Cambodia business visa / EB visa vs Taiwan Gold Card
Cambodia's ordinary Class-E visa costs $35 from an embassy or as an e-Visa, gives a single entry and 30 days on arrival, and is the gateway to the only genuinely open-ended long-stay route in Southeast Asia: once inside, you convert it to an extension of stay (EOS) of one, three, six or twelve months, repeatable indefinitely. The twelve-month EB (business) extension is the one almost every foreign resident uses — employees, business owners, freelancers and their spouses and children — and it is multiple-entry, while one- and three-month extensions are single-entry only. Expect roughly $285–$300 through an agent against a quoted official Immigration Department fee of about $180 for the 12-month multiple-entry extension; the EB does not by itself let you work legally, and since 2024 immigration checks for a work permit before granting 6- and 12-month EB renewals. The Taiwan Employment Gold Card bundles a resident visa, open work permit, ARC and re-entry permit into one card valid for 1, 2 or 3 years, with no employer sponsorship and no job offer needed. The best-known route is salary: several fields accept applicants who have held a position with "a most recent monthly salary of at least NT$160,000" — a figure fixed in NT dollars, so the US-dollar equivalent quoted in guides drifts with the exchange rate. Government fees run NT$3,700 / NT$4,700 / NT$5,700 for one, two and three years on a non-US foreign passport, and holders who then earn over NT$3,000,000 in salary and stay 183 days get half the excess above NT$3,000,000 excluded from income tax for five years.
| Cambodia business visa / EB visa | Taiwan Gold Card | |
|---|---|---|
| Country | cambodia | taiwan |
| Stay per entry | 30 days on the initial Class-E visa; after an extension of stay, 1, 3, 6 or 12 months depending on the EOS granted (only the 6- and 12-month extensions allow re-entry) | Unlimited entries and exits for the life of the card (1-3 years); it is a residence card, not an entry-limited visa. |
| Total validity | Indefinite — the ordinary visa can be extended for one month, three months, six months or one year, repeatedly, with no cap on renewals | 1, 2 or 3 years, chosen by the applicant at the time of application |
| Government fee | $35 — For the Class-E (ordinary/business) visa itself at a Cambodian embassy or as an e-Visa; the EB/EG extension of stay inside Cambodia is charged separately (see gotchas — official vs agent pricing is disputed) | NT$5,700 — three-year validity, foreign passport other than U.S.; NT$3,700 for one year and NT$4,700 for two years. U.S. passport holders applying from abroad pay substantially more, and Hong Kong/Macau residents pay a flat NT$3,100. Non-refundable regardless of outcome. |
| Income required | None | NT$160,000 — per month, gross (before tax), from a position held in a foreign state or in the R.O.C. Only some qualification fields offer this salary route. The Workforce Development Agency divides your annual tax form by 12 to check the average. |
| Savings required | None | None |
| Deposit required | None | None |
| Minimum age | None | None |
| Health insurance | Not required | Not required |
| Processing time | About 3 working days for short extensions; 5–10 days for a 12-month extension where the sponsor has to be verified | Officially "over 60 business days" for the full process; a clean application is often quoted at about 30 days, longer if supplementary documents are requested. |
| Apply from | Class-E visa from a Cambodian embassy/consulate abroad or e-Visa online (or visa on arrival at Phnom Penh and Siem Reap airports); the EB/EG extension is applied for inside Cambodia at the General Department of Immigration opposite Phnom Penh International Airport, usually through an agent | Online, from inside Taiwan or from abroad, via the National Immigration Agency's Gold Card portal. |
Choose the Cambodia business visa / EB visa if
- No income, savings, deposit or age requirement is published for the EB extension — unusual for an open-ended residence route in the region
- Renewable with no lifetime cap: the ordinary visa "can be extended indefinitely" in 1, 3, 6 or 12-month blocks
- The 12-month EB is multiple-entry, so you can leave and return without reapplying
- Covers a wide population in one category — employees, business owners, freelancers, volunteers, and dependent spouses and children
- Cheap by regional standards: roughly $285–$300 a year all-in through an agent, versus thousands for comparable Thai or Malaysian long-stay options
- Turnaround is days, not months, and the whole process happens inside Cambodia
Choose the Taiwan Gold Card if
- No employer sponsorship and no job offer required — the work permit is open, so you can freelance, be employed, or start a company
- One card replaces four documents: resident visa, work permit, Alien Resident Certificate and re-entry permit
- Salary income above NT$3,000,000 gets half the excess excluded from income tax for five years, if you stay 183 days and had no prior Taiwan household registration
- Counts toward APRC residence, and from 1 January 2026 holders earning at least NT$6 million a year can apply for permanent residency after one year
- You can apply from inside Taiwan or from abroad, entirely online
Cambodia business visa / EB visa last checked 11 September 2026; Taiwan Gold Card last checked 11 September 2026. Sources are listed on each visa page.