Bangladesh E-arrival and E-departure cards now filled online

The service is free and hosted on the verified official domain specialbranch.gov.bd, checked online on 31 August 2026.

Three procedures combined on one portal

The portal edcard.specialbranch.gov.bd streamlines three processes: the E-arrival Card for entry into the country, the E-departure Card for exit, and the advance registration of a visa-on-arrival application. It is administered by Bangladesh Immigration, the immigration service of the Special Branch.

Bangladesh’s ED card itself is nothing new—it’s the old paper embarkation/disembarkation form foreigners used to fill out on the plane or in the immigration queue. What’s changed is the filing method. Until now, Bangladesh was one of the last South Asian countries still processing this fully by hand. Digitisation aims to cut airport queues, especially for visa-on-arrival applicants. The Special Branch has not issued an official note, but Bangladesh media reported the launch in mid-August 2026.

Thailand, India and Cambodia have already replaced paper forms with digital arrival cards—a move documented on our dedicated page covering electronic arrival cards.

What the E-arrival Card asks for

The E-arrival Card can be completed without creating an account. The form has five sections:

• Identity: last name, gender, date of birth, nationality (all nationalities listed, including stateless or refugee status), passport number;

• Journey: country and city of origin, arrival date, flight number, purpose of stay (tourism, business, study, among others);

• Accommodation: a hotel selected from the register of approved properties, or a private address with district and area;

• Contact: local phone number and email address;

• Visa: number, type, single or multiple entry, issue and expiry dates, intended length of stay.

Travellers can add family members or companions sharing the same flight without re-entering the full request. The departure card uses the same sections in reverse order when leaving the country.

The portal does not require arrival or departure cards to be submitted a minimum number of days before travel. The visa-on-arrival application, however, follows its own timeline.

A snapshot of the old arrival card:

Visa on arrival: apply online at least 72 hours before your flight

The third pathway is for travellers eligible for a visa on arrival. The dedicated portal voa.specialbranch.gov.bd sets out the scope: single-entry visa for up to 30 days. Eligible travellers include tourists and business visitors from countries with no Bangladeshi diplomatic mission, plus nationals of Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, China, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Gulf states, Egypt, Turkey and Brunei.

In practice, applications must be submitted at least 72 hours before arrival by creating an account with an email address and uploading three files: a recent passport-style photo, the passport bio page and an invitation letter from the relevant authority or organisation. A tracking ID lets applicants follow progress via the dashboard.

Online registration does not replace payment: visa fees of 50 USD €43.05 plus processing costs are paid in cash at the airport desk run by Sonali Bank. Officers may also ask for evidence of means of subsistence set at a minimum of 500 USD €430.48 in cash or by credit card, plus a return ticket.

A completely free service

Filling out the online ED card involves no payment steps—it is entirely free. Travellers should be cautious because popular destination-hub sites sometimes charge fees for access to forms that are actually provided free by the government. The two official domains are edcard.specialbranch.gov.bd for the ED card and voa.specialbranch.gov.bd for the visa-on-arrival portal; both are subdomains of the Special Branch’s official site and linked from its homepage.

Note that the portal covers passenger registration only, not standard visas. Travellers who require a pre-departure visa follow the regular process—including the country’s electronic visa programme for tourism and business as reported when it launched. Online ED-card filing currently applies only to air arrivals and departures.