After circling the issue seemingly since being elected, the cabinet finally moved forward this week to end the 60-day visa-free programme for 93 nationalities, citing a need to stem crime and misconduct by foreigners. But if discussion of the decision’s necessity is now officially closed, attention must turn instead to results.
This writer’s concerns and scepticism about the backtracking on the visa-free policy have already been made clear. If the premise for halving the 60-day allowance is that longer stays are a significant contributor to heightened crime statistics, the government has essentially sworn that Thailand should see a fall in these numbers in the coming months.
