Digital Arrival Cards: Thailand TDAC and Other Countries

A digital arrival card is the online form a country asks you to fill in before you land, in place of a paper arrival card. If you are heading to Thailand as a foreign visitor, you need the Thai version, the TDAC, mandatory since 1 May 2025. Here is who needs one, when and how to file it, how to fix a mistake, and the official cards for Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines.

What a digital arrival card is

An arrival card collects what immigration wants to know before you reach the desk: who you are, how you are arriving, where you will stay and why you are visiting. Most digital versions add a health declaration. Thailand’s TDAC replaced the paper TM6 card, and Singapore stopped using its paper card on 27 March 2020.

It is not a visa. The TDAC works with every Thai visa type, including visa-exempt entries and visa on arrival, and Singapore and Indonesia both state that their cards are not visas.

Thailand’s, Singapore’s and Malaysia’s cards have no customs section, so declaring goods and cash to customs stays a separate step. Indonesia’s All Indonesia, Japan’s Visit Japan Web and the Philippines’ eTravel take both in one online service.

Digital arrival cards by country: when to file, fees and official sites

Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines state on their official sites that their cards are free, and Malaysia’s portal and form show no fee. Apply only on the site or app listed below.

Country	Card	Official site	When to file	Also collects
Thailand	TDAC	tdac.immigration.go.th	From 3 days before arrival (5 May arrival: from 2 May)	Health declaration
Singapore	SG Arrival Card (SGAC)	ICA’s SGAC page or the MyICA app	Within 3 days, arrival day included (30 June arrival: from 28 June)	Electronic health declaration
Malaysia	MDAC	imigresen-online.imi.gov.my	Within 3 days before arrival	Nothing: no health or customs section
Indonesia	All Indonesia	allindonesia.imigrasi.go.id	Before you enter Indonesia	Health, quarantine and customs declarations
Japan	Visit Japan Web	Digital Agency’s Visit Japan Web page	In advance of arrival	Customs declaration and tax-free shopping
Philippines	eTravel	etravel.gov.ph or the eGovPH app	Within 72 hours before arrival	Health and customs declarations

Who needs a Thailand TDAC and who is exempt

Since 1 May 2025, the TDAC has applied to tourists, business travelers and foreigners who live in Thailand long term, and non-Thai holders of diplomatic passports need one too.

The exemptions are narrow. Changing planes in Bangkok without passing through immigration needs no TDAC, but leaving the airport during the connection does. Entries with a Border Pass are also exempt.

When to submit the TDAC: the 3-day window

You can submit the TDAC up to 3 days, or 72 hours, before you arrive, and arrival day itself is still inside the window. Land on 5 May and you can submit from 2 May. The card stays valid from submission until you arrive and covers that one entry, so leaving Thailand and coming back, even within one holiday, means a fresh TDAC.

The TDAC system sends no reminders, so on a trip through several countries, put each card’s filing date beside the other documents for that flight. A route through Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur means 3 separate cards, each with its own window.

How to fill in the TDAC

The form asks for passport details, your flight number and arrival date, your address in Thailand, the purpose of your trip, a health declaration and an email address, where the TDAC and its QR code are sent. You cannot save a half-finished form and return to it, so gather everything first. One submission covers up to 10 travelers, and you can fill it in for family members, children or a group.

Submit a TDAC in 7 steps

1. Count back 3 days from your arrival date to find the first day you can submit.
2. Gather the passport, flight, address, trip purpose and email details for everyone you are submitting for.
3. Type tdac.immigration.go.th into your browser rather than clicking a paid search result.
4. Enter each traveler, up to 10 in one submission, infants included.
5. Answer the health declaration questions.
6. Submit, then check your inbox for the TDAC with its QR code.
7. Save the QR code to your phone, or print a copy if you will travel without a device.

If you land without a TDAC, kiosks and Wi-Fi are provided on arrival. Kiosks stand at 5 airports: Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Phuket, Chiang Mai and Hat Yai. A kiosk submission sends the QR code by email only, so take a photo of it on the screen. Help points at immigration checkpoints are for exceptional cases only.

How to change or fix a TDAC after you submit

The Update Arrival Card function on the official site corrects any field except full name, passport number, nationality and date of birth. A mistake in one of those 4 means submitting a new TDAC with the right details, and the system treats the most recent submission as the valid one.

A changed flight or hotel has to be corrected before you enter Thailand. The Immigration Bureau says passengers who give incorrect information may be refused entry at the officer’s discretion, so update the card even when the change seems minor.

This is an invented sample, not a real family. Lena and Marco Weber fly from Singapore to Phuket with their 4-year-old daughter, landing on Friday 11 December 2026.

When	What happens
Tuesday 8 December	The TDAC window opens, 3 days before arrival
Wednesday 9 December	Lena submits one group TDAC for all 3 on tdac.immigration.go.th, about 15 minutes in total, at no cost
Thursday 10 December	Their villa booking is cancelled, so Lena uses Update Arrival Card to change the address to a hotel in Patong
Thursday 10 December	She spots a typo in her daughter’s passport number, which cannot be updated, and submits a new TDAC for her
Friday 11 December	At Phuket immigration they hand over 3 passports and show their TDAC QR codes on Lena’s phone

What else Thai immigration can ask for on arrival

Filing a TDAC does not limit what the officer at the desk can ask for. The UK government’s travel advice for Thailand says officers may ask for proof of at least 10,000 baht per person or 20,000 baht per family and evidence of onward or return travel. It adds that British nationals have been refused entry for failing to provide this evidence.

Arrival cards in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines

Like the TDAC, each of these cards is filed online before you arrive. They differ in who is exempt and what else each one collects.

Singapore: SG Arrival Card

Singapore counts arrival day as one of its 3 days, and its window opens a day later than Thailand’s: land on 30 June and you can submit from 28 June. Submit through the SGAC e-Service or the free MyICA app, whose saved profile fills in your details on later trips.

An acknowledgement email confirms the submission, and at the counter you present your passport. A Group Submission covers people traveling together on one trip, not several trips.

Malaysia: MDAC

All foreign citizens complete the Malaysia Digital Arrival Card, mandatory since 1 January 2024, within 3 days before arrival. The form asks for your name, passport number and expiry date, date and place of birth, nationality, sex, email and mobile number, then your arrival and departure dates, flight or vessel number, last port before Malaysia and your address there. At the immigration counter you show the MDAC registration with your passport.

These travelers are exempt from the MDAC:

• Singapore citizens
• Diplomatic and official passport holders
• Malaysian permanent residents and long-term pass holders
• Brunei GCI holders and users of the Brunei-Malaysia frequent traveler facility
• Thailand Border Pass holders and holders of Indonesia’s cross-border pass (PLB)

The portal also reminds travelers that cash or bearer negotiable instruments worth more than USD 10,000 must be declared to customs, and that carrying ringgit above that amount needs Bank Negara Malaysia’s permission.

Indonesia: All Indonesia

Indonesia’s official portal combines 4 forms in one online arrival card: the arrival card, a health declaration, a quarantine declaration and the customs declaration (BC 2.2). One customs declaration can cover a family. If you need a visa on arrival, you apply for it after submitting the arrival card, which the portal says is not a visa. Complete it before you enter Indonesia, and update it on the portal if your details change before the trip.

Japan: Visit Japan Web

Visit Japan Web is the Digital Agency’s online service for immigration and customs procedures, plus tax-free shopping. You register in advance with your passport, airline ticket and an email address, then show the 2D code on a smartphone or tablet. For customs it is the recommended route, not the only one. Japan Customs requires every passenger to declare their belongings and keeps paper forms on planes, ships and at customs. It lists electronic declaration gates at 7 international airports.

Philippines: eTravel

eTravel covers arriving passengers and crew, Filipino and foreign, plus departing Filipino passengers. Register within 72 hours before arrival on etravel.gov.ph, the only official site, or in the eGovPH app. Screenshot or download the QR code before you close the page, because the airline asks to see it before boarding.

A green code sends you straight to immigration on arrival, while a red one means a quarantine inspection first. Foreign diplomats and their dependents, foreign dignitaries and their delegations, 9(e) visa holders and holders of diplomatic or official passports are exempt.