• 2 hours ago
Thailand’s government has announced that it is significantly relaxing its visa program, approving longer stays for tourists, students and remote workers.

The changes—which have been in effect since June 1st of 2024—allow for visa holders to extend for at least five years—a significant jump from 60 days—with each stay limited to 180 days.
Foreign postgraduate students will be able to stay an additional year after graduation.

Thailand is hoping this move will help juice its stuttering economy. The finance ministry previously reduced its 2024 economic growth forecast to 2.4% from 2.8%. The country hoped for a record 40 million foreign tourism arrivals in 2024, which was an anticipated revenue of 3.5 trillion baht ($95.3 billion in USD).

Around the world, there’s a marked trend toward fewer countries requiring traditional paper visas affixed in a passport, according to UN Tourism’s latest Tourism Visa Openness Report, which revealed that just 47% of travelers in 2023 required a traditional visa.

Read the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/suzannerowankelleher/2024/05/30/thailand-relax-visa-program-longer-stays-tourists-digital-nomads/

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Transcript
00:00Today on Forbes, Thailand's government has announced that it is significantly relaxing
00:09its visa program, approving longer stays for tourists, students, and remote workers.
00:16The changes have been in effect since June 1st of 2024, and now allow for visa holders
00:22to extend for at least five years, a significant jump from 60 days, with each stay limited
00:28to 180 days.
00:32Foreign postgraduate students will be able to stay an additional year after graduation.
00:38Thailand is hoping this move will help juice its stuttering economy.
00:42The finance ministry previously reduced its 2024 economic growth forecast to 2.4% from
00:492.8%.
00:51The country aimed for a record 40 million foreign tourism arrival in 2024.
00:58That was an anticipated revenue of 3.5 trillion baht, roughly $95.3 billion in USD.
01:06Around the world, there's a marked trend toward fewer countries requiring traditional
01:10paper visas affixed to a passport, according to UN Tourism's latest Tourism Visa Openness
01:18Report, which revealed that just 47% of travelers in 2023 required a traditional visa.
01:26Instead, travelers are finding looser rules and less friction when traveling to destinations
01:31around the world.
01:32Today, 21% of the world's population does not need any visa.
01:38And visa-on-arrivals and e-visas are popping up around the world.
01:43This trend is most visible in the Middle East and Africa.
01:48The list of countries soon eligible for visa-free short stays in Thailand include large tourism
01:54source markets like China and India.
01:57A Thai visa-on-arrival will soon be available for 31 countries, up from 19, including Armenia,
02:05Fiji, Malta, Saudi Arabia, and Serbia.

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