The clock is ticking for travelers who dreamed of having a two-month holiday in one of their favorite destinations in Southeast Asia, Thailand.
The country is indeed pulling the plug on its 60-day visa-free entry scheme in place since July 2024. The justification to this return to the previous regime comes from some visitors treating this “temporary stay” as a new lifestyle choice.
Tourism and Sports Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul said the rollback comes after months of growing concern that the relaxed rules had produced unwanted side effects such as foreigners allegedly setting up businesses, extending long stays -it was possible to renew the 60-day visa for another 30-day, and dabbling in dubious activities. Thai authorities stressed also that their worry over transnational criminal groups abusing immigration laws.
Not all the groups of foreigners took however the opportunity to stay in Thailand beyond pure holidays. Stories collected in local newspapers refer particularly to Chinese, Indian, Russian and Ukrainian travelers…
54 instead of 93 countries granted a shortened free-visa stay
It seems that it has been to difficult for the Thai cabinet to evaluate which countries are more prone to crime-related activities. The simplest solution is one single rule for all, with entry conditions back to what they used to be prior to 2024.
Most eligible countries are once again limited to 30-day stays. In the current visa regime, 93 countries are eligible for free-visa stays. From now on, only 54 countries will benefit of the 30-day free visa on arrival. This means that free visa-stay for over 30 countries is totally abolished.
Citizens of countries considered as “old foes” by Thailand -mostly for historical reasons- such as Cambodia and Myanmar will only be able to stay for 14 days in the country. Seychelles, Maldives and Mauritius will benefit of a visa-free stay valid for 15 days.
Bilateral agreements for a 30-day visa exemption will apply to China, Hong Kong, Macau, Laos, Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Timor-Leste and Vietnam. A 90-day visa exemption is valid for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and South Korea.
The newspaper Bangkok Post published an unofficial list of countries being granted a 30-day free visa stay in the near future:
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Americas : Canada, United States.
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Asia-Pacific : Australia, Bhutan, Brunei, Georgia, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey.
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Europe : Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and United Kingdom.
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Middle East : Bahrain, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates. Africa: South Africa.
Four countries instead of 31 are eligible for visa on arrival: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Serbia and India.
The changes will officially take effect 15 days after publication in the Royal Gazette, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Travelers already in the country before the deadline can remain until their current permission expires.
A disastrous PR exercise for Thailand image?
The justification to reduce the length of visa-free stay for travelers can be understood. However, why to strictly revert to a previous regime without adaptation? The government could introduce a 40- or 45-day free-visa stay for example. They could also analyzed collected data from e-arrival cards and compare them with recorded data from foreign visitors who violated local laws. And then to differentiate the free-visa regime from one country to another.
More upsetting is in fact the sharp reduction of countries able to get a free-visa on arrival. Is Thailand considering that the citizens from the 40++ countries now excluded from the scheme, represented a danger for the Kingdom? If yes, why providing two years ago the visa-free facility? It could easily be interpreted as a kind of hostility towards certain countries…
Another question could be also raised: why this governmental hysteria around the 60-day free-visa scheme? Malaysia provides a 90-day free-visa stay to 67 countries; Singapore gives the same length of stay to citizens of 34 countries; Vietnam provides a 45-day free visa stay to 24 countries. None of those countries seem to complaint about visitors breaching laws.
In fact, the tightening in visa comes as Thailand tourism is showing signs of fatigue. And at the time where the government want to “milk out” foreign travelers with a series of new taxes.
International arrivals through May 17 were down 3.3% year-over-year to 12.9 million visitors. Last year’s total arrivals also slipped 7% to 33 million. As Thailand is facing the issues of high fuel prices (and consequently of air tickets) as well as a global economic recession, another decline is now forecast for 2026. Numbers have now been revised to a total of 32 million international arrivals by year-end.
