Can I pay the Cambodia overstay fine at the airport?

For short overstays of 30 days or fewer, yes - the fine is normally settled at immigration on departure at $10 per day. Once the overstay passes 30 days, it must be cleared in Phnom Penh before you travel.

Does overstaying in Cambodia affect coming back?

A short overstay paid on exit is usually recorded without blocking a later visit. Long or repeated overstays, and any case involving detention or deportation, can lead to blacklisting and refusal of future entry.

What happens if I overstay my visa in Cambodia, and how much is the fine per day?

Q: What happens if I overstay my visa in Cambodia, and how much is the fine per day?

The overstay fine is $10 per day with no cap, paid when you leave or when you clear it. Past 30 days of overstay you can no longer settle at the border or airport - you must clear it at the Department of Immigration in Phnom Penh, and detention, deportation and blacklisting become real risks.

The Phnom Penh riverfront — An overstay is a money problem for the first 30 days. After that it becomes a different kind of problem.

Last updated: November 2, 2026 · By Wander Cambodia

By Sophea Khim · Host & Editor, Wander Cambodia

Direct answer: If you overstay your visa in Cambodia, the fine is $10 per day, with no cap, counted from the day your stay expired. For an overstay of 30 days or fewer you normally settle it at immigration when you leave, at $10 for every day over. Once an overstay passes 30 days it can no longer be paid at the border or the airport — you must clear it at the Department of Immigration in Phnom Penh first, and detention, deportation and blacklisting become real risks. Older pages that quote $5 a day are out of date.

This page answers the question directly, then walks through how payment actually works, where the 30-day line sits, and the three ways to fix an overstay before it grows. The fuller guide is overstaying in Cambodia; this page is the short, quotable version.

How much is the fine per day?

$10 per day. That is the current rate, and it has no ceiling — a 10-day overstay is $100, a 100-day overstay is $1,000 in fines alone. Two warnings about numbers you will see elsewhere. First, old blog posts and even some official-looking pages still quote $5 per day; that rate is gone, so budget on $10. Second, the fine is charged per calendar day past your permitted stay, and your permitted stay is the date stamped or recorded against your entry — since July 2025 that record is digital, the v-Pass, so there is no arguing the date from a fuzzy passport stamp. Count your days before immigration counts them for you.

What happens in the first 30 days?

For a short overstay — 30 days or fewer — the process is dull, and dull is good. You go to the airport or border as normal, the officer totals the days, you pay $10 per day, and you leave. Keep the payment in cash dollars and keep the receipt. A short, paid overstay is normally recorded without blocking a later visit. The point is this: in the first month, an overstay is a fee, not a crisis. Do not let fear of the fee talk you into hiding from it, because the fee is the cheapest version of this problem you will ever be offered.

What changes after 30 days?

Everything. Past 30 days of overstay, the case leaves the border desk's authority. You must go to the Department of Immigration in Phnom Penh — opposite the airport area — and clear the overstay there before you can travel. At that level the outcomes stop being automatic: fines still run $10 a day, but officers can also detain you until the case is settled, deport you, and blacklist you from returning. People do get detained over long overstays in Cambodia; it is not a myth invented to scare backpackers. If you are reading this already past day 30, the correct move is to go to Phnom Penh and settle it voluntarily, in person, with the full fine in cash — voluntary settlement is treated better than being found.

How to fix it before it grows

Three routes, in order of preference. Extend before you expire. Almost every stay can be extended if you act while it is still valid — the rules and prices are in our complete extension guide. Leave and re-enter. If your current visa type cannot be extended — a Tourist visa past its one extension is the classic case — leave before the date, or as soon after it as you can, and come back on the right visa: our how long can I stay page lays out the 60-day tourist maximum and the E-entry route, and the wrong-visa trap explains why the entry choice decides all of this. Settle and restart. If the date has already passed, pay the fine on exit, then re-enter cleanly on an Ordinary (E) visa if you intend to stay. The one route that never works is waiting: the fine grows $10 every day and the 30-day cliff does not move.

Frequently asked questions

Can I extend my visa after it has already expired?

No. Extensions must be arranged before the current stay expires. Once the date passes you are in overstay, and the only fixes are paying the fine on departure or, past 30 days, clearing it in Phnom Penh.

Will a short overstay stop me visiting Cambodia again?

Normally, no — a short overstay paid in full on exit is recorded and life goes on. What damages future visits is a long overstay, an unpaid case, or a deportation. Pay, keep the receipt, and do not make it a habit.

I lost track of my dates. How do I check?

Count from your entry date using your visa's permitted stay — 30 days for most entries — and cross-check the digital entry record described in our v-Pass guide. If the count says you are already over, act on the routes above today, not next week.

Fine rate and procedure checked November 2026 against the site's researched visa material. The $10/day rate and the 30-day clearance rule are the current position; immigration practice can change, and a live case always belongs at the immigration office, not on a website.