It is an arrival declaration. Completing it does not replace a visa or entry permit that may apply to your nationality, passport or purpose of travel.
The safest way to complete the Papua New Guinea Digital Arrival Card is to keep your physical passport beside you. Do not copy identity details from an old airline profile, an expired passport or a previous visa application. The information submitted for arrival processing should describe the travel document you will present on the journey.
Use the passport you will travel with
This is particularly important for dual nationals and travellers who recently renewed or replaced a passport. Your PNGDAC passport details, airline booking and any applicable PNG visa or entry permit should not conflict with one another.
Passport details to check
- Full name shown on the biodata page
- Passport or travel-document number
- Nationality
- Date of birth
- Passport expiry information
- Other identity fields requested by the live form
If you already hold a PNG visa
Check that the entry permit is associated with the passport you intend to use. If that passport has been replaced, do not assume a new PNGDAC transfers the visa to the new document.
Visa passport guidanceThe six-month passport rule
PNG immigration guidance says travellers should have a passport valid for at least six months from the intended date of entry. This is an immigration requirement, not merely a technical PNGDAC validation rule. A successful arrival-card submission cannot make an otherwise unsuitable passport acceptable for entry.
Passport scanning: what the official guidance actually says
ICA's published PNGDAC guidance confirms online submission and describes self-registration kiosks that can scan a passport. The public guidance reviewed for this page does not establish a universal rule that every online applicant must upload a JPG, JPEG or PNG image of the biodata page, nor does it publish a universal passport-image file-size limit.
For that reason, follow the fields and upload/scan instructions displayed by the live PNGDAC service. If a scan is requested, use a clear, flat and unobstructed view of the biodata page and keep the machine-readable zone visible.
Open the current PNGDAC form
Complete the declaration using the passport you will physically carry to Papua New Guinea.
Enter or scan the requested data
Follow the live service rather than relying on old screenshots or unofficial file specifications.
Verify every populated field
Compare names, passport number, nationality, birth date and expiry details directly with the biodata page.
Keep your confirmation
ICA instructs travellers to retain the PNGDAC submission confirmation and present it with their passport for verification.
Check the machine-readable information carefully
Passport scanners can reduce typing, but the traveller remains responsible for checking the resulting information. Compare the form with the human-readable biodata printed in your passport. Pay special attention to characters that can look alike, including 0 and O or 1 and I.
If the scanner displays something unexpected, verify the final fields against the physical passport and use the live form's correction options. The machine-readable zone is not a reason to deliberately change your legal passport data.
If your passport information is wrong after submission
ICA provides a PNGDAC update function for previously submitted declarations. Its guidance says travellers can amend information before travel and that the most recent information is used for processing. Correct known mistakes instead of arriving with a declaration that you know conflicts with your passport.
| Situation | Practical action |
|---|---|
| Typo in passport or personal data | Use the PNGDAC update facility and check the corrected submission. |
| Recently renewed passport | Use the new passport for the declaration and separately verify any existing visa/permit. |
| Dual nationality | Declare the passport you will actually use for PNG entry. |
| Damaged or unreadable passport | Resolve the travel-document issue before departure; PNGDAC does not validate a damaged passport. |
| Scanner reads details incorrectly | Use the correction/manual-entry option provided by the live service and verify the result. |
When to submit the PNGDAC
ICA currently describes PNGDAC submission as available up to 72 hours before arrival. More importantly, an August 2026 ICA public notice makes the PNGDAC a mandatory pre-arrival requirement for PNG citizens, permanent residents and foreign nationals, and directs airlines and check-in personnel to ensure it is completed before boarding-pass issuance.
Older ICA material also describes arrival kiosks, but travellers should not rely on completing the declaration after landing now that the newer pre-departure enforcement notice is in force. Complete it before airport check-in.
Final passport checklist
What a PNGDAC confirmation does not guarantee
PNGDAC completion does not itself prove visa eligibility or guarantee admission. Immigration officers still assess the traveller against the applicable passport, visa and entry rules. If your passport changed after a visa was granted, resolve that visa/passport issue separately.
Official resources
VisaPNG is an independent information service. Use current ICA instructions for the final submission process.