Cambodia: a passport by investment in Asia

Most second passport programmes sit on islands in the Caribbean or the Pacific. Cambodia takes a different line: here, citizenship by investment is a fast-tracked naturalisation, anchored in the Law on Nationality and tied to genuine involvement in the country. For the big picture across every programme, start with Buying citizenship. With Cambodia, it pays to read the law and the sub-decree closely. They expect you to actually live in the country for a while, and in return they give you a passport you have earned on your own merit.

Citizenship in Cambodia: what the law has set out since 2025

The basis is the Law on Nationality of 21 June 2018. Even in its original version, it provides special routes alongside ordinary naturalisation, two of them for capital: one for foreigners who have invested in the country with approval, and one for foreigners who donate money to the national budget. The law was amended on 5 September 2025, after the National Assembly passed it on 25 August 2025 and the Senate reviewed it on 1 September 2025.

The details are in Sub-Decree No. 225 on the Implementation of the Law on Nationality, signed by the Prime Minister on 1 December 2025. It replaces Sub-Decree No. 112 of 30 August 2018 and sets the size of the investment and the donation, the promoted sectors, the documents you file and how the procedure runs. The Ministry of Interior is responsible, and its General Department of Identification receives the application.

The law says it plainly: naturalisation is not a right of the applicant but a favour granted by the Kingdom at its discretion. All the more reason to have a clean, complete file from day one.

Investment or donation: the two routes to a Cambodian passport

The sub-decree names two amounts, both fixed in riel.

The investment route

You need an investment approval from the competent body that fits the government's priority policy. You then put at least 4,000,000,000 KHR of your own capital into a genuine investment project in Cambodia. The project has to sit in one of the promoted sectors and match one of the project types listed in the annex. Further conditions apply on top, with tax obligations and an investment plan named explicitly.

Before the project is carried out, the Ministry of Interior reviews the sector, the project type and the other conditions, bringing in the relevant ministries where needed. The capital must come from a clear and lawful source. For you as an entrepreneur, that means you build something that stays in the country, and the passport follows from a business you wanted to run anyway.

The donation route

The donation goes as a cash sum straight to the national budget, for economic and social development or humanitarian purposes in Cambodia. The minimum is 12,000,000,000 KHR, paid in through the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Here too, the money must come from a clear and lawful source.

The donation route costs three times as much but is leaner: a shorter stay beforehand, no language requirement and no project for you to run. How donations, real estate and business investment compare in other programmes is explained in Donation, real estate, government bonds.

On top of the investment or donation there is an application fee, set by a joint regulation (prakas) of the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Economy and Finance. The total costs of every programme are set side by side on the Costs page.

Which sectors your investment can go into

The annex to the sub-decree lists twelve projects and sectors in which investors can apply for citizenship:

1. Agriculture
2. Agro-industry
3. Processing of agricultural products and food for the domestic market or for export
4. Factories for goods for domestic needs, import substitution and waste recycling plants
5. Tourism and tourism-related activities
6. The digital industry
7. High technology with innovation, research and development
8. Small and medium-sized enterprises in priority sectors, as well as clusters, industrial parks and science, technology and innovation parks
9. New industries and factories with high added value, innovation and competitiveness
10. Industries serving regional and global supply chains
11. Banks and financial institutions that finance small and medium-sized enterprises
12. Affordable housing or housing development in areas the government promotes

The list shows where Cambodia is placing its bets: production, technology, tourism and housing. If you were going to set up a company in Southeast Asia anyway, move production or launch a hotel project, you will almost always find a matching sector here. The legal side of buying a flat in Cambodia is covered in Buying property in Cambodia (in German). For the passport, though, what counts is not your own home but an approved investment project, in affordable housing for example.

Requirements: residence, language and a clean record

For both routes, the law refers to the general naturalisation requirements but takes out the long residence period. That is the heart of the programme: instead of the 7 years of uninterrupted residence that ordinary naturalisation demands, 12 months are enough for investors and 6 months for donors.

On both routes you need:

• good conduct and good morals
• no conviction for a crime or a misdemeanour
• a home in Cambodia and a residence card under immigration law
• a mental and physical condition that is neither a danger nor a burden to the nation

The investment route adds the following: you speak and write Khmer, know the basics of Cambodian history and show that you can fit harmoniously into society. If you live and work in the country for a year, you have a real chance of meeting this. For the donation route, the law does not refer to this requirement.

How you live lawfully in Cambodia before applying depends on your situation: as an entrepreneur, an employee or in retirement. For retirees, Retiring in Cambodia (in German) covers the retirement visa and the cost of living in detail.

The documents

The sub-decree lists the documents precisely. For the investment route they include:

• application form and CV with photo, two copies of each, plus ten new passport photos
• a copy of your residence card and the investment documents
• a certificate of residence from the commune or sangkat (district) chief
• your birth certificate from your country of origin
• proof of your residence in Cambodia and copies of all visas and extensions
• a valid passport
• a certificate of good conduct from the commune or sangkat chief
• criminal record certificates from your country of origin and from Cambodia, valid on the day you apply
• a medical certificate from a specialist at a public hospital in Cambodia

For the donation route the list is shorter: instead of the investment documents, you file confirmation of the donation from the competent Cambodian authority. Every foreign document must be legalised by the competent body in your country of origin. Requesting your German criminal record certificate and birth certificate early saves you weeks later on.

The application step by step

The sub-decree sets out the procedure with clear deadlines. How long every programme takes is compared in How soon will you hold your second passport?, and the general process is on the Process page.

1. Prepare your residence and your investment

You live lawfully in Cambodia, with a residence card. On the investment route, you obtain the investment approval and have the Ministry of Interior assess the project before it is carried out. On the donation route, you pay in through the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

2. File the application in person in Cambodia

You file the application with the Ministry of Interior's General Department of Identification. You must be in Cambodia in person when you apply. If you wish, you can give a Khmer name in the application that you would like to use from then on.

3. Review within 45 working days at most

The General Department reviews the application within 45 working days at most. If anything is missing, you are notified in writing and have 30 working days to put it right. Once the corrected documents arrive, the authority continues the procedure within 15 working days at most.

4. Royal decree

Citizenship is granted by royal decree, at the request of the Prime Minister and on the proposal of the Minister of Interior.

5. Oath before the Supreme Court

Once naturalised, you take the oath before the Supreme Court. You then receive your Cambodian identity card and passport.

Family: spouse and children on the same application

You do not have to take this route alone. Your spouse and minor children can be included as a family on the same application. Your spouse files the same personal documents as you, without the proof of investment or donation but with your marriage certificate. For children, the birth certificate, passport, visas and a medical certificate are among the additions, plus a criminal record certificate from age 14.

If you did not include a minor child in the first application, you can add them after you have been naturalised. To do so, you file the child's documents, a declaration by the parents and your naturalisation decree, with a DNA test if needed. The sub-decree does not provide for parents or adult children as co-applicants. How each programme treats families is shown on the Family page.

Dual citizenship: you keep your German passport

Since 27 June 2024, acquiring a foreign nationality by application no longer costs you your German one. On the Cambodian side, the naturalisation requirements contain no renunciation of your existing nationality. The law even assumes outright that Cambodians may hold another nationality: an adult who holds a second one may renounce the Cambodian one.

So afterwards you hold two passports, each with its own rights. What that means in daily life, from border crossings to the consulate, is explained in CBI passport and German passport.

For tax, the new nationality changes nothing on its own. In Germany, anyone with a home or habitual abode in the country is fully liable to tax, not anyone who holds a particular passport. How Cambodia itself taxes income and companies is set out in the country profile Taxes in Cambodia (in German), and the German side on the Tax page.

Who the Cambodian passport is worth it for

Among the programmes in the Comparison, Cambodia is the only one in Southeast Asia. It is not a passport for visa-free travel to Europe: according to the Federal Foreign Office, Cambodian nationals need a visa for Germany. That need not bother you, because you keep travelling to Europe on your German passport. The value lies elsewhere.

For entrepreneurs in Southeast Asia. If you manufacture in Cambodia, build a platform or run a tourism project, you turn your investment into a permanent right. No more visa about to expire, no more stamp your business depends on.

For anyone who wants to live in Asia. A visa is a permit; a nationality is a right. If you have made the region your home, the passport shields your life there from changes to the residence rules.

For families with a long horizon. Your spouse and minor children come along on the same application, and children born later or left off can be added afterwards.

As a complement to a second passport for travel. Many people combine programmes: one passport for travelling, one for living on the ground. Which region suits which goal is shown in Caribbean, Pacific, Africa, Middle East.

Cambodia shows especially clearly that citizenship by investment and naturalisation are not opposites. Ordinary naturalisation requires 7 years in the country; the investment cuts that to 12 months. This very principle, buying the time a naturalisation would otherwise take, is explained in CBI and naturalisation. All the key facts of the programme at a glance are on the Cambodia page.

Frequently asked questions