In 2026, borders went digital, visa-free stays got shorter in some places and longer in others, and several countries rewrote their tax residency rules. This is every change we confirmed against an official source, region by region.
Five changes affect the most travellers. The EU’s Entry/Exit System now counts every Schengen day. The UK refuses boarding without an ETA. Thailand cut visa-free stays from 60 to 30 days. South Korea’s K-ETA exemption ends on 31 December 2026. And the US ESTA fee went up twice.
Europe
Schengen Area: the Entry/Exit System is fully running. Since 10 April 2026, every entry and exit at a Schengen border is recorded with your fingerprints and a face photo. Passport stamps are gone, and overstays of the 90/180 rule are flagged automatically. The rule itself is unchanged. Read what EES records.
United Kingdom: no ETA, no travel. Since 25 February 2026, visitors from the 85 nationalities that don’t need a visa, including EU and US citizens, must hold an Electronic Travel Authorisation before they board. The fee rose from £16 to £20 on 8 April 2026. Dual British citizens don’t need an ETA, but the UK advises them to travel on a British passport or a certificate of entitlement.
Georgia: insurance and work permits. Since 1 January 2026, visitors need health and accident insurance for their whole stay, and border officers can refuse entry without it. Since 1 March 2026, any work in Georgia, including remote work for a foreign employer, needs a work permit. That ends the easy “a year visa-free” route for digital nomads.
Cyprus: an easier 60-day rule. From the 2026 tax year, the 60-day route to Cyprus tax residency no longer requires you to be non-resident everywhere else. You still need 60 days in Cyprus, no more than 183 days in any other single country, a job, business or office in Cyprus, and a home there. Long-term residents whose non-dom status has ended after 17 years can now extend it by 5 years for a €250,000 lump sum.
Italy: the flat tax for new residents rose to €300,000. People who move their tax residence to Italy from 1 January 2026 pay €300,000 a year on foreign income, up from €200,000. Each family member now costs €50,000, up from €25,000.
Portugal: citizenship now takes 10 years. Since 19 May 2026, naturalisation needs 10 years of legal residence, or 7 for EU and Portuguese-speaking (CPLP) nationals. The clock starts when your first residence permit is issued. Applications filed by 18 May 2026 follow the old 5-year rule. Golden Visa, D7 and D8 permits themselves are unchanged.
Finland: slower permanent residence, lower expat tax. Since 8 January 2026, permanent residence generally needs 6 years of residence, Finnish or Swedish at B1 level and 2 years of work, with faster routes for high earners and graduates. The tax rate for key foreign employees fell from 32% to 25% from 1 January 2026.
Armenia: visa-free with a residence permit. From 1 July 2026 to 1 July 2027, citizens of 111 countries, including India, who hold a valid US, EU, Schengen or Gulf residence permit can visit Armenia visa-free for up to 180 days a year.
Montenegro: visas for Russian, Belarusian and Turkish citizens. From 1 November 2026, they need a visa to enter Montenegro, in line with EU visa policy.
Also changed: Türkiye lets Chinese citizens in visa-free for 90 days in 180 since 2 January 2026. The UK (since 5 March 2026) and Ireland (since 15 June 2026) require visas from citizens of Nicaragua and St Lucia, and Ireland also from St Kitts and Nevis.
Asia-Pacific
Thailand: 30 days visa-free, tourism only. Since 15 September 2026, most passports, including EU, UK, US and Indian, get 30 days instead of 60, for tourism only. Thailand’s embassy in London says you can use the exemption only twice in a calendar year. Read the details.
Thailand: stricter Destination Thailand Visa. Since 31 August 2026, you must apply for the DTV in a country where you are a citizen or permanent resident, with a criminal record certificate. Applying from a neighbouring country on a visa run no longer works.
China: UK and Canada join the visa-free list. Since 17 February 2026, British and Canadian citizens can visit for up to 30 days without a visa, for tourism, business, family visits or transit. China’s visa-free list for about 50 countries, including most of the EU, runs until 31 December 2026 unless it is renewed.
South Korea: the K-ETA exemption ends this year. Until 31 December 2026, travellers from about two dozen countries and territories can skip the K-ETA, including the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands. Other EU passports, such as Irish, Portuguese and Greek, already need a K-ETA. No extension has been announced, so plan on needing one from 1 January 2027.
Japan: higher travel and residence costs. The departure tax rose from ¥1,000 to ¥3,000 for tickets issued from 1 July 2026. Visa fees rose about fivefold on the same day, which matters for visa-required passports such as India’s. From 1 October 2026, a permanent residence application costs ¥200,000 instead of ¥10,000.
New Zealand: a tax break for remote workers. For arrivals from 1 April 2026, visitors can spend up to 275 days in any 18 months without becoming tax resident, as long as they work only for foreign employers or clients and pay tax where they live. The old 183-day test still applies to everyone else.
Sri Lanka: a free ETA for 40 countries. Since 25 May 2026, the 30-day tourist ETA is free for 40 nationalities, including the UK, US, India, Australia and 12 EU countries. You still need to apply before you travel.
India: a new Income-tax Act. The Income-tax Act 2025 applies from the tax year starting 1 April 2026. The residency tests carry over unchanged, including the 182-day rule and the 60-day rule for people with 365 days in India over the previous 4 years.
Singapore: refused before you board. Since 30 January 2026, airlines flying into Changi and Seletar must refuse boarding to travellers Singapore’s immigration authority flags, such as people without a needed visa or with less than 6 months of passport validity.
Also changed: Australia started replacing the paper arrival card with a digital travel declaration on some Qantas flights from 26 May 2026. The Philippines lets Chinese citizens in visa-free for 14 days from 16 January 2026.
Middle East and Africa
South Africa: an electronic travel authorisation. South Africa launched its ETA on 12 August 2026 at OR Tambo, Cape Town, King Shaka and Lanseria airports. It will become compulsory step by step for nationalities that need a visa. For visa-free visitors it’s optional: it gives you a faster queue and lets you ask to extend a 90-day stay by up to 90 days.
Kenya: compulsory travel health insurance. Since 6 October 2026, the eTA portal asks every visitor to buy government-approved health insurance, about US$44, before the eTA is issued. A court challenge failed.
Tanzania: insurance at the border. Since 1 October 2026, every foreign visitor entering mainland Tanzania needs a US$44 policy from the National Insurance Corporation, valid for up to 92 days. You can buy it before you travel or on arrival.
Ghana: visa on arrival ended. Since 25 May 2026, Ghana issues e-visas online instead of visas on arrival. Citizens of African countries pay no visa fee but must still apply before boarding.
United Arab Emirates: visa on arrival for more residence-permit holders. Since late June 2026, citizens of Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines, Kenya and South Africa can get a visa on arrival, as Indians already could, if they hold a residence permit from the US, UK, EU, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore or South Korea. You can choose 14 days for AED 100, extendable once, or 60 days for AED 250. The UAE’s day rules for tax residency didn’t change. Read how they work.
Saudi Arabia: a one-year Umrah visa. Since July 2026, the Umrah visa is valid for a year with multiple entries, but your stays can’t add up to more than 90 days in total. It doesn’t cover the Hajj season.
Also changed: Egypt’s visa on arrival now costs US$30. Qatar (on 7 June 2026) and Kuwait (on 1 September 2026) ended the automatic visa and absence-permit extensions they granted after the regional conflict in early 2026, so the normal rules apply again.
Americas
United States: the ESTA fee rose twice. The ESTA cost $40 in 2025, $40.27 from 1 January 2026 and $40.62 from 16 October 2026. A refused application still costs $10.62. The 90-day stay on ESTA is unchanged.
United States: $100 extra at 11 national parks. Since 1 January 2026, visitors who don’t live in the US pay $100 per person on top of the entrance fee at 11 of the most visited parks, including Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon. The annual pass costs $250 for non-residents and covers the surcharge.
United States: tighter visas. An expanded travel ban took effect on 1 January 2026, and it now partly covers Antigua and Barbuda and Dominica. The visa bond programme became permanent on 3 August 2026, with bonds up to $20,000 for nationals of the countries on the list. From 1 July to 31 December 2026, you can pay $750 for a faster B1/B2 visa interview at some embassies.
Brazil: 90 days in any 180 for EU citizens. Since 1 March 2026, the EU–Brazil agreement sets a rolling 90-days-in-180 limit, the same window as Schengen, instead of 90 days per 6 months. US, Canadian and Australian citizens still need Brazil’s e-visa.
Canada: eTA changes. Since 26 May 2026, Indonesian and Malaysian citizens who held a Canadian visa in the past 10 years, or hold a valid US visa, can fly in with an eTA instead of a visa. Since 5 June 2026, visa-free travellers, such as EU and UK citizens, arriving by boat from Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon need an eTA too.
Colombia: a deadline for permanent residents. Holders of permanent resident visas issued under the old rules must transfer them online, for free, by 31 October 2026.
Also changed: Mexico’s fee for cruise passengers doubled to about US$10 on 1 August 2026.
Announced but not in force
These are not law yet, or have no start date. Don’t plan around them until they do.
- ETIAS. The EU’s travel authorisation for visa-free visitors has no confirmed start date. The EU says it will give several months’ notice.
- Japan’s JESTA. The law creating Japan’s travel authorisation passed on 29 May 2026. It must start by 31 March 2029, with no exact date yet.
- Thailand’s 300-baht entry fee. It has been discussed for years, but the Cabinet has not approved it and there is no start date.
- The GCC unified tourist visa. One visa for all six Gulf states is planned, but it hasn’t launched and there is no official date.
How Noverstay helps
Noverstay logs the country you’re in every day and counts each limit for your passport: Schengen’s 90/180, a 30-day visa exemption, a 183-day tax test. It shows the date you must leave by and reminds you 14 days before. When a rule changes, we update it in the app, with the official source.
Sources
Not legal or tax advice. Rules change; check the official sources above or a qualified adviser.
