Changing planes at Suvarnabhumi on one ticket, you stay airside and need nothing at all. To leave the airport, US, UK, EU, Canadian, Australian and Indian passports need no visa for up to 30 days, only the free Thailand Digital Arrival Card, filled in online in the 3 days before you land.
No visa is needed to change planes at Suvarnabhumi on one ticket with your bags checked through: you stay airside. To leave the airport, US, UK, EU and Schengen, Canadian, Australian and Indian passports need no visa for stays of up to 30 days, only the free Thailand Digital Arrival Card, done online in the 3 days before you land. Visa on arrival now applies only to Azerbaijan, Belarus and Serbia.
If you stay airside
Most international connections at Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) need no visa and no paperwork, because you never pass Thai immigration.
You’re a connecting passenger if both flights are on one ticket and your checked bags are tagged through to your final destination. After you leave the plane, follow the signs to the Transfer Desk, where the airline gives you a boarding pass if you don’t have one, then go through security to your departure gate. If your next flight leaves from SAT-1, the satellite terminal, follow the signs for gates S101 to S128 and take the airport’s underground train from level B2, about 3 minutes.
No limit is published on how long you can stay airside, and the Miracle Transit Hotel, past security in Concourse A, rents rooms by the hour if you’d rather sleep.
Two things take you through immigration, so you need to be able to enter Thailand:
- A domestic connection. Flying on within Thailand, you follow the signs for domestic connecting flights, which lead through immigration, customs and security.
- Bags you must collect. If your airline doesn’t transfer your bags, you pass immigration to collect them.
If you want to leave the airport
It depends on your passport. Since 15 September 2026, Thailand lets 60 countries’ passports in without a visa for tourism stays of up to 30 days, and all the passports below are on the list.
| Passport | What you need |
|---|---|
| United States | No visa, up to 30 days. The Thailand Digital Arrival Card, online before you land |
| United Kingdom | No visa, up to 30 days. The arrival card |
| EU and Schengen states | No visa, up to 30 days. The arrival card |
| Canada | No visa, up to 30 days. The arrival card |
| Australia | No visa, up to 30 days. The arrival card |
| India | No visa, up to 30 days. The arrival card |
Whatever your passport, the immigration officer decides at the border whether you enter. Thailand asks visa applicants for six months’ validity and a ticket out, so if your passport runs out sooner, check with your airline before you fly.
30 days without a visa
The 30-day exemption replaced a 60-day one on 15 September 2026, and pages written before then still give 60 days or describe visa on arrival for Indian passports. For a layover, 30 days is far more than you need: there’s nothing to apply for and nothing to pay.
The Thailand Digital Arrival Card
Everyone who passes immigration fills it in, whatever their passport and visa, children and infants included. It’s free and online only, at tdac.immigration.go.th, and must be done in the 3 days before you land, counting the day you arrive. Do it before your first flight, or on the plane’s Wi-Fi if you forgot. Ignore look-alike sites that charge a fee. If you stay airside, you don’t need it.
Visa on arrival
It now covers only three countries, Azerbaijan, Belarus and Serbia, for THB 2,000. None of the passports in the table needs it.
Other passports
Check the Thai foreign ministry’s list of visa-exempt countries before you fly. If your passport isn’t on it, apply for a visa at a Thai embassy or consulate before you travel, or stay airside.
If you’re on separate tickets
You’ll normally pass immigration, so you need permission to enter.
With two separate bookings, your bags usually aren’t transferred: you pass immigration, collect them, check in for your next flight in the departure hall and go back through departure immigration and security. Your passport must let you into Thailand, you need the Thailand Digital Arrival Card, and you should allow time for immigration, check-in and security on top of your connection. If your passport needs a visa you don’t have, book both flights on one ticket.
At the border
No queue times are published for Suvarnabhumi’s immigration halls, so allow about an hour from landing to the train, and more when the hall is busy. A slow queue costs you time in town, not your flight: the time you must head back stays the same. Have the arrival card done and your onward booking to hand.
Before you go landside
- Take your passport, your onward boarding pass and the completed arrival card.
- Bags. Leave anything bulky at Bellugg’s counters on levels 2 and 4, from THB 100 a piece for 24 hours (seen November 2026); book at least an hour ahead.
- Dress. If you’re heading for the temples, cover your shoulders and knees.
- Be back at Suvarnabhumi 90 minutes before departure: you pass departure immigration and security again.
How to get into town: getting into the city.
A transit tour you can book
If you're allowed to leave Suvarnabhumi Airport, a tour that collects you at the airport takes care of the timing. Check that the tour's length fits your layover, leaving time to get out of the airport and to be back 90 minutes before your flight.