Entry Rule Changes — What Actually Changed and Who Must Act
2026-10-27
Six changes announced by the issuing authorities themselves. For each one: what changed, who is affected, when it applies, what you do — and, unusually, whether the data on this site already reflects it.
That last column is the one other sites leave out.
1. Thailand revoked the 60-day visa exemption — confirmed
Effective 15 September 2026. Published in the Royal Gazette 31 August 2026, following Cabinet approval on 19 May 2026.
"Revoking the 60-day visa exemption scheme … These measures will therefore take effect from 15 September 2026." — Government Public Relations Department, Thailand
The announcement sets out five measures: one exemption scheme per country or territory, the 60-day scheme revoked, the 30-day tourism scheme expanded, a new 15-day scheme for two countries, and visa on arrival cut to three.
The 15-day scheme is worth noting because it is new and widely missed.
If you were already there: anyone in Thailand under the previous schemes, or arriving before 15 September, may stay to the last date on their entry stamp. Reading that stamp is covered in reading your entry stamp.
The scheme a country is on now:
| Scheme | Who is on it |
|---|---|
| 30 days | the large majority, including most of Europe, the Gulf, and the US, UK, Canada, Australia, China, India, Japan |
| 90 days | Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Korea (ROK) |
| 15 days (new) | Seychelles, Mauritius |
| 14 days | Cambodia, Myanmar (international airports only) |
| Visa on arrival | Azerbaijan, Belarus, Serbia |
What this did to our data — the largest correction we have ever made. Our dataset recorded 90 passports as having 60 days in Thailand: the scheme that no longer exists. We have corrected 71 entries against the published list, setting each to its correct scheme and permitted stay.
If you checked a Thailand route on this site before today, the permitted stay you saw was out of date. We would rather say that than quietly fix it.
One thing we have not changed. Twenty-one passports that our data marks visa-free for Thailand appear on none of the published lists. Absence from a list is weaker evidence than presence on one, so we have left those entries alone and flagged them for confirmation rather than downgrading twenty-one countries on an inference. If you hold one of them, check with a Thai embassy before you travel.
2. South Africa's electronic travel authorisation is live — and optional for now
Launched 12 August 2026 at OR Tambo International Airport — confirmed by the Presidency.
We then opened the ETA portal's own FAQ, and it changes the picture that was circulating:
It is not compulsory yet. The portal states plainly that visa-exempt travellers "may still travel but will be processed under standard immigration procedures". If you are visa-exempt for South Africa, the ETA is currently an option that speeds you up, not a requirement that stops you.
Who it is for. Visa-required travellers are issued a Port of Entry Visa; visa-exempt travellers receive an ETA. Either way the actual visitor's visa is issued when you are processed at the port of entry.
Where it works. Four airports, confirmed on the portal: OR Tambo, Cape Town, Lanseria and King Shaka. "Rollout to additional ports of entry will follow."
The practical details, all from the portal:
| Who may apply | short-term visitors, up to 90 days, including short-term work |
| ETA validity | typically up to 6 months from issue, multiple entries |
| Stay per entry | up to 90 days, decided at the port of entry, not by the ETA |
| Outcome | usually within 24 hours, by email |
| Fees | non-refundable regardless of outcome |
| Minors | an ETA is required, but applications for minors come in a later phase |
An approved ETA does not guarantee entry — the portal says so itself, and an immigration officer decides at the port. That is true of every pre-travel authorisation, and it is the point of how to read your visa checker result.
What this means for our data: nothing changes, and we were wrong to think it would. We said earlier today that our dataset was missing South Africa's eTA category. Having read the portal, it should not have one: the ETA is optional for visa-exempt travellers, so their entry category is still visa-free. Recording an eTA requirement would have made our data wrong, not current.
The "53 countries" figure we were given appears nowhere on either official page we opened. We are not repeating it.
3. India offers eVisa to Qatari nationals — confirmed
Confirmed on the Embassy of India's own page. The start date is not stated there.
"e-Visa facility to travellers from Qatar … e-Visa has 3 sub-categories i.e., e-Tourist visa, e-Business Visa and e-Medical visa. The validity of an e-Visa will be 60 days from the date of arrival in India. Double entry is permitted on e-Tourist Visa and e-Business Visa. Triple entry will be permitted on e-Medical Visa." — Embassy of India, Doha
We opened the Embassy of India in Doha's announcement and confirmed every quoted line word for word. The page carries a further exclusion our source pack had missed, which we add here because it affects families: the facility is not available to individuals endorsed on a parent's or spouse's passport. It is also non-extendable, non-convertible, and not valid for protected, restricted or cantonment areas, and not available to International Travel Document holders.
On the date: we were given 26 October 2026 as the effective date. The embassy page does not state one, and a Qatari news report describing the same facility is dated well before that. We are therefore presenting this as the current rule, not as a new change, and we have removed the date rather than repeat one we could not confirm.
Note the entry counts, because they are unusual and easy to misread: double entry on tourist and business, triple on medical. What that means for planning a trip with a side journey is in single entry or multiple entry.
What this means for our data: our dataset recorded India as visa-required for Qatari passports. This one we have corrected — Qatar → India now shows eVisa, applied as a documented correction with its source, and it affects only that pair. Every other passport's India entry is untouched.
4. Taiwan suspended eVisa eligibility for Sri Lankan nationals — confirmed
Effective 12 August 2026.
We opened the Bureau of Consular Affairs' own eVisa page and found the notice exactly as quoted — including a spelling slip in the original, which we reproduce rather than silently tidy:
"Note:Starting August 12, 2026, nationals of Sri Lanka are temporatily ineligible for the eVisa." — Bureau of Consular Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Taiwan)
The notice appears twice on that page, in both the invitation-based and business-visitor sections.
What replaces it: affected applicants must complete the general visa application form on the Bureau's site and submit it in person at a Taiwanese mission abroad.
What this means for our data: our dataset already records Taiwan as visa-required for Sri Lankan passports. No correction needed — this is the one case of the four where we were already current.
Two procedural changes — confirmed
Worth knowing if they affect you, but they do not change who may enter:
New Zealand issued two separate announcements, which is why dates circulating for this look contradictory. They are not the same change:
- 11 August 2026 — from 24 September new applications for most visitor visas must go through enhanced Immigration Online; from 8 October the old system's forms close and remaining drafts are deleted. Already-submitted applications are unaffected: "You do not need to resubmit an application if you have already submitted it."
- 4 September 2026 — from 1 October, paper applications stop being accepted for selected visitor and transit visas. "Paper applications submitted before 1 October 2026 will continue to be processed as normal."
Separately, from 27 October 2026 Immigration New Zealand made four changes to student visas: unlimited in-study work rights for master's-by-research students were removed, standardising all master's students at "25 hours a week and full-time during holidays"; English language ability was specified as a key factor; processing can be suspended in a broader range of circumstances; and the post-course visa validity was extended from one month to two, with the 31 March date unchanged.
Australia — confirmed on the Department of Home Affairs page, last updated 14 October 2026: "From 2 October 2026, there are new rules for Student visa (subclass 500) and Student Guardian (subclass 590) visas. The rules change who can apply for and be granted a visa while in Australia, and whether family members can be included." It affects people applying from inside Australia, student visa holders applying again, and anyone including family members.
None of these changes a tourist's entry category, which is why they sit here rather than above.
What we verified, item by item
We think a news page should show its working, so here is ours.
| Event | What we did | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Thailand — 60-day exemption | Read the PRD announcement and the consulate's published list | Confirmed, with the full country lists |
| Taiwan — Sri Lanka eVisa | Opened the Bureau of Consular Affairs page | Confirmed word for word |
| India — eVisa for Qatar | Opened the Embassy of India, Doha page | Confirmed, start date not stated there |
| New Zealand — three announcements | Read all three | Confirmed, and they are separate changes |
| South Africa — ETA | Opened the Presidency's page and the ETA portal FAQ | Confirmed — and it corrected us: the ETA is optional for visa-exempt travellers |
| Australia — student visas | Opened the Home Affairs page | Confirmed word for word |
Four checks changed what this article says. The India start date came to us as 26 October 2026, is not on the embassy page, and was dropped. The South Africa "53 countries" is not on the page we could open, and was dropped. And the Thailand lists — which no summary we were given contained — turned out to be published in full, and corrected 71 entries in our own database.
And the South Africa portal corrected a mistake of our own: we had written that our data was missing its eTA category. Reading the page showed the opposite — adding one would have been the error.
That is the difference between a source pack and a source. A quote nobody has read on the page is a lead; the page itself is the record. Every claim above that we could not put on a page, we left off.
And the standing rule on this site applies with extra force to a page like this: our visa data comes from the open Passport Index dataset refreshed daily, with our own verified corrections on top. It is not an official government feed. Three of the four events above exposed a gap in it. Confirm with the embassy or consulate before you travel.
Related
- How to read your visa checker result
- Is this visa site official?
- Single entry or multiple entry
- Reading your entry stamp
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