What is the thailand Digital Arrival Card

The Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) is an on-line form you fill out electronically 3 days or less before you arrive in Thailand. 

On my 5 epic solo trips, years 2022 through 2024, to Pattaya Thailand the TDAC wasn't a thing.

Now it is, just starting in May 2025.

A hoop to jump through, annoying and irritating?  Yes.

But it doesn't appear to to be that bad.

Putting up with some paperwork to travel to one of the best places on the planet is just something you will have to do.

Why Does Thailand require the Thailand Digital Arrival Card

From the official sources, the key reasons for the TDAC are:

• Streamlined Immigration: The digital system reduces physical paperwork and manual data entry, aiming to shorten wait times and create a smoother arrival experience at air, land, and sea checkpoints.
• Security & Data Management: It allows the Thai Immigration Bureau to efficiently collect and verify passenger data, including passport details and accommodation information, before they reach the border.
• Public Health Monitoring: The form includes mandatory health declarations required by the Ministry of Public Health to track potential health risks and manage protocol compliance.

All this seems warranted to me.  The Thais are business-minded, common-sense people.  They want a secure border.  They want to allow tourists in and keep troublemakers out.

How do You Get the Thailand Digital Arrival Card

Make sure you have your passport

Go to the official Thailand Immigration website -Thailand Digital Arrival Card 

Once you click it open, it is an electronic form you fill in.  

I recommend you go to the website and become familiar with it.  It is a step by step form with 3 parts, meaning you cannot look at the 2nd and 3rd parts until you complete the prior part.

It does not appear to be a form that you can save and come back to finish it.

You will need:

1. Your passport
2. Your flight details to Thailand 
3. Your flight details from Thailand back to your home country
4. The information on your initial lodging in Thailand (where exactly is your hotel)

Part 1 - Provide Information About You

Enter the following information from your passport:

• Last name
• First name
• Middle name
• Passport number
• Nationality/Citizenship

Enter other personal information:

• Date of Birth
• Occupation
• Gender
• Visa number (this is optional, since most of us will not have a Visa number)
• Country/Territory of residence
• City & State of residence
• Phone number

Part 2 - Provide the Trip information

Enter Your Arrival information:

• Date of arrival
• Country/Territory where you boarded
• Purpose of travel
• Mode of travel (air, land, sea)
• Flight number/vehicle number

Enter Your Departure information:

• Date of departure
• Mode of travel (air, land, sea)
• Flight number/vehicle number

Enter Your Accommodation Information:

• Type of accommodation in Thailand
• Province
• District/Area
• Sub-District/Sub-Area
• Post Code
• Address

Hopefully you can find all this geographic information about your hotel.  Thai addresses usually provide all this extra information.

Part 3 - Enter Your Health Declaration:

• List where you stayed in the previous 2 weeks
• I am assuming that depending on your home country, there may be other health related questions.  For the USA, it was just where I was in the previous 2 weeks.

Most everything that you will need to provide you will know (your own details, information on your passport, your flight information, where you are staying).

When do you Apply for the Thailand Digital Arrival Card

72 hours before your arrival in Thailand

Look at your flight information to see what day and hour you arrive in Thailand. 

You may need to take into account the time difference.

In my case I will use up about 30 of those hours driving to the airport, waiting to get on the plane, flight time, waiting at my connection and then the second leg of the flight.

It seems like you could fill it out at your home countries airport after you check in and get through security or even during your layover.

I plan to fill it out as soon as the form will let me sitting at my computer at home.

For example, If my flight:

• Arrives on a Sunday

I would try to:

• Enter the information on Thursday

The form is set up so you cannot fill it in too early anyway.

Put in your planner book or calendar as a critical to do item and allow plenty of time (i.e. it takes quite a few minutes), don't be in a rush.

Don't Let a Little Extra Paperwork Stop You

There may be all kinds of reasons you cannot go to Pattaya even though it's one of the best destinations on earth to have the greatest time of your life.

It may be physical:

• You need TRT.  Without it, you will be timid and won’t want to do that much
• You may be a bit too old with multiple age-related health issues.
• You have mobility issues.
• You have other health issues that worry you.

Gathering up the required cash is the hardest part of preparing for a Pattaya trip

It may be a cash flow problem:

• You do not have enough credit to pay for the flight and hotel.
• You do not have enough cash to pay for the fun in Pattaya.

It may be mental:

• You are timid and afraid.
• You are worried about what others think.

It may be logistical:

• You do not have much vacation time.
• You have too many other responsibilities and commitments to take a long trip.

It may be because of women in your home country:

• You have a good woman in your life.
• You’re busy dating women in your home country.

All of the above are legitimate reasons you may not be able to go to Pattaya.  The TDAC is just a minor hoop to jump through.

Thailand Digital Arrival Card Wrap Up

While I hate doing extra paperwork and I can see how some people will grumble at this extra intrusion into their lives especially when you're swamped at home working hard at the job and around the house in those last few days before your trip. 

But I love going to Pattaya and I will happily comply with the Thais rules.  It's their country.  They need to control their country and keep it nice.

Taking a trip to Thailand, and especially to Pattaya, will be so life changing, so rewarding and exciting, that you can't let the extra electronic paperwork spoil your plans for an epic trip.

Grit your teeth, read how to complete the form, fill it in, go to Pattaya and have the best time of your life.