Guide · Visa
Thailand visa rules right now
30 days visa-free for GCC passports, and what UAE residents need
4 min read · 8 sources
The short answer: a GCC passport gets 30 days in Thailand without a visa, down from 60 since 15 September 2026. Whatever your passport, fill in the free Thailand Digital Arrival Card before you fly.
This page was checked on 27 September 2026 against the Royal Thai Government Gazette and the Thai government’s own notice. Rules change: check again close to your travel date.
At a glance
- GCC passports
- 30 days visa-free — no visa needed for a holiday
- Since
- 15 September 2026 (it used to be 60 days)
- Before you fly
- The free TDAC arrival card, in the 3 days before you land
- Living in the UAE?
- Your passport decides, not your residence visa
- Need a visa?
- Apply only at thaievisa.go.th — other sites are resellers
The short answer
No visa needed. If you hold a passport from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain or Oman and you are coming on holiday, you are stamped in for up to 30 days.
The one thing you must do before you fly is fill in the Thailand Digital Arrival Card. It is free, it takes a few minutes, and it is the thing people most often forget.
What changed on 15 September 2026
The new rules were published in the Royal Gazette on 31 August 2026 and took effect on 15 September 2026.
The 60-day visa exemption is gone. The 30-day tourist exemption now covers 60 countries and territories. A new 15-day exemption covers two, Mauritius and Seychelles. Visa on arrival now covers three: Azerbaijan, Belarus and Serbia. Each country gets one scheme only.
It is not retroactive. If you entered before 15 September 2026, you keep the stay printed on your entry stamp.
The change covers only these tourist exemptions and visa on arrival. Other visas, such as the tourist visa and the DTV, are not affected.
If you hold a GCC passport
All six are on the 30-day list: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman. None of them lost visa-free entry. What changed is the length, from 60 days to 30.
For a one or two week holiday that changes nothing. For a longer stay, apply for a tourist visa online before you travel, or ask Phuket Immigration about an extension before you plan around one.
If you live in the UAE on another passport
Your passport decides, not your UAE residence visa.
India is no longer on the visa-on-arrival list.
- Indian or Filipino passport: on the 30-day list — no visa for a holiday.
- Pakistani or Egyptian passport: on no list — get a visa before you fly.
- Any other passport: check the Gazette list, or ask the Thai embassy in Abu Dhabi or the consulate in Dubai.
- If you need a visa and you live in the UAE, you apply online only, through the Thai e-Visa portal. The Thai consulate in Dubai asks for a copy of your UAE residence visa or Emirates ID and a return ticket from the UAE, and says it rejects applications made from outside the UAE. It quotes 5 to 20 days to process, so apply early.
Where to do it
- Thailand e-Visa portal (opens in a new tab)Official. The only place to apply. Other sites are resellers.
- Royal Thai Consulate-General, Dubai — e-Visa (opens in a new tab)What UAE residents upload, and how long it takes.
- Royal Thai Embassy, Abu Dhabi — e-Visa (opens in a new tab)Online only, no walk-in applications.
- UAE passport holders without nationality (opens in a new tab)The embassy’s own step-by-step for this case.
If you do need an actual visa
For a stay longer than the exemption, the usual route is a Tourist Visa (TR), applied for online through the official e-Visa portal before you travel.
The Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) is the five-year multiple-entry option for remote workers and people on longer stays such as Muay Thai or cooking courses.
Apply through the official portal only. The sites that appear above it in search results are almost all resellers charging a markup.
The arrival card everyone forgets
Every foreign visitor must complete the Thailand Digital Arrival Card online, in the 3 days before arriving. It applies whether or not you need a visa.
You need your passport details, flight number and the address of your first night’s stay. You get a QR code by email; save it offline, because airport wifi is not guaranteed.
It is free at tdac.immigration.go.th. Any site charging you for it is a scam, and several buy ads against that search.
Two things that catch people out at the border
Visa-free entry is not a guaranteed right of entry. Immigration officers can refuse you under Section 12 of the Immigration Act, most often over weak proof of funds, vague accommodation plans, or repeated back-to-back visa-free entries.
Embassy guidance asks for 20,000 baht per person, or 40,000 per family, plus proof of onward travel. Have an offline copy of your return flight and your first hotel booking.
Visa-free entries over a land border are capped at two a year. Flying into Phuket International does not count towards that cap.
Sources
8 sources, each linked in the section it supports.
Photography is licensed stock, credited to Filip Chmielecki on Pexels. Some images show the named place; where no photograph of a venue exists, the picture shows Thailand rather than that venue. Pictures marked as AI illustrations are drawn, not photographed.
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