Thailand votes to cut visa-free stays from 60 days back to 30

2026-05-19 — Tuesday — Bangkok

Nothing has changed at the border yet. The cabinet approved the cut, but you still get 60 days today. The new rule only starts 15 days after it appears in Thailand's Royal Gazette — and as of late August 2026 it had not appeared.

What was decided

On 19 May 2026 Thailand's cabinet voted to undo the 60-day visa exemption it introduced in July 2024, and go back to the 30 days that applied before. The exemption is for tourism only. You can still extend once, by another 30 days, at any Thai immigration office.

This affects a lot of people. The scheme covers 93 countries and territories, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and the whole European Union. If you have ever flown into Bangkok and simply been waved through with a stamp, this is the rule you were using.

Why it has not started yet

In Thailand, a cabinet resolution is a decision to proceed. It is not itself the law.

The revised conditions take effect 15 days after publication in the Royal Gazette, and that publication requires five separate Ministry of Interior notices. As of late August 2026, none had been published.

The practical consequence is that travellers arriving in Thailand are still admitted under the 60-day conditions. Reports describing the 30-day rule as already in force do not reflect the position at immigration.

The reason behind it

Thai officials have tied the change to people using the tourist stamp for things it was never meant to cover: working without a permit, running a business, and what the government describes as cross-border crime, including the scam call-centre operations near the borders.

Tourism officials also make a quieter point. Around 90% of foreign visitors already leave Thailand inside 30 days, so most holidaymakers would never notice. The people this really touches are long-stay visitors, remote workers on tourist stamps, and anyone using Thailand as a base for a longer trip around the region.

How Thailand ended up at 60 days

Sixty days was never the normal position. Thailand ran a 30-day exemption for years and stretched it to 60 in July 2024, to pull visitor numbers back up after the pandemic. At the same time it widened the eligible list to 93 countries.

Arrivals rose over the period that followed. The May 2026 decision returns the exemption to its pre-2024 length.

The 30-day extension

Whether a traveller arrives under a 30-day or 60-day exemption, the stay can be extended once by a further 30 days at a Thai immigration office. This was not part of the cabinet's decision and is unchanged.

It is a same-day, in-person process requiring a form, a fee, a photograph, and copies of the passport and entry stamp. Bangkok's main office at Chaeng Watthana handles the highest volume; offices in Chiang Mai, Phuket and Pattaya generally process the same application more quickly.

With the extension, a 30-day exemption covers a stay of up to 60 days without a visa application.

What to do if you are booking now

Trip of 30 days or less? This never touches you, whenever it starts.

Longer than that? Do not count on 60 days still being there when you fly. If your plan genuinely needs more time, get a tourist visa (TR) before you leave home, or build around the single 30-day extension.

Check the Royal Thai Embassy page for your own country a couple of weeks before departure. Fifteen days is all the warning the system gives once the Gazette publishes.

If you are a PacificAir reader, what to do today

Book normally. Sixty days is what you will be given at the border until the Gazette says otherwise.

Set yourself a reminder if your trip runs past 30 days: check the embassy page about two weeks before you fly.

File your Thailand Digital Arrival Card free at the official portal in the 72 hours before you land, and ignore any site that asks you to pay for it. That requirement is separate and is not changing.

References

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