BANGKOK — Thailand’s Immigration Bureau has launched a new mobile application that lets tourists pre-fill arrival forms before landing, with officials aiming to cut the time spent at the immigration counter to under 40 seconds per person.
The app, called THIM — Thailand Immigration Management System — was developed in partnership with Digital Identity Co. and built on Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure. It is available for download on iOS and Android as part of a pilot programme, with hundreds of thousands of downloads already recorded.
Travellers can use the app to fill out immigration arrival forms in advance, with the process taking under three minutes for first-time users and under one minute for return visitors, as the system retains basic personal information between trips.
Pol. Maj. Gen. Pratchaya Prasansuk, deputy commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, said the shift from paper forms had been a long time coming.
“In the past, paper wasted both budget and time significantly,” he said, adding that a web-based system introduced last year drew more than 10 million users but still drew complaints over having to re-enter information each trip.
“We want to balance security with convenience. The goal is for everyone to use this application. The time spent at the immigration counter must not exceed 40 seconds per person,” Pratchaya said.
The app also addresses a scam problem, as fraudsters have previously created fake websites to collect fees from tourists — an issue that a verified app is designed to eliminate.
THIM currently supports four languages: English, Russian, Japanese, and Chinese. The bureau plans to expand to 15 languages by 1 October.
The app’s backend uses optical character recognition to read passport data, with AWS cloud infrastructure handling traffic spikes during peak travel periods. Data is protected with end-to-end encryption.
Future features planned for the app include 90-day address reporting for long-stay residents, electronic document certification, and exclusive promotions for app users — all at no cost.
