Your TDAC QR Code: Where It Is, How to Show It, What If It's Lost
The QR code is the whole point of the TDAC — it's what the immigration officer scans, and it's also the thing travelers most often can't find at the exact moment they need it. Here's where the code comes from, how to store it so a dead battery can't hurt you, and every recovery route when it goes missing. For the whole process from start to finish, see the Thailand Digital Arrival Card guide.
Verified: October 28, 2026
Never hunt for your QR again
Where the QR code comes from
After you submit, the official portal makes the TDAC document and QR code available to download and also sends it to the email address provided. Save it to your device; printing is optional but useful as a backup.
Didn't arrive? Check these first
Check spam and promotions folders and search for 'TDAC'. If the confirmation page is still open, download the document there. If the email address or another permitted detail is wrong, use Update Arrival Card before travel; use a new correct submission for restricted identity fields.
Store it like your boarding pass
Three copies, three places: save the image to your phone's photo library (works offline), print one on paper, and leave the email itself as backup. Airport arrival halls are exactly where phones die, roaming fails, and Wi-Fi portals demand the sign-up you can't receive. Paper needs no battery.
Lost it? Your recovery options
Use the official portal's download or email copy first. If a permitted detail needs correction, use Update Arrival Card and save the updated document. Full name, passport number, nationality, and date of birth cannot be changed there; submit a new correct form when one of those fields is wrong. An assistance service can also resend any copy it stores for its customers.
What actually happens at the desk
Immigration scans your passport, which pulls up the TDAC linked to that passport number — the QR code is your fallback proof, not always scanned itself. This is why the passport number on the card must be perfect: with it right, even a forgotten QR is usually survivable; with it wrong, the prettiest printout won't be found in the system.
One traveler, one code
A group submission can include up to 10 travelers, but the official system still produces one TDAC and QR code per person, including infants. Download and label each document so the correct code stays with the matching passport.
When the QR is wrong, not lost
For a wrong permitted field, use Update Arrival Card before travel and download the updated TDAC. Full name, passport number, nationality, and date of birth are restricted, so submit a new correct form if one of those identity fields is wrong.
What is actually on the code, and why that matters
The QR code is not a ticket and not a booking reference. It belongs to the card you filed, and that card is linked to the passport details you entered.
Two consequences follow, and between them they explain nearly every QR problem:
- It is tied to one passport. Renew between filing and flying and the code is worthless, because the officer scans the book in your hand.
- It is not the primary lookup. The desk scans your passport first. The code is your evidence when that lookup does not resolve, which makes it a backup that occasionally becomes essential.
The TDAC email also tells you how you will pass the border. After you submit or update your card, it shows either AUTOMATED BORDER CONTROL - ELIGIBLE in green, which means you can use the automatic gates, or IMMIGRATION COUNTER - MANUAL PROCESSING, which means you go to a regular immigration counter. This is described in the official TDAC user manual.
Storing it so nothing can go wrong
| Where | Survives | Fails when |
|---|---|---|
| Saved to your phone's photo library | No signal, no data, airplane mode | The phone dies |
| Printed on paper | Everything | You leave it in the hold luggage |
| Left in your email inbox | Having the other two | No connection, or roaming refuses |
| A screenshot in a chat app | Nothing reliably | Apps clear caches, chats need data |
Do the first two. The third is a backup to the backups. The fourth is what people actually do, and it is why arrival halls contain travellers scrolling frantically through a messaging app with no data connection.
One extra step worth ten seconds: put the printed copy in the passport itself. It cannot then be in a bag you checked, and it is in your hand at exactly the moment it is wanted.
Every recovery route, in the order to try them
- Download it on submission. Save the TDAC/QR from the confirmation screen before closing it.
- Search the email properly. Check spam and promotions as well as the main inbox.
- Use Update Arrival Card for permitted corrections. Update the record before travel, then save the updated document.
- Submit a new correct form for restricted identity errors. Full name, passport number, nationality, and date of birth cannot be changed in the update flow.
- Ask an assisted service for its stored copy. This applies only when that company keeps customer documents.
The official download, email, update, and print options are documented in the official TDAC FAQ.
The code is there but something on it is wrong
Different problem, different fix. A card that arrived with a misspelled name or a wrong passport digit was accepted by the system — it simply describes somebody who is not quite you.
Do not travel on a known error. Refile with correct details inside the window and carry the new card. Some airlines look at the card at check-in, and a desk agent at five in the morning will not weigh up whether your transliteration is defensible.
The exception worth knowing: a wrong flight number is usually survivable, because the passport lookup does not depend on it. A wrong passport number or name is not.
Families: keep the codes together
Every traveller has their own code, infants included. There is no family QR code, and no way for one adult's card to cover a child.
What works in practice is one printed sheet per family, with each person's code labelled by name, kept with whichever adult carries the passports. In a group filing, every card goes to the one email address you enter, which is the tidiest version of this: one inbox to save them from, one set to print.
Most QR emergencies start as form errors — the 10 common TDAC mistakes guide shows the ones to catch before submitting.
Sources checked
- Immigration Bureau: TDAC FAQ · October 28, 2026
- Immigration Bureau: TDAC user manual · October 28, 2026
