The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, Investments and Aviation, working with the country’s Department of Immigration and Customs Department, launched a pilot of the Bahamas Digital Arrival Card on May 5, 2026, marking the first time the country has tested a digital replacement for its paper immigration and customs card.

How the pilot actually works

The Digital Arrival Card combines immigration information and the customs declaration into a single online form, completed ahead of arrival rather than filled out on paper during the flight. According to the official announcement, only selected travelers on designated flights are currently using the digital version, while paper cards remain standard across all other arrivals as authorities collect feedback before any wider rollout.

What the standard paper card still asks for

Outside the pilot group, arriving travelers continue to complete the familiar paper immigration and customs card, typically covering passport details, length of stay, accommodation address and a customs declaration for goods being brought into the country. The digital version is designed to capture the same core information electronically rather than add new requirements, which is part of why the transition is being tested gradually rather than rolled out to every arrival at once.

A pilot, not yet a mandatory requirement

This is an important distinction for travelers planning a Bahamas trip in the near term: unlike Jamaica’s C5 form, which our coverage of that requirement confirmed is now mandatory for every arriving traveler, the Bahamas system is still limited to a pilot group on specific flights. Most travelers arriving in the Bahamas at this stage will still complete the familiar paper arrival card rather than a digital one, and that is expected to remain the case until the pilot concludes and a wider rollout, if any, is announced.

How to know if your flight is part of the pilot

Since the pilot only covers designated flights rather than every arrival, travelers will not need to guess: an airline operating a pilot flight, or the Bahamian authorities directly, would notify passengers ahead of travel if the digital card applies to their specific arrival. Absent that notification, the safe assumption for a trip booked in the near term is that the standard paper card still applies, and travelers can confirm directly with their airline before departure if there is any doubt.

Part of a region-wide pattern

The Bahamas joins Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean and Americas nations in moving toward digital arrival processing, part of a broader shift the region’s immigration authorities have been pursuing to speed up airport processing and reduce paper handling. A single digital record that combines immigration and customs information in advance generally lets an arrivals hall process each traveler faster than checking a handwritten paper card against a passport at the counter, which is the main practical benefit these pilots are testing for before a wider rollout. Our coverage of the Dominican Republic’s mandatory e-ticket covers a similar system that has already moved past the pilot stage into a full requirement, giving a sense of where the Bahamas system may be headed if its pilot succeeds.

What to check before a Bahamas trip right now

Since the digital card only applies to a limited set of flights during the pilot, travelers should not assume they need to complete anything online before arrival unless specifically notified by their airline or the Bahamian authorities that their flight is part of the pilot group. Checking directly with an airline ahead of departure, rather than assuming either the old or new system applies by default, is the safest approach while the pilot remains in its early phase. Our international document checklist covers the passport and paperwork checks worth running regardless of which arrival card system ends up applying to a specific flight.

Where this affects Bahamas travel

The pilot applies nationally rather than to a specific island, covering arrivals that include the Paradise Island resort area along with the rest of the wider Bahamas covered on this site.

The practical takeaway

The Bahamas Digital Arrival Card is currently a limited pilot rather than a universal requirement, so most travelers should still expect the standard paper arrival card unless their specific flight has been notified otherwise, with a wider rollout likely to follow the pattern already set by Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.

Source: The Official Website of The Bahamas, press room announcement.