What is Cambodia's E-class (ordinary) visa with EB extension + work permit?

Anyone employed by, or running, a Cambodian-registered business — and their dependants. This is the mainstream route and it is unusually accessible by regional standards: there is no salary floor, no quota and no labour-market test. It lasts the ordinary visa is extendable indefinitely, one extension at a time. Most long-stayers simply renew a 12-month EB extension every year, for as many years as they like. None in the ordinary sense. Cambodia has no points-based or time-served permanent-residence track — twenty years of annual EB renewals leaves you exactly where you started, still renewing. Naturalisation exists under the Nationality Law but is discretionary and rarely used by ordinary residents. Treat Cambodia as indefinitely renewable rather than as a path to settlement.

What is Cambodia's ER retirement extension?

Retired people aged 55 or over who can support themselves and do not intend to work in Cambodia. It lasts issued in 1, 3, 6 or 12-month increments like every other E-class extension, renewed indefinitely. None. ER is renewable forever but never converts into permanent residence.

What is Cambodia's EG job-seeking extension?

Newly arrived foreigners who intend to work in Cambodia but do not yet have an employer. The category most first-timers actually land on. It lasts short extensions only — commonly up to six months in total, single-entry. It is a bridge, not a home. None; EG is designed to be converted to EB once you have a job.

What is Cambodia's ES student extension?

Foreigners enrolled at a Cambodian school, university or recognised language institution. It lasts up to 12 months at a time while enrolled, renewable for the length of the programme. None. Study time earns no settlement rights; graduates who want to stay move onto EB with a work permit like everybody else.

GlobeQuest

Moving from United Kingdom to Cambodia

What your passport gets you at the border — and what it takes to actually stay.

United Kingdom

CambodiaShort stay

Visa on arrival

United Kingdom passport holders can get a visa on arrival in Cambodia — no application before you fly, but expect a fee and a queue at the border.

This is short-stay visitor policy only. It does not let you work, study or settle in Cambodia — that needs a residence permit.

Passport Index · updated 17 February 2026Cambodia's official immigration service

Long stay

How you actually move to Cambodia

Work / sponsoredMedium confidenceVerified August 2026

E-class (ordinary) visa with EB extension + work permit

Anyone employed by, or running, a Cambodian-registered business — and their dependants. This is the mainstream route and it is unusually accessible by regional standards: there is no salary floor, no quota and no labour-market test.

What you need

Enter on an E-class (ordinary) visa — USD 35 as an e-Visa or visa on arrival, giving an initial 30 days
Extend in-country under the EB (business/employment) suffix in 1, 3, 6 or 12-month increments; the 6 and 12-month extensions are multiple-entry, the 1 and 3-month ones are not
Employment, company or freelance documentation supporting the EB purpose
A separate work permit and employment card from the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, filed through FWCMS
Dependants (spouse, children) extend on EB alongside the principal

How long it lasts: The ordinary visa is extendable indefinitely, one extension at a time. Most long-stayers simply renew a 12-month EB extension every year, for as many years as they like.
Path to permanent residence: None in the ordinary sense. Cambodia has no points-based or time-served permanent-residence track — twenty years of annual EB renewals leaves you exactly where you started, still renewing. Naturalisation exists under the Nationality Law but is discretionary and rarely used by ordinary residents. Treat Cambodia as indefinitely renewable rather than as a path to settlement.
Cost: E-class visa USD 35. EB extensions run roughly USD 50 (1 month), USD 85 (3 months), USD 170 (6 months) and USD 285-300 (12 months) when arranged through an agent, which is how nearly everyone does it. Work-permit government fees total roughly USD 130 a year.
Processing time: The visa is same-day (on arrival) or a few days (e-Visa). An EB extension through an agent typically takes one to three weeks with your passport held; work-permit issuance through FWCMS is usually a few weeks once the employer files.

Worth knowing

The EB extension does NOT authorise you to work. That is the work permit, issued separately by the Ministry of Labour through FWCMS, and holding one without the other leaves you exposed. Since 2024 immigration has been checking for a valid work permit before approving 6 and 12-month EB renewals, which finally closed the gap most people used to ignore.
The work permit runs on the calendar year and expires on 31 December regardless of when it was issued — renewal opens 1 January and closes 31 March. A permit bought in November is worth six weeks. Budget for that, and do not assume it runs twelve months from issue.
The extension market runs through agents because the immigration counters are not set up for walk-in foreigners. That is normal here and not a scam in itself, but you are handing over your passport, so use an agent your employer or landlord already uses.
Cambodia has no digital-nomad visa. Remote workers with no Cambodian employer routinely sit on EB extensions anyway; that is common practice rather than a designed route, and it does not on its own solve the work-permit question.
The e-Arrival card (arrival.gov.kh) became mandatory for air arrivals in 2025. It is free and takes minutes, but it is separate from the visa and people miss it.

Sources:General Department of Immigration, Ministry of Interior Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training FWCMS — Foreign Workers Centralised Management System (MLVT)Cambodia e-Arrival (arrival.gov.kh)Acclime Cambodia — immigration guide (E-class extensions, work permit)

RetirementMedium confidenceVerified August 2026

ER retirement extension

Retired people aged 55 or over who can support themselves and do not intend to work in Cambodia.

What you need

Age 55 or above
Evidence of retirement and of funds or pension income sufficient to support yourself — Cambodia does not publish a hard numeric threshold, which cuts both ways
Enter on an E-class (ordinary) visa, then extend under the ER suffix
No employment in Cambodia

How long it lasts: Issued in 1, 3, 6 or 12-month increments like every other E-class extension, renewed indefinitely.
Path to permanent residence: None. ER is renewable forever but never converts into permanent residence.
Cost: E-class visa USD 35, then roughly USD 275-300 for a 12-month ER extension through an agent.
Processing time: One to three weeks for the extension once your documents are in.

Worth knowing

The absence of a published income or bank-balance threshold is the whole story here. Compared with Thailand's 800,000 baht or Malaysia's restructured MM2H, Cambodia's retirement route is documentary rather than financial — but that also means no statutory entitlement to rely on if an officer is unconvinced.
ER does not permit work. If you want to consult, teach or run anything, you belong on EB with a work permit, not on ER.
Health cover is entirely your own problem — no visa category here requires or provides it, and serious cases are routinely evacuated to Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh City.

Sources:General Department of Immigration, Ministry of Interior Acclime Cambodia — immigration guide (E-class extensions, work permit)Cambodia Expats Online — visa, extension and work-permit guide

Work / sponsoredMedium confidenceVerified August 2026

EG job-seeking extension

Newly arrived foreigners who intend to work in Cambodia but do not yet have an employer. The category most first-timers actually land on.

What you need

An E-class (ordinary) visa on entry
No employer or company documentation yet — that is the point of the category
Intention to find work and switch to EB

How long it lasts: Short extensions only — commonly up to six months in total, single-entry. It is a bridge, not a home.
Path to permanent residence: None; EG is designed to be converted to EB once you have a job.
Cost: Comparable to the equivalent EB extension lengths (roughly USD 50-170 depending on duration, via an agent).
Processing time: One to three weeks.

Worth knowing

EG does not authorise work. Starting a job on an EG extension without switching to EB and obtaining a work permit is exactly the situation the post-2024 FWCMS checks are designed to catch.
EG extensions are single-entry, so leaving the country cancels your permission to stay. Sort out re-entry before you plan a border run.
Because EG is capped and non-renewable beyond its short window, treat it as a clock: you have a matter of months to convert to EB, not an open-ended stay.

StudentMedium confidenceVerified August 2026

ES student extension

Foreigners enrolled at a Cambodian school, university or recognised language institution.

What you need

Enrolment documentation from the institution
Evidence of funds to support yourself
An E-class (ordinary) visa on entry, then extension under the ES suffix

How long it lasts: Up to 12 months at a time while enrolled, renewable for the length of the programme.
Path to permanent residence: None. Study time earns no settlement rights; graduates who want to stay move onto EB with a work permit like everybody else.
Cost: Broadly in line with the other E-class extensions.
Processing time: One to three weeks.

Worth knowing

ES is not a cheap back door to a long stay — the institution has to be real and the enrolment documented, and immigration has become less tolerant of paper enrolments.
Studying does not authorise work. There is no student work allowance.

Sources:General Department of Immigration, Ministry of Interior Acclime Cambodia — immigration guide (E-class extensions, work permit)

InvestmentLow confidenceVerified August 2026

Cambodia My 2nd Home (CM2H)

Investors who want a long multi-year visa without renewing annually. Promoted under the Ministry of Interior and launched in late 2022.

What you need

Aged 18 or over, valid passport, clean criminal record and a medical report
A qualifying investment of at least USD 100,000, in practice into Cambodian real estate or an approved business, plus a bank deposit held in Cambodia for the duration of membership
Family members can be included on the same membership

How long it lasts: A ten-year renewable visa rather than the usual annual extension cycle.
Path to permanent residence: CM2H is a long visa, not permanent residence. Programme marketing points at naturalisation after several years, but Cambodian citizenship is granted under the Nationality Law at the government's discretion and is not an entitlement earned by holding CM2H. Do not buy in expecting a passport.
Cost: The USD 100,000 investment or deposit is the headline; membership and processing fees are quoted separately by the programme and by licensed agents.
Processing time: Months rather than weeks; the programme markets a short processing time but it is assessed case by case.

Worth knowing

CM2H does not replace the work permit. If you intend to work or actively run a business in Cambodia you still need the Ministry of Labour permit through FWCMS, exactly as an EB holder does.
The programme is young, has attracted modest uptake, and much of what is published about it comes from agents and marketing sites rather than from a statutory instrument. Verify current terms with the Ministry of Interior or the programme itself before committing money, and treat any figure you read on a brokerage page as a quote rather than a rule.
The economics only make sense against the alternative: an ordinary EB extension renewed annually costs a few hundred dollars a year and asks nothing of your capital. CM2H buys convenience and a longer horizon, not a materially better legal status.

Sources:General Department of Immigration, Ministry of Interior Cambodia My 2nd Home (CM2H) — programme site Investment Migration Insider — Cambodia My 2nd Home

On the ground