Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the TDAC system. For those who are unaware, that is the Thailand Digital Arrival Card system. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from TAT News, that is tatnews.org, the article is titled: Thailand Digital Arrival Card System set to launch on 1 May 2025. Quoting directly: "The Immigration Bureau of Thailand will launch the new Thailand Digital Arrival Card System on 1 May 2025, replacing the current paper arrival card for foreign nationals. From this date, all foreign visitors must submit their arrival information electronically before entering Thailand, whether by air, land or sea." 

So the question posed is what if you can't do that? And this is my big problem with all this digitization. It presumes that you have got a smartphone. I don't really travel with one; I haven't in years. I mean there are a couple of years in there where I would but these days I am not going anymore. I don't love smartphones to begin with and I don't like this - it is is all over the world now - this is like a globalist thing or something where it's just the presumption that everybody has got a smartphone or must have one. I don't want a smartphone; I don't want to be required to have a smartphone just to be alive; it's kind of ridiculous. That said, what do you do if you are not able to interact with the system? Well quoting directly: If you cannot submit in advance: "Travellers who are unable to complete the TDAC before arrival and do not have internet access at the point of entry, will be assisted at designated help points located in Immigration checkpoints." So first off, it looks like at least for the beginning of this, and I hope forever that it's not going to be a requirement to like board your flight to fill this thing out. So again, it remains to be seen. This thing hasn't been rolled out yet and we will be updating folks as that comes down the pike. But until then, understand yeah, we have not seen this thing come out yet, so we don't know exactly how it's going to work. But the point of the video is look if you can't interact with it, it's not going to be a deal killer to get you to Thailand, that's the point. That said, quoting further: "This assistance is intended for exceptional circumstances only." So again, it's like yeah, we can do it, but it's exceptional. It reminds me a lot of COVID, doesn't it you? Where everything was, "oh no you must do this; you can only have freedom in “exceptional” circumstances." Kind of nonsense. Quoting further: "All travellers are strongly encouraged to complete the TDAC online in advance to avoid delays and reduce congestion at entry points." Or you could just not have it and go back to the paper system and not force people to go through this. I'm really tired of everything putting the onus on the public. The public doesn't have an affirmative duty to anything, okay.

Now I do get it. Upon arrival to Thailand, they have the right to ask for whatever they want if you're not a Thai national. You don't have an automatic right to enter. I do get all of that, but there is sort of a rule of reason with this stuff, and there is also the rule of just because you can do something, doesn't necessarily make it a good idea. You can drive a car with your feet. I mean it doesn't make it a good idea necessarily. I am not saying this is a bad idea; I am just hoping that there is heavy scrutiny during the roll out of this so that the problems we see can be swiftly dealt with because I really don't think anybody wants to live in some kind of dystopian world where we all get sucked into some Kafkaesque bureaucracy over our smartphone just to get into a country. It seems a little crazy; it seems a little unnecessary; it seems a little bureaucratic and I'm wondering what the benefits are at the end of the day. I do get it. We want to make sure we monitor who's coming and going from Thailand, but they already have those mechanisms largely in place. I'm not understanding what is really being added here, what value is really being added here. That said, I am going to keep an open mind, and we will see how this rolls out come May 1, 2025 and we will certainly be keeping you updated on this channel as the situation evolves.