How to Apply for a Cambodia Business eVisa: Guide for US Citizens

Before you start: the five things to have ready

Gather these five items before you open the application. Having them on the same device you are applying from — phone or laptop — turns a stop-start session into a clean ten-minute run. Three of the five you almost certainly already have; the other two take a couple of minutes to sort at a window.

• US passport — at least 6 months validity from your planned date of arrival in Cambodia, with at least one full blank page for the entry stamp. If it expires inside that 6-month window, renew before you apply; the airline will deny boarding at the US gate otherwise.
• Digital passport-style photo — plain white background, taken in the last 6 months, no glasses, no hats, neutral expression, no smile. JPEG, under 2 MB, ideally 600×600 pixels or larger. A phone photo against a white wall is fine.
• Clear scan or phone photo of your passport bio page — both edges visible, no glare on the laminate, every line of text and the machine-readable zone legible.
• Working email address — the approval PDF arrives here, so use a personal inbox that accepts PDF attachments rather than a corporate one that may strip them.
• Payment method — Visa, Mastercard, American Express, PayPal, Apple Pay, or Google Pay. Make sure the card is cleared for international online transactions before you begin.

Notice what is not on that list: no sponsor letter, no employment contract, no company invitation, no return flight, no hotel booking, no bank statement. The Business eVisa application pack is identical to the Tourist one. The Cambodia Business eVisa documents guide for Americans goes deeper on why the corporate-paperwork myth keeps circulating and what Immigration actually checks at the desk.

The application, step by step

Here is the full sequence in the order the form asks for it. The single step that matters most for a business trip is the first one — choosing the right visa class. Get that right and the rest is straightforward data entry.

Step 1 — Select the Business (Type-E) visa class

On the first screen, choose Business eVisa (Type-E), not Tourist (Type-T). This is the field US travelers most often get wrong, and it matters because visa-class conversion is not supported once you are inside Cambodia. If you select Tourist and only realize later, you cannot upgrade the existing visa — you would apply fresh on the correct class. Pick Type-E at the start if your trip touches meetings, paid work, a conference, a supplier visit, or any stay longer than 30 days.

Step 2 — Enter your passport and personal details

Type your full name, passport number, date of birth, nationality, and passport expiry exactly as they appear on your passport bio page — character for character, including middle names if they are printed there. The most common avoidable rejection on a Business eVisa is a name that does not match the machine-readable zone. If your passport reads "JONATHAN," do not shorten it to "JON." Select United States as nationality and the United States as the issuing country.

Step 3 — Upload your photo and bio-page scan

Upload the white-background photo first, then the bio-page scan. The uploader auto-checks the photo for the usual flags — a smile, glasses, a colored or off-white wall, shadows behind the head, or resolution under 600 pixels will bounce it on the spot. The bio-page scan needs both edges in frame with no glare; tilt the passport a few degrees if the laminate is reflecting the light. Leave a thumb-width of margin around all four edges so nothing is cropped.

Step 4 — Travel details and port of entry

Enter your intended arrival date and the airport you are flying into. The open airports for US arrivals are KTI (Phnom Penh — the new Techo International Airport, which replaced the old PNH on 9 September 2025), SAI (Siem Reap-Angkor), and KOS (Sihanoukville). The arrival date does not lock you to that exact day — the eVisa is valid for 3 months from issue. For the intended address, a hotel name and city is enough; no booking reference is required.

Step 5 — Review, pay, and submit

Review every field against your passport one last time before you pay — this is the cheapest moment to catch a typo. The fee is $90 USD all-in for the Business eVisa. Pay with Visa, Mastercard, American Express, PayPal, Apple Pay, or Google Pay, then submit. You will get an immediate confirmation that the application is in the queue, with a reference you can use to check status.

After you submit: approval, timing, and the PDF

Once the application is in, the Business eVisa is approved in 3 business days and delivered as a printable PDF by email. Business days are the operative words — applications submitted on a Friday afternoon or over a weekend start their clock on the next working day, and Cambodian public holidays such as Khmer New Year in April and Pchum Ben in the fall extend the window. If your trip is close, build in that buffer rather than betting on a same-day turnaround.

If Immigration flags something — a photo that slipped past the uploader, a bio-page corner that is soft, a name that needs a second look — you get an email explaining exactly what to re-upload. There is free resubmission if Immigration flags a correction, so a flagged file does not cost you anything beyond the time to fix it, and the 3-business-day clock keeps running once you reply. US-timezone support means questions get answered in your working hours rather than overnight.

When the approval lands, print two copies of the PDF — one for entry, one for exit — and keep a copy on your phone as a backup. Do not rely on a phone screen alone; print copies are what gets presented at the desk. If your inbox is still quiet on day three, give it until the next business morning before worrying, and reply fast to any correction email so the clock keeps running.

Common mistakes US applicants make (and how to avoid them)

After more than 1,500 Business eVisa applications, the same handful of slips account for nearly every avoidable delay. None are hard to dodge once you know the list — and four of the five happen before you ever click submit.

• Selecting Tourist instead of Business — the costliest mistake, because you cannot convert the class in-country. If your trip touches business or runs over 30 days, choose Type-E up front.
• Name mismatch with the passport — shortening a first name, dropping a middle name, or adding a married name that is not yet on the passport. Copy the bio page exactly, character for character.
• A non-compliant photo — a faint smile, thin-framed glasses, an off-white wall, or shadows behind the head. The uploader is strict; a phone photo against a true-white wall in side daylight clears it cleanly.
• A corporate email inbox — many block or strip PDF attachments, and the approval is a PDF. Use a personal Gmail, Outlook, or similar account you actually check.
• A card not cleared for international transactions — US banks sometimes flag a Cambodia charge as suspicious. Enable international online payments before you start, or have a second card ready.

The pattern across all five is that they are catchable before payment. A two-minute review of the form against your passport, the photo against the spec, and the card against your bank app prevents almost every flagged file. The broader Cambodia eVisa application mistakes guide for Americans runs through the full list, including the ones specific to longer business trips and family group filings.

Cost, extensions, and what comes after approval

The Business eVisa is $90 USD all-in — there is no separate government surcharge to add at the airport, no hidden processing line, and free resubmission if Immigration flags a correction. The initial stay is 30 days from arrival, identical to the Tourist eVisa. The difference is the extension: the Business eVisa is the only Cambodia visa you can extend in-country, in 1, 3, 6, or 12-month lengths, arranged through a Cambodian immigration agent once you have arrived.

That extension path is the reason most digital nomads, long-stay travelers, and Americans on extended work trips choose the Business class even when their first 30 days look like a normal trip. You apply once, online, before you fly — and the option to stay longer is already baked in. If you know up front that your stay will run past 30 days, the extension is lodged after arrival, not as part of this application.

For the full price picture, the Cambodia Business eVisa cost breakdown for Americans lays out the $90 USD all-in fee against the in-country extension fees so you can budget the whole trip rather than just the visa. If you are paying on a company card or expensing the fee, the Business eVisa company-card payment guide for Americans covers how that works at checkout and what shows on the receipt.

Next steps and related reading for US citizens: apply for your Cambodia Business eVisa when you are ready to lodge, read the Business visa Type-E overview to confirm the class fits your trip, check the documents you need before you start, and bookmark the Cambodia visa for United States citizens hub as your canonical reference.