Thailand has officially ended its 60-day visa-free entry scheme for Indians and travellers from 92 countries, reverting most, including India, to a 30-day stay. Authorities say the longer window was being abused for quasi-residency, with crackdowns on illegal businesses and scams. Land border entries are now capped, and extensions require justification at immigration offices.
On Tuesday, Thailand's cabinet officially pulled the plug on the 60-day visa-free entry scheme that had covered Indians and travellers from 92 other countries.
The dream is dead! Well, not like our corporate jobs were letting us live it anyway.
The two-month Bangkok-to-Phuket-to-Koh-Lanta slow-stretch you were excitedly planning over your fourth iced coffee? Cut it in half. For Indian passport holders, it's back to the old 30-day arrangement, the one we all knew before Thailand briefly lost its mind and let us stay for two months in July 2024.
Government spokesperson Rachada Dhanadirek said that the current scheme had "allowed some people to exploit it." Basically, too many people were treating the 60-day window like a residency permit. Thai authorities have spent the better part of the year arresting foreigners running unlicensed hotels, unauthorised language schools, the odd online scam operation, and, in one memorable case, a full-fledged bar built on a public beach in Phuket.
Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow has been at pains to say no specific nationality is being singled out, which is the kind of thing you say when several nationalities are, in fact, very much on the radar.
Most countries, India included, drop back to a 30-day visa-free stay. Some nationalities may get just 15. You can still renew once at an immigration office, but the automatic extension is gone, and you'll have to convince an officer your reason for hanging around is good enough. Land border entries are capped at two per calendar year, which puts the long-running visa-run hustle on life support.
The economic backdrop here isn't pretty for Bangkok. Foreign arrivals are down 3.4 per cent year-on-year, Middle Eastern travellers are nearly 30 per cent fewer, and the annual target has already been revised down to 32 million. Thailand needs tourists, but if we’re so messy then I get why Thailand would just rather do without.
For the average Indian traveller — Diwali week, summer break, the destination wedding in Krabi — none of this really hurts. Thirty days was always more than enough. It's the WFH-from-a-Chiang-Mai-café crowd, the freelancers, the people who'd quietly stretched a holiday into a season, who'll feel it.
The Destination Thailand Visa, introduced in 2024, is now the official answer for anyone wanting a longer stretch: up to 180 days at a time, valid for five years.
So go ahead, book the ticket. Just keep it under a month, yeah?