Thailand and East Timor have agreed to waive visas for tourists with abnormal passports in a bid to spice up tourism between the 2 countries. This agreement allows residents of each countries to remain for as much as 30 days for tourism, shopping and education purposes and not using a visa, once ratified by their national parliaments.
The Timor-Leste government has stated that previously only official and diplomatic passport holders were granted visa-free privileges between Thailand and Timor-Leste. However, with this latest policy, abnormal passport holders from each countries can now enter and not using a visa for tourist purposes, with a maximum stay of 30 days.
The Thai government has revealed that visitors entering through checkpoints by air, land or sea under the Tourist Visa Exemption Scheme can only enter twice per calendar yr. Travelers using the scheme should have a minimum of $546 (20,000 baht) per person or $1,092 (40,000 baht) per family.
In addition to promoting tourism, the policy also goals to support Timor-Leste’s full membership in ASEAN by 2025, in keeping with VisaGuide.World. Timor-Leste must sign 66 agreements, including the ASEAN Trade in Goods Agreement and the ASEAN Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, to realize its full membership plan.
The agreement was reached following a visit by East Timorese Foreign Minister Bendito dos Santos Freitas to Thailand on 20-21 June 2024 aimed toward strengthening bilateral relations.
During his visit, Freitas met with Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa. The meeting discussed ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation in military affairs, UN peacekeeping operations and military education, in addition to promoting tourism with a give attention to health, agriculture, education and human resources development.
