Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC): how to fill it in for free

The Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) is the free online form that every non-Thai national, British passport holders included, must complete before entering Thailand by air, land or sea. You send it on tdac.immigration.go.th in the 3 days before you arrive, and it replaced the paper card on 1 May 2025.

The TDAC is not a visa. It simply gives Thai immigration your passport, trip, accommodation and health details before you reach the border. Your permission to stay is a separate question: since 15 September 2026, a British citizen entering visa-free for tourism can stay up to 30 days, according to GOV.UK foreign travel advice for Thailand. Our guide to the entry requirements for Thailand covers the visa side in full, and our page on entry requirements for British passport holders covers nine other destinations.

The rule has very few exceptions. Children and babies need their own card, and so do travellers arriving overland from Malaysia, Cambodia or Laos, or by boat. Only airline crew on duty and people who never pass through Thai immigration, such as passengers changing planes without leaving the airport, are left out.

You can submit the TDAC within the 3 days before your arrival in Thailand, the arrival day included, which the Immigration Bureau also describes as up to 72 hours before entry. The rule does not allow an earlier submission, so there is no point filling it in when you book your flights.

Count from the date you land in Thailand, not the date you leave the UK. Flights from the UK are long and usually overnight, and Thailand is several hours ahead, so you often land the day after you leave. If you land in Bangkok on Saturday 14 November, the window opens on Thursday 12 November.

The card covers one entry only. Leave Thailand for a few days in Cambodia or Vietnam and come back, and you need a new TDAC for the second arrival. The system sends no reminder, so put a note in your diary for the day the window opens.

Yes, the TDAC is free: the official Immigration Bureau site, tdac.immigration.go.th, states on every page that no fee is required. Any website that asks for a card payment to "process" your arrival card is not the official form, however official it looks.

Paid look-alike sites exist, and they charge for a form you can fill in yourself in a few minutes on the government site. Their names change often, so we do not list or link any of them: the only address to use is the one ending in immigration.go.th.

If you are not sure the site you used was the official one, simply submit again on tdac.immigration.go.th. The Immigration Bureau keeps the most recent submission as the valid one, so a second, correct card replaces the first.

Filling in the TDAC takes seven steps on the official site, all in English, and ends with a card you download and receive by email. Here is the individual route, as described in the Immigration Bureau's user guide.

1. Open tdac.immigration.go.th and click "Arrival Card".
2. Enter your personal details and passport information. You can scan the machine-readable zone of your passport (the two lines at the bottom of the photo page) or upload a picture of it, then click "Continue".
3. Enter your trip and accommodation details, then click "Continue".
4. Answer the health questions from the Thai Ministry of Public Health. They only appear if a country you visited in the two weeks before arrival, your boarding country, your nationality or your flight is on the ministry's list. Then click "Preview".
5. Check every detail. Use "Edit" to go back and correct a mistake.
6. Enter your email address, tick the box to accept the terms and conditions and click "Submit".
7. Download your Thailand Digital Arrival Card. A copy also arrives by email, which you can download or print for the whole of your stay.

Travelling as a family or a group? Choose the same "Arrival Card" button, fill in Traveller 1, then click "Add Other Travelers" for each person. When the trip and the hotel are the same, "Same as Previous Traveler" copies them across. One submission takes up to 10 people; a larger group sends several.

If you scanned your passport, read the result again before you continue: the guide asks travellers to recheck every field filled from the machine-readable zone. The form cannot be saved halfway, so gather everything below before you start.

You need six things for the TDAC: your passport, your flight number and arrival date, your address in Thailand, the purpose of your trip, the answers to the health questions and an email address.

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  Passport: The one you will travel with. Its number, expiry date and personal details must match the passport you show at the border.
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  Flight number and arrival date: For an overland or sea arrival, the date and the crossing point you will use. The trip section also asks for your departure date from Thailand.
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  Address in Thailand: Your first hotel, guesthouse or holiday rental, with its province, district and postcode. The address field takes up to 215 characters.
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  Purpose of the trip: The reason for your visit, chosen from the form's list.
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  Countries visited in the last two weeks: Needed for the health declaration when a country, flight or boarding point is on the Ministry of Public Health list.
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  An email address you can open on your phone: The card and its QR code are sent there. Without email, the official advice is to create an address first.

A few practical points from the user guide save time. Every field must be typed in English. In the drop-down lists, type the first three letters and the matching options appear. Have your booking confirmations open in another tab, because the form cannot be paused.

You can change your TDAC at any time before you travel with the "Update Arrival Card" button on the official site, except for your full name, nationality and date of birth.

1. Click "Update Arrival Card" on tdac.immigration.go.th.
2. Search with your TDAC number, your date of birth and your nationality.
3. Correct the details that changed: flight, arrival date, accommodation.
4. Check everything, enter your email, accept the terms and click "Submit". A new card arrives by email.

If the detail you need to fix cannot be updated, submit a brand new card with the right information. The system treats the most recent submission as valid, and your answers must be accurate before you reach Thai immigration: wrong information can lead an officer to refuse entry.

At the border you show the TDAC QR code on your phone, or on a printout, together with your passport, and the email you received tells you whether you can use the automatic passport gates.

An email marked "AUTOMATED BORDER CONTROL - ELIGIBLE" in green means you can use the Automated Border Control (ABC) gates. "IMMIGRATION COUNTER - MANUAL PROCESSING" means you queue at a staffed immigration counter. Printing is not compulsory, but a paper copy helps if your phone battery runs flat after a long flight.

Forgot to fill it in, or no email received? Kiosks and Wi-Fi are provided on arrival, at Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Phuket, Chiang Mai and Hat Yai airports. Take a photo of the QR code a kiosk shows, as it does not print one. Without a QR code by email, speak to the immigration officer at the checkpoint.

The TDAC does not replace the other checks. Thai officers can ask a British visitor for the documents in the table below, and GOV.UK reports that British nationals have been refused entry for failing to show them.

• Do British citizens need the TDAC to enter Thailand?

  Yes. Every non-Thai national entering Thailand by air, land or sea must submit the TDAC online before arrival, British passport holders included, whether they enter visa-free or with a visa.

• How much does the TDAC cost?

  Nothing. The official site, tdac.immigration.go.th, states that no fee is required. A website that asks you to pay for the arrival card is not the Thai Immigration Bureau’s form.

• How many days before arrival can I fill in the TDAC?

  Within the 3 days before you arrive, the arrival day included, which is up to 72 hours before entry. Count from your landing date in Thailand, which is often the day after you leave the UK.

• Do children and babies need their own TDAC?

  Yes. Every traveller, infants and children included, needs a card. A parent can submit for the whole family, up to 10 people in one submission.

• Do I need a TDAC if I only change planes in Bangkok?

  Not if you stay airside and never pass through Thai immigration. If you leave the airport, even for one night, you need a TDAC.

• Do I need to print the TDAC?

  No. You can show the card with its QR code on your phone. The Immigration Bureau still suggests a printed copy if you will not have a device with you.

• Can I use the same TDAC twice?

  No. A card is valid for one entry on the arrival date you gave. Leave Thailand and come back, and you submit a new one.

• What if I made a mistake on my TDAC?

  Use “Update Arrival Card” on the official site to correct it before you travel. Your full name, nationality and date of birth cannot be changed: in that case, submit a new card, and the most recent one is the valid one.

• What if I arrive without a TDAC?

  Kiosks and Wi-Fi are provided on arrival at Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Phuket, Chiang Mai and Hat Yai airports. Filling it in at home is quicker, and it can only be done in the 3 days before arrival.

• Is the TDAC a visa?

  No. It is an arrival form. Your right to stay depends on visa-free entry (up to 30 days for tourism for a British citizen since 15 September 2026) or on a visa obtained before travel.