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Thailand Visa Exemption

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Reviewed in September 2026

Overview

Key parameters
Limit 30 days
Period / Window Per visit
Counting Any part of a day
Additional requirements Arrival card, onward travel, no work

Understanding the rule

The visa exemption is an entry concession rather than a visa: you arrive, and an immigration officer stamps you in for the permitted period. Nothing is applied for in advance beyond the arrival card, and it grants no right to work regardless of who pays you or where the client is.

It isn't the only short-stay option, either. Visa on Arrival is a distinct scheme covering a different set of nationalities, and a tourist visa obtained from a Thai embassy before travel gives longer than the exemption does. Which applies to you turns on your nationality, and the lists differ for each.

How to keep track

  1. The stay is 30 days from the date you're stamped in, granted per entry, with no annual limit on arrivals by air. Arrivals up to 14 September 2026 were stamped in for 60.
  2. Any part of a day counts, so your arrival and departure days both fall inside the permitted period.
  3. One 30-day extension can be applied for at an immigration office inside Thailand, for a fee, before your permitted stay expires. That takes a 30-day entry to 60 days in total.
  4. Complete the Thailand Digital Arrival Card online within the three days before you arrive. A new one is needed for every entry, and only passengers transiting without clearing immigration are outside the requirement.
  5. Arriving by land, most nationalities are capped at two visa-exempt entries per calendar year, and the count resets on 1 January. Malaysian, Bruneian, Indonesian and Singaporean nationals are outside that cap. Officers can also refuse anyone whose pattern of entries suggests they are living in Thailand.

Keep your entry stamps, arrival card confirmation and any extension receipt. Your permitted-until date is written on the stamp, and that stamp is what you'll be measured against if questioned.

Edge cases

  • The change isn't retroactive. Published in the Royal Gazette on 31 August 2026, in force 15 September 2026. A stay already granted runs its full length, so a 60-day stamp issued on 10 September keeps all 60. Your arrival date decides, not your booking date.
  • The new figures split three ways. Sixty countries and territories get 30 days, Seychelles and Mauritius get 15, and Azerbaijan, Belarus and Serbia move to Visa on Arrival.
  • Two schemes run side by side, and only one changed. Those figures are the unilateral exemption. Standing bilateral agreements are untouched, giving ordinary passports 90 days (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Korea (ROK), Peru), 30 days (China, Hong Kong, Laos, Macau, Mongolia, Russia, Vietnam) or 14 days (Cambodia, Myanmar, international airports only). So a Russian citizen still gets 30, by agreement rather than the list, and Brazilians and South Koreans keep 90. Check which scheme covers your passport.
  • Two reforms get conflated. Only the stay length changed. The Thailand Digital Arrival Card is separate and already applies to everyone entering, whatever route they use.
  • The exemption is not a visa and carries no work rights. Remote work for a foreign employer sits in a grey area Thailand has been tightening rather than relaxing, and any local employment is clearly prohibited.
  • You can be asked to show you can support yourself. A minimum sum per traveller is a long-standing entry condition, alongside onward travel and accommodation details. Checks are occasional, and failing one is a discretionary ground for refusal.
  • A tourist visa obtained in advance gives a longer stay. Applying at a Thai embassy before travelling is the straightforward route for a stay the exemption can't cover.
  • Three visa-exempt entries can make you a Thai tax resident. Thirty days extended by 30 is 60, and arrivals by air have no annual limit — so three of those reach the 180 days in a calendar year that make you a Thai tax resident. The days need not be consecutive, and the shorter exemption makes this easier to stumble into, not harder.

If you get this rule wrong

Overstaying is charged at a fixed daily fine up to a capped maximum, payable at the airport on departure, and anything past that becomes a matter for the immigration police rather than a counter transaction. For anyone who leaves voluntarily the bans scale with the overstay — 1 year past 90 days, 3 years past a year, 5 years past three, 10 years past five. Being arrested instead is markedly harsher, and can mean a 5-year ban for an overstay that would otherwise have carried none. Professional advice is strongly recommended in situations like this.

Examples

A holiday well inside the limit

You fly into Bangkok in November, complete the digital arrival card beforehand, and are stamped in for 30 days. You spend three weeks travelling and leave with time to spare, needing no visa and no extension.

Using the extension to stretch a stay

You're stamped in for 30 days and decide you want longer. You visit an immigration office before the stamp expires, pay the fee, and receive a further 30 days — 60 in total, which is the ceiling on this route.

Caught by the switchover

You booked a 55-day trip in July on the basis of the 60-day exemption, arriving on 20 September. You are stamped in for 30 days instead, and the single extension takes you to 60 — enough, but only because you applied for it inside Thailand before the first 30 days ran out.

Official sources

FAQ

For informational purposes only — this page does not provide legal, tax, immigration, residency, financial or any other advice. All information on this website is general in nature and should not be relied upon as professional or legal guidance. You are solely responsible for verifying information with official sources and consulting with qualified professional regarding your specific circumstances.