The arrival card is no longer filled in on arrival

The arrival card used to be a slip of paper handed out on the plane. You filled it in somewhere over the destination, handed it to an officer at the desk, and forgot about it.

In a growing number of countries it is now a form you complete before you travel, and the name has stopped describing what it does.

The six

Thailand abolished the paper TM.6 and made its digital arrival card mandatory, completed up to 72 hours before arrival. tdac.immigration.go.th

Papua New Guinea mandated its digital arrival card for all international travellers. evisa.ica.gov.pg

Bangladesh moved its arrival and departure cards online. visa.gov.bd

Haiti introduced a mandatory digital arrival and departure form covering entry and exit, by air, land and sea. delidoc.gouv.ht

Taiwan widened its arrival card window to seven days before travel. twac.immigration.gov.tw

Australia is rolling out a digital arrival card nationwide. immi.homeaffairs.gov.au

The deadline is the change

A paper card had no deadline. It existed in the gap between boarding and the immigration desk, and the only way to fail it was to fill it in wrongly.

A digital card has a window. Thailand's opens 72 hours before arrival. Taiwan's opens seven days out. Haiti's requires submission within three calendar days before travel. Miss the window and the form is not late, it is not done, and the traveller arrives without something that is now required.

This is a small change with a large consequence for anyone operating in the gap. A card with a deadline is a thing that can be checked before boarding, which means it becomes a thing that is checked before boarding. The obligation moves from the arrivals hall to the departure gate.

Where it goes next

Thailand shows the direction. Having made the digital card compulsory, it then made a completed card one of the conditions for using the automated gates that opened at Suvarnabhumi in September. A form that replaced a slip of paper is now a prerequisite for the fastest lane at the border.

That is the pattern worth watching. Not the digitisation itself, which is well under way, but what the digital record gets attached to once it exists. A record that every traveller must create is a useful hook for anything a government wants to check, charge or expedite.

Every portal named here is in the EntryCheck registry. Country pages carry the source for each change and the date it was last confirmed.