TDAC vs TM6: What Changed in 2025

For decades, foreign travelers landing in Thailand filled out a small paper card on the plane. Thailand stopped using it for air arrivals in 2022, and on 1 May 2025 the online TDAC replaced it. Here's the full story — and what it means for your next trip. For the whole process from start to finish, see the Thailand Digital Arrival Card guide.

Verified: October 28, 2026

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A Brief History of the TM6

The TM6 (Arrival/Departure Card) was the Immigration Bureau's paper form for recording foreign nationals entering the country. For many years, flight attendants handed out these cards during the final hour of flights into Thailand.

Travelers filled in their personal details, passport number, flight number, Thai address, and purpose of visit. Upon arrival, the card was split — the immigration officer kept the top portion and stapled the lower section (the departure card) into the passport for retrieval upon departure.

The TM6 system had significant limitations: data had to be manually keyed into immigration databases, cards were frequently lost or incorrectly filled out, and the paper-based process could not integrate with real-time security databases.

Why Thailand Replaced It

The paper card was phased out in steps. Foreign travelers arriving by air stopped filling in the TM6 in July 2022, and the form was later suspended at 16 land and sea checkpoints as well.

The TDAC (Thailand Digital Arrival Card) replaced the paper TM6 arrival card on 1 May 2025 and is required for foreign nationals arriving by air, land or sea. Key reasons for the switch:

Automated data entry into immigration systems, eliminating human error
Real-time cross-referencing with watch lists and health advisories
Reduced paper waste
Faster processing at immigration counters
Integration with airlines for pre-departure checks

TDAC vs TM6: Key Differences

Feature	TM6 (Old)	TDAC (New)
Format	Paper card	Digital QR code
Completed	On the plane	Before arrival (in the 3-day window)
Data entry	Manual by immigration officer	Automated via QR scan
Departure card	Stapled in passport	Digital — no physical card
Data fields	~12 basic fields	~25+ including health data
Processing speed	Slower (manual)	Faster (automated)
Lost form risk	High	None (cloud stored)
Corrections	Cross out and rewrite	Update online, or file a new card

What Travelers Need to Know in 2026

No paper card will be distributed on the plane. The paper TM6 was cancelled for air arrivals in July 2022. Do not expect one.
You must complete the TDAC before your flight. The window is the 3 days before your arrival date, plus the arrival day itself (see the exact dates), and it is a hard limit: the system refuses any earlier date. Prepare your details in advance, then file as soon as it opens.
Have your QR code ready. Save the confirmation with its QR code on your phone; a printed copy is a useful backup. The airport kiosks are for travelers who still need to submit the card.
Every traveler needs their own TDAC. Including infants and children — there is no family TDAC. Each passport requires its own digital card.
Land border travelers also need a TDAC. The system applies to all international ports of entry, not just airports.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Assuming the airline will provide a paper form — they won't.
Confusing "0" (zero) and "O" (letter) in passport numbers.
Entering your home country address instead of your Thai accommodation address.
Leaving the form until the last hour before your flight — internet connectivity or system downtime can cause issues.
Using a third-party unofficial site that charges excessive fees or collects your data insecurely.

What actually changed for you, as a traveller

Most comparisons list system differences. Here is the version that affects your day.

	Then, with the TM6	Now
When you filled it in	On the plane, an hour before landing	At home, in the 3 days before you land
What you needed to hand	A pen	Passport, flight, Thai address, email
If you made a mistake	Crossed it out and wrote again	Update it online, or file a new card
What you carried	A paper stub stapled in your passport	A QR code on your phone and on paper
If you forgot	A cabin crew member had spares	A queue, or a kiosk in the arrival hall
Departure	Handed back the stub	Nothing to hand back

The trade is straightforward: the old system was forgiving in the moment and chaotic afterwards. The new one demands ten minutes of preparation days ahead, and then asks nothing of you at all.

The stapled departure card, and why nobody misses it

The TM6's lower half lived in your passport for your whole stay. Losing it meant a form and a fine at departure, and it fell out constantly — of passports opened at hotel check-ins, of passports handed over at desks.

That half no longer exists. Your exit is matched electronically against your entry, and there is nothing to keep safe, nothing to lose, and no queue at departure to replace it. It is the single largest practical improvement, and the one travellers who last visited before 2025 are most surprised by.

Myths still doing the rounds

"They will hand out a form on the plane." They will not. The paper card was cancelled for air arrivals in 2022. Cabin crew asked for one will say the same thing.

"It is the same as the old form, just online." Not quite — the card asks more, including a health-related question about countries visited in the last fourteen days, and an accommodation address specific enough to include district and postal code.

"Only air arrivals need it." It applies at land and sea crossings too. This is the belief most likely to strand somebody at a border with no signal.

"My travel agent handled the TM6, so this is covered." Sometimes true, often not. Ask specifically, and ask for the QR code rather than an assurance.

"I can fill it in when I land." There are kiosks, and using them means doing on your feet, in a queue, with a flight's worth of people behind you, what you could have done at a kitchen table.

If your last trip was before 2025

A short list of what has changed since, beyond the card itself:

The visa-free stay is shorter. The 60-day exemption was replaced during 2026 with 30 days for most nationalities and 15 for a small group.
Funds checks are real. An old rule, restated by the Tourism Authority of Thailand in July 2026.
Autogates exist and increasingly accept foreign passports, which means no ink stamp — worth knowing if you plan to extend your stay.
Vapes are still illegal, and this has not softened. Possession alone is an arrest risk.

The card is the change that requires action before you fly. The others change what happens once you are through the door.