You can still get a 30 days extension, but practice has changed. If it is your first visa exemption in the relevant cycle, you can still obtain the full 60 days on entry and extend by 30 days, giving 90 days in total. If, however, you have already received a 30 days extension on a previous visa exemption within the same calendar year or cycle, many immigration offices now grant only a 7 days extension on the next one. This is how the new formalised guidelines are being applied in practice, not a formal abolition of 30 days extensions. Applying for a tourist visa in Laos is still possible and can give slightly higher certainty if you have several recent entries, with 60 days on entry and a further 30 days extension. ED visas are still available, but scrutiny is higher and applications must clearly show genuine study. Nothing has been removed, but repeat short term stays under the Visa exemption system itself are being assessed more strictly.

@Graham *****

✅ nope

@Bob *********

Not from Vietnam.

You can’t apply for a METV in Vietnam unless you’ve got a permanent residency there. Only a SETV.

Based on the travel pattern you describe, nothing stands out as problematic under the new formalised guidelines or the Visa exemption system itself. Your stays have been short, your total time spent in Thailand is under six weeks, you have no overstays, no visa or border runs aimed at prolonging a continuous stay, and your travel clearly fits within ordinary tourism. Three visa exemption entries in a year, with brief stays and time spent outside Thailand in between, is still well within what is normally accepted. As long as you can show an onward ticket within the initial 60 days, accommodation, and sufficient funds if asked, you should be fine. There is no formal rule limiting the number of visa exemption entries per calendar year, and calendar years themselves are not decisive. What matters is your total time spent in Thailand within a rolling cycle and whether your pattern still resembles genuine tourism. On the facts you’ve outlined, it does. What people often refer to is not a “fast track” service, but a so called safe entry service. This is a legal service where your travel history is pre-checked in advance, and if accepted you’ll get escorted through the process. It does not bypass immigration law, but it does provide a level of certainty based on prior screening.

@Braulio ********

Six months is formally not required for immigration but you’ll probably get denied boarding the plane.

@Farang ********

Everything is still quite clear for those of us who have spent 16 days in Thailand this year.

Safe travels ✈️

This is just an under consideration stamp, and you might receive a home visit until you get the ordinary one-year stamp.

@Martin *******

Yes, if your travel pattern is as you described, you should be able to enter again on a normal 60 days visa exemption without needing a visa in advance. When you arrive, you will be stamped in for 60 days, and you can later apply for a 30 days extension at immigration if you wish. As always, the final decision rests with the IO you stand in front of, but with an eight month gap from your last entry snd no border bounce and no extensive entry history, this is normally straightforward.