Thailand’s cabinet has approved a return to visa-free entry for Indian passport holders, but with the permitted stay halved to 30 days from a previous 60-day exemption. The decision, reported by local media and due to take effect 15 days after publication in the Royal Gazette, follows a sharp 20 per cent drop in Indian arrivals after Bangkok scrapped the earlier scheme in May 2026, citing misuse and national security concerns. The reversal places India alongside all 27 European Union member states and a handful of other nations now eligible for 30-day visa-free visits, a move that tourism officials in Southeast Asia frame as a calibrated effort to revive visitor numbers without restoring the longer stays that had raised alarm among security agencies.

In South America, immigration authorities in Brazil, Paraguay and Venezuela are enforcing strict passport validity rules, denying boarding or entry to travellers whose documents have expired or lack sufficient remaining validity. Brazilian regulations permit Mercosur nationals to use national identity cards, but all other foreigners must present a passport valid for international travel. Venezuelan and Paraguayan controls similarly require a valid passport or, in the case of Mercosur citizens, a current identity document. Viewed from Brasília, the enforcement is part of a regional effort to regularise cross-border movement and curb irregular migration.

British authorities now mandate an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) for visa-exempt nationals, a system they describe as a security and border management tool. The requirement, which since January 2025 has applied to Mexicans and previously covered Americans, Canadians and Australians, means that a valid passport alone is no longer sufficient for boarding. US immigration rules, enforced at major hubs such as Atlanta, Dallas and New York, require most foreign visitors to hold a passport valid for six months beyond the intended stay, a policy that Washington says is designed to prevent overstays. In the Gulf, the United Arab Emirates is leveraging digital identity in a different way: Mashreq bank, with regulatory backing from the Central Bank of the UAE and the Federal Authority for Identity and Citizenship, has launched an instant digital account for international visitors, using passport-based eKYC to issue a virtual card upon arrival. Regulators in Abu Dhabi describe the initiative as a tool to integrate short-term visitors into the cashless economy and boost merchant spending.

Travel industry analysts note that the cumulative effect for passengers is a patchwork of validity windows, digital permits and visa categories that demand pre-departure verification. Mexican nationals, for instance, now face an ETA for the UK, a mandatory visitor visa for Australia and a visa for mainland China—though Hong Kong and Macau remain visa-free for stays under 90 days, and a 240-hour transit permit is available at select Chinese airports. Indian citizens, while regaining visa-free access to Thailand, must still navigate visa-on-arrival or e-visa systems for many other destinations. According to Thai government statements, the next concrete step is the formal gazetting of the amended rules, after which the 30-day exemption becomes operational. Meanwhile, the UK’s ETA requirement is already in force, and US passport validity rules remain unchanged, a situation that analysts in London and Washington observe underscores a global trend in which the document itself is no longer sufficient without digital clearance and a buffer of validity months.