Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville authorities are stepping up inspections on foreign residents, focusing heavily on residence registrations and work permits. Immigration officers, working alongside local commune police, have been making the rounds to check rental properties, small eateries, and businesses operating after hours.
Anyone caught without proper housing registration in the official system, or working on a tourist visa, faces steep fines and potential deportation.
Officials say the current sweep targets illegal employment while also cracking down on landlords who fail to report foreign tenants as required by law. Small-scale shop owners and restaurant kitchen staff have been quietly asking around about the checks. In the past, many people put off registration, and landlords rarely pressed the issue, but that approach no longer works. Several people doing freelance work have stopped hanging out at roadside food stalls in the evenings, preferring to head straight home and lock their doors after work.
With the weather staying hot, seeing police cars parked with their lights flashing at night intersections is enough to make anyone second-guess their evening commute. Over iced coffee at local tea stalls, neighboring tables are busy swapping advice on how to rush through work permit applications or get landlords to log tenant details into the mobile system. For those with valid paperwork and legal jobs, there is little reason to panic, but people making a living here know it never hurts to be extra cautious.
