Picture courtesy of Khaosod

The Thai Immigration Bureau has strongly refuted viral claims of extensive wait times at Suvarnabhumi airport, asserting that passengers are processed within 30 minutes even during peak travel seasons.

The controversy ignited with a social media post by a Japanese tourist, who mocked the lengthy queues experienced at the airport's immigration counters, dubbing the situation "amazing." This criticism has gained traction, with other Japanese netizens voicing similar grievances and advising travellers to anticipate up to two-hour waits during busy holiday periods.

According to Pol Col Pongthorn Pongratchatanan, deputy commander and spokesman for Immigration Division 2, the incident in question coincided with a high-traffic Sunday, with around 30 international flights and approximately 5,700 passengers arriving between 1pm and 2pm. Throughout the day, passenger numbers consistently exceeded 4,000 per hour, leading to more than 85,000 travellers passing through the airport.

Social media images depicting crowded conditions were partly attributed to the terminal's design, which includes long, narrow walkways that may visually exaggerate the appearance of congestion. Despite these images, the Immigration Bureau maintains that congestion is limited to specific peak periods and that the processing standards adhere to their 30-minute timeframe.

To mitigate delays, the bureau has bolstered staffing levels, cancelling leave to ensure efficient processing while keeping national security procedures intact. Pol. Col. Pongthorn emphasised that prolonged queues are a common global phenomenon during peak travel times, according to the Bangkok Post.

Key Takeaways:

• The Immigration Bureau processes passengers within 30 minutes despite peak times.

• Viral complaints stem from a post by a Japanese tourist critiquing queue length.

• Airport design influences the perception of crowding in social media images.

  

Adapted by ASEAN Now from Bangkok Post 2026-01-02

 

 

Need to get Srettha Thavisin back to sort it out ... he had it humming along.

Why do they feel the need to “hit back” at all?

It is a juvenile, face-saving reaction that ultimately causes more loss of face than it prevents.

Can anyone seriously imagine UK Border Force or Dubai Immigration reacting in any way to social media complaints about queues?

The processing times of Thai Immigration at the Airport has genuinely improved over the past couple of years . Departures are significantly swifter, largely due to the introduction of auto-gates. Arrivals have also improved thanks to the DTAC system, although passengers who fail to comply with the requirements inevitably create delays for themselves.

A further and very welcome improvement would be to allow long-term residents - those holding Non-Immigrant visas, work permits, or long-stay permissions - to use the auto-gates on arrival. This would free up immigration counters for passengers who genuinely require in-person processing.

Thailand is also already addressing long-term airport capacity issues, with a second major terminal being built to the south of Suvarnabhumi.

By choosing to “hit back”, Immigration authorities have achieved only one thing - drawing unnecessary negative attention to themselves. They would have been far better served by ignoring a single social media complaint altogether. The additional claims suggesting travellers should allow two hours to clear immigration are nonsense. It has never taken that long. Ever.

The queues are always too long. They know how many arrivals there are, but tgey open only new lines ofvit is crowded already and it takes 15 minutes to start a new line.. several times been in Spain and immigration was within 5 minutes arranged with a waiting time of about the same. And no signs that complaining to immigration is not allowed, but friendly and quick. There is just a structural peoblem in Thailand and that is called control everybody and try not to work fast. Aa work makes you tired surely the foreigners that don't understand us. Very welcoming Thailand

9 minutes ago, ikke1959 said:

The queues are always too long. They know how many arrivals there are, but tgey open only new lines ofvit is crowded already and it takes 15 minutes to start a new line.. several times been in Spain and immigration was within 5 minutes arranged with a waiting time of about the same. And no signs that complaining to immigration is not allowed, but friendly and quick. There is just a structural peoblem in Thailand and that is called control everybody and try not to work fast. Aa work makes you tired surely the foreigners that don't understand us. Very welcoming Thailand

Experiences inevitably vary, but over the past year there have been very few credible reports of excessive queues at Thai airport immigration. While this was undeniably an issue several years ago, meaningful improvements have since been made. Notably, the topic has attracted far less media attention recently, which in itself is telling.

That said, any major international airport can suffer delays at peak times. I have personally waited close to an hour at Haneda in Tokyo, and well over an hour at Geneva last year. In Geneva’s case, this was largely driven by post-Brexit procedures, with EU passport holders processed first and British and other non-EU travellers held back until additional desks were opened.

The UK is no exception either. My wife regularly spends around 30 minutes clearing immigration on arrival.

It is also worth noting that many contributors on this forum travel to and from Thailand frequently. If immigration delays remained a systemic problem, there would undoubtedly be far more complaints, threads and recurring commentary over the past year than we have actually seen.v

One point where the report is accurate concerns the design of Suvarnabhumi Airport itself. The long tunnel leading to immigration can make queues appear far more severe than they truly are. Combined with the visibility of unused counters, this can easily create the impression that immigration staff are indifferent or inefficient, even when throughput is reasonable.

I have been openly critical of Thai airport immigration in the past and have even been accused of Thai bashing. This is not a sudden swing towards apologism, but rather an attempt to offer a balanced observation based on recent experience.

Which raises a fair question - does anyone genuinely take longer than 15 to 20 minutes to clear Thai immigration on arrival these days?

Meh, spent longer waiting to get through immigration at Heathrow on a mid year non festive season visit.

Happens.

4 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

does anyone genuinely take longer than 15 to 20 minutes to clear Thai immigration on arrival these days?

Had a work trip to Australia mid December.

Return to Swampy, from disembarkement to collecting my baggage was 10 mins at most.

14 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Which raises a fair question - does anyone genuinely take longer than 15 to 20 minutes to clear Thai immigration on arrival these days?

35-40 minutes arriving 11am on 22/12. Queue never stops moving and at the counter the IO was exceptionally fast and efficient. No complaints.

15 hours ago, dyertribe said:

Need to get Srettha Thavisin back to sort it out ... he had it humming along.

Why? Like this Thailand looks like a mega popular tourist destination. You don't want no crowds = loss of face

15 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Why do they feel the need to “hit back” at all?

Hit me Somchai.........one more time.

Their evidence is rather compelling:

I've flown into Swampy once a month for almost 3 years and rarely experienced a long queue (post Covid) until they implemented the TDAC. Since then, about 1 in 5 of the people in the queue get sent back to the TDAC kiosks because they hadn't filled one out. Often, after a few minutes of begging and pleading with the IO, which delays everyone in the queue. Some of the IOs and supervisors send them back a lot faster than others.

Still, never more than 15-30 minutes, and usually less than 5-10. Even faster on the departure side. They're doing a great job.

Went abroad for Christmas, came back on the 28th, at immigration at 9.30am, waiting time 2 min, just 1 passenger in front of me.

Can't really make it faster 🤪

Just make sure you have all the correct documents you need including your Digital Arrival card filled out correctly and passport in hand …

To mitigate delays, the bureau has bolstered staffing levels, cancelling leave to ensure efficient processing while keeping national security procedures intact.

One would hardly say this is a viable solution ?

Hang on. They say processing time is less than 30 mins even in peak times. Then they try to explain why it was more on that occasion.

You want long queues - try JFK!

22 hours ago, webfact said:

The Immigration Bureau processes passengers within 30 minutes despite peak times.

Throughout the day, passenger numbers consistently exceeded 4,000 per hour

Alright, let's do some Pol Col Spokesman math:

2,000 passengers divided by 30 minutes = 67 passengers per minute

or

1-2 passengers every second!

Pol Col Spokesman, I slightly doubt your statement...

Generally, the queues have been less, and moved faster in recent years. I did wait nearly 30 minutes on one occasion in 2025. On another trip last year, I was the only passenger in the immigration hall (until others arrived). Departing is so much better with e-gates. If only they would offer e-gates on arrival for long term visa holders - surely, it can't be that difficult to update their systems, after all the TDAC has our info. Worst ever for me was waiting 90 minutes for departure immigration in 2015 when I would have missed the flight if it wasn't delayed!

2 hours ago, happysoul said:

Went abroad for Christmas, came back on the 28th, at immigration at 9.30am, waiting time 2 min, just 1 passenger in front of me.

Can't really make it faster 🤪

Yes, early morning is the best time to arrive, the lines are much smaller, but after lunchtime it can be a long wait1

I don't really care about what immigration feels about this.

It took me over an hour to get through immigration at BKK on 24/12, so they can hit back all they like, it is true.

Absolute chaos there, never experienced anything like it anywhere in the world, even in 3rd world <deleted>ain.

My experience: One hour is the norm... 30 minutes is wishful thinking... Shame on the immigration bureaucracy!🫣

43 minutes ago, Jim Waldron said:

You want long queues - try JFK!

Or Atlanta. And the all IOs are more surly than the worst in Thailand.

I'm in agreement with Immigration. I've flown twice recently internationally, in November and December. Both times, there were minimal waits. Leaving both times was fast and well-organized--the longest wait was at the airline check-in counter, but even that was better than some other airports I have used.

With both of the return flights, the booths were staffed well and, in both cases, I was through and to the baggage claim many minutes before the bags started arriving. I find Swampy to be a breeze compared to most of the other international airports I have used in major cities.

10 min

Priority Lane

21 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Experiences inevitably vary, but over the past year there have been very few credible reports of excessive queues at Thai airport immigration. While this was undeniably an issue several years ago, meaningful improvements have since been made. Notably, the topic has attracted far less media attention recently, which in itself is telling.

That said, any major international airport can suffer delays at peak times. I have personally waited close to an hour at Haneda in Tokyo, and well over an hour at Geneva last year. In Geneva’s case, this was largely driven by post-Brexit procedures, with EU passport holders processed first and British and other non-EU travellers held back until additional desks were opened.

The UK is no exception either. My wife regularly spends around 30 minutes clearing immigration on arrival.

It is also worth noting that many contributors on this forum travel to and from Thailand frequently. If immigration delays remained a systemic problem, there would undoubtedly be far more complaints, threads and recurring commentary over the past year than we have actually seen.v

One point where the report is accurate concerns the design of Suvarnabhumi Airport itself. The long tunnel leading to immigration can make queues appear far more severe than they truly are. Combined with the visibility of unused counters, this can easily create the impression that immigration staff are indifferent or inefficient, even when throughput is reasonable.

I have been openly critical of Thai airport immigration in the past and have even been accused of Thai bashing. This is not a sudden swing towards apologism, but rather an attempt to offer a balanced observation based on recent experience.

Which raises a fair question - does anyone genuinely take longer than 15 to 20 minutes to clear Thai immigration on arrival these days?

Can’t speak for Suvarnabhumi, but Phuket is particularly bad at the moment. Hardly surprising given that it’s high season. Still, everyone knows its high season and the arrival times of aircraft, so something COULD be done if they wanted to do it.

I’m going to Singapore for a couple of days tomorrow and I’m not looking forward to passing through immigration on the way back, that’s for sure.

Hopefully they’ll figure it out soon

56 minutes ago, klauskunkel said:

Alright, let's do some Pol Col Spokesman math:

2,000 passengers divided by 30 minutes = 67 passengers per minute

or

1-2 passengers every second!

Pol Col Spokesman, I slightly doubt your statement...

I’m hoping that they can reduce the waiting times by 1,600 %…..just like drug prices in the USA

28 minutes ago, Alex2554 said:

10 min

Priority Lane

Exactly! Been using for many years now. The only downside is I usually have to wait for luggage.