Work permits and hiring in Cambodia

Short answer

Foreign staff in Cambodia are capped at 10% of your local workforce, approved through an annual quota window that opens on 1 September, and each person needs a work permit. The order is the trap: the work permit comes before the work visa, but the labour ministry still requires a valid initial visa as a supporting document, and that visa is typically valid for 30 days.

The 10% ceiling

MLVT Prakas No. 196 of 20 August 2014 sets the general rule: foreign workers may not exceed 10% of your total Cambodian workforce, and the 10% is divided into three categories.

Category	Share of the 10%	What it covers
Office employees	3%	Management, administration and office roles
Specialised employees or workers	6%	Skilled trades and technical roles
Non-specialised employees or workers	1%	Unskilled roles

Two practical points. The calculation is made against your local workforce, so a company with few Cambodian employees cannot hire many foreigners either way. And the labour ministry can approve exceeding the 10% ceiling on justification under Prakas 277/20, which is an application, not a right.

Source: MLVT Prakas 196. Second-category and 2026 practice are summarised in DFDL’s September 2026 alert, which is a secondary source.

The quota and permit calendar

Step	When	Where
Foreign worker quota application	1 September to 30 November, for the following year	Foreign Worker Control and Management System (FWCMS), Ministry of Labour
Work permit renewal	1 January to 31 March	FWCMS
New foreign joiner	Apply within 90 calendar days of first entry	FWCMS
Initial visa, then work permit	The permit is applied for inside the stay of the initial visa	e-Visa, then FWCMS

Quota and permit fees are set by the joint public service fees instrument and displayed at the point of application in the FWCMS. We have not found the amounts published in a primary source, so we do not quote them here. Check the live figures before you budget.

Sources: FWCMS and DFDL’s 1 September 2026 note on the 2027 quota window.

The order that trips people up

Under Ministry of Labour Notification No. 022/24 of 12 August 2024, the work permit precedes the work visa for a foreign employee: you obtain the permit, and then apply for the visa.

In practice, the labour ministry still requires a valid initial visa as a supporting document when the initial work permit is applied for, and the permit has to be obtained within that visa’s stay. The initial E-class visa is typically valid for 30 days. So the sequence to plan for is:

Obtain the initial visa (E or K) for the incoming employee.
Apply for the initial work permit within that visa’s validity, using the visa as a supporting document.
Once the permit is issued, apply for the work visa, and extend the initial visa if the process takes longer than 30 days.

Employing a foreign worker without a permit carries a penalty of KHR 12,600,000 per person, so the order is worth getting right on the first attempt.

Sources: DFDL’s January 2025 clarification of the permit sequence, and the ASEAN Briefing guide to foreign employment permits in Cambodia.

Your first Cambodian hires

The local side of hiring is where most entrants actually trip, and it is administrative rather than technical.

Employment contracts must be certified. The contract, in Khmer, is registered with the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training. Allow time for certification before the start date, and keep copies of every certified contract.
The social security fund applies to Cambodians, not to foreigners. The National Social Security Fund covers your Cambodian employees. Foreign staff sit outside it and are covered commercially.
Leave and leave pay are statutory. Annual leave, sick leave, maternity leave and the public holidays are set by the labour law and are not discretionary.
Probation is capped and paid. For the garment sector the probationary rate is USD 208 against the USD 210 standard, and piece-rate workers must be topped up to the statutory rate.

Sources: the Andersen in Cambodia labour booklet 2026, MLVT Prakas 214/25 and the National Social Security Fund rules.

Building the payroll cost

For a garment or textile operation, the statutory floor and its allowances are the base. Everything else is your own policy, but it is what people compare.

Component	Amount	Note
Minimum wage	USD 210 per month	From 1 January 2026, garments, textiles, footwear, travel goods
Transport or accommodation	USD 7 per month	Statutory allowance, kept unchanged in 2026
Attendance	USD 10 per month	Statutory allowance
Meal allowance	USD 0.50 per day	For workers on overtime
Seniority bonus	USD 2 to 11 per month	By year of service
Indicative total package	About USD 227 to 238 per month	Our arithmetic from the components above, not an official package figure

That last row is our own sum, and we label it as such: the Prakas kept the allowances unchanged but does not publish a total. For a factory outside the garment sector, the wage floor is set by a different instrument, and the 2026 determination for other sectors was not something we could verify from a primary source.

Questions investors ask

What is the foreign staff limit in Cambodia?

Foreign workers may not exceed 10% of your total Cambodian workforce, divided into 3% office employees, 6% specialised employees or workers and 1% non-specialised. It is set by MLVT Prakas 196 of 2014, and the ministry can approve exceeding it on justification.

When can I apply for a foreign worker quota?

The quota window opens on 1 September and closes on 30 November for the following year, through the Ministry of Labour system. Work permit renewals are handled between 1 January and 31 March, and a new joiner must apply within 90 calendar days of first entry.

Do I get a work permit or a visa first?

Under Ministry of Labour Notification 022/24 the work permit comes first, and the visa follows. In practice the labour ministry still requires a valid initial visa as a supporting document, so the initial visa, typically valid for 30 days, has to be in place while the permit is applied for.

How much do work permits and quotas cost?

The fees are set by the joint public service fees instrument and are shown at the point of application in the ministry’s FWCMS system. We could not verify the amounts in a primary source, so we do not quote figures. The penalty for employing a foreign worker without a permit is KHR 12,600,000 per person.

What is the minimum wage in Cambodia in 2026?

USD 210 per month for textile, garment, footwear and travel goods workers from 1 January 2026, with probationary workers at USD 208. Statutory allowances of transport or accommodation USD 7, attendance USD 10, a meal allowance of USD 0.50 a day for overtime workers and a seniority bonus of USD 2 to 11 sit on top.

Is NSSF social security required for my Cambodian staff?

Yes. Cambodian employees are covered by the National Social Security Fund with employer and employee contributions. Foreign employees are not covered by the fund and are covered commercially instead, which is a cost difference worth modelling before you recruit.

Do I need to register employment contracts?

Yes. Cambodian employment contracts must be certified with the Ministry of Labour and Vocational Training, normally in Khmer. Certification takes time, so plan it into the start date rather than the first working day.

Can I hire a foreign technician quickly for a machine installation?

Not quickly, and not without a quota position. Foreign staff need an approved quota and a work permit, and the initial visa that supports the first application is typically valid for 30 days. Plan the visit and the permit in parallel, and treat the permit as the long pole.

Official tools to use alongside this guide

Sources

General information only, not legal, tax or investment advice. Laws, rules and figures change. Confirm the current position with licensed Cambodian professionals before acting.