Last updated: October 19, 2026
First: take a breath. An overstay in Cambodia is a paperwork-and-money problem, not a catastrophe — thousands of travelers have been exactly where you are, and the system for fixing it is well worn. There is one thing that makes it worse, though, and that's doing nothing. This page explains the fine, the important 30-day line, and how to get yourself legal again.
Cambodia's overstay fine is simple and unforgiving: $10 for every day you remain in the country past your visa's expiry date, with no maximum. The maths looks like this:
| Days overstayed | Fine owed |
|---|---|
| 5 days | $50 |
| 10 days | $100 |
| 30 days | $300 |
| 90 days | $900 |
Put that next to the alternative: a one-month visa extension bought on time through an agent costs from about $45. In other words, once you're more than four or five days over, you've already paid — in fines — the price of having stayed legally. Overstaying is never the cheaper plan beyond a few days, and the meter runs every single day you wait. The full price table and process are in our Cambodia visa extension guide.
If your overstay is short — a miscounted month, a missed renewal, a flight that slipped — the fix is normally straightforward. In most cases, you pay the accumulated fine when you exit Cambodia, at the airport or land border, and you leave. Immigration officials deal with this daily; have the cash ready, be polite, and keep your boarding pass timing in mind, because the fine desk adds a few minutes to your departure.
If you're under 30 days over but want to stay rather than leave, you generally don't have to exit at all — an agent can usually fold the fine into an extension application, which we cover below.
Cross the 30-day line and the rules change. A long overstay cannot be settled at the airport on departure day. It must be cleared beforehand at the General Department of Immigration in Phnom Penh — the same department that handles extensions in person. Only once it's cleared there can you travel.
Practically, that means: don't buy a flight home and hope. If you're over 30 days, deal with Immigration in Phnom Penh first — either go yourself, or have a visa agent guide you through it — and then book your travel. It also means the 30-day mark is the deadline that actually matters. Whatever you do, don't drift across it.
If you're reading this with an expired visa, here's the move: go to a reputable visa agent — ideally today — and ask them to regularize your status. In most cases, an agent can arrange an extension for you even though the old visa has lapsed. You'll pay two things: the accumulated $10-a-day fines for the days already over, plus the normal extension fee. That done, you're legal again, with a fresh extension in your passport.
The reason to act now is arithmetic, not fear: every day you think about it adds another $10 to the bill, and every day also pushes you closer to the 30-day line, after which everything gets slower and more formal. The cheapest day to fix an overstay is always today.
Paying the fine settles the money, but long overstays aren't entirely consequence-free. A lengthy overstay on your record can lead to detention or deportation rather than a simple fine, and can create real problems if you try to re-enter Cambodia later. We're not saying this to frighten you — short overstays are handled routinely, as described above — but the idea that you can overstay for months, pay at the airport, and stroll back in next year is not one to rely on. Treat the fine as the floor of the consequences, not the ceiling.
One safety note: overstay fines are set and collected by immigration authorities, and extensions are processed through licensed agents and the Immigration Department. Be wary of anyone — a fixer at a border, a stranger in a bar, a random contact online — who offers to "make your overstay disappear" for cash outside an office. There is no unofficial discount, and money handed over that way doesn't clear your record. Use a proper agent's shop or the Immigration Department itself.
Almost every overstay we've heard of came down to one thing: a date nobody was tracking. Three habits fix that:
$100. The fine is $10 per day with no cap, so it's always days × $10 — 10 days is $100, 30 days is $300, and it keeps climbing daily until you settle it.
Usually, yes. A visa agent can generally arrange an extension of stay even after the old visa has lapsed. You'll pay the $10-a-day fines for the expired days plus the standard extension fee — and the sooner you go, the smaller the fine portion is.
Generally, no. A short overstay that's paid on exit is handled routinely and typically causes no re-entry problems. Long overstays are a different story — they can lead to deportation and make returning difficult — which is why we keep pointing at that 30-day line.
Sort it out in Phnom Penh before you go anywhere near an airport. Overstays beyond 30 days must be cleared at the General Department of Immigration — either go in person or have a visa agent take you through it. Once it's cleared, you can travel normally.
Overstay rules apply per passport, children included — each traveler's stay is counted against their own visa. If you're traveling as a family and think you're close to the line, it's worth having an agent check everyone's dates at once.
The short version of everything above: don't panic, don't wait. If you're still planning your stay, the extension guide and our ER retirement visa guide cover staying legally from day one. For the full long-stay picture, head back to the Stay Longer hub, or start from the homepage checklist.
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