Can US Citizens Work in Cambodia on a Tourist Visa? Eligibility for Remote Workers

What counts as "work" in Cambodian Immigration's eyes

This is the heart of the question, and the honest answer has two layers: the formal rule, and how it plays out in practice. The formal rule is straightforward. If your trip has a structured purpose beyond leisure — anything involving income, employment, a client, a contract, a meeting, or a project — Cambodian Immigration considers it business activity, and the Business eVisa (Type-E) is the class for it. The Tourist eVisa technically does not cover any of it.

Here is the working list we apply when a US traveler asks which side of the line their trip falls on. If your stay touches any of these, you are in Business eVisa territory, not Tourist.

• Remote work for a US employer — e.g. a Denver software engineer keeping her normal full-time job while based in Siem Reap for a month. The work is paid, even though the money never touches Cambodia.
• Freelance or contract work of any kind — e.g. a US designer taking on a four-week project, or a writer billing US clients from a Phnom Penh apartment.
• Client meetings, sales calls, or supplier visits — e.g. a New York account manager flying in for a week of pitches, even if she calls the trip a vacation.
• Sponsored conferences, trade fairs, or speaking engagements — anything where you are attending or presenting in a professional capacity.
• Paid local work — picking up a teaching job, bar work, or any role with a Cambodian employer. This needs the Business eVisa and, for ongoing employment, a work permit on top.
• Volunteering or teaching through an organized program — even unpaid, a structured placement is treated as a purpose beyond tourism.
• Any stay you plan to run longer than 30 days, for any reason — the Tourist eVisa simply cannot do it.

Now the practical layer, because it is where the real-world nuance lives. The grey zone almost every American is actually asking about is small and benign: you are on a genuine two-week holiday, and one afternoon you answer a few urgent work emails or take one call so your team is not stuck. In practice, that is not what the rule is aimed at, and it is not something Cambodian Immigration is checking for or chasing. Nobody is auditing your inbox. The line that matters is intent and pattern: are you a tourist who happened to send an email, or are you a worker who happens to be in Cambodia?

The moment the answer tips toward "I am here to work, and the sightseeing is around the edges," you are on the wrong visa — regardless of who pays you or where. A six-week remote-work stay is a working stay even if you never meet a Cambodian client and your salary lands in a US bank account. That is the framing to use: not "is my money Cambodian?" but "is the purpose of this trip work?"

Why remote workers and digital nomads still need the Business eVisa

The most common pushback we hear from US remote workers is logical on its face: "I am not taking a job from a Cambodian. I am not paid in Cambodia. I am just sitting in a cafe doing the same job I would do in Austin." It feels like it should not count. But the visa system does not draw the line at where the money comes from. It draws it at the purpose and duration of your stay.

There are two separate reasons a remote worker lands on the Business eVisa, and either one on its own is enough. The first is the nature of the trip: if you are working — even remotely, even for a foreign employer — your stay is not a leisure stay, so the leisure visa is not the right fit. The second, and the one that catches the most people, is duration. Remote-work and digital-nomad stays in Cambodia tend to run six weeks, three months, sometimes longer. The Tourist eVisa caps at 30 days with no extension. The math alone pushes you to the Business eVisa.

This is where the Business eVisa earns its place. It is the only Cambodia visa you can extend from inside the country — 1, 3, 6, or 12 months on top of the initial 30 days, arranged through a Cambodian immigration agent once you arrive. A Seattle engineer doing a dry-season stint in Siem Reap, a freelancer on a three-month project, a couple trialing six months in Kampot — all of them sit cleanly inside the Type-E class. Our Cambodia visa for digital nomads and remote workers guide maps the common stay lengths to the right extension, and the tourist vs business visa comparison lays the two classes side by side.

One important boundary: the Business eVisa authorizes business activity and remote work, but it is not a work permit. If you take up ongoing employment with a Cambodian company — a salaried local job rather than remote work for a foreign employer — you also need a Cambodian work permit, which is a separate process handled in-country once you are on the right visa. For the overwhelming majority of American remote workers and freelancers earning from outside Cambodia, the Business eVisa plus its extensions is the full answer.

The cost and convenience case for doing it right

The reason this is an easy decision, once you see the numbers, is that the Business eVisa costs almost the same as the Tourist eVisa and runs through the exact same online flow. There is no heavier application, no corporate paperwork, no interview. Here is the honest side-by-side for a US citizen deciding between the two routes in 2026.

The price gap is $10 — about the cost of an airport coffee — for a visa class that authorizes the work you are actually doing and unlocks the extensions you will almost certainly need. The application pack is identical: a US passport, a passport-style photo, a scan of your passport bio page, an email address, and a payment method. No sponsor letter, no employment contract, no company invitation, no proof of funds. If you can complete a Tourist eVisa, you can complete a Business one, and you will not feel the difference in the application itself.

The cost case only gets stronger when you factor in the alternative. On a Tourist eVisa, a remote worker who wants to stay past 30 days has no extension path — the choice is an early flight home or a "visa run" out and back, with the airfare, the lost work time, and a fresh $80 USD visa each time. The Business eVisa avoids all of that: one application, then in-country extensions for as long as you need.

What happens if you work on the wrong visa

Let us be clear-eyed about the actual risk, because there is a lot of fear-mongering online and the reality is more measured. Cambodian Immigration is not patrolling cafes looking for laptops, and a tourist who sends a few emails is not going to be hauled off a barstool. The serious consequences cluster around two things: ongoing local employment without the right permits, and overstaying the 30-day Tourist cap. Those are where Americans actually get into trouble.

The most common real-world problem is not a work investigation at all — it is the overstay. A remote worker arrives on a Tourist eVisa intending to stay "a few weeks," the project runs long, and suddenly day 31 arrives with no extension available. The Cambodian overstay penalty is $10 USD per day from day one, payable in cash at the airport on exit. A two-week overstay is $140 USD on top of a stressful departure, and an overstay of more than a few weeks can affect future visa applications. Starting on the Business eVisa, with its extensions, removes the entire risk.

The other point worth knowing is the purpose-of-visit question at the border. The immigration officer can ask why you are visiting, and your honest answer should match the visa in your passport. If you say "I am here to work remotely for three months" while holding a 30-day Tourist eVisa, you have created a contradiction the officer has to resolve — and the cleanest outcome is rarely the one you want. On the Business eVisa, "remote work for a US employer" is a standard, fully authorized answer. Our overview of whether US citizens need a visa for Cambodia covers how the entry rules and the discretion at the desk actually work.

The takeaway is not "you will be caught." It is that the downside of getting it wrong — the overstay fines, the awkward border conversation, the visa run, the early flight home — is entirely avoidable for the cost of a $10 USD price step at the application stage. There is no upside to the Tourist eVisa for a working trip and a clear, cheap fix. That is why the recommendation is so simple.

How to choose and apply before you fly

The decision comes down to one honest question you ask yourself before you book. Is this a holiday, or is this a working stay? If it is a genuine vacation of 30 days or less with no work on the agenda beyond the occasional email, the Tourist eVisa is right and you are done. If work is part of the plan — remote, freelance, meetings — or the stay runs past 30 days, choose the Business eVisa. There is no scenario where guessing toward the cheaper Tourist visa for a working trip pays off.

A practical note on timing and arrival, since both visa classes share it. Apply at least a week before you fly so the 3-business-day approval clears with margin. Both classes are delivered as a printable PDF by email — print two copies, one for entry and one for exit. The open airports for US arrivals in 2026 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). Land entry works only from Vietnam or Laos; all seven Thailand-Cambodia land borders have been closed since June 2025.

Next steps and related reading for US citizens: apply for your Cambodia eVisa when you are ready to lodge, read the Business eVisa guide if a working stay points you to Type-E, use the quick decision guide if you are still unsure which class fits, and bookmark the Cambodia visa for United States citizens hub as the single canonical reference for cost, documents, and processing.