Thailand's 30-Day Visa Exemption: What Changed on 15 September 2026

Since 15 September 2026, Thailand's visa exemption has covered passport holders from 60 countries and territories, for tourism stays of up to 30 days. The 60-day exemption for 93 countries and territories applied to arrivals up to 14 September, and anyone admitted before 15 September keeps the stay shown on their entry stamp.

The change came in Ministry of Interior announcements published in the Royal Gazette on 31 August 2026, in Volume 143, Special Issue 207 Ngor. One revoked the 60-day list of 15 July 2024, and another designated the 30-day list. The measures took effect on 15 September. What follows is for trade partners planning across our two core destinations, and it is guidance, not immigration advice. Confirm each traveller's nationality and purpose of travel against the official sources before you ticket anything.

Who gets what since 15 September 2026

The passport decides the route, and the route decides the stay. The Tourism Authority of Thailand and the Government Public Relations Department set out the first three rows in September. The bilateral rows come from the Department of Consular Affairs list for ordinary passports.

The 30-day exemption, the 15-day exemption and visa on arrival apply to travel for tourism purposes only. The bilateral agreements were left as they were, and the Tourism Authority confirms that they continue to apply. Mauritius, which had 60 days under the old list, has had 15 since 15 September.

The 60 countries and territories on the 30-day list

The list takes in all 27 EU member states, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and all six Gulf Cooperation Council states. Grouped by region:

India is on the list, so Indian passport holders get up to 30 days for tourism like everyone else on it. Discard any earlier calculation that gave India a shorter allowance, including the one on an earlier version of this page. The same goes for any market view built on country counts reported before publication in the Gazette: check it against these 60.

Tourism only: business travel needs a visa

The 60-day scheme covered tourism and short-term business engagements. Its replacement covers tourism and nothing else. A meeting, a buyer's site inspection, a familiarisation trip for agency staff and work of any kind on a programme, whether by a tour leader, a performer or a chef, are not tourism, so the exemption does not cover them. Those travellers need the appropriate visa, applied for through the official Thai e-Visa site. Settle the purpose of each trip before you ticket, because it decides the route as much as the passport does.

Where a bilateral agreement is all that is left

Bilateral visa-exemption agreements are a separate instrument from the exemption list. The Department of Consular Affairs publishes them as their own list, dated 12 December 2025, and the 31 August announcements amended none of them.

Until 14 September a passport could hold both, and for most nationalities with an agreement the 60-day exemption was the more generous of the two. Once the 93-country list was revoked, a nationality left off the 60-country replacement fell back to its agreement. China, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Laos, Macao, Mongolia, Russia and Vietnam had 60 days until 14 September and have had 30, by agreement, since 15 September. Cambodia fell furthest, from 60 days to the 14 its agreement grants.

Korea, Brazil and Peru were on the old list too, but their agreements already gave 90 days, so they lost nothing. Argentina, Chile, Myanmar and Timor-Leste were never on the 93-country list, and their agreements carry on as before.

The extension: possible, never a plan

A visitor admitted under the exemption may apply once at a Thai immigration office for an extension of up to 30 days, on form TM.7, for 1,900 baht. It is granted at the officer's discretion, so it is a ceiling an officer may award, not something your client has bought. Neither the Tourism Authority nor the Public Relations Department mentions extensions in its September summary of the change. Whether the extension is open to travellers admitted under a bilateral agreement, such as Vietnamese passport holders, has not been confirmed. Check with Thai Immigration before anyone relies on it, and build the programme inside the stay granted at entry.

Programmes already sold or being quoted

The rule follows the date the traveller enters Thailand. A client admitted on 14 September on a 60-day exemption keeps all 60 days, into November; a client entering on 15 September or later gets the new allowance. Nothing about the booking changes that: not the deposit, the ticket or the date the contract was signed.

Pull every file with a Thailand arrival on or after 15 September 2026 and sort it by nationality and by purpose. Keep the bilateral-agreement nationalities on that list, and flag every business traveller for a visa check. Most of the exposure will be long-stay leisure sold on the old 60-day assumption.

For a Thailand-only programme over 30 days, re-price it and brief the client before they travel. Nobody should reach immigration expecting 60 days and find 30 on the stamp. For a long Southeast Asia programme the better fix is structural, because Vietnam can carry the second half. Twenty-four nationalities get 45 days visa-free in Vietnam under two resolutions, with no application and no fee. A 30-day Thailand leg plus a 45-day Vietnam leg gives 75 days and needs no extension from anybody, provided the passport qualifies in both countries. Partners who have not run a combined programme before can start from a Vietnam leg or a two-country routing.

Watch the purpose on the Vietnamese side too. One of the two resolutions covers any purpose and the other covers tourism only, so a Dutch, Polish or Belgian client on a fam trip, an incentive or a site inspection should be quoted the Vietnamese e-visa. Anyone outside the 24 can apply for a Vietnamese e-visa of up to 90 days, single or multiple entry, arranged before departure.

If the routing enters Thailand overland, from Cambodia, Laos or Malaysia, count the crossings. Travellers using the 30-day exemption may generally enter through land-border checkpoints no more than twice per calendar year. The limit does not apply at airports, to nationals of Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore, or to other nationalities the Minister may designate. Whether it applies to entries under a bilateral agreement, on Vietnamese or Lao passports for example, has not been stated, so check with Thai Immigration before routing repeat land entries.

One thing the change did not touch. Every non-Thai national entering Thailand must complete the free Thailand Digital Arrival Card online before arrival, by air, land or sea. Submit it within the three days before arrival, and no earlier.

To have a programme re-costed, send us the passport nationalities, travel purpose and arrival dates through our trade enquiry form. Agencies receive net rates on registration.

For how the season interacts with trip length, our guide to the best time to visit Thailand sits alongside this one, and our note on how many days to spend across Thailand and Vietnam helps size the two legs. The wider entry picture for both countries is in our entry rules guide and our entry requirements overview.