Thailand visa for Maldivians 2026: 30 days visa-free

What changed for Maldivians on 15 September 2026

Before 15 September 2026, Maldivians travelling to Thailand without a visa could stay for up to 60 days on entry. A Ministry of Interior regulation, published in the Royal Gazette on 31 August 2026, cut that allowance to 30 days for passports from the Maldives, and the new limit has applied to every arrival since 15 September 2026. If your passport was stamped before that date, the 60-day permission already written into it still stands until it runs out. For a trip booked now, plan around the shorter 30-day window: build your itinerary, onward travel, and any planned side trips within that period, and remember that going over the new allowance carries the same daily overstay penalty as before.

Before you fly

• Check that your Maldivian passport has at least six months of validity left from your arrival date and at least one blank page for the entry stamp, since Thai immigration can refuse boarding or entry without both.
• Carry proof of onward or return travel and be ready to show you can cover your stay, since officers may spot-check for 20,000 THB per traveller or 40,000 THB for a family group.
• File Thailand's Digital Arrival Card during the 72 hours before you land, whichever route into the country you take; the form is free to submit online, and you should keep the QR code ready to show at immigration.
• If you'd rather arrive with a 60-day single-entry stamp instead of the visa-free 30 days, apply for Thailand's e-Visa at thaievisa.go.th ahead of your trip, since processing usually takes 3 to 10 working days.

Staying longer than 30 days

If 30 days isn't enough, Maldivians can apply once at a Thai immigration office for a further stay of up to 30 days, for a fee of 1,900 THB, before the original stamp runs out. Travellers who know in advance they'll need longer can instead apply for the e-Visa before leaving the Maldives, which grants a single entry of 60 days and can itself be extended once by another 30 days on the same terms. Remote workers or those on a long course of study may qualify for the five-year Destination Thailand Visa, which allows stays of up to 180 days per entry. Leaving and re-entering purely to reset the clock isn't a substitute, since land crossings under the visa-free rule are capped at two a year for any passport.

At the airport

At Suvarnabhumi, Maldivians are not on the list of nationalities allowed through the automated e-gates, so you'll clear immigration at the Foreign Passport counters instead. Have your passport and the QR code from your Digital Arrival Card ready together, since immigration officers scan that code alongside checking your passport before stamping you in. Keep both to hand as you approach the counter, rather than searching for them once you're already being processed, to keep the queue moving smoothly for everyone behind you.

Facts checked on 30 September 2026. Sources: Royal Gazette notifications of 31 August 2026, the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs bilateral list, the Immigration Bureau. Rules change; your embassy has the final word.