Most 60-day stays slashed to 30 days
Tourists visit the Temple of Dawn in Bangkok on April 27. Varuth Hirunyatheb
Tourism operators welcomed the government's first step in revoking the 60-day visa exemption to curb illicit activities by foreigners, while urging authorities to provide proper guidance for genuine investors as well as advising frequent visa runners to apply for alternative long-stay visas instead.The cabinet agreed on Tuesday to revoke the 60-day visa exemption for 93 countries, reverting to 30-day and 15-day privileges similar to 2024, while curbing visa runs by limiting eligible stays to twice per year.
Under the draft of the new regulations, individuals entering Thailand for a third time within a calendar year after using their two full-stay privileges would be denied entry immediately, unless they are from exempted countries such as Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore.
Tourism and Sports Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul said the visa exemption and visa eligibility measures were reviewed to reflect the current context.
