Visiting Thailand? This New Electronic Entry Form Is Now Required
Travelers can't get enough of Thailand's buzzy nightlife, spectacular beaches, and of course, its White Lotus-featured wellness resorts and spas. If you're one of the 39 million people who are estimated to visit the Southeast Asian nation in 2025, listen up: there's a new immigration requirement tourists are now required to complete in advance of their trip.
Starting May 1, 2025, all foreign visitors to Thailand must complete a new electronic form called the Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) at least three days prior to their arrival. The new requirement applies to all land, air, and sea border crossings.
'Completion of the TDAC will be mandatory for all foreign passport holders, including tourists, business travelers, and long-term residents,' the US embassy to Thailand said in an April travel alert. 'Exceptions apply only to travelers transiting or transferring through Thailand without passing through immigration control and to those entering using a Border Pass.'
To submit the TDAC application, visit the Thailand Immigration Bureau's official website. The online application will prompt you to provide details regarding your passport, personal information including your nationality and citizenship, your travel and accommodation plans, as well as health declarations regarding any countries you've visited within the past two weeks. There is currently no fee attached to the form.
The new travel requirement aims to help Thailand 'strengthen security measures, streamline immigration procedures, and support public health management,' according to the Thai Immigration Bureau.
The TDAC replaces Thailand's paper TM6 arrival card which was typically completed by passengers en route to Thailand and submitted at the airport's immigration checkpoint. While the new electronic form is designed to streamline the paperwork process, the impetus now rests on travelers to remember to complete the form at least 72 hours before departure.
Thailand had also planned to introduce a 300-baht (about $9) tourism tax to help fund infrastructure and a separate Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) system in 2025. However, both have been postponed in order to roll out the new TDAC form first, according to Siam Legal International, a Thai law firm.
While American tourists have become accustomed to visa-free travel to the majority of the world's countries, electronic entry forms such as this one are becoming more common as nations work to digitize their borders. The UK ETA, for example, is now required for all foreign visitors to the United Kingdom, and the European Union's new electronic travel authorization system ETIAS is scheduled to go into effect in 2026.
Originally Appeared on Condé Nast Traveler
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