If this actually happens it's great news...

• The government is expanding its automated passport control system (Auto Gates) to include passport holders from 31 additional nationalities to reduce congestion.

• Airport authorities will dynamically reconfigure immigration hall spaces and adjust staffing to better manage passenger flow during peak hours, when 5,000 to 6,000 passengers arrive per hour.

nationthailand

Thailand Accelerates Suvarnabhumi Airport Upgrades Ahead...

Bangkok targets peak-hour queues at its flagship hub with expanded automated passport gates, spatial restructuring, and warnings over unofficial arrival forms

Malaysia already has them (Used eGates on arrival in Penang last week) so hopefully BKK add another 31 countries by the end of this month...

Edited August 19Aug 19 by SamSpade

My assumption is that this will just be an extension of the way the e-gates for entry currently work. That has a lot of limitations:

• Can only be entering visa exempt

• Must have entered previously on the same passport so the biometrics are recorded

• Must have entered Thailand within the last year

Currently only Singapore and Hong Kong passport holders are eligible, and they experience a huge issue. Immigration officers that man the entrance rarely let them through, even if they qualify. They are often directed to the normal immigration lanes and not allowed entry to the e-gate area. So even if they DO expand it to other nationalities, it's going to be at the whim of the door monitors on if they're let in or forced to the regular lines anyways.

Loyalty Lobby just published an article about this exact topic. https://loyaltylobby.com/2026/08/11/reader-comment-using-the-electronic-entry-gates-at-bangkok-airport-as-singapore-hong-hong-visitor

What they SHOULD do is what we all expected them to do. Make this part of the ETA system. Anyone entering without a visa must apply for an ETA first. This is also where they will collect their tourist tax that they've been talking about for YEARS. You apply for the ETA, pay the tax, and then get a decision about if you will be granted entry or not. No more officer discretion. If you are approved for ETA, you can use the e-gate to enter since you've already submitted all of your information. This would make things much easier for everyone. But it seems ETA has been shelved, possibly permanently. I think we'll hear about it again eventually when they finally want to make good on the tourist tax.

21 minutes ago, BrandonJT said:

Can only be entering visa exempt

This feels the wrong way round, surely they should let long term visa holders in & check Visa Exempt travellers more 😳

58 minutes ago, SamSpade said:

This feels the wrong way round, surely they should let long term visa holders in & check Visa Exempt travellers more 😳

There's literally nothing to check for visa exempt though. Everyone is the same. They all get the same entry stamp. People with a visa add tons of complications, especially people returning with a re-entry permit. I doubt we'll see these people able to use the e-gates for many years to come.

I'm not following the logic. It's the visa-exempt entrants that may require extra scrutiny, a check for onward travel, hotel, etc., that can only be done face-to-face at a staffed kiosk.

I would think that those with Non-O extensions and other long-stay entitlements, who have already provided their biometrics on a previous "standard" entry, should be eligible for the e-gate system if/when it is extended.

If we are making assumptions, it is possible that the immigration database is more fully integrated and automated so that any passport (number and biometrics) is already linked to any re-entry permit that's been issued to that passport holder anywhere in the country.

Come to think of it, it probably is already. I don't recall many reports of people having to remind the arrival IO that there's a ME visa or a re-entry permit somewhere in the passport. I do recall a few times on my own arrival, the IO flicking quickly to the valid re-entry permit in my passport, and that was a full passport with at least a couple of other "USED" ones.

Heaven forbid progress, but it may even flag up those who have forgotten to do a 90-day report.

Edited August 19Aug 19 by NanLaew

1 hour ago, NanLaew said:

I'm not following the logic. It's the visa-exempt entrants that may require extra scrutiny, a check for onward travel, hotel, etc., that can only be done face-to-face at a staffed kiosk.

That's all on the TDAC I fill out. Once I get to the front of the queue on visa exempt, it takes about 20 seconds to stamp me in and hand my passport back. I'm pretty sure a machine could do it just as well, and flag anyone whose information is dodgy.

I just hope each gate has a camera that flags wife beater shirts for extra scrutiny.

1 minute ago, impulse said:

That's all on the TDAC I fill out. Once I get to the front of the queue on visa exempt, it takes about 20 seconds to stamp me in and hand my passport back. I'm pretty sure a machine could do it just as well, and flag anyone whose information is dodgy.

I just hope each gate has a camera that flags wife beater shirts for extra scrutiny.

And no more than a couple or three visa-exempt entries a year.

3 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

And no more than a couple or three visa-exempt entries a year.

I've got 36 in the past 3 years. But mine is the profile of a quintessential tourist. I fly in, spend 5 days or so (and a wad of money), then leave. Not unlike the offshore guys who fly in with their pockets full of oilfield money. Thailand would be foolish to limit them to 2-3 entries a year.

Limits (by air, anyway) seem to be triggered more by the cumulative amount of time spent in country than the number of entries. Which makes sense if you want to encourage tourists, but discourage illegal residence.

Edited August 19Aug 19 by impulse

5 hours ago, BrandonJT said:

My assumption is that this will just be an extension of the way the e-gates for entry currently work. That has a lot of limitations:

• Can only be entering visa exempt

• Must have entered previously on the same passport so the biometrics are recorded

• Must have entered Thailand within the last year

Currently only Singapore and Hong Kong passport holders are eligible, and they experience a huge issue. Immigration officers that man the entrance rarely let them through, even if they qualify. They are often directed to the normal immigration lanes and not allowed entry to the e-gate area. So even if they DO expand it to other nationalities, it's going to be at the whim of the door monitors on if they're let in or forced to the regular lines anyways.

Loyalty Lobby just published an article about this exact topic. https://loyaltylobby.com/2026/08/11/reader-comment-using-the-electronic-entry-gates-at-bangkok-airport-as-singapore-hong-hong-visitor

What they SHOULD do is what we all expected them to do. Make this part of the ETA system. Anyone entering without a visa must apply for an ETA first. This is also where they will collect their tourist tax that they've been talking about for YEARS. You apply for the ETA, pay the tax, and then get a decision about if you will be granted entry or not. No more officer discretion. If you are approved for ETA, you can use the e-gate to enter since you've already submitted all of your information. This would make things much easier for everyone. But it seems ETA has been shelved, possibly permanently. I think we'll hear about it again eventually when they finally want to make good on the tourist tax.

I read the article and there's nothing surprising there. The author, a frequent visitor with his biometrics already in the system was allowed through the e-gate whereas his accompanying family who had not, were redirected to regular lanes. But I agree that a bit more clarity will be needed if this is going to be expanded, including better training for the IO's wrongly and rudely redirecting people.

A couple of months ago, the UK media was awash with complaints by UK holidaymakers who were unaware of new EU entry rules where one had to pre-submit one's biometrics at special kiosks before departure from certain airports in the UK, or before approaching immigration on arrival. This was made worse by the kiosks reportedly having significant technical issues as well. This resulted in slow, manual processing and a lot of missed flights.

Earlier this month, as a UK passport holder, I availed myself of this EU pre-registration during an AMS stopover. The biometrics capture was done at one of many kiosks located well ahead of entry to the Dutch immigration zones at Schiphol, and took about a minute, so the technical issues have been solved. Once that was done, I could use the unmanned e-gates to enter, which took another minute. It was all well signposted with some extra staff to assist the few that looked lost. On departure the following day, once I had cleared security, I used the e-gates to clear Dutch immigration and get air side: another minute. Since AMS is roughly twice as busy as BKK with regard to daily international in/out, the difference in immigration clearance times between e-gates and conventional is notable.

I hope that along with the pre-immigration TDAC registration booths, immigration and AoT set up similar biometrics pre-registration booths so that those that qualify for the e-gates get a green light before heading up the ramps, and anyone getting red-lighted KNOWS to head for the regular immigration lines to the left.

It’ll work like all countries that have them. You input your passport and it issues a ticket. That ticket directs you as to whether you walk through or go via an immigration officer or customs. Remember, they already know whose coming and where from!

Auto gates automatically block all the situations that also cause the hold ups at manual immigration, so this won't solve much at all as long they continue with their current visa hate policy. This is also the cause of the delayed luggage issues, as of people waiting too long to collect bags.

At best it would make the wait a little bit shorter for those who it does work for. For those it not happens to work, it is even worse, as they then will need to start over with a requeue for manual lol.

I never understood the logic of having immigration before luggage, as when you are refused, you also will need the same luggage regardless. Same with security before immigration when leaving. I guess decades ago this made sense due to limited travelers and the fact that luggage takes a while to arrive. Not so sure about that today, the walk alone usually equals it near arriving already.

I would not be surprised at all if they are clueless about the fact that the baggage correlates to the visa policy.

Edited August 20Aug 20 by sunrisecoconuts

7 minutes ago, sunrisecoconuts said:

Auto gates automatically block all the situations that also cause the hold ups at manual immigration, so this won't solve much at all as long they continue with their current visa hate policy. This is also the cause of the delayed luggage issues, as of people waiting too long to collect bags.

Continue with their current what now? What's "visa hate"?

How does slow immigration processing cause delayed baggage? Maybe you are one of those that instantly jumps up as soon as they turn the seatbelt sign off, race up the jet way, run down the concourse, zip through immigration and end up waiting for your bags, grumbling. It's called hurry up and wait, and it's not anyone else's fault.

11 minutes ago, sunrisecoconuts said:

At best it would make the wait a little bit shorter for those who it does work for. For those it not happens to work, it is even worse, as they then will need to start over with a requeue for manual lol.

How quickly do you pass through outbound immigration now that they are virtually all e-gates? Compared with the previous shuffling queue and stamping malarkey I mean? Increasing the e-gates on arrival and the amount of travellers that qualify to use them is definitely not going to slow things down, no matter how much you appear to want it to.

14 minutes ago, sunrisecoconuts said:

I never understood the logic of having immigration before luggage, as when you are refused, you also will need the same luggage regardless. Same with security before immigration when leaving. I guess decades ago this made sense due to limited travelers and the fact that luggage takes a while to arrive. Not so sure about that today, the walk alone usually equals it near arriving already.

Seriously? You think immigration clearance will go faster if everyone already has their checked baggage on trolley(s) with them?

If one is refused and one has checked baggage, one surrenders one's baggage tags to staff and one's checked bags will be recovered and delivered to one's departing flight. It's very efficient, especially since one won't really need them.

Are you an advocate for security at the gate then, and queuing twice before boarding like US carriers and El Al does?

1 hour ago, Brettoj said:

It’ll work like all countries that have them. You input your passport and it issues a ticket. That ticket directs you as to whether you walk through or go via an immigration officer or customs. Remember, they already know whose coming and where from!

I've never had a ticket from an eGate (Have used them in UK, Australia, Singapore, Dubai & Malaysia) in my experience you're either through or an immigration officer directs you to a nearby desk.

6 minutes ago, SamSpade said:

I've never had a ticket from an eGate (Have used them in UK, Australia, Singapore, Dubai & Malaysia) in my experience you're either through or an immigration officer directs you to a nearby desk.

You can add Netherlands, and all the other EU countries, to that ticketless eGate list.

On 8/19/2026 at 10:44 AM, BrandonJT said:

They are often directed to the normal immigration lanes and not allowed entry to the e-gate area. So even if they DO expand it to other nationalities, it's going to be at the whim of the door monitors on if they're let in or forced to the regular lines anyways.

If e-gate eligibility is really expanded to cover a substantial percentage of arrivals, it seems very unlikely that this sort of gatekeeping will continue - the higher ups will want the expansion to be seen as a success.

On 8/19/2026 at 10:44 AM, BrandonJT said:

My assumption is that this will just be an extension of the way the e-gates for entry currently work. That has a lot of limitations:

• Can only be entering visa exempt

From the article attached to the OP (emphasis added):

"Officials estimate the expansion will make Auto Gates accessible to an additional 6.5 million short-term visitors annually, alongside approximately 900,000 long-term visa holders."

5 hours ago, Brettoj said:

It’ll work like all countries that have them. You input your passport and it issues a ticket. That ticket directs you as to whether you walk through or go via an immigration officer or customs.

I have never seen a system like this in any country.

10 hours ago, sunrisecoconuts said:

Auto gates automatically block all the situations that also cause the hold ups at manual immigration, so this won't solve much at all as long they continue with their current visa hate policy. This is also the cause of the delayed luggage issues, as of people waiting too long to collect bags.

At best it would make the wait a little bit shorter for those who it does work for. For those it not happens to work, it is even worse, as they then will need to start over with a requeue for manual lol.

I never understood the logic of having immigration before luggage, as when you are refused, you also will need the same luggage regardless. Same with security before immigration when leaving. I guess decades ago this made sense due to limited travelers and the fact that luggage takes a while to arrive. Not so sure about that today, the walk alone usually equals it near arriving already.

I would not be surprised at all if they are clueless about the fact that the baggage correlates to the visa policy.

You think it takes a long time to get through immigration NOW, imagine how long it will take when everyone is also carrying 3 bags and/or a luggage cart and trying to get through the queue. Absolutely terrible option.

On 8/20/2026 at 5:04 PM, khunjeff said:

If e-gate eligibility is really expanded to cover a substantial percentage of arrivals, it seems very unlikely that this sort of gatekeeping will continue - the higher ups will want the expansion to be seen as a success.

From the article attached to the OP (emphasis added):

"Officials estimate the expansion will make Auto Gates accessible to an additional 6.5 million short-term visitors annually, alongside approximately 900,000 long-term visa holders."

I have never seen a system like this in any country.

On 8/20/2026 at 5:04 PM, khunjeff said:

If e-gate eligibility is really expanded to cover a substantial percentage of arrivals, it seems very unlikely that this sort of gatekeeping will continue - the higher ups will want the expansion to be seen as a success.

From the article attached to the OP (emphasis added):

"Officials estimate the expansion will make Auto Gates accessible to an additional 6.5 million short-term visitors annually, alongside approximately 900,000 long-term visa holders."

I have never seen a system like this in any country.

I don’t know how widely you’ve traveled. In Australia that’s how it works!

On 8/20/2026 at 12:41 PM, SamSpade said:

I've never had a ticket from an eGate (Have used them in UK, Australia, Singapore, Dubai & Malaysia) in my experience you're either through or an immigration officer directs you to a nearby desk.

When you put your passport in in Australia, you get a ticket!

Now that the 60-day visa exempt entry is finally done and dusted, as well as the 'safe entry' system, the next hot-ticket item will be how this expansion of auto or eGates on international arrival to more nationalities will impact the speed of entry for newbies and re-entry for the old hands.

Access for the additional 31 nationalities was reported to be in place before end of August, pending final signatures, etc.. I haven't seen any reports of 'trouble' here on AN and, based on the 'bad news sells' mantra, this could indicate that if it is underway, maybe it's working out fine so far?

Any recent arrivals want to offer their experiences on arrival?

9 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

Now that the 60-day visa exempt entry is finally done and dusted, as well as the 'safe entry' system, the next hot-ticket item will be how this expansion of auto or eGates on international arrival to more nationalities will impact the speed of entry for newbies and re-entry for the old hands.

Access for the additional 31 nationalities was reported to be in place before end of August, pending final signatures, etc.. I haven't seen any reports of 'trouble' here on AN and, based on the 'bad news sells' mantra, this could indicate that if it is underway, maybe it's working out fine so far?

Any recent arrivals want to offer their experiences on arrival?

I heard that it was already pushed back to November.

35 minutes ago, BrandonJT said:

I heard that it was already pushed back to November.

That makes sense. They probably need a couple of months to iron out any speed bumps presented by the changes to visa-exempt and DTV before high season.

2 minutes ago, NanLaew said:

That makes sense. They probably need a couple of months to iron out any speed bumps presented by the changes to visa-exempt and DTV before high season.

Speed bumps will be taken care of by the was to be imminent maintenance of the roads to and from the airport. Also delayed until some undetermined future date.

Good but if foreign arrivals or departures have to wait for long moments before passing throug immigration, it means the job is not fully done. thank you. 🙏