Fed up with bad behavior, Thailand reduces visa-free length for over 90 countries, including the US
Locals and tourists raise their water guns as they celebrate the Songkran holiday
(CNN) — Months-long backpacking trips to Thailand might have just got a lot harder to arrange.
The Southeast Asian nation is ending a 60-day visa-free entry program for travelers from 93 countries and territories, the Thai Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.
Visitors from countries including Australia, the UK and the US will instead receive 30-day visa-free stays, while some nationalities will have to obtain visas on arrival.
The move is a major backtrack after the Thai government eased visa restrictions in 2024 to entice foreign visitors back after the coronavirus pandemic devastated the kingdom’s tourism industry, a vital part of its economy.
With majestic limestone islands, white sandy beaches and lush mountains, Thailand is one of the world’s most popular tourist destinations, attracting nearly 33 million foreign visitors in 2025.
While the increasing numbers have been welcomed, authorities have expressed concern that the 60-day visa-free policy was being abused by foreign nationals seeking to work illegally or engage in crime.
The Thai Foreign Ministry said the new restrictions were partly taken due to national security concerns.
In recent years, incidents of tourists behaving badly, including vandalizing temples and engaging in drunken bar fights, have gone viral on social media. Authorities have also made multiple arrests of foreign nationals for drug and human trafficking offences.
The demographic of foreign visitors to Thailand is shifting, with Russian tourists now making up the fourth largest group of visitors to Thailand last year, behind India, China and Malaysia.
Thailand’s popularity with Russian tourists has boomed as the Southeast Asian nation kept its borders open to Russian passport holders following Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine in contrast to some European countries, which implemented new restrictions on Russian visitors.
But Thai law enforcement agencies have repeatedly warned Russian nationals against over-staying their visas.
Separately, the Embassy of Israel in Thailand warned its nationals in vacation hotspot Phuket to follow local laws and regulations, according to a statement on its Facebook page earlier this month, noting that serious breaches could lead local officials to revoke visas.
CNN has reached out to the embassies of Russia and Israel in Thailand.
The rollback is reminiscent of Thailand’s move to decriminalize cannabis in 2022, when it became the first country in Asia to do so.
But following that, recreational use boomed across the kingdom, with regulation failing to keep up. Last year the government imposed new rules designed to rein in the “green rush” and recriminalize non-medical use.
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