Thailand’s cabinet has approved a sharp reduction in its visa-free entry scheme for tourists from more than 90 countries, reversing a 2024 expansion that officials say opened loopholes for online scam operations, unauthorised foreign workers and grey-market enterprises.
Under the new framework approved on Tuesday (May 19), the standard visa-free stay will be capped at 30 days, with citizens of some countries limited to just 15 days. The system reverts to tiered access from the 60-day window introduced in July 2024 to revive post-pandemic tourism, which had covered the United States, Israel, parts of South America and the Schengen Area’s 29 nations.
“The current scheme has allowed some people to exploit it,” government spokesperson Rachada Dhanadirek told reporters in Bangkok. While tourism remained “an indispensable pillar of the Thai economy,” she said security concerns had taken priority. The Foreign Ministry will also enforce a strict cap of two visa-free entries per calendar year via land borders for the 30-day tier — restoring the protocols that were in place before the 2024 expansion.
Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said the measure did not target any specific nationality, but rather “individuals abusing the visa system to evade law enforcement.” The policy reversal follows a series of high-profile arrests of foreign nationals over drug trafficking, human smuggling and the operation of unauthorised hotels and language schools.
The cabinet’s decision was made at a difficult moment for Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy. Foreign arrivals fell 3.4% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026, weighed down by a nearly 30% drop in Middle Eastern travellers. The government has nonetheless kept its full-year target of 33.5 million foreign tourists. An enforcement date has not yet been announced.
The crackdown context mirrors Sri Lanka’s own arrests of foreign nationals in online scam compounds, with recent police warnings to Colombo-area landlords about the syndicates displacing from Cambodia and Myanmar. Thailand is also a direct competitor in the South and Southeast Asian tourism market, with Sri Lanka tracking a slowdown of its own April arrivals amid Middle East war disruption.
Source: Newswire / Al Jazeera.
