Thailand's former National Intelligence Agency deputy director, Nantiwat Samart, has urged the government to prioritize national security and public safety over boosting tourist numbers. Concerns have grown on social media, with calls to revoke the existing visa-free entry policy due to issues allegedly linked to Israeli tourists. The current policy, introduced under former PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra, allows citizens from 93 countries to enter Thailand without a visa for up to 60 days, with an optional 30-day extension.

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This visa-free policy aims to facilitate tourism and business; however, Nantiwat suggests it poses risks to Thailand’s security. Although Thailand remains welcoming to tourists of all nationalities, Nantiwat stresses the need for screening processes to ensure visitors are legitimate tourists and not intending to work illegally or settle permanently in the country. Implementing a pre-travel visa process is recommended to verify visitors’ financial means and prevent unchecked entries.

The urgency of Nantiwat's advice is heightened by concerns about national security threats such as terrorism, scams, and organized crime. He advocates for stricter law enforcement by immigration police to address overstay issues. Meanwhile, Thai social media users have accused Israeli tourists of working illegally, setting up businesses, and occupying land through Thai nominees, particularly in popular destinations like Koh Phangan, Koh Samui, and Pai.

The demographic of Israeli tourists, notably in Pai, has raised eyebrows with reports of more than 4,000 present at any time, forming communities with their own places of worship. Amid these growing concerns, some netizens have intensified their calls to revoke the visa-free entry policy, especially in light of international tensions like the US-Israeli conflict with Iran.

Looking forward, the Thai government may need to evaluate the visa policy's implications for national security and tourism. Possible changes could involve revising entry processes to align with security priorities while maintaining tourism's economic contributions, reported Thai PBS.

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  Adapted by ASEAN Now · Thai PBS · 16 Mar 2026

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The approach to open the borders to the world, extend says to long term has resulted in Thailand absolutely destorying the beautiful culture it has had. The scams, the crimes, the drug situation is something like i (and my fellow friends) have never seen before in Thailand. Rather than actually promoting tourism, it is harming Thailand.

There is simply no other country that would allow long term stay for years without any form of criminal record check. It's scandalous Thailand would not implement this when we all know the usual nonsense you have to go through for visas.

One day they will examine the shanangians going on around Phuket (and other regions) and how so many Russians and Isrealis have been allowed to get away with opening so many businesses and basically working in the open.

No other country on this planet allows visa free travel to their country from countries that have a low GDP, especially a country with a much lower GDP than Thailand. It does not help tourism, but rather destorys quality tourism. Visitors from less developed nations than Thailand will come to seek work too. An open border facitilitates easy access for all scammers to enter and go as they wish.

It's a national scandal that property development companies are having a say in the immigration policy in the country. That should never happen.

The open border experiment has been a disaster. Crime is through the roof.

Most my Chinese friends who come for tourism value safety above all, heading to Vietnam and other regions.

Fully agree with Nantiwat Samart.

They will let in hoards of trouble makers from western countries with no screening....but the decent foreigners, like those who have bought property, will get no specific visa facility to make the process faster and less a bureaucratic hassle.

Every foreigner who has bought a house or a condo in Thailand on freehold or lease hold, should get say a 5 year multiple entry visa only on submitting the house lease contract or condo purchase, a pension retirement certificate and that's it. No other documents asked during submission.

Many many countries in the world give long stay visas with no bureaucratic hassles to the foreigners who have bought property.

The Thais are desperate for tourism revenue but at what cost? A lot of manufactuing revenue has been lost to Vietnam, Indonesia and other more attractive propositions. So, Thailand extends the visa waiver "tourist" entry to 60 days (from 30), gives others 90 days. Now they regret what they have attracted? Make it easier to set-up legitimate businesses as a foreigner, register and pay taxes and employ Thai people and all will benefit. Many countries such as Malaysia offer visa free access of 90 days to most weterners and others. Do they have problems? Maybe the issue is Thailand itself and the people it attracts?

6 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Meanwhile, Thai social media users have accused Israeli tourists of ..., occupying land ... particularly in popular destinations like Koh Phangan, Koh Samui, and Pai.

No way.

The UK and it's porous borders should be a warning to Thailand to be more selective about who they let into the country.

Nantiwat’s comments seem to blur personal opinion with policy reality.

Thailand’s situation is straightforward: the country depends heavily on both foreign tourists and foreign workers.

Tourism is one of Thailand’s largest economic engines, and visa‑free entry is a major reason the country remains competitive.

At the same time, millions of migrant workers from neighbouring countries keep key sectors running: construction, agriculture, fisheries, manufacturing, and domestic work.

These are structural needs, not optional extras.

Security concerns are legitimate, but they should be addressed through targeted enforcement and better screening, not by framing entire nationalities as risks or by undermining the visa system that supports the economy.

The real challenge is balancing openness with sensible controls, not rolling back policies that Thailand relies on.

In short: Thailand needs foreign tourists and it needs foreign workers, and policy should reflect economic facts rather than personal anxieties!

3 hours ago, soi3eddie said:

The Thais are desperate for tourism revenue but at what cost? A lot of manufactuing revenue has been lost to Vietnam, Indonesia and other more attractive propositions. So, Thailand extends the visa waiver "tourist" entry to 60 days (from 30), gives others 90 days. Now they regret what they have attracted? Make it easier to set-up legitimate businesses as a foreigner, register and pay taxes and employ Thai people and all will benefit. Many countries such as Malaysia offer visa free access of 90 days to most weterners and others. Do they have problems? Maybe the issue is Thailand itself and the people it attracts?

The issue is corruption and lack of law enforcement here. As long as a certain type of foreigner is able to bypass the tortuous, bureaucratic route to opening a legitimate business, or set up a trans-national scam or human trafficking operation, simply by paying off the relevant authorities, reducing the visa-exempt allowance won't make any difference.

7 hours ago, Sigmund said:

They will let in hoards of trouble makers from western countries with no screening....but the decent foreigners, like those who have bought property, will get no specific visa facility to make the process faster and less a bureaucratic hassle.

Let me guess. German.

4 hours ago, Jim Waldron said:

Thailand’s situation is straightforward: the country depends heavily on both foreign tourists and foreign workers.

Tourism is one of Thailand’s largest economic engines

You can have a responsible border immigration policy, whilst ensuring tourism is thriving, and preserving the culture of the country. It does not have to be an all or nothing approach.

Thailand in it's quest to promote more tourism and longer term stay the number of tourists have fallen, income from tourism has also fallen. So if the solution is to pack them in like sardines then it's been a failure, and a cost to the culture of Thailand. Then a further cost to police the criminal element, to keep the country safe, scams, to try and keep up with infrustucture adds a cost that then becomes burden.

The country is not only losing it's culture and heritage, crime is out of controls, locals are fed up, drugs are rife, and the level of scams is out of control.

You speak that Thailand relies on foreign labour, whilst true ... it is in the sector of low paid work. Thailand is still a developing country. No matter what luxuries you see, the wages people are making is extremely low for the vast majority. Thailand, like many other developing nations (eg India) protect their workers from outside capitalistic vultures. However, you are now seeing an encrosion on this too - with foreign workers now abusing the systems to open business, working openly in what are protected areas for Thais.

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The current policy, introduced under former PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra, allows citizens from 93 countries to enter Thailand without a visa for up to 60 days, with an optional 30-day extension.

Adding 36 more countries to visa exempt and making it 60 days instead of 30 is what increased criminals and undesirables, not Israeli tourists magically getting more naughty after 30 years of being part of the visa exempt scheme. The only thing I agree with is that "visa free" entry should be scaled back to 30 days and cancelled for nationals of countries with a high likelihood of working illegally or criminal activity.

14 hours ago, Bally Jaggers said:

Most my Chinese friends who come for tourism value safety above all, heading to Vietnam and other regions.

I totally agree.

Chinese people who come to Thailand value security highly.

Sometimes, these security-related fears of Chinese travelers are unreasonably high.

They don't like the riffraff.