Bong Kri wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2024 9:30 am Hello,

I know this has more than likely been posted before. I have searched here for it, but the tag of 'visa' brings up many previous threads and Google has also not been helpful, so help would be greatly appreciated!

My son is born in Cambodia, has a Khmer Passport (his mother is Khmer) and I recently obtained his UK passport. I know I need to get a k-visa in it. Does anyone know where I go for this and what documents are required?

Many thanks

You don't need a K-visa because your child has a Khmer passport. It might possibly be helpful if you plan on exiting Cambodia with him but not his mother, more so if you have broken up with her.

Unless it's urgent, wait until you are next flying in with both child and mother and get it for free at the airport. Bring his birth certificate.

Search harder, there is a good thread on this with input from people better informed than I.

How old is the kid, and how old are both passports and more importantly, their validity?

If you are already in/still in Cambodia, you should visit the Department of immigration, across the road from the airport.

Documents would be (this from what was quoted to me)
-kid’s UK passport
-kid’s Khmer passport
-Kid’s Khmer birth certificate (original)
-mother’s birth certificate (original)
-mother’s ID card or Passport

Processing time that I was quoted was two weeks.


If entering Cambodia from abroad, I understand that it is done at the immigration department as you enter. You still need the above documents, but the processing is done there and then.

If you are already abroad, in the father’s home country, then the application can be made directly with the consulate in that country.


Other recent threads on the topic. (I might merge this thread to one of those)
general-chatter/visas-and-exit-visas-th ... 51167.html

ask-the-expats-questions-answers/scheng ... 57551.html

Bong Kri wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2024 2:07 pm Thank you for your replies. I am still in country and live here. I want the k-visa for travelling to Europe purposes. I will bring those docs and head to the Dept on Immigration. Thanks for your help

From what I get a K-visa is not required for your travels to Europe (because the kid can leave and enter using the Cambodian passport). I tried obtaining a K-visa through the DoI a year and a half ago for my kid and it was a waste of time. It would have been a lengthy and expensive process, I am sure, so I budged, took my kid to the zoo.in Bangkok and got a K-visa when we returned. Mother of the kid not present. My kid did the job, easily done in Khmer

If I were you I would do the Europe trip and apply for the K-visa upon arrival in Cambodia. It took us 5 minutes and was free.

Bong Kri wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2024 4:28 pm I tried to get a visa for my son in his Khmer passport to visit the UK and it was denied, stating that he is a UK citizen and I must get a UK passport for him. So I want the k-visa so I can exit and re-enter Cambodia on his UK passport easily. Also, if we were to visit Europe, yes I can do so on his Khmer passport, but once again, a visa is required, whereas on his UK passport, it's not.

This is the reason for wanting a k-visa.

If you applied for a UK visa I assume your son doesn't have a UK passport yet. In that case you can not get a K-visa. It's a visa for people of Cambodian descent, allowing them to leave / enter Cambodia using their foreign passport.

If your son has a UK passport I strongly recommend to get the K-visa at the airport when you arrive some day. It's a hassle free procedure there, whereas the DoI in Phnom Penh follows the usual slow & expensive bureaucratic path with more silly requirements every time you go there, until you can not meet the requirements anymore and there's only one way to get it. The usual, expensive way.

Bong Kri wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2024 4:28 pm I tried to get a visa for my son in his Khmer passport to visit the UK and it was denied, stating that he is a UK citizen and I must get a UK passport for him. So I want the k-visa so I can exit and re-enter Cambodia on his UK passport easily. Also, if we were to visit Europe, yes I can do so on his Khmer passport, but once again, a visa is required, whereas on his UK passport, it's not.

This is the reason for wanting a k-visa.

This is NOT a good reason foe getting a K visa. You do NOT need to exit or enter Cambodia on the UK passport. You show the UK passport at the check-in desk at PNH, put it away and don't use it again until you arrive back at PNH.
Once PSD-kiwi has finished cavorting around Wat Phnom, he will confirm this and give you a good telling off for not reading the previous posts. Richly deserved I might add.
No more from me on this thread.

armchairlawyer wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2024 5:01 pm

Bong Kri wrote: ↑Mon Apr 15, 2024 4:28 pm I tried to get a visa for my son in his Khmer passport to visit the UK and it was denied, stating that he is a UK citizen and I must get a UK passport for him. So I want the k-visa so I can exit and re-enter Cambodia on his UK passport easily. Also, if we were to visit Europe, yes I can do so on his Khmer passport, but once again, a visa is required, whereas on his UK passport, it's not.

This is the reason for wanting a k-visa.

This is NOT a good reason foe getting a K visa. You do NOT need to exit or enter Cambodia on the UK passport. You show the UK passport at the check-in desk at PNH, put it away and don't use it again until you arrive back at PNH.
Once PSD-kiwi has finished cavorting around Wat Phnom, he will confirm this and give you a good telling off for not reading the previous posts. Richly deserved I might add.
No more from me on this thread.

This is the correct advice.
Why on earth you would use a UK passport to enter and leave Cambodia when the kid already has a Cambodian passport is beyond me.