Thailand's New Digital Arrival Card Stirs Confusion Among Travellers

[hotchilli]

9 hours ago, webfact said:

As of May 1, all non-Thai passport holders travelling to the country will need to complete an online form, the Thai Digital Arrival Card (TDAC), ahead of their arrival.

 

More like KDAC

[ChaiyaTH]

Completely retarded. Welcome to the future in Thailand: where we move forward with technology to go backwards.

[biggles45]

7 hours ago, bdenner said:

Great timing. I'm due to return on an international flight on the 2nd May. Looking forward to the confusion in the immigration hall. Being over 70 I usually use the Thai immigration lanes, this could be a challenge!!!

You can use the Priority lines if you are over 70.same as Families, disabled etc. When departing you bypass the regular security and immig checks as well

[Will B Good]

1 minute ago, biggles45 said:

You can use the Priority lines if you are over 70.same as Families, disabled etc. When departing you bypass the regular security and immig checks as well

 

Bypass security??? Really???

[Upnotover]

9 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

 

Bypass security??? Really???

Well yes, the regular one anyway.

[Will B Good]

3 minutes ago, Upnotover said:

Well yes, the regular one anyway.

 

So a separate one away from the hurly burly that does the same checks......please say it's so!!

[Upnotover]

3 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

 

So a separate one away from the hurly burly that does the same checks......please say it's so!!

It is so.

[Will B Good]

2 minutes ago, Upnotover said:

It is so.

 

Bit more relaxed now.....flying in a few weeks....cheers.

[SunsetT]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

Image: TAT newsroom

 

ANALYSIS

 

The impending introduction of Thailand's digital entry card requirement has left many potential visitors in a muddle, as questions about its implementation remain unanswered just weeks before its anticipated launch. 

 

As of May 1, all non-Thai passport holders travelling to the country will need to complete an online form, the Thai Digital Arrival Card (TDAC), ahead of their arrival.

 

This measure is designed to replace the now-defunct TM6 entry card, which travellers and immigration officials alike found cumbersome due to its small size and the frequent lack of pens handy after long-haul flights.

 

The TDAC will require travellers to input basic biographical information as well as details regarding their travel and accommodation plans. The new system will apply universally to those entering by air, land, or sea.

 

However, the precise digital platform intended to facilitate these submissions has yet to be disclosed by Thai authorities, leaving both travellers and airlines in an anticipatory limbo, writes Barry Kenyon for Pattaya Mail.

 

It is assumed that once travellers submit their details online, they will receive a confirmation in the form of a QR code. This code can then presumably be presented at the immigration desks or potentially at the electronic gates featured at some Thai airports.

 

There is also speculation that the TDAC may serve as a customs declaration form, although official confirmation has yet to be provided. Reports suggesting the introduction of an exit procedure akin to the TDAC have also surfaced, but they remain unsubstantiated at this point.

 

One significant source of confusion has been the distinction between the TDAC and a visa application. Although separate processes, a misunderstanding has led to concerns among tourists, particularly from the 93 countries whose citizens enjoy visa-exempt status for a 60-day visit, extendable by an additional month.

 

From May, these tourists, along with all other foreign arrivals, regardless of their visa status, will need to embrace the TDAC protocol.

 

Several crucial questions remain unanswered: Will passengers without a completed TDAC be refused boarding by airlines, anxious about potential fines for transporting non-compliant passengers?

 

Will there be any mechanism for completing the TDAC form upon arrival? Will each visit require a new TDAC submission, and what happens if a traveller changes accommodation after submitting their information?

 

With less than two months before the TDAC's expected rollout, these and other queries require urgent clarification. Without timely and thorough communication from Thai authorities, the envisioned seamless travel experience could falter before it even begins, leaving travellers and the tourism industry in a state of flux.

 

-- 2025-02-05

 

 

Why why why reintroduce this complete waste of everyone's time when 99% of the info. required on the TM6 was mostly copied from your passport and boarding pass?  And this you show on  entry anyway! The other info. required if my memory serves me well was your proposed accommodation. I just used to enter the name of the BBK hotel where I spend the first night. There was a general survey on the backside of the TM6 which was not compulsory to complete. 

[kiwikeith]

10 hours ago, anyone said:

draw it first with a pen on a piece of paper

Can't there is a lack of pens

[SunsetT]

8 hours ago, gejohesch said:

I didn't know that was possible. Interesting.

There is actually a dedicated fast track lane over 70s  can use on the non-Thai side of arrivals immigration. Last time I came in at Swampy, it was the far right hand side lane. 

[connda]

Reality
 

[bdenner]

3 hours ago, khunjeff said:

 

The letter posted in that thread isn't actually accurate. Over 70s can use Fast Track on departure, but on arrival they instead use the "Priority" lanes located next to the Thai Passport counters. 

 

Correct.

[connda]

I've got a freaking 16 year old TM6 still stapled in my passport.  Immigration hasn't told me they don't want copies of it yet.

[bdenner]

9 hours ago, bdenner said:

<Snip>

 

Being over 70 I usually use the Thai immigration lanes, this could be a challenge!!!

Oh bugga!! Look at the amount of interest this statement has created in the thread I'm thinking I should have kept this knowledge to myself. Been using the Departures and Arrivals "elderly" option for 4 years now!

[Mukdahan Mark]

11 hours ago, redwood1 said:

How would I present a QR code with my phone?

 

Your lucky to have a phone!!

[BerndD]

 

[kwilco]

ny time something does digital in Thalland, it makes me shudder.

THis is the land of websites by amateurs - presumably made up by the teenage son of the boss?

THey don't ask the right questions

Aren't easy to read and operate

THey make assumptions and don't anticipate common mistakes

THeir flow is non existent 

and ithe end - they simply don't work.

 

ythere will be loads of people clicking on buttons that don't work

People who aren't IT savvy enough to deal with it

 

THere will be crowds of people  wandering around looking for help.

 

 

BTW - where will the forms be filled in?

Before departure?

On the plane??? - with wifi?

On arrival?

What phones will be able to work?

 

 

[kwilco]

33 minutes ago, BerndD said:

 

Thailand is still basically a military controlled government and like all authoritarian regimes, they are obssessed with  collecting data on people. THis has been going on since before WW2.

[kwilco]

2 hours ago, biggles45 said:

Being over 70 I usually use the Thai immigration lanes,

can you do that?

[bdenner]

18 minutes ago, kwilco said:

can you do that?

How about taking 5 minutes and read the entire thread!!!

[agogohome]

Erm, so my Entry card is well over 20 years old. 

How is the check-in desk going to deal with that, should I ever decide to leave! 🤔

[flexomike]

3 hours ago, Burma Bill said:

 

Thanks. I also have a NOKIA 3G phone. 

It will be interesting to see what happens later this year when I fly from Siem Reap to Chiang Mai. 

Previously no bureaucracy and easy - just arrival and departure stamps in passport. No TM6.

Last month I had to complete a Form TM6 at the land border between O'Smach in Cambodia and Surin Province in Thailand.

They never did away with the TM6 at land borders

[agogohome]

3 hours ago, Acharn said:

I agree. It dates back to the 1976 counter-revolution. From the reports about people overstaying 1, 2, 5 years the police don't make use of it anyway. I'm sure some bright young bureaucrat got a promotion from suggesting it, but practice shows it doesn't have any value. I don't mind doing it too much, it keeps the Immigration office people familiar with my face, but it takes a couple of liters of gasohol to go and come back.

Why on earth are you visiting an office, when the online reporting can be done in less than 60 seconds!?

[fvw53]

10 hours ago, bdenner said:

Great timing. I'm due to return on an international flight on the 2nd May. Looking forward to the confusion in the immigration hall. Being over 70 I usually use the Thai immigration lanes, this could be a challenge!!!

Since I became more than 70 I obtained  access at the VIP passport check lane at Suvarnabhumu airport

[geisha]

11 hours ago, bkk6060 said:

Remember the Covid QR code debacle?

This will probably be similar fill the form out properly and get some frustrating rejection notice.  Good luck.

Covid. When at last the gates opened, visas took months to arrive. A friend of mine left without his and had only a 30 day entry and visa money lost. I decided on the 30  day visa exemption , but the online authorization ( or whatever it was called , didn’t work. Masses of people terrified of leaving without. Many lost tickets. I contacted an agency in Bangkok and got mine through them. It was catastrophic. How can they be so tech ignorant ? It’s hard to believe. I used to go to Myanmar often, Cambodia, etc, it all worked fine there. Easy. 

[gejohesch]

8 hours ago, sqwakvfr said:

I went to Kuala Lumpur in early January and they have a digital arrival card  called the MDAC (Malyasia Digita Arrival Card).   Applying for the MDAC was not exactly a seamless process. in the end I got it done and saved the PDF in my phone.  When I arrived at KLIA I was directed to use the automated arrival gates.   I did not have contact with an actual immigration officer so no one actually checked my MDAC. . If LOS actually checks everyone who enters at airports for the TDAC cards then it could slow down the arrival process. As always we will get the details probably on the evening of April 30.  TIT. 

I went to KL 2 weeks ago, so just a bit later than you. I found the MDAC system straightforward as far as filling in the details are concerned, and indeed got a reply by email, quite rapidly (cannot remember, maybe just a few hours, not more), with a pdf file attached. However, the pdf did not contain a QR code. I could get confirmation on the MDAV website that my application was indeed received, however, when going to get the QR code, the system replied with the message that "no record was found". I tried multiple times. I got a bit nervous, having to fly to KL without a QR code. There was absolutely no explanation whatsoever on the website why I would not get a QR code. So, rather poor show I think!

 

Arriving in KL, I could go through the automatic gates (EU passport) no pbm. Maybe that's where the MDAC system recognises me as having registered online? No idea!

 

Leaving KL, a bit of a nagging doubt again - what if immigration asks to see that damn QR code - which I never got? But I went through no question asked.

 

Conclusion, it's a good system. Makes entry-exit easy and quick. Shame it was a bit obscure wrt getting, or not, that (in)famous QR code.

 

Having had a few minor but annoying issues when registering for entering Thailand during COVID times, I rather expect the Thailand equivalent MDAC system to be even more obscure.

 

Ah, that's the word, is it not, about Thailand : obscure....

[swoods58]

10 hours ago, gejohesch said:

I didn't know that was possible. Interesting.

And the Fast Track when leaving 

[scorecard]

11 hours ago, Denim said:

 

Yes...If the confusion is too great and queue too long I might just pretend to feint and get carried through immigration on a stretcher. Quicker and more comfortable. 

 

I guess your real aim is to take some upskirt photos. Bad boy.

[scorecard]

3 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Completely retarded. Welcome to the future in Thailand: where we move forward with technology to go backwards.

 

Turns out several other countries have already successfully installed similar systems.

 

Bottom line, seems all countries want to know where tourists / visitors are staying whilst in the country.