The arrival card

The Thailand Digital Arrival Card, universally shortened to TDAC, is required for non-Thai nationals entering the country, including children and infants, with exceptions for crew and for passengers who do not clear immigration. You submit it online before you travel.

The window is short by design: within three days before arrival, counting the arrival date. One person can submit for a group of up to ten, and details can be updated before you travel.

Your visa position, which may have changed

This is the item most likely to be out of date in any guide you read, including this one. In May 2026 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced a cabinet-approved revision of Thailand's entry schemes taking effect on 15 September 2026: the 60-day visa exemption is revoked, replaced by a 30-day exemption for a reduced list of 54 countries and territories and a 15-day exemption for three, with visa on arrival eligibility cut to four.

What that means for you personally depends entirely on your nationality and the date you travel. Do not take a country list from a blog or from an older article. Go to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs site, find the current list, and check it against your own passport and your travel dates.

Money, on paper

Thailand publishes a proof-of-funds requirement that immigration officers may enforce: 10,000 baht per person or 20,000 baht per family for transit, visa-exempt and visa-on-arrival entries, and 20,000 baht per person or 40,000 per family for tourist and non-immigrant visas, with children under 12 exempt.

In practice this is rarely checked, and when it is, being able to show a card and a bank balance is usually the end of it. It is a small thing to prepare and an unpleasant thing to be caught by.

What not to pack

E-cigarettes and vaping devices are illegal to import into or possess in Thailand, and the published penalties are serious: importation can carry up to ten years' imprisonment or a fine of five times the goods' value, possession up to five years or four times the value, and using one in public a fine of up to 5,000 baht.

Travellers get caught by this every year, often having brought a device without thinking about it. Leave it at home. Whatever your view of the policy, an airport is a bad place to argue it.

The pre-flight checklist

One habit worth keeping

Entry rules in Thailand have changed several times in recent years, and the change announced for September 2026 is a live example. Whatever you read, including this page, check the government source close to your departure date rather than at the moment you book. The rules that matter are the ones in force on the day you land.