Papua New Guinea Arrival Card for Transit: Do You Need One? (2026)

The short answer: it depends on immigration, not your boarding pass

No, you do not need a Papua New Guinea arrival card for transit if you stay airside — landing at Suvarnabhumi or Don Mueang and continuing on the same plane, or catching an onward flight from the transit area without passing immigration. This is the official airside-transit exemption, one of only four PNGDAC exemptions there are.

Yes, you do need the PNG Digital Arrival Card (PNGDAC) the moment you leave the airport for any reason. A nine-hour layover with a city tour, a visit to a friend, a night in a landside hotel — each one means passing immigration, and passing immigration means a card.

The rule has been in force since 1 May 2025, and the official form is free at https://ica.gov.pg. The exemption structure is laid out in our do I need a Papua New Guinea arrival card guide; this page is the transit deep-dive.

What counts as airside transit (no PNGDAC needed)

Airside means you never cross immigration or customs. You land, you stay behind the transit line, and you depart again. You qualify for the exemption when all of the following are true:

The airside-transit checklist

• You hold a confirmed onward ticket leaving on the same plane or a connecting flight.
• Your bags are checked through to your final destination, or you have hand luggage only.
• You received your onward boarding pass, or the transfer desk inside the transit area can issue it.
• You stay inside the international transit area until your next flight boards.
• You never pass an immigration counter in either direction.

When transit turns into entry (PNGDAC required)

The exemption ends at the immigration counter, not at the front door. Any of these turns your layover into an entry, and an entry needs a PNGDAC submitted within 3 days before arrival:

Leaving the airport for any length of time. The classic case is the long layover: you land at Suvarnabhumi at dawn, your next flight leaves at midnight, and Bangkok is tempting for the day. Walking out through immigration — even for two hours — makes you an arriving foreign national.

Collecting a checked bag that was not checked through. At some airports the bag belt is landside, which forces you through immigration to reach it. Check with your airline whether your connection requires this before assuming you are exempt.

Sleeping at a landside hotel. If the overnight option you booked requires leaving the transit area, that is an entry.

Connecting between Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang

Bangkok has two international airports about 50 kilometers apart, and budget-carrier itineraries sometimes connect one to the other. There is no airside link between them. A BKK-to-DMK transfer means you pass immigration at the first airport, collect any checked bags, clear customs, travel across the city by taxi or bus, and check in fresh at the second airport.

So a between-airports connection always needs a PNGDAC — and note it also needs entry eligibility, meaning a visa or visa-exempt nationality, because you are entering Papua New Guinea, not transiting it. Leave enough time for the transfer itself plus two airport procedures.

If you are connecting inside one airport — BKK to BKK, or DMK to DMK — the normal airside rules above apply instead.

Overnight layovers: the nuance

The rule does not change overnight: airside is exempt, landside is entry. What changes is feasibility. Transit areas are not guaranteed to stay open through the night, and an airport hotel described as “on site” is not always airside. If the transit area closes or your rest plan requires passing immigration, you are entering Papua New Guinea and need a card.

We are cautious here because there is no single published rule covering every terminal and every night. Ask your airline whether your connection stays airside, and confirm with the airport where your overnight option physically sits. Deciding this at 1 a.m. at the transit desk is the expensive way.

If you do end up entering for the night, the card must be submitted within 3 days before your arrival — which means deciding before you fly, not after you land.

Worked transit scenarios

One more checkpoint is the departure desk. Airlines generally do not refuse boarding over a missing PNGDAC, but since the rule is new, some staff ask transit passengers anyway. Two calm responses work: explain that you are transiting airside and show your onward boarding pass, or file the free card anyway — about five minutes, and some transit travelers do it just to keep every desk moving.

Match your itinerary to the table. If your row says yes, submit the card within 3 days before that arrival, free, on the official portal:

If your layover includes leaving the airport

Then you are an arriving traveler, and the standard flow applies: submit within 3 days before arrival at https://ica.gov.pg, free, about five minutes, confirmation by email. The complete rules are in our PNG Digital Arrival Card guide.

Or hand it to us: start your application — $19 flat, we verify against your passport and file, confirmation within 24 hours, full refund if we fail to deliver. The official form is always free to submit yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions