Thai Tourist Visas and Visa Runs

Updated 11th Sep 2026

As of 16 September 2026, Thailand's visa exemption and Visa on Arrival schemes have changed, with effect from 15 September 2026, and the lists of eligible countries and territories have changed with them. The Department of Consular Affairs publishes the current lists, and the detail and criteria sit in Ministry of Interior announcements published in the Government Gazette on 31 August 2026.

The 60-day visa exemption that ran from July 2024, which covered tourism, work and short-term business contact, is withdrawn from 15 September 2026. The exemptions that replace it are granted for tourism only and are shorter, giving 30 days to the countries and territories on the main list and 15 days to a small number of others, with a paid Visa on Arrival for a short list of nationalities. The Department of Consular Affairs' position is that anyone already in Thailand under the outgoing exemption schemes before 15 September 2026, or who arrived under them before that date, keeps the stay they were given until it expires.

What follows is the published position on entering without a visa, the arrival card foreign visitors have to file, applying for a tourist visa, extending a stay, and repeated entries.

Entering Thailand without a visa

The revised scheme gives each eligible country or territory a single visa exemption for tourism, with a single length of stay. The 30-day exemption covers much the longest list. A 15-day exemption covers a small number of countries, and a short list of nationalities may buy a Visa on Arrival instead.

Separate bilateral agreements sit outside that scheme and set their own periods, some of them longer than 30 days. Which arrangement applies to your own passport is the part worth reading in detail, and the Department of Consular Affairs publishes it all, with its lists in English, in its summary of the current schemes.

Being exempt from a visa does not remove the paperwork. In Thailand that means the digital arrival card in the next section.

Some Thai mission websites were still describing the previous 60-day exemption in the days before the change, including pages carrying a recent update date. Where a mission page and the department's summary disagree, read the summary.

Visa on Arrival is issued at designated immigration checkpoints on criteria set by the Immigration Bureau, and it costs 2,000 baht, the fee the Department of Consular Affairs published on 1 September 2026. Under the scheme that ran until 14 September 2026, the Thai embassy in Doha published in May 2026 that the fee is payable in cash, in Thai baht, and is not refunded, and that holders of a Visa on Arrival generally cannot apply to extend their stay except in cases of illness that prevent them travelling.

The Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC)

Every non-Thai national entering Thailand by land, sea or air files a Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) online before arrival. It replaced the paper TM.6 embarkation card and has been mandatory since 1 May 2025. Infants and children need one as well.

File it in the three days before you arrive, counting the day of arrival, which the system also describes as up to 72 hours before entry. It is free, and the official system is the Immigration Bureau's TDAC site. Sites at other addresses offering to file it for a fee are not that system.

A passenger transiting without passing through immigration does not need one, and anyone who leaves the airport does. Crew are not required to file one. For a traveller without a smartphone or internet access, the system's own guidance is that kiosks and internet wi-fi are provided on arrival, and it names five airports with kiosks, Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Phuket, Chiang Mai and Hat Yai.

With the card filed, there is no paper embarkation card to complete on arrival at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport or Bangkok Don Mueang Airport.

Getting a tourist visa through the e-Visa system

A tourist visa is one route to a stay longer than an exemption allows, and one for a passport with no exemption. It permits a stay of up to 60 days on arrival, and the visa itself is valid for three months for a single entry or six months for multiple entries. Employment in Thailand is prohibited on it.

It costs 1,000 baht per entry, the processing fee on the Department of Consular Affairs' tourist visa fact sheet as at 8 September 2026. The fee is set in baht and charged in the local currency of the country you apply from, so the amount your nearest embassy or consulate-general posts is the one you pay.

Apply through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' e-Visa platform at thaievisa.go.th, which has taken applications worldwide since 1 January 2025 across 94 Thai embassies and consulates-general. The published steps are an account, the application form, uploaded documents, payment, and an approval sent by email.

The document list includes a passport valid for at least six months, a recent photograph, an itinerary to and from Thailand, evidence that you can support yourself, and a confirmed onward ticket paid in full. The ticket has to be produced with the application and paid for before the visa exists. There is a separate guide to buying cheap flights.

Extending a stay

An application to extend a temporary stay is made at an immigration office and costs 1,900 baht per application, the figure on the fee schedule published by the Immigration Bureau's Samut Prakan office, checked on 9 September 2026. The fee is set by a 2003 ministerial order made under the 1979 immigration act.

Whether an extension is granted is at the immigration officer's discretion. An online route exists: the Immigration Bureau's e-Extension service lists tourism among the grounds it covers, and whether the office you would use has adopted it is worth checking before travelling to one.

Border runs and what is published about repeated entries

Permission to enter is granted by the immigration officer at the port of entry, and that decision is taken again on every arrival. A short trip out of the country and straight back, usually called a visa run, puts you in front of that decision again.

The Ministry of Interior announcements published on 31 August 2026 limit entry under a visa exemption through a land border checkpoint to twice in a calendar year. Nationals of Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Singapore are excepted from that limit on the 30-day scheme, and each of the two exemption schemes also excepts any nationality the Minister designates. The limit is written for land border crossings, and the announcements set no equivalent limit on arrivals at international airports.

Leaving Thailand and coming back through Bangkok can mean arriving at one of the city's two airports and departing from the other, and transfers between Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang are a separate trip to plan.

Planning around the stay you are given

How long a stay is worth planning depends on the season as much as on the paperwork, and the best time to visit Thailand sets that out by region. Whatever length you are given, domestic flights decide how much of the country is reachable inside it, and Bangkok to Chiang Mai is one of the routes to start from.

Thailand travel tips covers the practical rules worth knowing once you are through immigration.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a Thai tourist visa cost?

The processing fee is 1,000 baht per entry, as published by the Department of Consular Affairs and correct on 8 September 2026. It is charged in the local currency of the country you apply from, so check the figure your own embassy or consulate-general posts. The fee is per entry, not per length of stay.

Can I stay in Thailand for 90 days on a tourist visa?

A tourist visa permits a stay of up to 60 days on arrival. An extension of temporary stay can be applied for at an immigration office, and whether it is granted is the officer's decision. Plan on the 60 days the visa states and treat an extension as a separate application that may or may not be granted.

How many times can I enter Thailand in a year?

Permission to enter is granted by the immigration officer at the port of entry, on each arrival. The Ministry of Interior announcements published on 31 August 2026 limit entry under a visa exemption through a land border checkpoint to twice in a calendar year, with nationals of Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia and Singapore excepted on the 30-day scheme and any nationality the Minister designates excepted on both the 30-day and 15-day schemes. They set no equivalent limit on arrivals at international airports.

Do I have to file the Thailand Digital Arrival Card every time I arrive?

The requirement applies to every non-Thai national entering Thailand by land, sea or air, including children and infants, though a passenger who transits without passing through immigration does not need one. File it before you travel, in the three days before arrival, counting the arrival date. It is free, at tdac.immigration.go.th.