Thailand Visa Exemption

Key parameters
Limit	60 days
Period / Window	Per visit
Counting	Any part of a day
Additional requirements	Arrival card, onward travel, no work

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, shorter 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.

• The cut is approved but undated, and it won't be retroactive. Sixty days stands until the Royal Gazette publishes, and anyone admitted before the change takes effect keeps the stay they were granted. Verify which regime applies to your arrival date rather than assuming either figure.
• Two reforms are running at once and get conflated. The stay length is the one still pending. The Thailand Digital Arrival Card already applies — it replaced the paper form for everyone entering the country, whatever route they use, and is unaffected by whether the shorter stays take effect.
• 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 of money per traveller is a long-standing entry condition, alongside onward travel and accommodation details. Checks are occasional rather than routine, and failing one is a discretionary ground for refusal.
• A tourist visa obtained in advance gives a longer stay than the exemption. Applying at a Thai embassy before travelling is the straightforward route for a stay the exemption can't cover.

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.

A holiday well inside the limit

You fly into Bangkok in November, complete the digital arrival card beforehand, and are stamped in for 60 days. You spend six 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 60 days and decide you want longer. You visit an immigration office before the stamp expires, pay the fee, and receive a further 30 days — 90 in total, which is the ceiling on this route.

Assuming the wrong figure applies

You book a 55-day trip months ahead on the basis of the 60-day exemption. If the shorter stays have been published and taken effect by your arrival date, you'd be stamped in for 30 instead, and would need the extension to cover the rest of the trip.

• Thailand Ministry of Foreign Affairs — Visa information
• Thailand Immigration Bureau
• Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC)