Tourists wait to check in for flights at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, Thailand, Jan. 4, 2023. Photo by Reuters
Known as the Thailand Immigration Management System (THIM), the application is expected to launch on Oct. 1, Bangkok Post reported.
Officials stressed that the faster processing system would not compromise border security, which remains a top priority for immigration authorities.
Thailand handles between 30 million and 33 million international arrivals annually, and all visitors are required by law to provide personal and travel information upon entry.
The country currently operates the web-based Digital Arrival Card, introduced in 2025, which has reportedly been used by more than 10 million travelers, according to The Nation Thailand.
However, frequent visitors have voiced frustration over having to repeatedly fill out all 20 required fields for each trip.
Under the new system, travelers will only need to register once. Using AI-powered optical character recognition technology, the mobile app scans a passport and automatically extracts information from its three data layers—the machine-readable zone, biographical page, and embedded chip—before securely submitting the user’s profile to the bureau.
Tourists will also not need to present a QR code at immigration, as the data will be synced to the system and accessed by officers upon passport scanning.
The app is available for pilot download on both Apple and Android mobile stores, and also supports English, Russian, Japanese and Chinese, with plans to expand to 15 languages.
Thailand, the second largest economy in Southeast Asia, expects about 33.5 million foreign tourists this year, up from nearly 33 million visitors last year.
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