What are the current rules for visa exemptions and extensions in Thailand for long-term stays?

Mario at 71 years old how many long haul flights can you endure? Im 71 and the flights are a challenge. I know as a Canadian you are getting your ass kicked but why not try a Non-0 Visa? Put the required 800,000b in he bank and obtain multiple entries with your visa. At 3 months you can take out 400,000b for your use but put it back 2 months before your yearly renewal. I have to report in with my Non-0 Visa in February and it can be done on-line. I obviously don't know your financial situation but the Non-0 is a thought. As far as health insurance you know the drill. At the age of 71 i don't have time to dick around with Visas and border runs etc. Just enjoy life you senior statesman

Regardless of all your details it is entirely up to the IO if you are granted entry and as things are being tightened up ( not changed) you may be better off getting a visa rather than relying on counting days

Your the reason this is happening now and it really doesn’t matter about a re set if your history is bad it’s up to the IO you stand in front of

There is no calendar year reset. There are no new rules. There is no specific limit on visa exempt entries. What you are referring to is new guidelines issued to immigration officers as to how to enforce existing rules. Visa exemption is designed for short term tourism so you may or may not be allowed to enter (particularly a second or third time), every entry is at the discretion of the immigration officer you will stand in front of. If you want to spend 6 months in Thailand get the appropriate visa.

There are no new "visa rules" or a new law.

What has changed, mandated from above, is the strict scrutinizing of your number of visa-exempt entries and the thorough check on "visa runners" (actually they meant to say "back-to-back border runners").The new approach taken by border officials is intended to ensure that the option to do a "visa run" is not abused.

Now as far as regarding extensions on visa-exempt entries, it does appear that the Immigration offices are indeed only issuing 7-day extensions if you already got one previous 30-day extension on any visa exempt entry this calendar year (since January 1, 2025).

It is totally up to the discretion of the immigration officer you are in front of when you apply for the extension and they will tell you if you can get the 30-days extension, or if you're only going to get the 7-days extension.

The thing is right now it's totally subjective and up to the officer you are standing in front of when you go to stamp into the country for them to decide if you're a "real tourist" or if they think you're abusing the visa exempt entry program.

There's just no real concrete clear directive as far as what's what.

Some people with a 30-days extension already on a previous visa exempt entry reported getting another 30-days extension without any issue, however some have reported they only got a 7-days extension issued. So your experience might vary.

60 + 30 + 60 + 7 = a maximum of 157 days per year... and it seems this is regardless of whether you arrived by air or across a land border (some say that for a land border visa-exempt entry, you cannot get any extension at all)

Visa-exempt entries themselves are not limited, even though some believe that unlimited visa-free entries are possible by air. This is simply not true.

Visa-exempt entries are not limited to two entries per calendar year, and also not limited to two entries per “rolling 1-year”.

This is a misconception, and some agents and lawers spread this information to make profit from panicked people.

Agents are warning that you should not believe FAKE NEWS telling you that visa-exempt entries are limited to two per calendar year.

The old rule that visa-exempt entries were limited to two across land borders, got discontinued on July 15th, 2024. On the paper, visa-exempt entries by air or across land and sea were “unlimited” after this date. However this word “unlimited” did not describe the real stance of Immigration – THEY decide when your “personal limit” is up, not any text printed on the websites of Thai embassies.

Under certain circumstances, but always at the individual discretion of the border official, multiple visa-exempt entries are possible, like four, five or even more times, if you don’t abuse the system.

In this case, however, the entry history in your passport and on the immigration central computer must prove that your stays were short-term holidays (like only 2-4 weeks) and the total annual stay is not exceeding 157 days (some will say not exceed 180 days, some will say 150 days – it’s unclear)

And there should be several weeks (or months) abroad between each visa-exempt stay.

Your best proof of not abusing the system is when you can show that you returned to your home country between each visa-exempt stay, or stayed abroad for a long time. And that you show an onward travel proof

(ATTENTION: an “onwardticket” can be scolded upon by Immigration and you can be accused of showing a faked ticket, denied entry and being forced to buy a ticket back to your origin)

The intended aim of the new approach was to prohibit "visa runs," where you only entered briefly a neighboring country and then immediately re-entered.

You must be able to prove the planned short stay at the immigration counter—for example, with proof of onward travel or a return journey, such as a flight ticket.

It seems that a border official would consider you being a "genuine" tourist based on such short holiday trips within a year.

In this case, they expect to see on their central computer that you never extended the 60-days visa-exempt stay permit – i.e. maximized – any of these short trips.

The 7-day extension is a REAL extension. It's not the same as the stamp "application for extension denied, you have 7 days to leave the Kingdom", even if to some people it looks like a “grace period”. I have already seen the stamp of a 7-days extension, it takes up half of a passport page. The original “you have 7 days to leave” stamp is smaller, takes something like a quarter up to one-third of the page

What has become crystal clear, is that "per year" can be defined as "per one-year period.

Some people still say they meant “calendar year” but to me this doesn’t make any sense!

Those who want to be on the safe side should obtain a single-entry tourist visa in advance for stays of up to 60 days, with the option to extend for 30 more days.

Someone entering on a 6-months multi-entry tourist visa (plus two possible extensions) with a half year interval between each , is good to go for a maximum of “touristic” 180 days per 1-year period

Mario Preston . . .you should refrain from thinking in terms of "calendar year". I would rather say that all visa-exempt stays within the recent "1-year period" will be considered when it comes to another attempt to a visa-exempt entry or the application to an extension . . . . . just think about it: WHY would they really count in "calendar year" as this would allow you 157 days BEFORE New Year, and 157 more days AFTER New Year, totalling in a 304-days consecutive visa-exempt holiday inside Thailand ? 😂. . . . The mind boggles. It is absolutely impossible the Immigration counts in "calendar years". It won't make much sense

No extensions given on visa exempt if arriving by land

The rules limit you to 157 days. You want to stay 180…you better plan an alternative. In addition 2026 may bring changes to the visa exemption program with fewer days.