Do You Need the Cambodia e-Arrival Card If You Enter by Land or Sea?

The short answer: it is an air-arrival system

The Cambodia e-Arrival Card replaced the paper immigration card, health form and customs declaration for travellers flying into Cambodia. The official system is built around the country’s international airports: Techo International in Phnom Penh, Siem Reap Angkor International and Sihanoukville International are the checkpoints it lists. It does not list any land border posts or sea ports.

That matters because the rules for overland and sea arrivals are much less clearly published than the rules for airports. This guide sets out what we know, what travellers report, and what we do not know, so that you can prepare properly rather than rely on a confident answer that may not hold at your particular crossing.

What the official system covers

The e-Arrival system’s banner says that all travellers can submit an e-Arrival within 7 days before arrival, and its guidance is that all travellers must complete it even if they hold a visa. Read alongside its list of airports, the practical meaning is clear for air travellers. For land and sea, it is not spelled out.

Crossing into Cambodia overland

Travellers who have crossed into Cambodia by land, most often from Vietnam at Bavet or from Laos, have reported completing a paper arrival form at the border post, in the same way arrivals worked everywhere before the e-Arrival system. We have not found an official statement confirming this, and procedures at individual border posts can change without much notice.

• Carry a pen. Paper forms at land borders are filled in on the spot.
• Have your accommodation address and onward travel plans written down, since arrival forms ask for them.
• Keep your passport and visa, if you need one, together and ready.
• Check recent traveller reports for your specific crossing shortly before you go.

The Thailand–Cambodia border

All land crossings between Thailand and Cambodia, including Poipet, Cham Yeam and O’Smach, have been closed to travellers since the 2025 border conflict, with no reopening date announced as of September 2026. If your plan was to travel overland from Bangkok to Siem Reap, you will need to fly instead, and that means filing the e-Arrival Card.