Thailand visa rules right now
What changed, what has not, and what GCC passports get
Thailand is changing its visa-free rules. The change is approved but not yet law. This page says where it stands as of 7 August 2026, checked against the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ own consular notice — check again before you fly, because the trigger is a publication date nobody can predict.
The short answer
If you hold a GCC passport and you are coming for a normal holiday, you do not need a visa. You turn up, you get stamped, you go to the beach.
The only thing you must do before you fly is fill in the Thailand Digital Arrival Card. It is free, it takes about five minutes, and it is the single most common thing people get wrong.
What is in force today
The 60-day visa exemption is still being issued at the border. It has applied since 15 July 2024 to 93 countries and territories.
It can be extended once, by 30 days, at any immigration office inside Thailand for 1,900 baht — giving a 90-day ceiling. In Phuket that office is Phuket Immigration in Phuket Town. Take your passport, the TM.6 style form they give you, a photo, and a copy of your passport photo page and entry stamp.
This stays true until the new rules are published in the Royal Gazette. A cabinet decision changes nothing on its own — only publication does, plus 15 days. As of 7 August 2026 that publication had not happened, which is why 60-day stamps are still being issued.
What is coming, and when
On 19 May 2026 the cabinet approved revoking the 60-day exemption for all 93 countries and territories. In its place the 30-day tourist exemption is itself trimmed, from 57 countries and territories to 54. A new 15-day scheme covers three: the Maldives, Mauritius and Seychelles. Visa on arrival shrinks from 31 countries to four: Azerbaijan, Belarus, India and Serbia. The governing principle is one country, one scheme — no passport will hold two entitlements at once.
It takes effect 15 days after Royal Gazette publication. As of 7 August 2026 that had not happened. Three Ministry of Interior announcements carry the detail, and none of them has been published.
It is not retroactive. If you are already in Thailand, or you enter before the effective date, you keep the stay you were stamped for.
There is no way to predict the publication date. If your trip is more than a few weeks out, check again before you fly.
If you hold a GCC passport
All six — the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar — are named on the 54-country 30-day list, alongside Israel and Jordan from the wider region. None of them loses visa-free entry.
So the only thing that changes for Gulf travellers is the length: 60 days becomes 30, once the rule is published. For a one or two week holiday that changes nothing at all.
If you were planning a stay longer than 30 days after the change lands, you have three options: extend by 30 days at immigration for 1,900 baht, apply for a 60-day tourist visa at a Thai embassy before you travel, or look at the DTV if you work remotely.
If you do need an actual visa
For stays beyond the exemption, the normal route is a Tourist Visa (TR), applied for online through the official e-Visa portal before you travel. Single entry gives 60 days and is extendable by 30 more inside Thailand.
The Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) is the newer five-year multiple-entry option aimed at remote workers and people on long soft-power stays such as Muay Thai or cooking courses. It allows 180 days per entry.
Apply through the official portal only. Thailand's e-Visa system is entirely online and there is no need to use an agent — the sites that appear above the official one in search results are almost all resellers charging a markup.
The arrival card everyone forgets
Since 1 May 2025 every foreign national must complete the Thailand Digital Arrival Card online, within 72 hours before arriving. It applies whether or not you need a visa, and there is no paper version any more.
You need your passport details, flight number and the address of your first night's accommodation. 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 a TDAC is a scam, and there are a lot of them buying ads against that search term.
Two things that catch people out at the border
Visa exemption is not a guaranteed right of entry. Immigration officers can refuse you under Section 12 of the Immigration Act, and they do — most often over weak proof of funds, vague accommodation plans, or repeated back-to-back visa-free entries. We have not found a refusal figure published by the Immigration Bureau itself that we are willing to print, so no number is given here.
Embassy guidance asks for 20,000 baht per person, or 40,000 per family, plus proof of onward travel. Have a printed or offline copy of your return flight and your first hotel booking. Arguing at the desk goes badly; producing paperwork ends the conversation.
Land border crossings are separately capped at two visa-exempt entries per calendar year for most nationalities. Arriving by air at Phuket International does not touch that cap.
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.