Thailand revises visa rules for 60 nationalities from Sept.15

Following the review of its 60-day tourist visa-free scheme for ordinary passport holders of nationals or citizens of 60 countries and territories, Thailand cuts down the privilege and reverts back to the 30-day visa-free stays beginning September 15 (Tuesday).

In light of these changes, the Royal Thai Embassy in Abu Dhabi, headed by Ambassador to the UAE Bolbongse Vangphaen, issued on Tuesday: “Thailand remains open and continuous to welcome travellers to the Kingdom, while the Embassy stands ready to facilitate and provide any necessary assistance.”

It referred visa applicants to visit https://abudhabi.thaiembassy.org/en.

It also urged them to call up +97125776551 extension 101 or 111 for Consular Team assistance.

On August 31 (Monday), the VisasNews and its portal, published the revised visa scheme: “Regulations had been signed and forwarded to the Royal Gazette” which had it printed over “Volume 143, Special Issue 207 Ngor,” on the same day.

According to the portal, Bangkok’s Ministry of Interior laid down the guidelines thereafter.

From the embassy in the capital: “Starting September 15, 2026, holders of ordinary passports of an expanded list of 60 territories, including the UAE, India, the Philippines, US, UK, and Canada will enjoy visa-free entry to Thailand for tourism purposes for up to 30 days.”

They “have the option to apply for a one-time extension of up to an additional 30 days, subject to the approval by the Thai immigration authorities.”

The 60-day visa-free scheme took effect on July 15, 2024, according to the VisaNews; applicable to nationals and citizens of 93 countries and territories for the purpose of tourism business engagements, or urgent and adhoc work.

“The revision was needed to eliminate overlapping visa exemption privileges, streamline the e-visa, uphold reciprocity arrangements, strengthen national security, safeguard the safety of genuine tourists, and prevent the misuse of visa categories by exploiters, among other considerations,” according to the embassy.

The VisasNews stated that the 60-day tourism visa exemption is still granted to all foreign visitors covered in the 2024 guidelines.

From the embassy: “Foreign visitors who are already in Thailand under the current visa exemption schemes or plan to travel to Thailand before September 15, 2026 may stay until the last date of their permitted period of stay, which is indicated on the immigration stamp on their passport.”

From VisasNews, other nationals and citizens, granted the 30-day visa-free stay, with an addition of a one-time 30-day extension, to be determined by any of the over 70 Thailand Immigration Bureau offices, spread throughout the country are: Australia, Iceland, Oman, Austria, Bahrain, Indonesia, Poland, Belgium, Ireland, Portugal, Bhutan, Israel, Qatar, Brunei Darussalam, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Singapore, Croatia, Kuwait, Slovakia, Cyprus, Kyrgystan, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Latvia, South Africa, Denmark, Liechtenstein, Spain, Estonia, Lithuania, Sweden, Fiji, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Finland, Malaysia, Taiwan, France, Maldives, Turkey, Georgia, Malta, Ukraine, Germany, the Netherlands, Greece, New Zealand, Hungary and Norway.

Thailand, the third largest Southeast Asian economy, after Indonesia and Singapore, welcomed “170,000 visitors from the UAE in 2025,” according to the data released by the Royal Thai Embassy in Abu Dhabi.

The diplomatic mission processes visa applications between “three and 10 working days, including the date of submission.”

The 170,000 from the UAE, were among the 32,974,32 international tourists, as the 2025 data revealed in the website of Tourism Thailand.

Tourism Thailand recorded 35.55 million foreign visitors in 2024.

From the same website, the “Top Source Markets of Thailand” which entered through the capital of Bangkok, from January 1 to December 20, 2025, were China (605,974), India (306,974), Russia (163,334), Vietnam (131,614), South Korea (101,083), Chinese Taipei (93,240), Indonesia (58,639), Japan (47,751), UK (41,386), and Germany (41,343).