Thailand’s new immigration app could eventually simplify 90-day reporting for foreigners, as the Immigration Bureau moves to expand digital services for tourists, expats and long-stay residents.
The Immigration Bureau has launched THIM, or Thailand Immigration Management System, a new web and mobile platform designed to reduce congestion at airports and improve the screening of foreign arrivals.
While the first phase focuses on travellers entering Thailand through international airports, officials say the system could later be developed into a wider “Super App” for foreigners, bringing immigration services into one platform.
Those services are expected to include online queue booking, visa extensions through the e-Extension system, digital document services and 90-day residence reporting through the app.
For long-stay foreigners in Hua Hin and other areas with large expat communities, the proposed changes could reduce the need for visits to immigration offices and make routine reporting more convenient.
THIM app designed to reduce airport queues
Pol Maj Gen Prachya Prasansuk, Deputy Commissioner of the Immigration Bureau, said the bureau developed THIM with Digital Identity Co., Ltd. on Amazon Web Services cloud infrastructure.
The platform is designed to support more than 30 million foreign travellers a year and address delays at immigration checkpoints in Thailand’s international airports.
Travellers can register and submit information in advance by smartphone before entering the country. The system replaces the old blue paper immigration form with a digital process.
Officials say first-time arrivals should be able to complete identity verification in around two to three minutes. On later trips, the system will retrieve previously submitted information automatically, reducing processing time to less than one minute.
Pol Maj Gen Prachya said immigration checkpoints are the country’s “first door”, adding that the new system was intended to improve convenience while supporting tourism and national security.
90-day reporting part of future plans
In the next phase, the Immigration Bureau plans to develop THIM into a single digital platform for foreign nationals.
The planned services include online queue reservations, visa extensions, digital document issuance and 90-day reporting through the application.
Officials say the changes could reduce congestion at immigration offices nationwide and improve the government’s long-term management of immigration data.
There are also plans to link private-sector benefits to the app for travellers who verify their identity through the system. Officials said this would support “white tourism” and improve travel monitoring for security purposes without affecting tourists’ personal rights.
Local cloud system and more languages planned
Natthakorn Thanachaihirun, Chief Executive Officer of Digital Identity Co., Ltd., said THIM was developed on the AWS Asia Pacific (Bangkok) Region under a “Sovereign by Design” concept, meaning data is stored and processed in Thailand under Thai law.
The system uses AI-powered OCR document verification, cloud processing systems designed for high traffic, and security tools to monitor cyber threats around the clock.
At launch, THIM supports English, Russian, Japanese and Chinese. Officials plan to expand the system to 15 languages in the future.
The app is now available for download on iOS through the App Store and Android through the Play Store.
