Thailand immigration rules for foreigners: TDAC, TM30, extensions, 90-day reports, re-entry permits and overstay

Every foreign traveller needs a Thailand Digital Arrival Card for every arrival, it costs nothing, and it is submitted within 3 days before you land (Royal Thai Embassy in London, visa exemption scheme). The card is filed on the government portal at tdac.immigration.go.th, whose own title reads "No Fees Required". It replaced the paper TM6 slip, and a trip to Penang and back means a second card on the way in.

The only address that matters is that portal. Search results carry lookalike sites that charge a fee to type your details into the same form, and a site that charges you for the TDAC is not the official one.

What you fill in. Passport details, flight number, arrival date and the address of your first night in Thailand. Have the hotel or guesthouse name and the province ready before you start. Every foreign passport holder needs their own card, children included, so a family of four files four.

What the TDAC is not: permission to stay. Your stay is the stamp the officer puts in your passport. For arrivals from 15 September 2026 that stamp is 30 days for nationals of the 60 countries on the new visa exemption list, with land border entries under the exemption capped at two per calendar year (TAT Newsroom). If you landed on or before 14 September 2026, your 60-day stamp still stands, as our post why your 60-day stamp still counts explains.

What the officer can ask for. Proof of onward travel within 30 days of arrival, proof of accommodation and funds of 20,000 THB per person, according to the London embassy. Keep the booking and a bank app on your phone at the counter. Which stamp you get, and which visa fits a longer plan, is the subject of the visa options guide; our Thailand hub puts all of it in context.

The TM30 is the landlord's job, not yours, but you are the one who pays for it being skipped. The property owner, landlord or hotel must notify immigration within 24 hours that a foreigner is staying at the premises (Thai Law Online, 90-day report). Hotels and serviced apartments do it as routine. A room found through a Facebook group is where it tends to be skipped.

Why you care. The TM30 is the record of your address that immigration looks for when you ask for anything else. The Chiang Rai Times advises keeping it current because immigration may request it at an extension, and Thai Law Online notes that some offices now want it for the 90-day report. It is also the first step toward a certificate of residence, the paper many banks ask for: it costs around 200 THB, can take up to about 15 working days at the big Bangkok office, and immigration will not issue it until a TM30 is on file; Asian Nomad Hub adds that in practice offices also expect at least one 90-day report first (Asian Nomad Hub, Thai bank accounts for foreigners 2026).

What to ask for on day one. A photo of the online confirmation, or the receipt slip if your landlord filed in person. Ask before you pay the deposit. If a landlord does not know what a TM30 is, that tells you something about the rest of the tenancy.

The banking guide picks up where the certificate of residence comes in.

You can extend a visa-exempt stay or a tourist visa once per entry by up to 30 days, for 1,900 THB, using form TM.7, in person at an immigration office (Samut Prakan Immigration, immigration fees; Chiang Rai Times). That turns the 30-day exemption into 60 days, and a 60-day tourist visa into 90.

Approval is not automatic. The officer has the final say, and the Chiang Rai Times notes that repeated tourist-pattern extensions, frequent border runs or several short visits may receive closer scrutiny. Bring everything in the table below.

Timing. Apply before your permitted stay runs out, with time for queues, public holidays or a second visit if a copy is missing. You cannot extend once the date on your stamp has passed; from that day you are overstaying.

What it does not do. An extension does not change your visa type, it does not add work rights, and it does not turn a short stay into a long one. If you want months rather than weeks, the DTV is applied for from your country of nationality or residence, not at an extension counter.

The arithmetic since 15 September 2026. Before that date a visa-exempt arrival got 60 days and could extend to 90. Now most nationalities get 30 days and can reach 60, and land border entries under the exemption are capped at two per calendar year. Our post the border run is dead works through what the cap means, and leave by check shows your date with and without the extension.

If you stay in Thailand for 90 consecutive days, you have to report your address to immigration on form TM.47, and at an office the window runs from 15 days before the due date to 7 days after (Thai Law Online, 90-day report). It is a notification of address, not a visa step, and it costs nothing when you file on time.

The first report is in person. New reporters file at an immigration office. Only after that can you use the online portal at tm47.immigration.go.th, where approvals typically take one to three days (Thai Law Online, above).

Who it applies to. Foreigners on temporary permission who stay continuously through the 90-day point, whatever the visa (The Thaiger, 90-day reporting). DTV holders are squarely in scope, because one DTV entry allows up to 180 days. On a 30-day exemption plus one extension you top out at 60 days and never reach it. LTR holders report yearly instead.

Leaving resets the count. Departure and re-entry end the current cycle, and a new one starts from your new arrival date (The Thaiger, above). A week in Vietnam in month two means the report never becomes due for that stay.

If you are late. A voluntary late report costs 2,000 THB, a failure found when you are stopped costs 4,000 THB, and the legal maximum under Section 76 of the Immigration Act is 5,000 THB (Thai Law Online, above). Our Thailand visa costs table lists the same figures next to every other fee. File early in the window and keep the confirmation.

If you hold a single-entry visa or an extension of stay, leaving Thailand without a re-entry permit terminates that permission, and you have to apply again at a Thai embassy to come back on the same basis (Thai Law Online, re-entry permit). The mistake only becomes visible after the plane has left.

The fees. A single re-entry permit costs 1,000 THB and a multiple re-entry permit 3,800 THB, valid for the remaining period of your permission to stay (Samut Prakan Immigration, immigration fees). The form is TM.8. If you expect more than three trips out during the same permission, the multiple permit costs less.

Where to get one. Any immigration office, where Thai Law Online puts processing at 30 to 60 minutes, or the 24-hour counters at Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Chiang Rai and Hat Yai airports. Airport queues are unpredictable, so Thai Law Online advises arriving at least three hours before departure if you plan to buy it there.

Who does not need one. Holders of a multiple-entry visa. The DTV is multiple entry for its five years, so a DTV holder flying to Singapore for the weekend needs nothing extra and comes back to a fresh stay of up to 180 days, as the DTV guide explains. LTR holders do not need one either.

The case that catches people. Holders of a one-year extension, such as a retirement or marriage extension, which is an extension of stay rather than a multiple-entry visa. Those are the people who take short trips home, and the people for whom a missing permit means starting the application again. If you are unsure which category you hold, the stamp in your passport says it.

Overstaying costs 500 THB per day, paid before you are allowed to leave, and the fine is capped at 20,000 THB, which you reach at 40 days (Samut Prakan Immigration Office, warning of overstay). If you leave voluntarily with an overstay of 90 days or less, there is no re-entry ban.

The legal backdrop. Overstay is an offence under Section 81 of the Immigration Act B.E. 2522, punishable by imprisonment of up to two years, a fine of up to 20,000 THB, or both (Thai Law Online, overstay and blacklists). Routine cases are settled with the 500 THB a day fine. The difference shows up when you are stopped inside the country rather than walking up to a departure counter: arrest and prosecution bring a ban of 5 years for an overstay under one year and 10 years beyond that.

What you cannot do. Extend after the date on your stamp has passed. Once you are over, the reliable route is to settle the fine and leave.

What happens at the airport counter, the stamp that stays in your passport and why a few days of overstay is a worse deal than an extension are covered in our post overstayed by three days in Thailand. The leave by check exists so this section stays theoretical.

Four everyday things get foreigners into trouble in Thailand and none of them are about visas: electronic cigarettes, cannabis, the rules on when alcohol can be sold, and anything said or posted about the monarchy. We have not verified current wording or baht figures for any of the four, so this guide does not print numbers for them.

Where to check instead. Read the local laws and customs section of a government travel advisory before you fly, and again if a season turns into a year. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office page for Thailand is updated when the rules move (the last update was on 18 September 2026) and warns, for example, that carrying cannabis out of Thailand is illegal. Your own government's advisory serves the same purpose.

The monarchy is the one to take literally. Treat it as a line you do not approach, in conversation, in a bar and above all on social media.

Scooter licences cost nomads the most money, because that is where traffic rules meet your insurance policy. You need your home licence plus an International Driving Permit with the motorcycle category, and without it virtually every travel insurance policy treats you as riding illegally and pays nothing after a crash (Wonderland Koh Tao, scooter rental). The healthcare guide covers what a hospital bill costs without cover.

Koh Tao has an immigration office, on the road between Mae Haad and Chalok Baan Kao near the police station, open Monday to Friday from 08:30 to 12:00 and from 13:00 to 16:30 (Island Travel Koh Tao). It takes the 30-day extension of a tourist visa or visa exemption stamp on form TM.7 for 1,900 THB, and BAANLYY's island immigration guide, updated on 2 July 2026, lists the 90-day report and re-entry permits among its services. Annual extensions (retirement, marriage, work) and certificates of residence go to the Koh Samui office in Maenam. Both sources are island businesses rather than immigration publications, so confirm the service list the week you go.

The first 90-day report has to be filed in person anyway, so doing it at the island office settles the question; later reports can go through the online portal.

Build a buffer. Offices close on weekends and public holidays, and ferries to Samui can be cancelled in rough weather, most often from late October into December. If you need the Samui office, go several days before your stamp expires, not on the last one.

The full practical version, with what the island counter does and does not take, the Samui day trip and its costs, is in our post Koh Tao visa extension: island office or Samui trip, and the Koh Tao page covers island life around it.

Everything in this guide fits into eight actions, and doing them in order keeps you from queuing at a counter twice. The only one with a fixed opening is the first: the TDAC is submitted within 3 days before arrival. Everything else rewards being early. The TM30 on day one is the first step toward a certificate of residence, which is the first step toward a bank account.

Two dates belong in your calendar before you unpack. The first is the date on your entry stamp, which for arrivals from 15 September 2026 is 30 days for most visa-exempt nationalities, with one extension of up to 30 days available. The second is day 75 of a continuous stay, which puts you ahead of the 90-day report window with room to spare.

If your plan is longer than a season, the paperwork in this guide is the floor rather than the plan. Compare the routes in the visa options guide, check what you qualify for with visa check, and read the DTV guide before you assume that repeated visa-exempt entries will keep working.