Foreign nationals entering Thailand must submit a Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) in addition to meeting passport and visa requirements — a free online form the official portal accepts no earlier than 72 hours before arrival.
Passport control at Suvarnabhumi changed in September 2026. The automatic arrival gates, until then limited to Singapore and Hong Kong passports, were reported open to 33 nationalities — but only for repeat visitors entering visa-free with a TDAC already filed, and the roll-out is phased. First-time visitors, and holders of US, Chinese, Taiwanese and Indian passports, still queue for a staffed counter.
Allow 30–45 minutes from the gate to the landside hall outside the arrival peaks and 60–90 minutes when several widebodies land into the same bank. That is our planning allowance, not a measured average — nobody publishes one — and it is the number that decides between the Airport Rail Link and a taxi into Bangkok.
The TDAC: 72 hours, free, one card per entry
The TDAC replaced the paper TM6 arrival card on 1 May 2025. The official portal is tdac.immigration.go.th, run by the Immigration Bureau, and its own header reads “No Fees Required”. Any site that asks for payment to file the same form is not the official portal.
The Immigration Bureau's FAQ, read on 23 September 2026:
- Timing. The form can be submitted up to 72 hours before entry and is valid from submission until entry. Count the 72 hours back from your expected arrival time in Thailand, not from departure: on a direct flight, online check-in 24 hours before take-off falls inside the window; on a long multi-leg routing, make sure your arrival in Thailand is no more than 72 hours after the moment you file.
- One card, one entry. Each arrival needs a new card — a side trip to a neighbouring country and back means filing twice.
- Everyone, whatever their age. Infants and children need a card. A group submission covers up to 10 people, so one adult can file the whole family in a single sitting.
- Airside transit is exempt. If you connect between flights without passing immigration, no TDAC is required. The moment your layover plan involves clearing passport control — a bag to collect, a landside hotel, a run into the city — you are entering Thailand and need the card.
Have your passport and the flight number that lands you in Thailand in front of you before you start. Save the TDAC confirmation offline once it is issued; assume no data connection in the arrivals corridor.
Forgot? The card is meant to be filed before you land. If you arrive without one, go to the immigration officers in the arrivals hall, follow their instructions and allow for a longer wait than the queue alone. An e-gate is not available to you in that case: a TDAC filed before landing is one of its conditions.
Arrival e-gates: 33 nationalities, four conditions
Departure and arrival e-gates at Suvarnabhumi are different systems. On departure, AOT lists the Automatic Channel on Floor 4 of the main terminal for holders of ICAO-standard e-passports of all nationalities; in AOT's own words, foreigners holding regular passports, children, persons with disabilities, or those with abnormal e-passports still go through manual inspection. If you have flown out of BKK and walked through a gate, that is the one you used.
On arrival, until the expansion reported in September 2026 the automatic gates took Singapore and Hong Kong passports only. On 17 August 2026 Thai media (Thai Post, The Standard, Matichon, Thansettakij) quoted the commander of Immigration Division 2, Pol. Maj. Gen. Kathathorn Khamtieng, on an expansion to 33 nationalities, targeted for the end of August. By 20–22 September, LoyaltyLobby, VisasNews, ASEAN NOW and Time Out Bangkok reported the arrival gates at Suvarnabhumi open to that list.
The 33, as published by Time Out Bangkok and VisasNews: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom. Not on it: the United States, China, Taiwan and India.
The reports name four conditions:
- a passport from the 33;
- entry under a visa-exemption scheme — not on a visa, not on visa on arrival;
- a previous entry to Thailand on the same passport: the gate matches you against biometrics captured at a counter, so a first visit, or a first visit on a new passport, is always a staffed counter;
- a TDAC filed before you land.
The status of the change is press reporting, not a published notice. The arrival immigration office's own site (arr-bkkimmigration.go.th) carried, on 23 September 2026, only working-group minutes on eligibility criteria for the Automatic Channel — no announcement and no list. Time Out adds that the system is being introduced in stages and that holding an eligible passport does not guarantee that every traveller will be able to use an auto gate immediately. Plan for the counter; treat the gate as a bonus.
Visa-free entry since 15 September 2026: 30 or 15 days, by nationality
The visa-exemption condition matters because the exemption rules changed the same month. Under a Cabinet resolution of 19 May 2026, published in the Royal Gazette on 31 August and in force from 15 September 2026, Thailand applies one exemption regime per country for tourist visits: 30 days visa-free for 60 countries and territories, 15 days for two, and visa on arrival for three (Government Public Relations Department). Visitors who entered before 15 September keep the date stamped in their passport. Whether your nationality is on the 60-country list is a question for that notice, not for the TDAC — the card does not replace a visa and does not grant a length of stay.
The queue decides your ride: plan the last leg backwards
Between the aircraft door and the kerb there are three clocks running: the walk (from a SAT-1 gate, S101–S128, it includes the underground APM ride — about 3.5 minutes on the train, plus the platforms), the passport queue, and the bag belt on Level 2. Only then do you choose a way into town: escalator down to the Airport Rail Link on Floor B, or out to the official taxi rank on Level 1.
Neither AOT nor the Immigration Bureau publishes an average wait at passport control, and we have no measurements of our own. The allowance is 30–45 minutes from gate to landside outside the arrival peaks and 60–90 minutes when several widebodies land into the same bank. It is counted from the gate, so it covers the walk, passport control and the bag belt together, and for a SAT-1 arrival the APM ride is inside it, not added on top. The e-gate expansion does not change the allowance: we cannot say by how many minutes a gate shortens a queue, and a first-time visitor is not in the e-gate line anyway.
Take the scheduled gate arrival from your itinerary, not the touchdown time, add the allowance above, and read the row:
| Scheduled arrival | Rail link status | Our pick |
|---|---|---|
| 05:00–08:00 | First trains from about 05:30 | Rail, 45฿ per person to Phaya Thai |
| 09:00–21:00 | Trains every 10–13 minutes | Rail on price; taxi if door-to-door matters more |
| 22:00–22:30 | Last train around midnight | Risky window: check the last departure on the day, keep a ground plan |
| After 22:30 | Last train around midnight; the peak allowance may not fit | Taxi rank or booked transfer |
Rail. The Airport Rail Link runs from about 05:30 to around midnight at 10–13-minute intervals: 45฿ per person to the Phaya Thai terminus in 26–30 minutes, 40฿ to Ratchaprarop, 35฿ to Makkasan. To Asok BTS station — the walk down to Floor B, the wait, the ride, the change to the BTS and the BTS ride to Asok — we allow roughly 54–76 minutes, an estimate built from those component times, not a stopwatch; the walk from the station to your hotel comes on top.
Taxi. Our calculated estimate based on road distance and the published meter tariff puts a metered taxi from the Level 1 rank at 330–460฿ per taxi to Sukhumvit (Asok BTS station) and 340–460฿ to Silom, the 50฿ airport surcharge included. The low end is the city route with the surcharge; the high end adds the expressway, 75฿ of documented tolls and fifteen minutes of crawling at the meter's 3฿-a-minute waiting rate. Above that, every further minute below 6 km/h adds 3฿, so in heavy evening traffic the top of the range is not a cap. To the same Asok anchor we allow 50–80 minutes, with the car at the door at the end: on a clear road the taxi beats the train on time, in a jam it loses. On price the train wins for one to four people via the MRT — ARL to Makkasan and the MRT from Phetchaburi to Sukhumvit cost 52฿ a head, so four people pay 208฿ to MRT Sukhumvit against 330–460฿ for the car to Asok BTS — the two stations share one junction, and the walk between them is not in our timings. Via the BTS from Phaya Thai the rail fare is 85฿ a head, 340฿ for four, which is no cheaper than the bottom of the taxi range. Read the fare breakdown before deciding otherwise.
Late. With the last ARL departure around midnight and our 60–90-minute peak allowance, a scheduled arrival before 22:00 usually leaves room for the queue and the bag belt. Between 22:00 and 22:30 the train is a risky window: the allowance can run past the last departure, so check the last train time on the day and have a ground plan before you go down to Floor B. After 22:30 plan for the road from the start — the official rank on Level 1, or a pre-booked transfer whose driver tracks the flight and waits out the queue with you. Skip every person who approaches you in the hall with a price: a fixed fare quoted in the terminal usually runs two to three times the meter. Our late-night arrival guide walks the whole hall after midnight, and the Suvarnabhumi orientation page shows where everything sits level by level.
Before you board: the five-minute list
- File the TDAC once you are inside the 72-hour window before entry — for a direct flight, online check-in 24 hours before departure is a convenient moment and pairs two chores into one sitting.
- Save the TDAC confirmation offline; assume no data connection until you are through.
- Pay nobody. The card is free at the official portal; a fee means the wrong site.
- Check the four e-gate conditions honestly: listed passport, visa-free entry, a previous entry on this passport, TDAC filed. Miss one and the counter queue is yours — plan for it.
- Landing after 22:00? Check the last train on the day and settle your ground fallback — official rank or pre-booked transfer — before you fly, not in the hall.
- Keep your hotel's name in Thai (or a map pin) with the confirmation — for the taxi driver.
What the September 2026 changes are — and what they are not
In July 2026 Thailand's tourism ministry announced a second phase of Suvarnabhumi's automated-immigration programme for September 2026 — wider biometric identity checks, more capacity at the automated passport channels, staffing adjusted to real-time flight and passenger data, temporary waiting areas and queue management at the pinch points — and it expected the expanded automated channels to cut congestion in the immigration areas by more than 50 per cent.
A congestion target is not a personal wait time: it describes the halls, not your place in the line, and it does not change our planning allowance.
Last checked 23 September 2026. Arrival e-gate eligibility, TDAC rules, visa-exemption periods and Airport Rail Link times all change — confirm the current position on the official portals and with the operators before you fly.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Thailand Digital Arrival Card free?
Yes. The only official site is tdac.immigration.go.th, run by the Immigration Bureau, and its header states “No Fees Required”. A site that charges a fee for the same form is not the official portal.
Do children and babies need a TDAC too?
Yes — the official FAQ requires one for all travellers, including infants and children. A group submission covers up to 10 people, so one adult can file the whole family at once.
I forgot to submit the TDAC before flying. What now?
The card is meant to be filed before you land. If you arrive without one, go to the immigration officers in the arrivals hall, follow their instructions and allow for a longer wait than the queue alone. The arrival e-gates are not an option in that case: a TDAC filed before landing is one of their four conditions.
Can I use the automatic gates on arrival at Suvarnabhumi?
Since September 2026, press reports put 33 nationalities on the arrival e-gate list — the EU and EFTA countries named above, the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and the UAE — on four conditions: listed passport, visa-free entry, at least one previous entry to Thailand on that passport, and a TDAC filed before landing. The roll-out is staged, and we found no official notice with the list on the immigration sites we checked on 23 September 2026, so an eligible passport can still be sent to a counter on the day.
This is my first trip to Thailand. Can I use an e-gate?
No. A first entry — or a first entry on a new passport — goes through a staffed counter, where your biometrics are captured. The gate works only for visitors whose data is already on file from a previous visit.
I hold a US passport. Am I on the e-gate list?
No. The United States, China, Taiwan and India are not among the 33 nationalities reported in September 2026. Holders of those passports queue for a counter with passport and TDAC confirmation in hand, whatever the chip in the passport.
Do I need a TDAC for an airside transit through Bangkok?
No — if you connect between flights without passing immigration, no card is needed. If you clear passport control for any reason (a checked bag to re-drop, a landside hotel, a city outing on a long layover), you are formally entering Thailand and need the TDAC like any other visitor.
Does the TDAC replace a visa?
No. It replaced the paper TM6 arrival card, not the visa. Since 15 September 2026 Thailand grants 30 days visa-free to nationals of 60 countries and territories, 15 days to two, and visa on arrival to three, for tourist visits only; which group you fall into depends on your nationality, and the TDAC is required in every case.
How much time should I allow between landing and leaving the terminal?
There is no published average for passport control alone, so we plan the whole stretch: 30–45 minutes from gate to the landside hall outside the peaks and 60–90 minutes at a peak. That covers the walk, the passport queue and the bag belt, counted from the gate; for a SAT-1 arrival the APM ride is inside the allowance, not on top of it. Eligibility for an e-gate does not shorten that allowance in a way we can quantify.
How late can I land at Suvarnabhumi and still catch the Airport Rail Link?
The last departure leaves around midnight, so a landing before about 22:00 usually leaves enough room for passport control and bags; 22:00–22:30 is a risky window — check the last departure on the day and have a ground plan — and anything after 22:30 should be planned as a taxi or a pre-booked transfer instead. From the official rank on Level 1, our calculated estimate based on road distance and the published meter tariff is 330–460฿ per taxi to Sukhumvit (Asok BTS station), the 50฿ airport surcharge included; the upper figure includes 75฿ of documented tolls and 15 minutes of slow traffic, and longer delays cost more at the meter's 3฿-a-minute rate.