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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