How to Fill the TDAC Form in 2026: Step-by-Step Walkthrough

The transition from the blue TM6 paper card to the Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) was meant to speed up immigration. However, the digital system is far stricter than a human officer. The computer cannot "guess" what you meant if you make a typo.

This guide breaks down the form field-by-field, highlighting the exact areas where travelers get rejected.

THE 5 CRITICAL FIELDS

The most critical rule of the TDAC is this: Your input must match the Machine Readable Zone (MRZ) of your passport.

The MRZ is the two lines of code at the very bottom of your passport photo page. The scanner reads this, not the formatted text above it.

Common Name Errors

• Middle Names: If your passport lists "Given Names: John William", you must enter "John William" in the First Name field. Do not drop the middle name.
• Special Characters: Hyphens (e.g., Jean-Luc) or accents (e.g., Müller) often cause system errors. Use the MRZ spelling (e.g., MUELLER).

Select Visa Exemption if you are a tourist from a visa-free country, Visa on Arrival only if you will pay 2,000 THB at the counter, and Tourist or Non-Immigrant for long-stay visas. This section confuses many travelers because the options do not always match the common name of your visa.

• Tourists (No Visa): Select "Visa Exemption" (not "Visa on Arrival").
• Paid VOA: Select "Visa on Arrival" only if you plan to pay 2,000 THB at the counter or have an E-VOA.
• Long-Term: For Elite, LTR, or Retirement visas, select "Tourist" or "Non-Immigrant" depending on the specific dropdown options available at the time.

You cannot simply write "Bangkok" or "Phuket." The system validates the address against a database of provinces and districts.

Pro Tip: Always have your booking confirmation PDF ready. Copy the postal code first — this often auto-fills the Province and District fields correctly.

• Arrival Date: Use the date you land in Thailand. If your flight leaves London on the 1st and lands on the 2nd, enter the 2nd.
• Flight Number: Enter your international flight number (e.g., EK372). If you have a connecting domestic flight on the same ticket, use the international flight that brings you into the Kingdom.

Select Child for anyone under 18 (including infants), Student for university students, Retiree for retired travelers, and Employee or Business Owner for working adults. The occupation field confuses many travelers, especially parents filing for young children. Here is exactly what to select:

Many travelers search the exact phrase "select Child" occupation TDAC or TDAC occupation dropdown options — so here is the complete list, in the same order it appears on the official tdac.immigration.go.th form, with the right answer for every situation.

Select Child from the occupation dropdown for every passenger under 18, including infants, toddlers, and school-age children. If your form doesn't show the Child option (some older form versions hide it), select Other and type Child, Minor, or Dependent in the free-text box that appears. The occupation field is informational only — it isn't validated against your visa type, but selecting the wrong option (e.g., leaving an infant as Employee) can cause processing delays at the e-gate.

More child-occupation questions