasing, how to check status without triggering a duplicate, and the recovery path if you have already submitted twice. If you have not applied yet, the Australian application walkthrough covers what to do up front so this situation does not happen. For the umbrella view across cost, processing time, and documents, see the apply for your Cambodia eVisa hub.
The 3-business-day clock — what counts and what does not
The single most common reason Aussies think their eVisa is stuck is that they are counting calendar days instead of Khmer business days. The MFAIC processing window is 3 business days, and 'business day' means a Monday-to-Friday in Cambodia that is not a public holiday on the Khmer calendar. Australian weekends, Australian public holidays, and any time-zone difference between Sydney and Phnom Penh do not affect the clock.
Work through a typical example. You submit at 9pm Sydney time on a Thursday. Phnom Penh is 4 hours behind, so the file reaches MFAIC's queue at 5pm Phnom Penh time on the same Thursday — which is right at end of business, so day 1 of the clock starts on Friday morning Khmer time. Friday is day 1, the weekend does not tick, Monday is day 2, Tuesday is day 3. Your approval typically lands Tuesday evening Khmer time, which is Wednesday morning Sydney time. From a Sydney-clock perspective the elapsed time is around 6 calendar days. That is on-schedule, not stuck.
Now drop a Khmer public holiday into the same week. Cambodia observes around 25 public holidays a year — far more than Australia — and several cluster in April (Khmer New Year), May (Visak Bochea, King's Birthday), September (Pchum Ben), October (King Sihamoni's Birthday), and November (Independence Day, Water Festival). Drop a holiday on Monday in the example above and the clock shifts by one day in your favour from MFAIC's perspective but one day against yours: Friday is day 1, weekend does not tick, Monday holiday does not tick, Tuesday is day 2, Wednesday is day 3, approval Wednesday evening Khmer. Sydney clock now reads around 7 calendar days. Still on-schedule.
When to actually worry
The honest threshold is business day 5 with no movement. By that point the file has been in MFAIC's queue long enough that something is unusual — either it has been silently flagged for review, or it has been overlooked, or the confirmation email got eaten by your spam filter. Below business day 5 the answer is almost always 'wait one more day'. At or past business day 5, that is the moment to start a polite chase.
If you are doing the planning maths up front, the Cambodia visa processing time from Australia explainer walks through the standard timelines week by week, and the e-Arrival timing piece covers how the 7-day arrival window interacts with the visa clock so you do not stack two delays on top of each other.
What 'pending' actually means at MFAIC's end
Cambodian Immigration's status strings are translated from Khmer and have specific meanings that English speakers tend to read more emotionally than they need to. 'Pending', 'In Review', 'Processing', and 'Submitted' are all the same operational state — your file is sitting in the queue at MFAIC's eVisa unit and has not yet been picked up by a processing officer. None of these strings mean anything has gone wrong.
The strings that do mean something has happened are 'Requires Correction', 'Returned for Information', 'Declined', and 'Approved'. If you see any of the first three, you will also receive an email explaining what to fix — through us, that email arrives in plain English with the specific field flagged. If you see 'Approved', the PDF is on its way to your inbox or already sitting in spam.
The reason 'pending' can sit on the same status for two or three days without changing is that MFAIC processes in batches rather than touching every file every day. An officer pulls down a batch of around 50 files, works through them in one sitting, and your file might sit at the bottom of that batch for two days and then get processed in 8 minutes. The status only updates when an officer touches the file — so a quiet status bar is not a stalled status bar.
Don't refresh more than twice a day
Hitting the status page every 20 minutes does not move your file up the queue and it does not put pressure on anyone — MFAIC's queue is internal and not affected by status checks. Twice a day, morning and evening Sydney time, is plenty. Watching the bar will only stress you out.
The one mistake that genuinely costs you — submitting a duplicate
After three or four days of 'pending', a small but vocal share of Aussies do the thing we always ask them not to do — they open a fresh application, fill in the same details, pay a second fee, and hit submit on the theory that two applications double the chance of approval. This is the one move that turns a routine wait into a real problem.
Cambodian Immigration's system detects duplicate passport numbers in the queue, and the operational rule is straightforward — they typically void both files and email both applicants with a request to consolidate. By the time you receive that email, both your $80 USD (~$122 AUD) tourist fees or both your $90 USD (~$137 AUD) business fees are already on your card statement. The refund path for the second one is slow on the direct portal and we have seen it take weeks. Through us, we will get you to a single approved file at no extra cost, but you will have lost time.
The reason the duplicate rule exists is simple — it stops queue-jumping. If submitting twice worked, everyone would do it, the queue would double overnight, and the 3-business-day window would collapse. MFAIC is protecting the timeline for everyone by enforcing the duplicate rule, and the rule applies whether you submitted both files through the direct portal, both through a service, or split one of each. The system reads on the passport number, not on the route.
If you have already submitted a duplicate
Do not submit a third file under any circumstances. Reply on the most recent confirmation thread or contact support immediately, give us both reference numbers, and we work with MFAIC to keep one file alive and void the other before both are voided automatically. The faster you flag it the better the outcome — same business day is best, next day is fine, 3 days in is when refunds and re-applications start to compound. The Cambodia eVisa resubmission guide for Australians walks through what happens to the money in each scenario.
How to check status without re-submitting
Checking status the right way is boring and effective. The wrong way usually involves opening a fresh tab on the application portal and getting confused into starting a second file. Through us, the right way is even simpler — you do not need to log in anywhere or look anything up.
Step 1: search your inbox (including spam and promotions) for the confirmation email we sent the moment you paid. It has your reference number in the subject line.
Step 2: reply to that confirmation thread with one sentence: 'Hi, can you confirm where my application sits in the MFAIC queue?' Aussie-timezone support replies on the same thread, usually inside 4 business hours.
Step 3: if it is past business day 5 and you have not heard, reply again with 'Day 5 check-in — can you escalate?'. That triggers a direct follow-up from us to MFAIC's eVisa unit.
Step 4: while you wait, do nothing else. Do not start a fresh application, do not change any details on the existing file, do not contact Cambodian Immigration directly — they will not respond to passenger-side enquiries and asking them does not move your file up the queue.
Step 5: when the approved PDF lands, save it to your phone's Files app and to your email so you have at least two copies. The Cambodia eVisa PDF print and format guide covers how to set the file up for both border and gate-agent inspection.
If you applied through the direct government portal, the check process is different — you log in to the portal with the email and reference number you used at submission and read the status field on the dashboard. There is no support thread to reply to, no Aussie-timezone responder, and the dashboard rarely updates outside Khmer business hours. The Cambodia eVisa rush options and myths piece for Australians has more context on why direct-route check loops are slower.
What an actual escalation looks like (past business day 5)
If you are past business day 5 and still pending, the situation graduates from 'wait one more day' to 'someone needs to look at this'. Through us, that escalation is part of the price you already paid. You reply on the confirmation thread asking for an escalation, and we open a direct ticket with MFAIC's eVisa unit referencing your file's MRZ number and submission timestamp.
MFAIC's typical response to a service-side escalation is one of three things — your file was at the bottom of a batch and is now top of the next one (most common, resolved inside 24 hours), your file has a quiet flag we were not informed about (rare, but the flag is usually a re-scan or photo re-take we handle for free), or your file got caught between two officers and needs a manual nudge to move forward (uncommon, resolved inside 48 hours).
Across all three of these, the resubmission rule still applies — free resubmission if Cambodian Immigration flags a correction, no second fee on your card. The escalation itself does not cost you anything beyond the time it takes to reply to one email. Once the file moves, the approved PDF lands the same way any other approval lands — straight to your inbox with the QR code embedded.
A 'pending' status that has not moved for three or four days is almost always doing exactly what it is supposed to do — sitting in MFAIC's queue, waiting for its turn. Do the business-day maths, factor in any Khmer public holidays in the week, refresh twice a day at most, and resist any urge to submit a second file. If you cross business day 5 and the bar still has not moved, that is the moment to reply on the confirmation thread and let the escalation desk go to work. The Do Australians need a visa for Cambodia explainer covers the upstream eligibility context if you want the wider picture.
How long can a Cambodia eVisa stay on 'pending' before it is genuinely stuck?
Up to business day 5 is normal. The 3-business-day clock does not count weekends, Cambodian public holidays, or any time-zone gap between Sydney and Phnom Penh, so a Sydney-clock calendar of 6-7 days from submission to approval is on-schedule. Past business day 5 is the right moment to start chasing — earlier than that and your file simply has not been touched yet.
Should I re-submit my Cambodia eVisa if it has been pending too long?
No — under no circumstances. A second submission while the first is still pending creates a duplicate on your passport number, which Cambodian Immigration almost always voids both of. The second fee comes off your card, and the refund path is slow. Reply on the original confirmation thread instead and we follow up with MFAIC directly.
What do the different Cambodia eVisa status strings actually mean?
'Pending', 'In Review', 'Processing', and 'Submitted' are all the same operational state — your file is in MFAIC's queue and has not yet been picked up by a processing officer. 'Requires Correction' and 'Returned for Information' mean a field needs fixing — you will receive an email explaining what. 'Declined' means a rejection, also with a fix email. 'Approved' means the PDF is on its way to your inbox.
Why is my Cambodia eVisa taking longer than 3 business days?
The most common reasons are calendar arithmetic, not actual delay — a Khmer public holiday in the week, an end-of-day Khmer-time submission that rolled to the next business day, or a Friday-evening Sydney submission that lands in MFAIC's Monday queue. Check the Cambodian public holiday calendar for the week you submitted. If you are genuinely past business day 5, reply on the confirmation thread for an escalation.
Can I contact Cambodian Immigration directly to chase my eVisa?
Cambodian Immigration does not respond to passenger-side enquiries and contacting them directly does not move your file up the queue. Service-side escalations go through a dedicated MFAIC eVisa-unit channel that we have an open ticket on. Reply on your confirmation thread and the escalation goes through that channel — Aussie-timezone support handles the loop end to end.
What happens if my flight is in 48 hours and I am still on pending?
Reply on the confirmation thread immediately with 'flight in 48 hours, please escalate'. Service-side escalations to MFAIC for genuine 48-hour cases typically resolve inside one business day. If for any reason that fails, the visa-on-arrival fallback is available at KTI, SAI, and KOS for $30 USD (~$45 AUD) in cash — but it requires you to have not received any prior MFAIC decision on the same passport in the same week.
Does refreshing the status page make my Cambodia eVisa process faster?
No. MFAIC's queue is internal and is not affected by status checks. The status bar only updates when a processing officer actually touches the file, which can be several days after submission for files at the bottom of a batch. Twice a day is plenty — morning and evening Sydney time covers any change MFAIC has made during their working hours.
Will I get the same 3-business-day window on a resubmission if my file is flagged?
Yes. Through us, a flagged file gets a free resubmission and the new 3-business-day clock starts the moment the corrected file reaches MFAIC. There is no second fee, no penalty, and no fresh form to fill out from scratch — just the replacement asset attached on the same email thread. Most fixes go through inside 24 hours.
Hannah leads the Rejection & Resubmission desk at VisaToCambodia. She has logged every Cambodian Immigration rejection pattern Australians have hit since 2021 and writes the playbook the team uses to get flagged applications back on track.
