Thai Government Announces MAJOR Changes to Tourist Visas

Lloyd & Mandy

in this video we show you step by step how to start a YouTube channel from scratch in 2025. Whether you&#039;re a complete beginner or looking to grow your channel, this guide will cover everything you need to know.  Want to learn more? Check out our free YouTube Blueprint school community where we help creators just like you...  Breaking news for travelers and digital nomads planning to visit Thailand! The Thai government has just announced major changes to tourist visas, and it&#039;s crucial you understand how these updates will affect your trip. Whether you&#039;re looking to stay in Thailand short-term or considering Thailand residency, these changes will impact your visa exemption, immigration process, and even overstay fines. Stay informed and avoid any potential issues with Thai immigration by watching this video to learn more about the latest tourist visa regulations in Thailand.  If you found this content helpfukl please like and subscribe for more.  Thailand Embassy - https://www.thaiembassy.com/thailand-visa/dtv-visa-thailand  GET IN TOUCH: 🌏 Email: lloydandmandy@ruthlesstalent.com 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lloydandmandy/ 💻 Our Website: https://www.lloydandmandy.com/

Transcript

00:00If you're planning on coming to Thailand in the next few months, I would highly suggest to keep

00:04an eye out on the visa rules and what this visa exemption is going to be at in the next

00:10couple

00:11of months because...

00:36G'day guys. Happy Monday, at least it's Monday here in Thailand. This is a bit of a different type of

00:42video today. I'm going to be breaking down the recent news that I've seen online. This actually

00:48showed up, I think, on my Instagram feed and it's pretty big news. It actually relates to the visa-free

00:55stay in Thailand, which is currently 60 days for certain countries. So if you're from a country

01:01like Australia or the US or Canada, pretty much any European country, the UK, which is where most of

01:08our audience is from, and you've been planning on coming to Thailand or you've come to Thailand in

01:12the past, you would know that you get a visa-free entry for 60 days when you come here. You

01:19can even

01:19extend that another 30 days, which means you can come to Thailand for 90 days. Well, it looks like

01:25that's all about to end as the Thai government just announced a couple of days ago, actually,

01:31that the period of visa-free stays in Thailand is set to be reduced from 60 days to 30 days.

01:38And I'm reading this directly from the Bangkok Post article in which I found it. So I'll put that up

01:43on screen so you guys can follow along. But so basically it says here that the related authorities

01:50have agreed in principle to the move in an effort to curb the risk of illegal businesses

01:57exploiting the visa exemption scheme, according to the tourism and sports ministry. So apparently

02:03there are some businesses that are doing a little bit of a dodgy and they're bringing people into

02:08Thailand on this visa-free exemption and I guess letting them work without having actual work visas.

02:15It says here, tourism and sports minister Sarawang Thia Thong said the foreign ministry acknowledged

02:21the issue as it had been widely discussed among all related stakeholders in the past few weeks.

02:28He said they all agreed in principle to reduce the period of stay from 60 days to 30 days for

02:34citizens

02:35from countries granted a visa exemption under the program. So if you're not sure if you fall under that

02:40visa exemption program, I'll leave a link down below with a list of countries, but it's pretty

02:46much all the countries that I named earlier. It says here, however, additional details would be

02:51discussed before formally announcing the adjustment to the regulation. So since July 2024, the government

02:58has allowed passport holders from 93 countries to enter Thailand for tourism purposes for a period not

03:04exceeding 60 days. This had earlier been granted to citizens of 57 countries. So last year in July,

03:12they increased it from 57 countries to 93 countries. And it says here, however, tourism operators expressed

03:19concern over the extended period as long haul tourists typically stayed for only 14 to 21 days on average,

03:27while short haul travelers spent less than two weeks per trip or around seven days on average. Now,

03:33I agree with that in principle where people coming here for a holiday generally only spend like two

03:39to three weeks, maybe four weeks max, but that's not really taking into account a lot of the people

03:44who come here for extended periods of time such as retirees. So where we live here in Hua Hin,

03:51there are a lot of retirees who spend half the year back home and pretty much come here for the

03:56other half of

03:56the year, I think basically to escape the cold. So as soon as Christmas is over, starting in January, they

04:02come here,

04:03they get their 60 day tourist exemption when they arrive on arrival. They then can extend that for another 30

04:11days,

04:11which gives them a total of 90 days in the country. And that only costs 1900 baht, which is like

04:1770 or 80 bucks.

04:18So they can stay for 90 days, then they've got to do a visa run, which is basically a land

04:22crossing between either

04:25Cambodia, Laos or Myanmar, you get another 60 days and the process starts again. And they get to spend six

04:31months of the year here

04:32without having to buy a visa, go through the application process, do any of that sort of stuff. And a

04:38lot of those people

04:39have properties here, I believe that they rent long term, like some of our neighbors around here, they're not here

04:44half a year,

04:45and then the other half a year, they are here. And I would assume maybe they're avoiding getting the

04:51retirement visa because that's obviously a costly visa. And that also means I believe there are some tax

04:57implications. So now you're considered a tax resident of Thailand, whereas previously they're a tax resident

05:02back home. And I just want to come to Thailand to spend some of the winter months. I know people

05:07actually

05:07do this in Canada, like I have friends and family who do similar things where in the winter months,

05:13especially January, February, March, they own like construction and trucking companies, like the

05:20business actually slows down a lot during those months. And they get really sick of spending the

05:25winter back home, and they just want a little bit of a break. And it's usually like two or three

05:29months,

05:29they'll head down south to Mexico or Nicaragua or Costa Rica or something like that. And they can run

05:35their business remotely just by phone or on the laptop. And they can get away from the long dreary winters

05:42that you get in the northern hemisphere. Now, as an Aussie, we don't really get that we have winter,

05:47but it's not untolerable. I think it's more of a northern hemisphere, European or North American

05:52thing. But there's also a lot of digital nomads who take advantage of the visa exemption, obviously.

05:59So it looks like that's kind of what they're cracking down on a little bit more. And obviously,

06:05the people who are coming here and actually working for businesses like a lot of the tourism based

06:10businesses have people coming from other countries and working and staying for six months without

06:15getting the right visa. So it says here in the article, the Association of Travel Agents earlier

06:21raised this concern with the ministry as there is a growing number of foreigners illegally working or

06:26conducting business in the country. While the Thai Hotels Association believed this was partly to blame

06:32for the increase in the number of condos being illegally rented out to guests on a daily basis,

06:37which is super interesting because believe it or not, it's actually illegal to rent out a apartment

06:44or a condo on a daily basis. They have to be, I think, at least on a monthly basis. I'm

06:50not too sure

06:51when that law came into effect or why, but it is a law here in Thailand that obviously doesn't really

06:57get followed. If you go into Airbnb now and you look for a condo or a hotel room in any

07:03major tourist

07:05city, you're going to find a nightly rental pretty much anywhere despite the fact that it is technically

07:10illegal. It goes on to say, given the recent call by a former member of parliament in Phuket urging the

07:16government to crack down on foreign businesses using nominees and reduce the visa-free period to 30 days,

07:23the ministry's permanent secretary said the ministry has instructed the tourism department to enforce the

07:28tourism business and tourism guide act more seriously. She said the special joint operational

07:34center operated by six authorities included the tourism department and tourism police has consistently

07:40investigated illicit activities taking place in Phuket and five other popular tourism related areas,

07:47Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Hua Hin, Koh Samui and Bangkok. She said the department revoked the licenses of 40 companies

07:53in 2024 as they were found guilty of secretly changing the authorized directors and the proportion of

08:00directors and shareholders resulting in their disqualification from operating a tourism business. In Phuket,

08:0615 tour companies licenses have been revoked. There was also the case of a Thai committee of a tour company

08:12also being registered under five different company names. So what this looks like and honestly, this isn't really a big

08:20shock to me. It looks like there are a lot of people taking advantage of the quite lax visa regulations

08:26in

08:27Thailand and people are coming here and basically moving here and working illegally or setting up businesses

08:32illegally because it's cheap and it's quite easy to bypass some of the rules if you know the right people

08:38and if you're willing to pay a bit of a price. Now, what does this mean for you? If you're

08:44planning on coming

08:45to Thailand in the next few months, I would highly suggest to keep an eye out on the visa rules

08:50and

08:51what this visa exemption is going to be at in the next couple of months because we have a great

08:57visa

08:57agent who helped us with our education visa and now our DTV visa who basically explained to us that

09:02the Thai government often can put out messages like this and then nothing happens for months and months

09:09and you end up wondering what was the whole point of the announcement. But on the other hand,

09:12there's been instances where overnight they can just make a quick change to a rule or a law without

09:18giving any notice. So before you go and book your trip to Thailand and before you book accommodation,

09:23you need to keep an eye out on the Thai embassy and see what the regulations are for entering Thailand

09:30and the visa-free status whether it's 30 days or 60 days because if you're planning on coming for

09:36a two-month trip that will seriously affect how you travel because you're going to have to go in and

09:41extend your 30-day visa. If you're planning on coming here for an extended period of time and this is

09:46affecting your plans, for instance, if you did think about coming here for 60 days, either you're living

09:51off savings or you're working remotely, I'd highly, highly suggest looking into alternative visas,

09:59especially the DTV visa. The DTV visa is probably the best option for anybody who works remotely or online.

10:07It's quite easy to get as long as you fulfill all of the requirements and you can apply for it

10:12before

10:12you come. And you can come and go in Thailand as much as you want for a period of five

10:17years as long

10:18as you're not staying for over 180 days at a time, which isn't too bad. And it's quite inexpensive,

10:24it's about 10,000 Thai baht, but you do need to show proof of income and employment and you do

10:30need to

10:31have, I believe, 500,000 Thai baht in your bank account to prove that you're able to support

10:36yourself for a period of six months. And again, keep an eye out on the government website because

10:42this could change overnight without any warning. I'm assuming they're going to just put this into

10:47effect on either April 1st or May 1st at the start of the month and there's going to be a

10:51big

10:51announcement. There's going to be no warning. It's just going to all change from 30 days to 60 days,

10:56which, if you've already got your trip booked, makes it a little bit tough because you're going

11:00to have to figure out how to extend your visa while you're traveling around Thailand.

11:04Nonetheless, guys, I'll leave a link down to all the information down below. And if you found this

11:08video helpful at all, I'd really appreciate it if you hit that like button and the subscribe button.

11:12And if you want to see more content like this, we'll see you in the next one. Cheers.

11:26Bye.

Category

Transcript

Comments

Recommended