May 2026 Global Mobility News: Italy Hands Ancestry Applicants Court Win, Thailand Cuts Tourist Stays In Half, Sweden Adds 3 Years To Citizenship (+ 3 More Updates)
Global mobility updates you should not miss this month
Each month I track new visas, residency changes, and travel rules so you don’t miss anything.
Visa launches
Rule and fee changes
Travel access changes
Citizenship & investment news
Here is what changed in the last four weeks.
Thailand Cuts Visa-Free Stays To 30 Days
Thailand is taking back half your stay.
In the third week of May, the Cabinet approved cutting visa-free entries from 60 days to 30 for 54 nationalities, including Americans. Three nationalities drop to 15 days. The Foreign Ministry proposed the cut on May 13, citing misuse of extended visa-free stays.
The change is not in force yet.
It takes effect 15 days after publication in the Royal Gazette. As of early June, that has not happened, so the 60-day rule still applies.
If you are in Thailand right now, your current stamp stays valid. Entries made before the effective date keep their full 60 days.
What this means for you:
If you spend winters in Thailand on back-to-back visa-free entries, that setup is ending. A 30-day stamp plus a single 30-day extension at immigration gets you 60 days at most, with a trip to the immigration office in between.
The cleaner answer is a proper long-stay visa.
The Thailand Elite Visa starts at 650,000 baht (about $19,000) for five years of residence, with no income proof and no quarterly renewals. I hold one myself and live in Bangkok, it is one of the easiest and most hassle-free residencies to obtain.
Visa-free entry was always a “visitor tool”.
If Thailand is part of your residency rotation plan, get something that does not reset every 30 days.
Schengen Countries Started Pausing Their Own Biometric Border Checks
I saw this coming a mile away, and am not surprised at all.
On May 2, the European Commission authorized Schengen states to temporarily suspend fingerprint and facial capture at borders during peak surges.
States can pause biometric checks for up to 90 days after full rollout, with a possible 60-day extension, reverting to old-fashioned passport stamps when queues build up.
Three countries have already used it:
Italy reverts to passport stamps nationwide whenever queues exceed 45 minutes, in force through September 30.
Spain paused biometric capture at Madrid-Barajas and Barcelona-El Prat.
Portugal notified Brussels in late May that it will suspend biometric registration at its airports during peak periods.
To be clear about what this is:
A pause on collecting biometrics at busy moments, not a rollback. The EES database stays active, with 61 million border crossings already logged, and the Commission publicly defended the system while granting the flexibility. Once you register, your record applies.
What this means for you:
If you fly into Europe this summer, your experience now depends on which airport you pick and how bad the queue is when you land. You might get fingerprinted, or you might get a stamp like it’s 2024.
Plan for the slow version. Arrive early, especially for your first entry, when the system captures your full biometric profile.
If you hold a Schengen residence permit or long-stay visa, nothing changed. You stay exempt from EES registration but share the same checkpoints, so the queue relief in Italy, Spain, and Portugal helps you too.
Italy’s Top Court Just Made Citizenship By Descent Easier To Claim
If you have an Italian parent or grandparent, May brought good news.
As you might know, Italy grants citizenship by descent. An Italian parent or grandparent makes you eligible to claim it.