Cambodia Extension of Stay for Business (EB)
Ordinary work in Cambodia runs on the EB extension. A year at a time, for anyone with a job, a company, a registered business, or a dependent relationship to someone who has one. No income test, no capital test.
The EB is the workhorse of Cambodian immigration. Employees, directors, sole proprietors, volunteers and freelancers serving foreign clients all end up on it, because it is the only extension that can support a work permit application.
It is not a work permit. Authorisation to work comes separately from the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training under Prakas 366/23. Working on an EB with no permit exposes you to fines and to refusal of the next extension.
Programme snapshot
| Item | Current rule |
|---|---|
| Main audience | Employees, directors, the self-employed, freelancers, volunteers and dependents of EB holders |
| Route family | Business, skilled work, and in practice remote work |
| Validity | 1, 3, 6 or 12 months. The 1 and 3 month stamps are single entry |
| Stay per entry | Matched to the extension purchased |
| Threshold | None. Fee about USD 300 for 12 months in 2026, USD 400 to 600 through an agent |
| Renewal | Indefinite, annually |
| Settlement | None |
| PR clock | None |
| Citizenship clock | Seven years of continuous legal residence, discretionary |
| Family | Yes. Spouse and children as non-working dependents, with a relationship document and employer letter |
| Local employment | Sponsor only, plus a work permit and employment card |
| Tax headline | Salary and Cambodian source income taxable. The self-employed must register for patent tax |
| Processing | 5 to 10 working days through an agent |
Application flow
- Enter on an E class ordinary visa.
- Establish the basis: a contract, a directorship, a sole proprietorship registration, or a dependent relationship.
- If you will work, confirm the employer holds a foreign employee quota for the year first.
- Apply for the EB extension, for 1, 3, 6 or 12 months, then apply separately to the Ministry of Labour for the permit and card.
- Renew the extension annually, and the permit between 1 January and 31 March.
Good fit
Anyone with a genuine economic attachment: a local job, a registered company, a sole proprietorship with a patent tax certificate, or volunteer work with a registered organisation. Dependents can hold a non-working EB on a marriage or birth certificate plus an employer letter. Freelancers serving foreign clients often register a sole proprietorship for USD 200 to 300 purely to regularise this route.
Poor fit
Retirees who do not want company paperwork, who should use the ER. Tourists who want a year with no economic basis, for whom the first EB is a grace period rather than a policy. And anyone who assumes the extension alone authorises work.
Watchpoints
- The EB stamp is not a work permit. It is the immigration permission. Inspectors ask for both documents.
- The 1 and 3 month stamps are single entry. Leave the country and the permission dies, even with time left on it.
- The first 6 or 12 month EB may issue without a work permit, but the second will not. Reported in 2025 and contested in 2026. Treat the grace year as one-off.
- A patent tax certificate makes you employed in the ministry’s eyes. A permit is expected within about a week. The fine cited in 2026 reporting is around USD 15,000.
- The employer quota is the hidden blocker. Foreign staff are capped at 10 percent of the workforce, split 3 percent office, 6 percent skilled and 1 percent unskilled, approved between 1 September and 30 November for the next year.
Sources
- General Department of Immigration, extension of stay categories, checked 2026-10-22
- Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, Prakas 366/23 on foreign work permits and quotas, checked 2026-10-22
- Acclime Cambodia, immigration guide, checked 2026-10-22
- Cambodianess, working in Cambodia in 2026: visas, work permits and everyday reality, checked 2026-10-22