Cambodia Business Visa (Type-E) for US Citizens: When You Need It

Tourist eVisa vs Business eVisa: the honest side-by-side

Here is the honest comparison for US citizens choosing between the two routes in 2026. The fields that matter to a business trip are the bottom three — extendable in-country, best for, and not suitable for.

When Tourist isn't enough — three American scenarios

Scenario one: a New York consultant flies into Phnom Penh for what she calls a vacation, but spends three afternoons in client meetings on her firm's behalf. Cambodian Immigration treats that as business travel. The Tourist eVisa technically does not cover it, and a candid answer to the officer at the desk — "I'm here for two meetings, then a few days at Angkor" — can get her flagged. The Business eVisa is the clean route, and the price gap is about the cost of an airport coffee.

Scenario two: a Seattle software engineer is working remotely for a US employer while based in Siem Reap for six weeks. The trip looks like leisure, but the work is paid and the stay runs over 30 days. The Tourist eVisa caps at 30 days, and the old auto-extension ended in November 2025 — there is no legal path to stay longer on that visa. The Business eVisa, with a 1-month extension lodged in-country, is the correct and only route.

Scenario three: a Florida retiree couple are spending three months in Kampot trialing life there before deciding whether to relocate. No paid work, no meetings, no business contacts — but the stay is 90 days. Same answer. The Tourist eVisa cannot stretch beyond 30 days. The Business eVisa, with a 3-month extension, fits the trip cleanly.

In-country extensions: how the Business eVisa keeps working

The single biggest reason the Business eVisa exists for Americans in 2026 is the extension. The Tourist eVisa is a hard 30 days. The Business eVisa lets you stay another 1, 3, 6, or 12 months on top of the initial 30 — and the extension is lodged inside Cambodia, with a Cambodian immigration agent, while you are already in the country. It is the only visa that supports this. If you are weighing the labels rather than the use case, the Type-T vs Type-E explainer breaks the two visa classes down field by field.

Documents required (and what is NOT required)

The Cambodia Business eVisa application asks for the same short pack as the Tourist eVisa. Five items, all of which most Americans already have on hand. Roughly ten minutes online if your passport and a fresh photo are ready on the same device.

• 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.
• Digital passport-style photo — plain white background, taken in the last 6 months, no glasses, no hats, no smile, neutral expression. JPEG, under 2 MB.
• Clear scan or phone photo of your passport bio page — both edges visible, no glare on the laminate, all text legible.
• Working email address — the approval PDF lands here, so use an inbox that accepts PDF attachments.
• Payment method — Visa, Mastercard, American Express, PayPal, Apple Pay, or Google Pay.

Now the unusual part. The Cambodia Business eVisa is one of the few regional business visas that requires zero corporate documentation to apply. No sponsor letter from a Cambodian company. No employment contract. No formal invitation. No return flight ticket. No hotel booking. No bank statement. Compared with the Vietnam DN visa, the Thailand Non-B, or the Indonesia C312, this is a remarkably light pack — and it is one of the things that most surprises Americans coming from heavier processes. The ordinary E-class visa explainer covers exactly what the application asks for and why the document set stays this short.

That doesn't mean Immigration won't ask casual questions at the airport about the purpose of your visit — they sometimes do. But the application itself sticks to the basics. If you can complete a Tourist eVisa, you can complete a Business one. The step from $80 USD to $90 USD is a $10 difference for a visa class that opens up a fundamentally different trip.

How extensions work in-country

Once you are in Cambodia on the Business eVisa, extensions are arranged through a Cambodian immigration agent — not directly at a government counter. Most Americans use an agent based in Phnom Penh or Siem Reap; the agent takes your passport, lodges the extension paperwork, and returns it stamped a week or two later.

Four extension lengths are available: 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months. All four are renewable — you can stack a 6-month extension on top of an earlier 6-month one, for example, and run a full year in-country on the same original Business eVisa. The 12-month extension is multi-entry, which matters if you plan to slip out to Bangkok or Singapore midway.

Agent fees are a moving target — Cambodian agent pricing fluctuates with demand and the local market — so we don't quote exact figures here. As a working guide in 2026, expect the 1-month extension to carry the highest per-month rate, which makes it a poor value for stays longer than a few weeks. The 3-month and 6-month extensions tend to be the sweet spots: the per-month rate drops sharply, and most Americans on extended business trips or digital-nomad stays land in one of those two buckets. The 12-month extension is the best value per month for genuine long-stayers and retirees.

Processing is typically 7 to 14 days for the agent to return your stamped passport. Recommendation: start the extension paperwork at least 2 weeks before your initial 30-day stay expires. Cutting it closer puts you at risk of overstay — the Cambodian overstay penalty is $10 USD per day from day one, payable in cash at the airport on exit, and an overstay of more than a few weeks can affect future visa applications.

Common American use cases mapped to extension length

Choosing the right extension length up front saves money and a second trip to the agent. Here is the working map we use with US travelers, based on the trips we see most often.

• 1 month — short consulting gigs, extended due diligence, or an executive who needs a few extra weeks past the initial 30 days to wrap up a contract or close a deal.
• 3 months — a quarterly assignment, a single-project contract for a US freelancer, or a structured business-development trip with multiple supplier visits. One of the two sweet-spot rates.
• 6 months — digital-nomad seasonal stays (the classic dry-season American in Siem Reap), longer contract work for a US employer with a Phnom Penh client, or a sabbatical. The other sweet-spot rate, and the most common pick among American remote workers we process.
• 12 months — long-term contract work, retirement reconnaissance (a US couple trialing a full year in Kampot or Kep before deciding to stay), or any American with a genuine multi-year plan in Cambodia who wants the multi-entry flexibility for trips home and to Singapore or Bangkok.

The honest framing on cost: the 3-month and 6-month extensions deliver the best value per month of stay. The 1-month is convenient but expensive per day; the 12-month is the cheapest per day but only makes sense if you genuinely plan to use most of it. Our guide to how to apply for the Cambodia Business eVisa walks through the upfront online form step by step, and the Business eVisa cost breakdown lays out the all-in price against the in-country extension fees.

Border presentation and arrival in Cambodia

Arrival on the Business eVisa is identical to arrival on the Tourist eVisa. Print two copies of the Business eVisa approval PDF — one for entry, one for exit. Carry your US passport with at least 6 months validity. Have your e-Arrival QR code saved to your phone, with a screenshot for offline access in case airport Wi-Fi is slow.

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). Land entry is realistic only from Vietnam at Bavet, or from Laos at Tropaeng Kreal — all seven Thailand-Cambodia land borders have been closed since June 2025, so a Bangkok-overland plan does not work in 2026.

The immigration officer may ask the purpose of your visit. Answer honestly — "business meetings," "client visit," "sponsored conference," or "remote work for a US employer" are all standard answers. There is no trick question here, and the Business eVisa is the visa that explicitly authorizes those activities. Queue time is typically 10 to 20 minutes through the manual desk, faster through the e-gate. The US Embassy in Phnom Penh publishes current entry and local-conditions guidance that is worth a five-minute read before you fly.

Next steps and related reading for US citizens: apply for your Cambodia eVisa when you are ready to lodge, bookmark the Cambodia visa for United States citizens hub as the single canonical reference, compare the two classes side by side, and use the quick decision guide if you are still unsure which class fits your trip.