The Immigration Bureau (IB), under the Royal Thai Police, has officially launched the THIM (Thai Immigration Application) to serve as a Digital Gateway for foreign nationals. The application supports travelers throughout their journey, covering pre-arrival preparations, stay management, tourism information, and partner privileges. Built on three core objectives—enhancing security and data accuracy, promoting digital adoption, and supporting the tourism economy—the platform aims to consolidate immigration services into a single interface.
Pol. Lt. Gen. Panumas Boonyalug, Commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, stated that growing foreign arrivals have placed physical capacity constraints on airports and border checkpoints. The IB is utilizing digital technology to streamline procedures and improve service efficiency while maintaining national security standards.
Comprehensive Immigration Services Throughout the Journey
The THIM app connects travel-related services on a single platform. Its current key offerings include the official Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) submission—serving as an alternative channel to the IB website—and the Explore Thailand feature.
In future phases, the IB plans to expand THIM into a one-stop immigration service hub, introducing features such as:
- Queue Booking
- Certificate of Stay applications
- Visa Extensions
- 90-Day Reporting
- Visa on Arrival (VoA) requests
Since its release on August 1, 2026, across the App Store, Google Play Store, and Huawei AppGallery, the app has recorded over 600,000 downloads and 580,000 active users (a 97.2% conversion rate). User adoption is expected to rise as additional services launch.
Data Protection and Identity Verification Standards
To safeguard personal and biometric data, THIM integrates international verification standards, including:
- Near Field Communication (NFC) passport chip reading
- Liveness Detection
- Facial Comparison technology
Data security is managed through multi-layer protection, including end-to-end encryption during transmission and storage, isolation of biometric records, role-based access control, and continuous activity logging in compliance with the Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 (PDPA). The application operates on Amazon Web Services (AWS) infrastructure via the AWS Asia Pacific (Bangkok) Region, utilizing threat detection and monitoring tools.
Tourism Integration via Explore Thailand
The Explore Thailand feature provides foreign visitors with access to travel information, promotions, and partner privileges. Users can redeem coupons using QR codes or promotional codes. Planned updates will expand the feature to cover tourist attractions, accommodations, and local activities to encourage spending.
The launch event included private sector partners offering user privileges, with executives present from The Mall Group, GrabTaxi (Thailand), Wipay, True Corporation, The Minor Food Group, Minor International, and Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BDMS).
Further details are available on the official Immigration Bureau website at www.immigration.go.th.
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