Thailand Requires Digital Arrival Card Submission 3 Days Before Entry starting May 1

[Nickcage49]

Just now, jippytum said:

Presently  retirees appling for the retirement extension are required to produce Tm card regardless if entry was many years previous. Will that change? 

I haven't been asked for a TM card for 4-5 years now. They no longer pass them out on flights.

[hotchilli]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Starting 1st May, foreign visitors heading to Thailand must fill in an online arrival card before their trip, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Why not just make it easy... 

[proton]

2 minutes ago, Nickcage49 said:

I wonder if you need this if you have a retirement visa and live here year round.

 

There are no retirement visas

[DFPhuket]

I fail to understand the angst being expressed here. I travel extensively and this is pretty routine. In Singapore and Malaysia, for example, computers are available just before immigration for anyone who forgot to do it. It's also possible to do it after landing while taxiing to the gate and on the plane. In those countries you can then use the e-Gates. 

Indonesia, Cambodia and South Korea require a digital document to be completed in advance. 

 

If this speeds up immigration I'm all for it. 

[richard_smith237]

3 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

3 hours ago, Tropicalevo said:

I wonder what will happen if the visit to Thailand is an emergency and within the three days?

Indeed….  I often have travel at less than 12 hours notice… or have to change plans last min..,

…. Kind of makes this 3 day requirement somewhat tricky. 

Mods: my comment needs deleting- I misunderstood the 3 day comment & have made a misleading statement. 
 

The title of the thread needs correction too… “within 3 days”  - which would limit confusions.

[alien365]

I'm actually flying back in on the 1st May, so I'll get to see firsthand if chaos unfolds. 

[Andrew65]

2 minutes ago, wensiensheng said:

I doubt that very much. There is no money to be made in reducing over tourism and undesirables are a price that successive governments have been willing to pay

Just wait until there are protests as we are seeing in Spain and other places. I saw recently that the ratio of vistors to residents in Phuket is 118:1.

[klauskunkel]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

The Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) website, created by the Immigration Bureau, is ready to capture essential traveller details like passport numbers, accommodation addresses, and health records.

Hackers are ready to sell your data to scammers, who will now have your pp number and hotel details and will contact you posing as officials. But then, it's an Immigration website and therefore hack-proof, as we are assured again and again.

[factual monk]

I feel they will postpone it further as the tourists number are going down. To counter the claims, I always read tourists related news of Bali, Malaysia and Vietnam. As per Vn Express news... Vietnam is seeing 24% more Chinese, Korean and Taiwanese tourists than Thailand... 

[KannikaP]

7 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

The website is already available.

But not useable.

[wensiensheng]

10 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

To be fair - I see the logic.

 

IF all our arrival details are already in the Immigration system, all they have to do is check an ‘approved box’ - if the system works in this manner it cuts down the work load & smoothes arrival & speeds up processing times.

 

The issue is that ‘online’  Immigration systems have been somewhat ‘glitchy’ over recent history… 

I don’t think the new requirements will change the current process followed by an immigration officer. Currently they scan passports by putting them on a reader, then flip the pages to see if there are any red flags, check the photo to the face of the traveller, press the photo button and then put in a stamp. 
 

might be wrong, but I think all that ( which isn’t much) will still be done. The details from the new system are just stored in case of need at a later date.

 

One issue is that it won’t let Thailand be entered as a country of residence. Perhaps an issue for long term visa holders who actually live in Thailand. Have to make up something I guess

[treetops]

16 minutes ago, Travi said:

What about expats living in Thailand. I think can't select Thailand as resident country.

 

TAT have already said that will be added before the system live deadline, so fingers crossed they're true to their word.

[Davedub]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

The aim is to enhance visitor support and ensure a smoother arrival experience in Thailand.

 

I suspect that many travellers will not get this done three days ahead of their arrival. I imagine a certain amount of chaos at Suvarnabhumi with travellers needing to find somewhere to stay for three days on the wrong side of the immigration counters.

 

Or perhaps people will not be able to board at the departing country unless they can show a valid digital arrival card?

 

Either way, I am not convinced this scheme is going to enhance visitor support or ensure a smoother arrival experience in Thailand.

[marin]

12 minutes ago, norsurin said:

I had plan to go from Bangkok to Manila last year When they also demand this s..t i changed my mind.

They make so silly rules that upset tourists.

There was no problems last year. I went in and out three times without a worry one. What are you talking about?

[Tom100]

12 minutes ago, mikeymike100 said:

Is the online form in English only, or several languages.? I have looked at and it seems to be omly in English

I have a friend who is French, cannot speak English apart from hello and goodbye, when he goes to immigration he always takes someone who can help him, if needed.

I would imagine Russians and Chinese having problems???

It is in a few languages -- see below.

https://tdac.immigration.go.th/arrival-card/#/home

[Guderian]

So how exactly does the entry procedure work with this new Thai bureaucratic idiocy? I assume you'll have something on your phone if using the app, maybe a QR code, or a paper printout if using the website on a PC. Will the usual Immigration cop issuing entry stamps also check the QR code (or whatever it is), or will there be a separate desk for that? How does this speed things up and make it more convenient for tourists? And we all know from the digital geniuses trying to pay their supermarket bills with their phones via a QR code that it can take several minutes before they find what they're looking for and get it scanned, and sometimes they fail completely and, after 5 minutes or more have to revert to cash or leave their shopping behind. Now imagine that situation translated to Immigration at Swampy with a queue of maybe a thousand people all trying to find and then scan some code or other on their dysfunctional cheap phones, and of course the ones who forgot or couldn't be bothered to do it who will presumably get a slap on the wrist and be led away to fill it in. This sounds to me like it can only add to the long delays, but hey, if Thailand wants to drive yet more tourists to other countries then it's up to them I guess. 

[Upnotover]

1 minute ago, marin said:

There was no problems last year. I went in and out three times without a worry one. What are you talking about?

I think he is talking about the Philippines.

[norsurin]

2 minutes ago, marin said:

There was no problems last year. I went in and out three times without a worry one. What are you talking about?

I mean Philippines required at least 72 hour before arrival there.Not Thailand.

[Peterphuket]

10 minutes ago, Andrew65 said:

Just wait until there are protests as we are seeing in Spain and other places. I saw recently that the ratio of vistors to residents in Phuket is 118:1.

You don't want to compare the Spanish with the Thais, do you?

[Joe32]

So how about foreigners on a workpermit? 

[pomchop]

Much ado about nothing...the things that some can find to obsess about never end.

[Stiddle Mump]

Do the same as a lot af farang are doing. Chuck your smartphone in the river. Taking the battery out first. That has to be disposed of environmentally.

 

These smart-phones take over people's lives. What can you do if engrossed in a tiktok vid? Eat and drink. No wonder people are getting fatter and drunker.

 

If they come for me; I'll move to Burma. And take my gold with me. Thailand would be the loser.

[Upnotover]

4 minutes ago, Joe32 said:

So how about foreigners on a workpermit? 

Yes

[Upnotover]

3 minutes ago, Stiddle Mump said:

These smart-phones take over people's lives

Not required.

[mikeymike100]

6 minutes ago, Upnotover said:

....but in any case the information has to be entered in "English".

If that is the case......

So if you can't write English as i suspect many Chinese cannot, it may cause a problem?

I am not picking on Chinese, but languages that dont use the Roman/English alphabet are going to be at a disadvantage.

[shortstop2]

I suggest that the smart way to implement this is to have Immigration lines at the airport such that there might be a 5 minute wait if you have done the stuff online but a 15 minute wait if you haven't.

 

Alternatively Swampy has free wifi and i suppose could be completed after one lands.

[jwl53]

5 hours ago, webfact said:

Visitors can fill in their TDAC forms three days before they arrive, inputting crucial details like passport numbers, accommodation addresses, and health records.

Most backpackers do not have rebooted rooms.  Health records? Do I have to go to my GP and get a copy of my health records which by the way is very confidential 

[Upnotover]

1 minute ago, shortstop2 said:

I suggest that the smart way to implement this is to have Immigration lines at the airport such that there might be a 5 minute wait if you have done the stuff online but a 15 minute wait if you haven't.

 

Alternatively Swampy has free wifi and i suppose could be completed after one lands.

Maybe they will have "helpers" to check who has or not got their QR code ready, they used to do similar with the TM6.  Anyone without can go to a single mile long queue to complete the formalities, the rest of us can sail through unhindered.

[Upnotover]

1 minute ago, jwl53 said:

Most backpackers do not have rebooted rooms.  Health records? Do I have to go to my GP and get a copy of my health records which by the way is very confidential 

Yellow fever.  Only if you've been to those countries.  Thats it.

[proton]

12 minutes ago, pomchop said:

Much ado about nothing...the things that some can find to obsess about never end.

 

Quite, how can 90 day reports, TM30, re entry permits, and now this digital arrival nonsense possibly be annoying, time wasting or duplication? I love forms I do 😆