Cambodia Visa Knowledge Base

Cambodia Visa Glossary — every term defined.

The official Cambodia visa vocabulary, in plain English. Every term Cambodian Immigration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and our application flow actually use — defined once, linked through to the page you need.

35 defined terms6 categoriessingle source of truth

签证类型

The official Cambodian visa classes — what each one is for and who it suits.

Cambodia eVisa: The Cambodia eVisa is a single-entry electronic visa issued by the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that authorises a foreign national to enter Cambodia for tourism or business. It is delivered as a PDF, valid for three months from issue, and permits stays up to 30 days.
Cambodia eVisa Type T (Tourist): The Type T eVisa is the tourist class of the Cambodia eVisa. It is issued for leisure travel, valid three months from issue, allows a single entry, and permits a maximum stay of 30 days from the date of arrival in Cambodia.
Cambodia eVisa Type E (Business): The Type E (Ordinary) eVisa is the business class of the Cambodia eVisa. It is issued for commercial visits, conferences, and short-term work travel, valid three months from issue, single entry, with a 30-day initial stay that can be extended in Cambodia.
Cambodia Visa on Arrival (VOA): A Visa on Arrival is a paper visa stamped into the passport at a Cambodian port of entry rather than applied for in advance. It exists in parallel with the eVisa, but exposes travellers to airport queues, cash-only counters, and discretionary refusal.
Cambodia Embassy Visa: An Embassy Visa is a traditional passport-sticker visa issued by a Cambodian embassy or consulate in person. It is the slowest and least common option for short visits and is mostly used for long-stay categories the eVisa does not cover.
Cambodia Visa Exemption: A Visa Exemption is a bilateral agreement that lets passport holders of certain countries enter Cambodia without any visa for a fixed period. Most ASEAN nationals are exempt for 14–30 days; non-ASEAN exemptions are rare and limited.

Process

The moving parts of an application, from intake to approval letter.

e-Arrival form: The e-Arrival form is a mandatory 14-field digital arrival card every air passenger to Cambodia must submit within seven days before landing. It is separate from the visa, returns a QR code by email, and is scanned by Cambodian Immigration at the kiosk.
Application reference number: The application reference number is a unique identifier assigned to every Cambodia eVisa intake. It is the lookup key for support, status checks, and the tracking page, and travels with the application through review, approval, and delivery.
Approval letter: The approval letter is the official Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs document confirming an eVisa has been issued. It is delivered as a PDF carrying the visa number, validity dates, and personal details — and is what immigration officers verify on arrival.
Stripe-secured checkout: Stripe-secured checkout is the PCI-DSS Level 1 payment surface VisaToCambodia uses to take application fees. Card data never touches our servers — Stripe tokenises it directly in the browser, so the application can be paid for safely from any device.
Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA): The Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is the government department that issues the Cambodia eVisa. Every approval letter is digitally signed by the MFA and verifiable against the official portal at evisa.gov.kh.

Documents

The paperwork and photo specs Cambodian Immigration actually checks.

Passport scan (bio page): A passport scan is a colour image of the photograph page of a passport, showing the machine-readable zone, photograph, and personal details. Cambodian Immigration uses it to verify identity against the eVisa record before issuing the approval letter.
Passport-style photo: A passport-style photo is a recent colour headshot, plain white background, neutral expression, eyes open, no hat or sunglasses. For the Cambodia eVisa it must be supplied as a JPEG or PNG sized for printing at 35 × 45 mm.
Passport validity (6-month rule): The 6-month rule requires a passport to remain valid for at least six months beyond the date of arrival in Cambodia. Passports expiring sooner are refused at the immigration desk regardless of whether the eVisa itself has been issued.
Application photo specs: Cambodia eVisa photo specs require a recent JPEG or PNG, plain white background, full face visible, no shadows, no glasses, neutral expression, and a minimum 600 × 800 pixels at 300 dpi. Selfies and cropped passport photos are routinely rejected.
e-Arrival 14-field form: The e-Arrival 14-field form covers passport details, nationality, flight number, arrival airport, first-night accommodation, customs and health declarations, and onward travel intent. Every field is cross-checked against the eVisa record before the QR code is issued.

Travel

Airports, land borders, entry rules, and the practical mechanics of arrival.

Phnom Penh International Airport (PNH): Phnom Penh International Airport (IATA: PNH) is Cambodia’s primary international gateway and the busiest eVisa entry point. The immigration kiosk here scans both the eVisa PDF and the e-Arrival QR code; both must be ready on the phone or printed.
Siem Reap / Techo International Airport: Siem Reap is served by the new Techo International Airport (IATA: KTI), which replaced the older REP airfield in 2023. It is the main gateway for travellers visiting the Angkor temple complex and accepts the Cambodia eVisa on arrival.
Sihanoukville International Airport (KOS): Sihanoukville International Airport (IATA: KOS) is Cambodia’s coastal international gateway, serving beach and island destinations including Koh Rong. The eVisa is accepted here, but flight frequency is much lower than Phnom Penh or Siem Reap.
Poipet land border: Poipet is the busiest Cambodia–Thailand land border, opposite Aranyaprathet. The Cambodia eVisa is accepted at Poipet, making it the preferred overland entry point for travellers crossing from Bangkok to Siem Reap by bus or train.
Bavet land border: Bavet is the main Cambodia–Vietnam land border, opposite Moc Bai. The Cambodia eVisa is accepted at Bavet, making it the standard overland entry point for travellers connecting between Ho Chi Minh City and Phnom Penh.
Single entry vs multiple entry: A single-entry visa permits one arrival in Cambodia; once the holder leaves, the visa is spent. A multiple-entry visa permits repeated arrivals during its validity. The standard Cambodia eVisa is single-entry; multiple-entry status is only granted through embassy channels.
Validity (3 months from issue): Validity is the window during which an issued Cambodia eVisa can be used to enter the country. It begins on the date of issue and runs for three months. Arriving after this window means the visa is dead — a fresh application is required.
Maximum stay (30 days for Tourist): Maximum stay is the longest continuous period a visa holder may remain in Cambodia after arrival. For the Type T tourist eVisa the maximum stay is 30 days, counted from the entry stamp date, not from the date the eVisa was issued.

Compliance

Regulatory and SEO/diplomatic context worth knowing if you compare visa regimes.

ASEAN free movement: ASEAN free movement is the bilateral framework under which citizens of ASEAN member states may travel between member countries — including Cambodia — without a visa for short stays of 14 to 30 days. Non-ASEAN nationals still need a Cambodia eVisa.
Schengen-style visa: A Schengen-style visa is a single permit that grants access to multiple participating countries under one application. Cambodia does not operate a Schengen-style regime: the Cambodia eVisa is valid only for Cambodia, and each Southeast Asian country issues its own visa.
Reciprocity: Reciprocity is the diplomatic principle that one country’s visa rules mirror another’s. Cambodia issues its eVisa to most nationalities on a reciprocal basis, with fees and processing windows largely uniform regardless of the applicant’s passport country.
Demonym: A demonym is the noun describing a country’s citizens — Australians, Britons, Indians, Americans. Visa-information pages target demonym-style queries (“do Australians need a Cambodia visa”) because that is how travellers actually search.
Hreflang: Hreflang is the HTML signal that tells Google which language and region a page is meant for. VisaToCambodia emits hreflang for every supported locale on every page so the right translation surfaces in country-specific Google search results.
E-E-A-T: E-E-A-T is Google’s framework for grading content: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness. Visa content sits in Google’s "Your Money or Your Life" tier, where these signals weigh especially heavily on which sites are allowed to rank.

After Approval

What happens between the approval email and the immigration stamp.

eVisa PDF: The eVisa PDF is the printable approval document delivered by email once the Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues the visa. It carries the visa number, validity window, photo, and personal details, and must be presented at the immigration desk on arrival.
Print two copies: Printing two copies of the eVisa PDF is standard travel-document hygiene: one for the immigration officer on arrival in Cambodia and one for the departure desk when leaving. A phone copy is sometimes accepted, but a paper copy never fails.
Immigration officer: An immigration officer is the uniformed government official at the Cambodian port of entry who verifies the eVisa PDF, scans the e-Arrival QR code, takes a biometric photo, and applies the entry stamp authorising the visit.
Stamp on entry: The entry stamp is the ink mark applied to the passport by the immigration officer at the Cambodian port of entry. It records the arrival date and starts the 30-day maximum-stay clock — not the eVisa issue date.
Extension at local immigration: A visa extension is an additional stay period granted by the General Department of Immigration inside Cambodia. The Type T tourist eVisa allows a one-month extension; the Type E business eVisa can be extended for one, three, six, or twelve months.