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Every foreigner entering Thailand now fills in the Thailand Digital Arrival Card, the TDAC, online before arrival. It’s free, it takes about ten minutes, and you can only file it in the three days before you land. The paper card is gone. The bigger change came on 15 September 2026: most Western passports now get 30 days in Thailand without a visa, not 60. Here’s how to fill in the TDAC, and what the new stay limit means for your plans.
The short answer
- What: an online arrival card, compulsory since 1 May 2025 for every non-Thai national arriving by air, land or sea.
- Where: tdac.immigration.go.th. It’s free. Any site that charges is not the official one.
- When: in the 3 days before your arrival date.
- Groups: up to 10 travelers in one submission.
- Visa-free stay: 30 days for 60 countries, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia and most of the EU, since 15 September 2026.
- Not in force yet: the proposed 450-baht tourist fee and the electronic travel authorization (ETA).
What the TDAC is, and what it replaced
For decades, anyone flying into Thailand filled in a small paper form on the plane, the TM6. Thailand stopped using it for most air arrivals in 2022, and on 1 May 2025 the Immigration Bureau replaced it for good with the TDAC. The information is the same: who you are, how you’re arriving, where you’ll sleep. It just reaches the immigration officer before you do.
The TDAC is not a visa and it doesn’t decide whether you get in. It’s a declaration. Whether you need a visa is a separate question, covered further down. What it does mean is that no foreigner, visa-exempt or not, should reach the immigration desk without one.
How to fill in the Thailand Digital Arrival Card
Go to tdac.immigration.go.th and start a new arrival card. The form has five parts. Have your passport, your flight number and your first hotel’s address open before you begin.
| Section | What it asks | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Passport information | Name as in the passport, passport number, nationality | Type the name exactly as printed. Name, nationality and date of birth can’t be changed after you submit |
| Personal information | Date of birth, occupation, country of residence, phone, email | Use an email you can open on your phone at the airport |
| Travel information | Arrival date, where you boarded, purpose of visit, flight or vehicle number, departure date if known | Copy the flight number from the booking, not from memory |
| Accommodation in Thailand | Type of accommodation, province, address | Your first night’s hotel is enough, even on a multi-stop trip |
| Health declaration | Countries you’ve been in recently | Arriving from a yellow fever country? Carry your vaccination certificate |
When you submit, the card arrives by email as a file you can download or print, and you can open it again for the length of your stay. We keep a screenshot too, because airport wifi has a habit of failing right at the front of the queue. If your flight or arrival date changes, go back in and update the card. A mistake in your name, nationality or date of birth can’t be fixed that way; file a new card instead.
When to submit the TDAC, and what if you forget
The official manual says arrival card information must be submitted within the three days before your arrival date. Earlier than that, the system won’t take it. For a flight landing on a Friday, that means Tuesday at the earliest. We’d do it the evening before departure, when the flight details are fixed and there’s still time to sort out a problem.
People who forget usually fill it in on their phone in the arrivals hall before joining the immigration line. It works, but typing a hotel address with one thumb while a queue forms behind you is nobody’s idea of a good start. Some airlines also ask whether you’ve done it at check-in.
TDAC Thailand for families, land borders and transit
The rule covers every non-Thai national, so children need a card as well. The easiest way is a group submission: one person can file for up to 10 travelers at once, and each gets their own card. Crossing overland from Malaysia, Laos or Cambodia works the same way, with the vehicle or bus details in place of a flight number. So does arriving by ferry or cruise ship.
If you’re only changing planes in Bangkok and never pass through immigration, you aren’t entering Thailand, and there’s nothing to file. If your connection means collecting bags and checking in again, you’re entering, and you need the card.
Fake TDAC sites are common
In March 2026 the Immigration Bureau said about one arrival in ten had used a fraudulent TDAC site. These lookalikes charge a “processing fee”, and the details you type in never reach the real system, so you still have no valid card at the border, and your passport data is now in unknown hands. The only official addresses are tdac.immigration.go.th and immigration.go.th. The real TDAC never asks for a card payment.
Since August 2026 there’s also an official app, THIM (Thailand Immigration Management), which reads your passport with the phone camera and fills in part of the TDAC for up to 10 travelers. It’s optional. The website does the same job.
Do I need a visa for Thailand? The 30-day rule
From July 2024 until 14 September 2026, citizens of 93 countries could stay 60 days without a visa. That scheme ended on 15 September 2026. Under the new rules published in the Royal Gazette, 60 countries and territories get 30 days, Seychelles and Mauritius get 15, and a few nationalities move to visa on arrival. The Tourism Authority of Thailand’s list of 30-day countries includes the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and most EU countries.
| Your situation | Visa-free? | How long |
|---|---|---|
| US, UK, Canadian, Australian or most EU passport | Yes | 30 days |
| Seychelles or Mauritius passport | Yes | 15 days |
| Staying longer than your visa-free period | No | Get a visa before you go, or ask for an extension in Thailand |
| Third overland entry in a calendar year on the exemption | No | Land entries are capped at two a year (Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore excepted) |
| Nationality not on the exemption list | No | Visa on arrival if eligible, otherwise an e-visa |
For a typical two- or three-week holiday, nothing changes. It matters for the long, slow trips Thailand is famous for: a month on the islands followed by a few weeks in Chiang Mai no longer fits in one visa-free stay. Under the old system, a visa-exempt stay could be extended once, by 30 days, at any immigration office for 1,900 baht. The new announcement doesn’t mention extensions, so check the current rule with the Immigration Bureau or a Thai embassy before you build a trip around one. Anyone planning more than 30 days should look at a tourist visa, or the Destination Thailand Visa for long stays, on the official e-visa site, thaievisa.go.th.
Other entry rules: passport, money and tickets
Your passport should have at least six months left from the day you arrive. Visa-exempt travelers are expected to hold an onward or return ticket, and airlines outside Thailand often check this at the desk. Immigration can also ask to see funds of 20,000 baht per person, or 40,000 baht per family. In practice these checks are rare for tourists with a return flight, but a one-way ticket and an empty-looking bank balance is exactly the combination that gets questions.
Two things you may have read about are not in force. The tourist entry fee, once set at 300 baht, was approved in principle at a flat 450 baht in August 2026 and is still under consultation. Nobody pays it yet, and collection would only start months after it’s published. The Thailand ETA, an online travel authorization for visa-exempt visitors, has been announced and postponed more than once, and hasn’t launched.
What we'd do
The evening before the flight, open tdac.immigration.go.th, file one group card for everyone in your party, and screenshot every confirmation. If the trip runs past 30 days, sort out a visa before you leave rather than hoping for an extension. And ignore any site, app or agent that wants money for the TDAC.
With the arrival card done, our guides to the best time to visit Thailand and tipping in Thailand cover the rest of the planning. Going on to Vietnam? Most Western passports need the Vietnam e-visa. For South Korea, see our K-ETA guide.
Arriving soon? Our Thailand currency guide covers baht, ATM fees and the 20,000-baht proof-of-funds rule.
All our Thailand guides, from the TDAC to the baht, are sorted by topic in one place: the Thailand travel guide.
Need data the moment you land? Our Thailand eSIM guide compares travel eSIMs with the tourist SIMs sold at the airport counters.
Sources
- Thai Immigration Bureau, TDAC user manual — who must submit, 3-day window, no fee, groups of 10, sections, fields that can’t be edited.
- Tourism Authority of Thailand, new 30-day and 15-day visa exemption rules — effective 15 September 2026, 60 countries, land-border limit.
- Khaosod English, Immigration warns about fake TDAC sites — 29 March 2026.
- Nation Thailand, THIM immigration app — passport scan and TDAC pre-registration.
- Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, official e-visa site — tourist visa and Destination Thailand Visa applications.
Data checked: 2026-09-28
