Thailand visa 2026: 30-day rule from 15 September

What changed, and when

Thailand's 60-day visa exemption is being withdrawn. This is settled law, not a proposal.

The Cabinet approved the review on 19 May 2026. The implementing Ministry of Interior notices were published in the Royal Gazette on 31 August 2026, and Thai practice gave them 15 days before they bite. They take effect on 15 September 2026.

According to the Department of Consular Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the package does five things:

Not legal advice. Rules change, and officers decide at the desk. Verify with the Royal Thai Embassy that covers where you live, or on thaievisa.go.th, before you fly. Last checked 9 September 2026.

Does this change your trip? Check your arrival date first

This is the only question most travellers need answered, and most coverage buries it.

If you land on 12 September and fly home in late October, nothing about your trip changes. If you land on 16 September, plan around 30 days.

The routes in from 15 September

After the change, a nationality should sit in exactly one category rather than several overlapping ones.

The published Gazette notices are the list officers work from. Around thirty nationalities that held the 60-day exemption are not on the new 60-country exemption list; several of them are covered by a pre-existing bilateral agreement instead, and a few now need a visa in advance. Because the mapping is per passport and changed this month, do not rely on a list copied from a blog — including this one.

How to check your own passport

Do this rather than memorising a country list:

1. Run your document through thaievisa.go.th, the official checker.
2. Confirm with the Royal Thai Embassy or Consulate covering where you live, not where you are travelling from.
3. Read the number written into your passport at the checkpoint. That number is what governs your stay and what any extension is added to.

Dual nationals should leave Thailand on the same passport used to enter. If you are looking at a paid stamp at the border rather than an exemption, the detail sits on Visa on Arrival. If the plan is months rather than weeks, that is a different product — see DTV.

Passport, funds, onward ticket, overstay

A shorter exemption does not change the checks at the desk.

Those funds figures are the UK government's statement of Thai requirements for British citizens. Carry evidence rather than arguing from a screenshot.

What this does not change

• Other visa categories. The Thai notice is explicit that this revision covers only the 30-day and 15-day tourism exemptions and VoA. DTV, Non-Immigrant, work, study and retirement visas follow their own rules.
• The arrival card. TDAC is still required, still free, and still separate from any visa.
• Extensions in principle. A 30-day tourism extension for 1,900 THB is still the common path, which is why the practical ceiling moves to roughly 60 days rather than 90.

Common mistakes

• Assuming the cut applies to a trip that starts before 15 September.
• Assuming a 60-day stamp already in the passport gets shortened. It does not.
• Reading "Thailand is still visa free" and concluding the length is unchanged.
• Treating a nationality list from a news article as the operative list instead of checking your own passport.
• Paying an agent for a free exemption stamp or a free arrival card.
• Confusing the DTV with a tourism exemption.

Where this sits on Meet Locale

Ask in Visas and entry with your passport country and arrival date, and people who crossed the border that week can tell you what the stamp actually said. Treat that as field reporting, not as a ruling — Thai Immigration and your embassy are the authorities here.