Tourist vs Business eVisa for Cambodia: Cost Comparison for US Travelers

What the extra $10 on the Business eVisa actually buys

The honest answer: for most US tourists, the extra $10 buys nothing they will use. If you are flying into Phnom Penh or Siem Reap for a two-week trip, seeing Angkor Wat, and flying home, the Business eVisa gives you no advantage over the Tourist eVisa. Same 30 days, same single entry, same PDF in your inbox. You would be paying ten dollars for a capability you never touch.

The extra $10 only earns its keep in one situation: you might need to stay in Cambodia longer than 30 days, and you want to keep that door open without committing to it before you fly. The Business eVisa is the Type E visa, and Type E is the only Cambodia visa you can extend from inside the country once you arrive. Extensions run in 1, 3, 6, and 12-month blocks, handled through a Cambodian immigration agent after entry. The Tourist eVisa cannot do this at all.

So the $10 is best understood as optionality insurance, not a feature you use on arrival. Pay it if there is a genuine chance your 30 days turns into 45, 60, or 90 — a contract that might run long, a family situation, a slow-travel itinerary you have not nailed down. Skip it if your return flight is already booked inside the 30-day window. Our Type T vs Type E guide for US citizens walks through the visa-class mechanics behind this, and the EB visa extension explainer covers what extending actually costs once you are in-country.

Your real total: visa plus the $5 e-Arrival Card

The visa fee is not the only line on your entry cost, and pricing the two visas without the e-Arrival Card gives you the wrong total. Every US traveler arriving by air files a separate e-Arrival Card for $5 USD, verified through us — 14 fields, submitted within 7 days before you land. It is mandatory regardless of which visa you hold, so it adds the same $5 to either column.

That means the real all-in entry cost for a solo American is $85 on a Tourist eVisa ($80 visa + $5 e-Arrival) or $95 on a Business eVisa ($90 visa + $5 e-Arrival). The $10 visa gap survives intact once the e-Arrival Card is added, because the Card costs the same on both. For groups, the math scales straight per person — there is no family rate and no bundle discount on either the visa or the Card.

A few costs people expect but never pay: there is no return-flight proof, no hotel booking requirement, no travel-insurance fee, no bank statement, and no separate departure tax at Techo International Airport (KTI) — that is built into your airfare. The only two numbers that decide your entry cost are the visa fee and the $5 Card. The e-Arrival Card fee guide for Americans covers the Card in full if you want to see what each of the 14 fields asks.

Which one should you actually pay for?

On cost grounds alone, the decision rule is clean. Pay $80 for the Tourist eVisa if your trip is a defined visit of 30 days or less and your return is booked inside that window — which describes almost every American tourist. Pay $90 for the Business eVisa only if there is a real chance you need to extend past 30 days from inside Cambodia, because that is the one thing the extra $10 protects.

• Two-week vacation, Angkor Wat, beaches, flying home on schedule: Tourist eVisa, $80. The extra $10 buys you nothing you will use.
• Open-ended trip, contract that might run long, or an itinerary you have not locked: Business eVisa, $90. The $10 keeps the in-country extension door open.
• Planning to leave Cambodia and come back the same trip: neither single-entry visa covers re-entry — sort the entry-count question first, before price.
• Worried about speed: not a factor. Both land in 3 business days at the same flat price, with no paid rush tier on either.

If you are still weighing the type rather than the price, that is a slightly different question than this cost comparison answers — our Tourist visa vs Business visa guide for Americans covers the full decision, and the which Cambodia visa do I need walkthrough helps if you are not sure either fits. Once your choice is made, you pick the type on the application form and the all-in price is locked at checkout — $80 or $90, nothing added after.

Next steps and related reading for US travelers: apply for your Cambodia eVisa when you are ready to lodge, compare the full Cambodia visa cost for Americans for the complete price picture, check the Tourist eVisa price page if you have settled on the $80 option, and read the Business eVisa cost breakdown for Americans if the $90 Type E is your pick.