Thailand Visa Exemption 2026: Still 60 Days, Not 30

Thailand gives most nationalities 60 days visa-free. That was the position when we last checked this page, on the verification date shown above. The Cabinet has approved cutting the allowance to 30 days, but approval is not law: the cut takes effect 15 days after publication in the Royal Gazette, and that publication had not happened as at that date. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was still publishing its 60-day list of 93 countries and territories as the scheme in force. Because publication starts a 15-day clock and nothing announces it in advance, check the Gazette against that verification date before you promise a client 60 days on a specific arrival. What follows is for trade partners planning across our two core destinations, and it is guidance, not immigration advice. Confirm each traveller's nationality on the official sources before you ticket anything.

What applies today

Nationals of 93 countries and territories enter Thailand visa-free for 60 days. The list covers all 27 EU member states, the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, India and all six Gulf states. It is not tourism-only. The scheme's own title covers tourism and short-term business engagements, which matters if you are moving a buyer or a site inspection through Bangkok.

Sixty days is also not the ceiling. A visa-exempt visitor can apply once at a Thai immigration office for an extension of up to 30 days, on form TM.7, for a fee of 1,900 baht. If it is granted, that takes the maximum Thailand-only stay to 90 days for most nationalities.

Two cautions on the extension, both of which we see people get wrong. It is discretionary. The Immigration Bureau's wording is that permission "shall be granted for one time and no more than 30 days", so it is a ceiling the officer may award, not a right your client is buying. And nine nationalities are capped at 7 days, not 30: Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Nepal, Togo, Nigeria and Uganda.

What changes when the cut lands

The Cabinet approved the detail on 14 July 2026, as reported by Thai media, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand published the summary two days later. Under it, each country or territory gets exactly one entry category. That principle, "one country, one entry category", is the point of the reform: it removes the overlaps where a nationality currently holds two entitlements at once.

Two honest caveats about that table, because they affect how much weight you should put on it.

The complete country lists have not been published. Five of the 59 have been named, Croatia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Malta and the Maldives, but no Thai government source has released the full list of the 59. Until the Gazette annexes appear, any answer about a specific market is an inference, not something you can check.

And the government's own figures do not add up. TAT states 65 countries and territories in total, but the categories it names come to 64. The same gap was reproduced in the other government and wire summaries our fact-check reviewed, so it originates in the Cabinet briefing itself and not in one press write-up. We quote the total only as TAT's figure, never as ours, because a headline number that contradicts its own components is worth less than no number. The three category figures are the ones to work from.

When it can land, and how much warning you get

Very little, is the short answer. There is no scheduled publication date and no pre-announcement mechanism. The 15-day gap between publication and effect is the entire notice period.

That gap is the thing worth watching, because it is the only lead time the reform gives you. Publication had not happened when we last checked, and the clock does not start until it does: whatever date the notice appears, arrivals in the 15 days that follow it are still admitted on the old rules. So treat the Gazette as a check to run, not as background. Before you commit a client to a specific arrival date, look at it yourself, note the verification date at the top of this page, and count 15 days forward from any notice you find.

One more reason not to treat the detail as final: the five Ministry of Interior announcements are drafts approved by Cabinet, not finished texts waiting for a printing slot. They can still change before they publish. The May version of this package had three announcements and a different set of numbers, and it was replaced in July.

Who is protected, and who is not

Protection is keyed to entry. TAT's wording is that foreign nationals who enter Thailand before the new measures take effect "will be permitted to remain for the duration of their existing permitted stay". A client who lands on a 60-day stamp the day before the switch keeps all 60 days, even if the change takes effect mid-stay.

Nothing protects a booking. We looked for booking-based, deposit-based or ticket-based grandfathering across every version of the transition clause the Thai government has issued. There is none. Every one of them keys protection to the date the traveller enters the country.

So the exposure is specific and it is easy to state. Trips already under way are safe. Trips arriving before publication plus 15 days are safe. A programme sold now for arrival in Q4 2026 or Q1 2027 is not protected by having been sold. That is the population to re-check.

The markets where this gets complicated

Some of your clients are not affected at all. Bilateral visa-exemption treaties sit outside this reform and continue to apply. Argentina, Brazil, Chile, South Korea and Peru hold 90 days by agreement. Cambodia and Myanmar hold 14. Several of those markets sit on the 60-day exemption list as well, and where a traveller holds both, the treaty is the one this reform does not touch. So a Korean or Brazilian long-stay client is unaffected, whatever the Gazette eventually says.

India is the one to watch, and we cannot yet tell you the answer. Indian passport holders currently hold 60-day visa exemption and visa on arrival at the same time, which is exactly the duplication the reform exists to remove. TAT's English summary says India moves to the 30-day exemption. Thai-language reporting of the same Cabinet briefing says India gets a 15-day exemption for one year before review. The second version is the one that makes the government's totals add up. Add the 7-day extension cap for Indian nationals and the realistic maximum becomes 37 days, or 22, depending on which reading survives. If you sell India, do not quote a Thailand duration yet.

Mauritius takes the hardest confirmed cut. It sits on the 60-day list today and would drop to 15.

No EU market gains anything, despite how the announcement reads. Croatia, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Malta are described as newly added, but they are already on the 60-day list, so for them this is the same reduction everyone else gets. TAT states the revision aligns treatment across all 27 EU member states, so none loses visa-free access.

What to do with programmes you are selling now

Build the trip so the answer does not depend on the Gazette.

For a long Southeast Asia programme that is straightforward, because Vietnam carries 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 fits inside the allowances whether or not the Thai change has landed. That is the structure that never needs rebuilding, and it is why we quote it that way now. Partners who have not run a combined programme before can start from a Vietnam leg or a two-country routing.

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

For a Thailand-only programme over 30 days, price both versions now. If your client arrives before the change, they have 60 days and can ask for 30 more. If they arrive after, they have 30 and can ask for 30 more, which turns the extension from a nicety into the thing the itinerary depends on. Do not sell it as certain. Nothing official yet confirms the extension survives the cut, it is discretionary in any case, and for the nine capped nationalities it is only 7 days. Brief the client before they book, so nobody arrives expecting 60 days on the stamp and finds 30. 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.

One thing that does not change either way. Every foreign visitor must file the Thailand Digital Arrival Card before arriving, by air, land or sea. It is free, and the window is three days before arrival counting the arrival date itself, which is shorter than the 72 hours people often assume.