Until April 30, 2024, the law of visa-free stay of Russians in Thailand is in effect
The initiative to create a joint visa program by Southeast Asian countries has received another impetus to development. As part of the program to attract more tourists, Thai Prime Minister Settha Thawisin proposed to decide Finally, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam jointly take such a step to introduce a single visa for foreigners.In recent months, Thavisin has discussed this initiative with colleagues from Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam. The idea of creating a “South Asian Schengen” has been discussed since the early 2000s, but now the leaders of the countries have a chance to reach an agreement, as they seek to protect the economy from “sluggish exports and weak global demand.”In turn, the former president of the Thai Hotel Association, Marisa Sukosol, believes that in order to introduce such a visa, it is necessary to increase the length of stay from the current 30 days to 90 in order to make travel attractive.However, according to experts, the technical side of the issue may slow down the project again. First of all, due to the lack of standard immigration criteria for the named “six”, as well as due to the fact that ASEAN has never been famous for the rapid development of multilateral policies.A professor at a university in Bangkok compared the Thai prime minister to fruit pickers, but only those who are hanging low or have already fallen to the ground and are mostly rotten.”Thawisin is a newcomer to politics, he may not have enough influence to push through such a proposal,” concluded the Thai political scientist.According to Bloomberg, in 2023, six Southeast Asian countries received a total of 70 million foreign tourists. The largest number of travelers rested in Thailand and Malaysia, which introduced a visa-free regime for tourists from China and India. Thailand and Malaysia have received about $48 billion in tourism revenue.In the autumn of 2023, the Thai authorities extended the period of visa-free stay of Russians from 30 to 90 days until April 30, 2024. Russian tourists can spend up to 45 days in Vietnam. The rule applies to both the mainland and the island of Phu Quoc. Russians can stay in Malaysia and Myanmar without a visa for up to 30 days. A visa is not required in Laos if the period of stay does not exceed 15 days. In Cambodia, Russian citizens can apply for a visa on arrival for a stay of up to 30 days.