Thailand doubles duration of tourist visa for the short-term
This isn't a visa that you have to apply for and that makes it even more special. This is a visa that is called a "visa exemption" and what it means, provided you are from one of the 93 countries on the list, is that all you have to do is get a flight to Thailand, show up, and you will get a 60 day visa on arrival.
This is very handy for people that want to come and experience that majesty that is this country for free. In the past it was possible to get a 60-day visa, but you had to apply for it at a Thai Embassy or Consulate in your home country.
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There is a lot you can accomplish in Thailand in 60 days. I know that my first trip was for a mere 30 days and in that time I fell in love with the country and even did a beginner's diving course in the one month. WIth 2 months I think you can properly explore the country in its near entirety.
If you are from any of these countries you just got a free 60-day visa to Thailand, should you decide to come and claim it.
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This change was meant to take effect on the 1st of June but there are several reports coming from land crossings that officials are still only giving 30-day stamps. All international airports are adhering to the new rules. This is one thing I don't really like about Thailand, the people at the land crossings are aware of the changes but they just drag their feet on actually doing it. This could be because they have grown accustomed to a certain amount of "tea money" otherwise known as "bribes" that people crossing have been paying in order to get visas of a certain length. The officials also have this impression that people who cross by land are "less desirable" travelers and punish them in a way for not being rich enough to fly everywhere. Whatever the reasoning is, I don't think that many people actually travel in and out of a country by land that much anymore, especially now that we have a ton of low-cost airlines.
The reasoning behind this change is because Thailand still hasn't returned to their former, pre-Covid tourism glory and a great deal of the country's overall GDP is dependent upon tourism. I know just from walking around my own city of Chiang Mai, which was the 2nd most popular tourist-destination in Thailand, that many of the buildings that were made vacant during Covid, are still that way as the population seems to be reluctant to trust that the government is going to continue to encourage tourism.
perhaps this change in the rules will be the boost that they need in order to get their faith back in their leaders.
I do know this much about Thailand: They meddle with visa laws on a regular basis and after they experience the surge that this visa change is almost certainly going to introduce, they will start to whittle it down until it returns to the 30-day stage that it started out on. I would imagine that this will last until the high season of this year, which lasts until around Dec/Jan, and then it will be repealed. There is also going to be a bunch of red-tap associated with anyone who tries to get back-to-back visa exemptions, which I suppose is warranted depending on how you look at it.
Also, Thailand appears to have taken a step back from their friendliness towards Belarus, as they were removed from the visa-on-arrival list and now have to apply for a visa upon arrival and when it is approved (which is almost always is) they will get a mere 15 days visa. Russia remains on the list. The list has also been expanded heavily, although I cannot say exactly which countries were taken away or added because I don't pay this close of attention to it.
Right now the cost of visiting Thailand is relatively low, so if you were planning on coming over here and are the kind of person that actually HAS 2 months in a row to travel, you could do a lot worse than planning a trip to that Land of Smiles.