Thailand cabinet ends 60-day rule, video says

Thailand’s cabinet approved a rollback of the country’s 60-day visa-exemption policy on Tuesday, May 19, according to Thai government and local media reports. The change revokes the 60-day exemption for all 93 countries and territories covered by the scheme and replaces it with a revised system of 30-day and 15-day entries, the Government Public Relations Department said. The rules are not yet in force. Thailand’s government said the measures will take effect 15 days after publication in the Royal Gazette. That sequence matters because the first wave of attention came not from an official bulletin but from creator coverage, including a German-language YouTube video posted on May 20 that said the cabinet had acted “today.” The underlying cabinet decision, however, was dated May 19 in official Thai government material. For travelers and remote workers, the immediate issue is not whether the cabinet voted — it did — but when the implementing notices appear and which countries end up in each category. ### Did Thailand actually cancel the 60-day visa-free stay? The Thai Government Public Relations Department said on May 19 that the cabinet had approved a revision of Thailand’s visa-exemption and visa-on-arrival schemes. The official summary said the package includes revoking the 60-day visa exemption for all 93 countries and territories. It also said each country or territory will be limited to one visa-exemption scheme. Bangkok Post reported Tourism and Sports Minister Surasak Phancharoenworakul said the decision means countries covered by the 60-day program will revert to the framework that existed before the July 2024 expansion. That earlier system generally centered on shorter stays. ### When does the new rule start? The Thai government said the revised measures will take effect 15 days after publication in the Royal Gazette. That means there is no single enforcement date yet in the public record as of May 20. Mungkorn Pratoomkaew, director-general of the Department of Consular Affairs, said in a briefing reported by Bangkok Post that travelers already in Thailand, or arriving before the new measures take effect, will remain under their existing visa conditions until their permitted stay expires. ### What replaces the 60-day scheme? Thailand’s official May 19 notice said the government will revise the 30-day visa-exemption scheme for tourism and reduce the eligible list from 57 countries and territories to 54. The same notice said a new 15-day visa-exemption category will be introduced for three countries or territories, and the visa-on-arrival list will be cut from 31 to four. Bangkok Post reported that most of the countries affected by the rollback would move to 30-day or 15-day treatment similar to the pre-2024 system. The paper also reported that officials had not yet publicly named every country being shifted between categories. ### Why did the government say it made the change? The Thai government’s May 19 statement cited five factors: national security, tourism and economic interests, reciprocity, reducing overlapping visa privileges, and the convenience of the e-Visa system. Those were the reasons attached to the cabinet-approved revision. Surasak told Bangkok Post that revising the policy was needed to prevent misuse of visa exemptions for criminal activity, scams and illegal labor. Those are the government’s stated reasons; the cabinet notice itself did not announce new case totals or enforcement statistics alongside the change. ### What should travelers check now? The Ministry of Foreign Affairs already still hosts documents describing the 60-day visa exemption introduced on July 15, 2024, which is one reason travelers may see conflicting information while the new rules are pending. Until the Royal Gazette publishes the implementing notices, older ministry pages and PDFs may remain online alongside the new cabinet decision. The next concrete step is publication in the Royal Gazette, followed 15 days later by enforcement, according to the Thai government. Travelers should check Thai embassy and consulate pages, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Royal Gazette notices for the final country lists and start date before departure.