Official Announcement! Thailand permanent visa-free access to China from March! Overseas study and travel said to go!

Thailand will implement a permanent visa-free policy for Chinese citizens from March 1, 2024, Prime Minister Saita Thaksin said on Jan. 2, according to CCTV Global News.

Places to Study & Travel Overseas When You're Ready to Go

At a briefing at the Prime Minister's Office on the same day, Saitha said that a temporary visa-free policy for Chinese nationals to enter the country had previously been implemented for a few months. The Thai government has been actively negotiating with relevant Chinese authorities and finally decided to implement a permanent visa-free policy for Chinese citizens from March 1, 2024 onwards.

He said the measure will not only give a positive boost to Thailand's tourism industry, but also reflects the further enhancement of friendly relations between the two countries. The number of places to study and travel overseas when you say go has increased again!

Thailand's air ticket inquiries instantly skyrocketed more than twofold

At present, more than 30 cities such as Beijing, Tianjin, Jinan, Qingdao, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Changsha, Chongqing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Kunming and other cities have direct flights to Thailand, and the price of direct flights to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Shanghai, Kunming and other cities in January is around RMB 600 yuan.

Data show that within one hour after the announcement of the new visa-free policy, the number of inquiries about air tickets to Thailand instantly surged by more than two times, and Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, and Krabi are the most popular destinations. 

According to Thai official data, a total of 17.6 million overseas tourists entered Thailand in the first half of the same period in 2023.  The top 5 countries with the highest number of visitors to Thailand were Malaysia (2.797 million), China (2.182 million), South Korea (1.046 million), India (1.007 million) and Russia (915,000).  

Gradual growth of Chinese students to Thailand

In 2022 at least nearly 100,000 Chinese students are active in Southeast Asia. Among them, more than 60% are Chinese students in Malaysia and Thailand, while the number of Chinese students in Thailand has doubled in five years.

Chinese students at Thai higher education institutions surge by 7,483 in two years

Due to the fierce competition for higher education in China, many Chinese students have chosen to apply to overseas colleges and universities in recent years to avoid the “inner rolls”.

According to the analysis, there are three main attractions and advantages of Thailand for Chinese students:

Geographical advantage: Thailand is culturally and geographically closer to China. This proximity makes Chinese students tend to choose Thailand as their study destination, especially for those who wish to be in Asia but want to experience a different cultural environment.

Economic factors: The cost of living and tuition fees are usually lower in Thailand compared to studying in traditional western countries such as Europe, America, Australia and New Zealand. This is an important consideration for Chinese working families on a limited budget.

Employment Opportunities: In view of the implementation of favorable policies such as “One Belt, One Road” and “RCEP”, Thailand, as a business hub in the Central and South China Peninsula, offers Chinese students richer career development opportunities in many fields.

Reasons why Chinese students mainly choose to study at private universities:

Specialization: Some private universities may offer different or more specialized programs in specific areas than Chinese universities, allowing Chinese students to delve deeper into their field of interest.

English-Chinese teaching: Some private universities have English-Chinese teaching programs, so Chinese students who do not speak English well can slowly improve their English with the assistance of Chinese language.

Academic resources and facilities: Most private universities have better academic resources and facilities, providing better academic support and research conditions.

Flexible Academic Structure and Curriculum: Some private universities offer more flexible academic structure and curriculum to meet the needs of different students, which is an opportunity to improve academic qualifications or even change fate for students with special academic interests and schedules, or students with insufficient academic level.

Recommended Colleges and Universities in Thailand

University of Southeast Asia (UNESA) is a university under the Council of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education of Thailand, which is an institution under the Agreement on Mutual Recognition of Academic Degrees in Higher Education between China and Thailand and is accredited by the Ministry of Education of China. The University offers undergraduate, master's, and doctoral degrees and is committed to the pursuit of excellence in the learning environment and exploratory education, combining national and global strengths to achieve the highest level of educational standards, and fostering civic-minded students as well as students' global competitive advantage under high ethical standards.

Thonburi University Bangkok Introduction: Thonburi University Bangkok, located in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, is a comprehensive institution of higher learning under the Thai Ministry of Education, with a history of more than 30 years of schooling. It is the only university in Thailand that has two television stations and a national gymnasium. At the same time, it is also a key recommended university by the Ministry of Education of China's foreign-related supervision information network, and its academic qualifications are recognized by the Ministry of Education of China and the international community.