Policy timeline

Thailand visa-exemption transition

Thailand's current 60-day exemption remains the live rule while approved replacement drafts await Royal Gazette publication and a 15-day effective window.

Updated 16 Jul 2026

Why this is watched

Thailand still publishes the current 60-day exemption while Cabinet-approved drafts would replace it with 30-day and 15-day cohorts only after Royal Gazette publication plus 15 days. Updating early would be wrong; updating late would misstate a high-demand destination.

Review cadence

  • check Royal Gazette and traveller-facing MFA guidance at least weekly until the approved replacement scheme takes effect

Change triggers

  • Royal Gazette publication of the approved visa-exemption drafts
  • Fifteen-day effective window begins or ends
  • MFA, consular or embassy traveller-facing country lists change
  • TDAC requirement or official submission window changes

Timeline

  1. 2026-05-19: Cabinet approved a replacement visa-exemption structure
    Thailand's official PRD said the Cabinet approved withdrawing the 60-day scheme and replacing it with narrower 30-day and 15-day cohorts, subject to Ministry of Interior announcements in the Royal Gazette.
  2. 2026-07-15: Cabinet approved a further revision
    The official notice describes a 30-day visa-free cohort of 59 countries and territories and says the related drafts take effect 15 days after Royal Gazette publication.
  3. 2026-07-16: Current-vs-future rule separated on TravelVisaRules
    Corridor pages retain the currently published 60-day answer and identify the approved 30-day scheme as future, preventing an announcement from being mistaken for a live entry rule.

Official sources

Representative corridor pages

A small sampled set of verified corridor pages affected by this policy watch item.

Related verified pages