> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://easythailandvisa.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # The Arrival Card That Costs Nothing and Stops People at the Border - URL: https://easythailandvisa.com/thailand-digital-arrival-card-tdac/ - Published: 2026-10-01T00:33:31.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-19T12:24:09.000Z - Description: I have watched a queue of twenty people find out that the arrival card is mandatory, at the counter, with a departure flight in four hours. - Author: Somchai Jaidee - Tags: Practicalities, Visas & Immigration The single most common avoidable disaster I see at [Suvarnabhumi](https://easythailandvisa.com/suvarnabhumi-airport-2026-guide/) is somebody finding out that the Thailand Digital [Arrival Card](https://easythailandvisa.com/arrival-card-mismatch-immigration/) is mandatory while standing at the immigration desk with a departure flight in four hours. It takes five minutes online. It costs nothing. Almost nobody knows that it costs nothing, because a lot of very convincing websites charge thirty dollars for it. Here is the whole thing. Last verified 29 September 2026. ## What it is An online form run by the Immigration Bureau. It replaced the paper TM6 arrival card, which was abolished. It is not a visa, it is not an ETA, and it grants no permission to travel. It is an information form that lets the authorities pre-screen arrivals before you land. It has been mandatory for all foreign nationals since 1 May 2025, and mandatory without exception since 1 May 2026\. Air, land or sea. Adults, children, infants, visa holders, visa-exempt visitors, long-term residents. All of them. ## What it costs **Nothing.** The only official site is [tdac.immigration.go.th](https://tdac.immigration.go.th/?ref=easythailandvisa.com), and the form is free. Thai immigration police issued a warning on the day the system launched in May 2025 about clone sites that looked official and charged a fee, and those sites still exist. If a site asks for money to file your arrival card, it is stealing your passport details as well as your thirty dollars. Check the address bar. It is *tdac.immigration.go.th* and nothing else. ## When to file Within **72 hours before you arrive**. Not before. The portal will not accept a submission more than three days out, and it does this on purpose so that the data is current. This causes the classic mistake. If you fly out on the 20th and land on the 21st, you enter the 21st. If you have a red-eye and cross a date line, the date you land in Thailand is the date you enter, not the date you left home. Sweet spot is the evening before you travel, or the morning of the flight. ## What you need before you start Passport number, nationality, date of birth, expiry. Your flight number and the airport or border point you are entering through. The name and full address of where you are staying in Thailand. An email address and a mobile number. Countries you have recently visited. Your health status, because there is a short health declaration in there now. Travelling as a family or a group? The form handles up to **ten people in one submission**, children included. Every foreign national needs their own card regardless. ## Who does not need it Two cases. Airside transit where you never clear immigration, and crossing on a legal border pass arrangement. That is the entire exemption list. If your situation is not obviously one of those two, file the form. ## The three mistakes **Wrong arrival date.** Departure date entered instead of landing date. By far the most common one. **Filing too early.** The system rejects it and people conclude the form is broken. It is not broken, you are early. **Taking a screenshot of a screenshot.** Save the actual QR code as an image on your phone, or print the PDF. If your phone runs out of battery at Suvarnabhumi, which happens more than it should. ## What happens if you forget You will almost certainly still be admitted, because the officers can process you manually. Expect a slower queue, extra questions about accommodation and onward travel, and a genuine chance of being asked to go and use the machines on the wall. Your airline may also check before boarding and can deny boarding over it. None of which is worth five minutes of your life. **Scam warning, restated because it matters.** The TDAC has never had a fee. Not once. A site charging you is a fraud site. Use the government domain. One last practical note: the arrival card is separate from your visa. If your nationality needs an [eVisa](https://easythailandvisa.com/visa-on-arrival-vs-evisa-thailand/), you need both, and they are two separate websites and two separate timings. The TDAC is 72 hours before landing; the eVisa is weeks before that. Last verified 29 September 2026. **More on this** - [The Pink Card Is Not a Visa and Everyone Thinks It Is](https://easythailandvisa.com/thai-id-card-alien-registration/) - [The Ninety Day Report Is Not a Visa Renewal and It Is Not](https://easythailandvisa.com/thailand-90-day-report-long-stay-immigration/) - [The Questions They Ask at Immigration, and How to Answer Them](https://easythailandvisa.com/thailand-immigration-entry-questions/)