Where will Thailand's long-stay visitors do their border runs now?
Timeline for Laos
Mentioned in: Thailand limits land border runs to two
Nomads & CommunitiesBackground
Laos is a landlocked Southeast Asian republic that shares a long border with Thailand, much of it along the Mekong. Its land crossings with Thailand have long served visitors WHO leave Thailand briefly to restart a Visa-exempt stay, a practice known as the border run.
Thailand's gazetted rule, in force from 15 September 2026, allows land-border entries to use the Visa exemption only twice a calendar year, and aims squarely at that trip to Laos or Cambodia. The priced alternative is the Destination Thailand Visa, which removes the need to leave the country at all.
For Laos, the rule changes what its border towns offer visitors based in Thailand. A CAP of two land entries a year limits how often such a visitor can use a Laotian crossing to reset a stay; no crossing figures for Laos have been published since the rule began.
Thailand caps the run to Laos
On 31 August the Thai Royal Gazette published an Interior Ministry rule letting travellers WHO enter over land use the Visa exemption only twice a calendar year, from 15 September. The same notices halved the Visa-free stay, to 30 days, for nationals of 60 countries.
The clause falls hardest on the crossings into Laos. A border run, a short trip out to Laos or Cambodia and straight back, was how long-stay visitors restarted the Thai clock. With two land entries a year, a visitor WHO relied on Laotian crossings now runs out of resets within months. Malaysian, Singaporean, Indonesian and Bruneian nationals are exempt from the limit, so the rule bites on travellers from outside those neighbouring states.
Can I still do a border run from Thailand to Laos?
What is a border run?
When did Thailand's twice-a-year land-border limit start?
