Which Cambodia Visa Do US Citizens Need? A Quick Decision Guide
Almost every US traveler needs one of two Cambodia eVisas: the Tourist eVisa for leisure, or the Business eVisa for work and long stays. This is the fast decision tree, the borderline calls that trip Americans up, and the one number that settles most of them.
Which Cambodia visa do US citizens need?
Almost every US citizen needs one of two Cambodia eVisas. Pick the Tourist eVisa ($80 USD all-in) if your trip is leisure — vacation, sightseeing, family visit, or time with friends — and your stay is 30 days or fewer. Pick the Business eVisa ($90 USD all-in) if your trip involves meetings, paid work, conferences, sales calls, supplier visits, due diligence, sponsored events, or any stay longer than 30 days. If even one structured business activity is on the itinerary, the whole trip is Business from the start. Both are approved in 3 business days and delivered as a printable PDF by email, and both give you a single 30-day stay on a passport valid at least 6 months from entry.
Belangrijkste conclusies
- Tourist eVisa ($80 USD all-in) is the right pick for pure leisure — vacations, sightseeing, beaches, food trips, family visits, weddings, and travel with friends.
- Business eVisa ($90 USD all-in) is the right pick for meetings, paid work, conferences, sales calls, supplier visits, due diligence, sponsored trips, and any stay longer than 30 days.
- Both eVisas are approved in 3 business days, delivered as a printable PDF by email, valid 3 months from issue, and give you a single 30-day stay.
- Tourist auto-extension ended November 2025, so the Tourist eVisa is now a hard 30-day cap — if your stay could run longer, start on the Business eVisa.
- Every air arrival also needs the separate e-Arrival card ($5 USD verified through us, 14 fields, submitted within 7 days before arrival) on top of whichever eVisa you choose.
Your two real choices in 2026
This guide is the fast decision tree: what counts as a Tourist trip, what counts as a Business trip, where the line sits when your trip is genuinely mixed, and the 60-second flow we run on the intake desk. If you want the deeper versions, the Tourist vs Business breakdown for Americans and the Type-T vs Type-E explainer both go further, and the dedicated Tourist visa (Type-T) and Business visa (Type-E) guides cover each class end to end. Start your application whenever you are ready.
Pick the Tourist eVisa when your trip is leisure
- Vacation and sightseeing — Angkor Wat, Koh Rong, Kep, Kampot, Battambang, Phnom Penh, Mekong river cruises.
- Family visit — staying with relatives, attending a wedding, a funeral, or a school-break trip with the kids.
- Travel with friends — a week away, a bachelor or bachelorette trip, a dive trip to the islands, a backpacking loop.
- Food, culture, and photography — cooking classes, pepper farms, photo workshops you are paying to attend, not to teach.
- Wellness — yoga retreats, meditation stays, spa weeks, as long as you are the paying participant and not the instructor.
- Day-visit volunteering at an NGO, as long as you are not on a structured, placement-letter assignment (see the borderline section).
- Scouting trips as a prospective parent, student, or retiree — visiting schools or neighborhoods as a visitor, not as a recruiter or hosted guest speaker.
Pick the Business eVisa when work or a long stay is involved
- Bijeenkomsten met klanten, leveranciers, distributeurs, agenten of partners – zelfs een enkele sessie van een halve dag.
- Paid work — remote work for a US employer from a hotel room counts, plus freelance assignments, paid speaking, consulting, and paid training delivery.
- Conferences and industry events — attending as a delegate, exhibitor, sponsor, panelist, speaker, or vendor.
- Verkoopgesprekken — presentaties geven, demonstraties verzorgen, contracten onderhandelen, overeenkomsten sluiten.
- Bezoeken aan leveranciers en fabrieken — locatiebezoeken, audits, kwaliteitscontroles, inkoopreizen.
Veelgestelde vragen
Which Cambodia visa do US citizens need for a vacation?
The Tourist eVisa. If your trip is leisure — vacation, sightseeing, beaches, food, family visit, or time with friends — and your stay is 30 days or fewer, the Tourist eVisa at $80 USD all-in is the correct class. It is approved in 3 business days, delivered as a printable PDF by email, valid 3 months from issue, and gives you a single 30-day stay. You do not need the Business eVisa unless work or a stay over 30 days is involved.
I have one work meeting on an otherwise leisure trip — Tourist or Business?
Business. Cambodian Immigration does not pro-rate the visa class by day — either the trip is leisure or it contains structured commercial activity. A single calendared meeting with a client, supplier, or partner pushes the whole trip into Business class. The premium over Tourist is just $10 USD, the approval time is the same 3 business days, and the visa is delivered as the same printable PDF by email. When in doubt, default to Business.
Is there a Cambodia visa US citizens can skip — any visa-free or on-arrival option?
No. US citizens need a visa to enter Cambodia, and the eVisa applied for before you fly is the route to plan around in 2026. There is no waiver and no visa-free entry for American passport holders. For almost every US traveler the choice is simply Tourist eVisa or Business eVisa, both approved in 3 business days and delivered as a printable PDF by email.
My trip is 35 days but all leisure — Tourist or Business?
Business. The Tourist eVisa is capped at 30 days in-country with no extension since November 2025. Any stay longer than 30 days — even if every single day is leisure — needs to start on the Business eVisa, which can be extended in-country in 1, 3, 6, or 12-month blocks. Apply for Business at $90 USD and you are covered for the full 35-day plan with margin for delays.
Can I upgrade a Tourist eVisa to a Business eVisa once I am in Cambodia?
No. There is no in-country upgrade path from a Tourist class to a Business class, and Tourist auto-extension ended in November 2025, so the Tourist eVisa is a hard 30-day cap. The only fix for a wrong-class entry is exit and re-apply: a flight out of Cambodia, a fresh $90 USD Business application, a 3-business-day wait, and re-entry. Pick the right class before you fly.
I plan to do remote work for my US employer from the hotel — what class?
Business. Remote work is paid work, and Cambodian Immigration does not exempt it because the laptop happens to be in a beach bungalow or a hotel room in Phnom Penh. If you plan to open the laptop for paid work at any point on the trip, you need the Business eVisa from the start. If you are taking genuine PTO and the laptop stays in the bag, you are a Tourist.
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Kosten en prijzen
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De Cambodja e-Arrival Card is een aparte stap van je e-visum en een kleine — $5 USD, geverifieerd via ons, 14 velden, in te vullen en in te dienen binnen 7 dagen voor je vlucht. Hieronder leggen we precies uit wat die kosten dekken, waarom ze niet bij je visumprijs zijn inbegrepen en hoe je door de tijd kunt komen bij de gate.
Aanvraagprocedure
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De Cambodja e-Arrival Card bestaat uit 14 velden verdeeld over drie secties, die binnen 7 dagen voor aankomst moeten worden ingevuld. Hieronder staat precies beschreven wat er in elk veld moet worden ingevuld, in de volgorde zoals het formulier aangeeft, plus het datumformaat dat Amerikaanse reizigers bij de kiosk moet invullen.
Checklist documenten
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