Thailand's Royal Gazette published four Interior Ministry regulations on 31 August 2026 (Volume 143, Special Issue 207 Ngor) that rewrite who may enter Thailand without a visa and for how long. The regulations take effect 15 days after publication, which means the old rules govern arrivals up to and including 14 September 2026, and the new rules apply from 15 September 2026.
The headline change: the 60-day visa exemption that 93 countries have enjoyed since 15 July 2024 is cancelled. It is replaced by a 30-day visa exemption for 60 countries and territories.
The key dates
- •31 August 2026 — published in the Royal Gazette.
- •Through 14 September 2026 — the old rules still apply. If you land on or before this date you are stamped under the 60-day scheme.
- •15 September 2026 — the new framework takes effect.
The 60 countries and territories with a 30-day exemption
Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bhutan, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and the United States.
India is the notable promotion: Indian passport holders were on visa on arrival for years, gained the 60-day exemption in July 2024, and keep an exemption now at 30 days.
Fifteen days for two countries
Seychelles and Mauritius are placed in a new 15-day visa-exemption tier.
Three countries move to visa on arrival
Azerbaijan, Belarus and Serbia lose their visa exemption and move to visa on arrival: 15 days, 2,000 THB in cash, not extendable, with a passport photo, onward ticket and proof of accommodation required at the counter. They are now the only three nationalities on the VOA list, which the same gazette cuts from 31 countries to three.
What happens to the countries dropped from the list
Roughly thirty nationalities that held the 60-day exemption are not on the new 60-country list — among them China, Russia, South Korea, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico. They do not automatically need a visa. Thailand applies the one country, one privilege principle: where a country already holds a standing bilateral visa-exemption agreement with Thailand, that agreement governs entry. South Korea's bilateral agreement runs to 90 days, for example, while China's mutual exemption and Hong Kong's agreement run to 30. Where no bilateral agreement exists, travellers need a tourist visa or e-Visa applied for before departure.
Thailand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes the bilateral list separately: 90 days for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru and South Korea; 30 days for China, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Laos, Macau, Mongolia, Russia, Timor-Leste and Vietnam; 14 days for Cambodia and Myanmar. Countries on none of those lists — Mexico, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Colombia, Uruguay, Panama, Morocco, Andorra, Monaco and San Marino among them — need a visa from 15 September, applied for through Thailand’s worldwide e-Visa system.
Because the fallback differs country by country, check your own passport rather than assuming: our country-by-country visa page lists every category as gazetted, and the visa checker answers it in three questions.
Extensions, land borders and grandfathering
- •Extension unchanged: one extension of up to 30 additional days at any Immigration office, 1,900 THB. On the new 30-day exemption the practical maximum without a visa becomes 60 days, down from 90.
- •Land borders: visa-exempt land entries stay capped at two per calendar year. Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore are exempt from that cap.
- •Grandfathering: travellers who enter before 15 September 2026 keep the stay granted on entry, and anyone already in Thailand keeps their permitted stay. Nobody is cut short retroactively.
- •Tourism only: the new notification limits the exemption to tourism. The earlier wording that also covered short-term business has been dropped.
What this means for your arrival card
Nothing about the Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) changes. It is mandatory for every foreign passport holder entering Thailand, whether you arrive visa-exempt for 30 days, on a visa on arrival, or on a tourist visa, and whether you land on 14 or 15 September. If your trip straddles the change, file the TDAC as normal — the arrival card does not record your permitted stay; the immigration officer does, using the rules in force on the day you land.