How Long Can You Stay in Thailand?

Passport holders from 60 countries and territories, the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Japan and all of the EU among them, are stamped in for 30 days with no application. The arrival day counts as day one, so landing on 1 March gives you until 30 March, and the date the officer writes in your passport is the one that counts, not your own arithmetic. The exemption is for tourism only. Mauritius and Seychelles get 15 days, and the 21 nationalities that lost visa-free entry on 15 September 2026 now need an e-Visa.

To stay a second month, extend once at any immigration office before the date on your stamp. It costs ฿1,900, needs your passport, a TM.7 form, one 4×6 cm photo and the fee in cash, and is usually done the same day. In Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Koh Samui and four other provinces you can apply online through e-Extension first (฿1,900 plus a ฿500 service fee) and go in only for the stamp. There is no second extension, so 60 days is the most a visa-free entry can give you.

For a trip of two to three months, apply for the single-entry Tourist Visa (TR) online at thaievisa.go.th before you leave home. It gives 60 days from the day you enter, and you can extend that once by 30 days at immigration for ฿1,900, so 90 days without leaving. At the Washington embassy and Los Angeles consulate it costs US$40 and is valid for three months from issue, so you have to enter inside that window. Other posts set their own fee in local currency.

The portal wants your passport, a recent photo, flight and accommodation bookings, and financial evidence of at least ฿20,000, which the Washington embassy turns into three months of bank statements showing at least US$700 per person each month. Processing runs from 3 to 5 business days in Washington to a stated minimum of 15 in Los Angeles, and the portal's own manual allows 10 working days, so apply at least two weeks before you fly. At the desk, TAT's figure for tourist-visa entries is ฿20,000 per person or ฿40,000 per family, which the officer may ask to see.

Leaving Thailand and coming back in gets you a new 30-day exemption stamp, and that stamp can be extended once too. So the exemption, its extension, one run and a second extension add up to about 120 days. Extend first and run second, because the extension uses none of your entries.

Two limits apply. Entries over a land border on the exemption are capped at two per calendar year, with Malaysian, Bruneian, Indonesian and Singaporean passports exempt from the count. Flying back in has no written cap, but the Immigration Bureau's November 2025 order lets every checkpoint, airports included, refuse someone who has done more than two runs without a reason they can explain, and lets offices refuse an extension when the passport shows a run pattern. The Cambodian land crossings are closed, so the overland runs now go to Laos, to Malaysia, or, when it's open to foreigners, from Ranong to Kawthaung in Myanmar.

The Multiple Entry Tourist Visa costs US$200 at US posts, is valid for six months and gives 60 days on every entry, each extendable by 30 at immigration. Leave and come back every 60 to 90 days and it covers half a year without a remote-work or retirement visa. It suits the kind of long trip that dips into Laos, Vietnam or Malaysia between Thai legs anyway, because each exit is part of the route rather than a chore.

Like the single-entry visa, its validity counts from the date it's issued, not from your first entry, so don't apply months before you leave. Each re-entry needs a new TDAC, and the officer can still ask for an onward ticket and funds at every desk.

The Destination Thailand Visa is the long-stay option for remote workers, freelancers and anyone enrolled in a recognized Thai course, Muay Thai and cooking schools included. It costs ฿10,000 (about US$300), lasts five years, and allows up to 180 days per entry, extendable once at immigration for another 180 days and ฿1,900, so close to a year on a single entry. You need ฿500,000 (about US$15,000) in savings on three months of statements and, since 31 August 2026, a criminal record certificate, and you must apply in your country of nationality or permanent residence, not mid-trip from Laos or Vietnam. Processing takes two to six weeks depending on the post.

The line to watch is 180 days in a calendar year. Past it you become a Thai tax resident, and Thailand now taxes foreign income you bring into the country. The Thailand Digital Nomad Guide covers the tax side, the cities and the monthly budgets.

The Non-Immigrant O-A retirement visa is granted for a year and renewed each year at a provincial immigration office. You need to be 50 or older, with ฿800,000 in a Thai bank account for at least two months, ฿65,000 a month in income, or a mix of the two adding up to ฿800,000 a year, plus health insurance from a Thai-recognized insurer covering ฿40,000 outpatient and ฿400,000 inpatient. Holders report their address to immigration every 90 days. The O-X runs five years at a time for citizens of 14 countries, the US and UK among them, and asks for ฿3 million in a Thai bank.

Two more routes are for people with money rather than a remote job. The Long-Term Resident (LTR) visa runs ten years with a ฿50,000 fee, but its remote-work category needs US$80,000 a year and an employer with US$50 million in revenue. Thailand Privilege, the old Elite visa, is a paid membership from ฿650,000 for five years with no income or age test.