Papua New Guinea Digital Arrival Card FAQ

The PNGDAC is the online passenger declaration used for travellers entering Papua New Guinea. ICA introduced it from 1 October 2025 as the digital replacement for the traditional paper incoming passenger card.

It captures personal, travel, Customs/prohibited-goods and health information. It is not a visa.

Use the official Papua New Guinea Digital Arrival Card system at pngdac.ica.gov.pg. Avoid unofficial sites that imitate the service.

The official system is free of charge. You do not need to pay an ICA processing fee to submit the arrival card.

The official PNGDAC FAQ says the card should be submitted within 72 hours before arriving in Papua New Guinea, including the date of arrival.

No. The official FAQ recommends having your information ready before starting because you cannot save an incomplete application and return later.

Have passport details, flight/entry information, accommodation details, an accessible email address, and the information needed to answer Customs, prohibited-goods and health declaration questions.

Yes. The ICSA public notice dated 6 August 2026 instructs international airlines, ground handling agents and check-in personnel that PNGDAC is a mandatory pre-arrival requirement for all persons travelling to PNG.

The notice says it must be completed before the issuance of the boarding pass.

The August 2026 notice expressly covers PNG citizens, permanent residents and all foreign nationals.

ICA's original how-to documentation still describes self-registration kiosks at Jacksons International Airport. However, the newer August 2026 airline directive requires completion before boarding-pass issuance.

For current travel planning, submit online before departure rather than relying on kiosk access.

The official FAQ says charter or incentive-group passengers entering Papua New Guinea must submit PNGDAC. The August 2026 directive applies broadly to all persons travelling to PNG.

For a purely airside international transit where you do not enter PNG, confirm the requirement with the airline and ICA because the public FAQ wording is framed around travellers entering Papua New Guinea rather than publishing a separate technical-transit exemption table.

Yes. The official FAQ says you may complete PNGDAC for family members, children or group travellers.

Yes. Use the Group Submission function. The official system allows up to 10 travellers per submission.

Yes. ICA's group-submission instructions state that every traveller in the group is assigned a unique PNGDAC number.

Yes. ICA's FAQ says tour operators, tour leaders and authorised travel agencies can submit PNGDAC information on behalf of travellers when the required information is provided.

The official website instructions say all submitted information for the group is sent to the email address provided during the submission.

For online submission, you enter an email address, receive a 6-digit OTP, confirm the submission and can then download the PNGDAC. The document is also sent to the email address provided.

First check your spam or junk folder and verify that you used the correct email address. The official FAQ says that if the confirmation was not received, you should contact the Immigration Officer at the entry checkpoint.

The official FAQ says submitted details can be viewed in the downloaded PNGDAC document or in the confirmation received by email.

ICA's website-submission instructions say you can download or print the PNGDAC from the email provided. Keeping an offline digital copy is usually sufficient for practical access, while a printed copy can be a useful backup.

Yes. ICA provides an Update PNGDAC function for corrections and changes such as flight details, travel dates and accommodation. The most recent information is used for official processing.

No. ICA's update guidance says certain core fields cannot be changed through the update function. These include the PNGDAC number, family name, given names, date of birth, nationality and email.

If a non-editable identity field is wrong, submit a new PNGDAC.

The official FAQ states that when there are multiple submissions for one person, the system uses the most recent valid submission.

Open the official PNGDAC website, select Update PNGDAC, search using the PNGDAC number, date of birth and nationality/citizenship, make the permitted changes, confirm with the email OTP, review and submit.

The official FAQ says no. The system sends the submission details and confirmation to the passenger's email.

For an arrival-kiosk submission, the official guide says a traveller may take a photograph of the confirmation screen or download the emailed document.

The ICA kiosk manual describes both individual and group submissions and gives the same maximum of 10 travellers per group submission.

No. Although the kiosk documentation remains published, the later August 2026 boarding directive makes online pre-departure completion the correct planning assumption.