These visa changes can affect your trip to Southeast Asia

A number of Asian countries are changing their entry rules and visa requirements.

May 30, 2024 - 22:30

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These visa changes can affect your trip to Southeast Asia

Americans can, as of 2024, visit 183 of the 227 countries in the world without a visa. While that makes the U.S. passport a very strong one, that number is not as high as the 194 nations open to citizens of countries like Singapore and Spain.

Both those countries recently saw that number rise after, in an effort to bring back post-pandemic tourism, China introduced visa-free entry to the city-state and a number of European Union countries.

While having a reputation for tougher entry requirements than their European counterparts, many Asian nations have slowly been changing visa rules to make it easier for tourists to come. Over in Thailand, the country's Cabinet voted in legislation that changes the number of days visitors from the 93 countries with visa-free access can stay in the country from 30 to 60 days.

These Asian countries are making it easier to come without a visa

This affects citizens of most Western nations such as the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. All of these countries already had visa-free access to Thailand but would have previously had to leave at the end of 30 days or apply for a longer visa.

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Other changes voted in by the Cabinet of Thailand include expanding visa-on-arrival entry to 31 countries including India, Cambodia and Laos and expanding the "Destination Thailand Visa" that skilled professionals and digital nomads can use to travel through the country while earning income from abroad.

Government spokesperson Chai Watcharong said that the Thai government is prepared to lose the 12.3 billion Baht (roughly $340 million USD) that it had been collecting annually from visa applications in order to attract more visitors who will in turn spend in the country.

Thinking of going to China? There are also changes to know about

A notoriously closed-off country, China has also made a number of visa changes in an effort to bring in tourists. At the start of 2024, the country scrapped tourist visas for citizens of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland.

Originally intended to run until Nov. 30, 2024, the program saw strong uptake and has now been extended into 2025 to continue to draw in tourists from those nations.

While a strained relationship between Beijing and Washington have kept Americans (as well as Canadians, Australians and Brits) off this list, Chinese authorities did get rid of the requirement for these citizens to purchase trips without knowing whether they’d be granted entry.

Now, those seeking a tourist visa can come to a local embassy with just basic passport and employment information. Visa-free access for Europeans is available for 15 days while citizens of Malaysia and Singapore can stay for up to 30 days without a visa.

“The extension of the short-term visa-free policy until the end of 2025 will undoubtedly further boost confidence and enthusiasm for traveling to China, and will contribute to the growth of inbound tourism as well as aid in the prosperity of the industry," Dai Bin, who heads the China Tourism Academy, told the Global Times in May 2024.