Thailand Cuts the 60-Day Stamp in Half: September 15
Thailand Cuts the 60-Day Stamp in Half: 30 Days From September 15
The 60-day free stamp is over. Thailand published the new visa-exemption rules in the Royal Gazette on August 31. They take effect September 15, 2026.
From that date, passport holders from 60 countries and territories including the United States, the United Kingdom, most of the EU, Australia, Canada, Japan, India, and Taiwan get 30 days visa-free for tourism. Not 60. The special 60-day scheme that started July 15, 2024 is repealed.
If you are already in Thailand on a 60-day stamp, you keep it. If you land on or before September 14, you still get 60. If you land on or after September 15, you get 30. The date that matters is the day immigration stamps you, not the day you booked the ticket.
One Thai outlet wrote that the change started on September 1. That is wrong. The notices are in Royal Gazette Volume 143, Special Issue 207. They take legal force 15 days after publication which would take us to September 15th. Treat anything that says otherwise as a bad read of the Gazette.
This is not “visa on arrival.”
People call the airport stamp a visa on arrival but in actuality it’s not. Thailand’s 60-to-30 cut is a visa exemption which is a free permission to stay stamp, no application, no fee. Visa on Arrival is a different beast and it’s a paid product. Thailand just gutted that list too.
From September 15th Visa on Arrival is down to three nationalities: Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Serbia. India was moved off VoA and onto the 30-day exemption list. If you are American, British, Australian, or EU, you were never on VoA. You were on the free stamp.
The new exemption is tourism only. The 2024 language that also covered short term work and business is gone. Show up to “help a friend with the bar” on a tourist stamp and you are on the wrong document. Reminded, working in Thailand as a foreigner without the proper work permit is illegal.
What the new Thai rules actually says
30 days visa-free, 60 countries. Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Bhutan, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States.
15 days visa-free: Mauritius and Seychelles.
Land borders: twice a year. Visa-exempt entries through a land checkpoint are capped at two per calendar year, except for nationals of Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and Singapore. Fly in, the cap does not apply. Walk in from Cambodia, Laos, or Malaysia on a US or UK passport and immigration will count it. A third land entry in the same calendar year is a refusal, not a negotiation.
One 30-day extension still exists. Pattaya News, reading the Gazette package, says the one-time in-country extension of 30 days is still available, subject to immigration approval. That is the same TM.7 trip as before: local immigration office, 1,900 baht cash, apply before the stamp expires. 30 + 30 = 60. A second 30-day extension is not a thing. Some offices will sell a short “to leave the kingdom” stamp if you already have a flight. Do not plan a season around that.
A real tourist visa still gives you more. The Tourist Visa (TR) from a Thai embassy or the official e-Visa portal is unchanged. Single-entry TR is typically 60 days, extendable once by 30, for 90 total. Multiple-entry tourist (METV) is six months of 60-day entries. Retirement, marriage, work, student, Thailand Privilege, LTR, and the Destination Thailand Visa (DTV — five years, 180 days per entry) are not touched by this Gazette.
TDAC is still mandatory. Every foreign arrival still files the Thailand Digital Arrival Card at tdac.immigration.go.th within 72 hours of landing. Reminder, the TDAC is completely free. Any site charging for it is a scam.
Overstay is still 500 baht a day, capped at 20,000 baht. Under 90 days, if you walk yourself to the airport counter, it is usually a fine and no ban. Over 90 days, or if they catch you first, bans start. The stamp date in the passport is the law. Not the hotel booking. Not what the Facebook group said.
Why Bangkok did it
Cabinet approved the rollback on May 19 and locked the lists on July 14. Interior signed the notices August 26. Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul signed as interior minister. Official reasons: national security, the economy, reciprocity, and killing overlapping schemes that let people work or run businesses on a tourist stamp. “One country, one entitlement.” The 60-day experiment also made border runs too easy. Two land entries a year is the government saying that out loud.
Bilateral treaties were left alone. Those sit outside this list:
90 days: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, South Korea
30 days: China, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Laos, Macao, Mongolia, Russia, Timor-Leste, Vietnam
14 days: Cambodia; Myanmar (airports only)
If your passport is not on the 60-country list and not on a treaty, you need a visa before you fly. Use Thailand’s official e-Visa. Not a Facebook agent.
What this means for a trip
Need 30 days or less? Land after September 14, get the free stamp, leave on time.
Need 40–60 days? Either land before September 15 and keep the old 60, or land after and extend once for 1,900 baht, or get a TR visa before you travel.
Need 60–90 days? Get the TR visa. Do not try to invent a third exemption.
Need to live here? Stop using tourist stamps as a housing plan. DTV, retirement, marriage.. The land-border cap is aimed at the guy who has been bouncing Aranyaprathet for three years.
How the neighbors compare
Same guy, four countries. Typical passport: United States. UK and EU called out where they differ.
Philippines is still the easiest place to actually stay. Executive Order 408 still gives 150-plus nationalities, including the US and UK, 30 days visa-free. First extension is a 29-day visa waiver, then one or two-month extensions, or a six-month Long-Stay Visitor Visa Extension. Visa-free nationalities can stack that to 36 months from the latest arrival. Brazil and Israel get 59 days on the first stamp. You need a passport with six months left and an onward ticket. After 59 days you pick up an ACR I-Card. This is not permission to work. It is permission to be a tourist for a very long time, and immigration will still bounce you if the file looks like you live there and earn there.
Vietnam — shortest queue for Americans is 90 days, paid in advance. The US is not on Vietnam’s exemption list. Apply at evisa.gov.vn. All nationalities can get an e-Visa up to 90 days, single or multiple entry, government fee $25 / $50. Processing is a few working days. Do not use lookalike sites. UK, much of the EU, Japan, South Korea, and Russia get 45 days visa-free under two Cabinet resolutions running through 2028. ASEAN neighbors get 14–30 days by treaty. Phu Quoc is a 30-day visa-free island only if you fly or sail directly there and stay on the island. Tourist visa-on-arrival is not the plan in 2026. Get the e-Visa.
Cambodia — $30, 30 days, VoA still works. US, UK, and most of Europe are not visa-exempt. Official e-Visa is evisa.gov.kh. Tourist visa is a single-entry 30-day stay, valid three months from issue and that three months is the window to enter, not the stay. Visa on Arrival is still available at the main airports for $30 cash. ASEAN, Maldives, and Seychelles skip the visa. Chinese passports have a temporary 14-day exemption through October 15, 2026. File the free e-Arrival Card as well. The COVID-era automatic tourist extension is gone. A one-time 30 day tourist extension at immigration in Phnom Penh is still how people add a month; treat it as a trip to the office, not a guarantee, and do it before the stamp dies. Overstay is about $10 a day.
The honest ranking for a guy hopping the region
Cheapest / simplest landing: Thailand (free 30) and the Philippines (free 30). Cambodia costs $30. Vietnam costs $25 to 50 and you have to apply before the plane.
Longest single tourist stay without an embassy visit: Vietnam’s 90-day e-Visa. Thailand’s free stamp is now half of that.
Longest if you are willing to extend in-country: Philippines, and it is not close.
Still has a real visa-on-arrival counter: Cambodia. Thailand’s VoA is a rump list. Vietnam wants the e-Visa in the inbox before you board.
Worst country to treat as a visa-run loop after September 15: Thailand, if you have been walking in from Poipet twice a month. Two land entries a year.
Bottom line
Thailand is not closing, we’re just going back to the old 30 day tourist stamp and putting a leash on land-border hops. Think of the 60 day holiday as two year promotion to get tourism back on its feet after the C word epidemic. It is gazetted out as of September 15.
If your trip is under a month stay, nothing material changes except the number on the stamp. If your trip is two months, either beat the deadline, pay 1,900 baht to extend, or get a TR visa. If your “trip” is a lifestyle, stop using tourist stamps and get a real visa.
Philippines remains the stay-as-long-as-you-like tourist shop. Vietnam remains the 90 day e Visa shop for Americans. Cambodia remains the $30 airport stamp. Thailand is the one that just got stricter.
Confirm your passport against a Thai embassy or the Department of Consular Affairs before you fly. Immigration officers will apply the new stamp from September 15.
Reminder: Facebook “news” posts should be taken with a grain of salt and pound of skepticism.