How to interpret the end date for Thailand's tourist visa exemption's temporary extension to 45 days?

Question

Under Thailand's Tourist Visa Exemption Scheme, the ordinary passport holders of many countries are currently permitted to enter the Kingdom (by air) without a visa for a maximum of 45 days stay, instead of the pre-pandemic maximum of 30 days. It has been communicated (e.g., via the websites of various Thai embassies) that this extension from 30 to 45 days will be "in effect until 30 September 2021".

How is this end date of 30 September 2021 to be interpreted?

1. One entering Thailand under this scheme on or before that date will be granted the visa exemption for a 45 days stay, or
2. That day is the latest possible day of one's stay in Thailand permitted under this scheme. (So that if one enters 45 days before the end of September, one can still get the 45 days exemption, but if one enters a day later, one only gets 44 days, or perhaps even only 30 days), or
3. Something else?

Answer 1

Given the way visa exemptions normally work in Thailand I would say it's option 1 (subject to changing rules):

One entering Thailand under this scheme on or before that date will be granted the visa exemption for a 45 days stay.

To elaborate on this consider the following picture of passport stamps issued at BKK:

_{Image from Wikipedia as a public domain work}

To elaborate, the stamp on the right would be given when entering Thailand. If the 45 day visa exemption is in effect then there would be two days:

1. The first date ('admitted') is the date on which you enter Thailand.
2. The second date ('until') is the last day of your visa free stay.

As such, upon entering you should know how many days you've been granted. As I understand the rules, you will get 45 if you enter by the 30th of September (assuming you qualify for the 45 days, i.e. you have one of the nationalities to which the program applies, etc.).

Answer 2

The problem is that at the moment, the news moves a lot and it may also depend on where you enter Thailand. For example for Phuket which is becoming a sandbox, from July 1st there will be no quarantine if you have a vaccination certificate (if things don't move by then).

For the moment, if you enter before this date and on presentation of a Certificate of Entry (COE) you can stay 45 days, you will also need to install the ThailandPlus application on your smartphone (info here in this PDF). If you enter afterwards, it changes back to 30 days.

You can survey change on the news website such as this one or this one.

Answer 3

This has expired, the end date of September 30th has passed, and it was not extended further.

Exempt entry is now 30 days starting October 1st.