Question 1

Thailand Long-Term Stay: who can apply?

Accepted Answer

Four categories, plus dependents. The criteria below are the 2025 revision, which loosened several of them.

Highly Skilled Professionals — you work for a company in one of fifteen targeted industries, or hold a position in a targeted expertise area. Personal income of USD 80,000 a year over the past two years, or USD 40,000 a year plus a master's degree in science or technology. The 2025 update removed the work-experience requirement and extended eligibility to academic professors in all fields.

Work-from-Thailand Professionals — you work remotely for an employer abroad that is either listed on a stock exchange, or a private company with at least three years of operation and combined revenue of USD 50 million over the last three years. A wholly owned subsidiary may use its parent's financials. Personal income of USD 80,000 a year over the past two years, or USD 40,000 a year plus a master's degree, ownership of intellectual property, or Series A funding of at least USD 1 million.

Wealthy Global Citizens — at least USD 500,000 invested in Thailand, in Thai government bonds with five or more years to maturity, direct investment in companies, or Thai property. Worldwide personal assets, including the Thai investment, of at least USD 1 million. The 2025 update removed the personal income requirement entirely.

Wealthy Pensioners — over 50 years old, with passive income of USD 80,000 a year, or USD 40,000 a year plus at least USD 250,000 in Thai government bonds with five or more years to maturity, direct investment or Thai property.

Dependents — the legitimate spouse and legitimate children under 20. The 2025 update added parents and legal dependents, and removed the limit on how many you may bring.

Question 2

Thailand Long-Term Stay: what are the requirements?

Accepted Answer

Health cover is required for every category, and can be satisfied three ways: health insurance in Thailand of at least USD 50,000 for no less than ten months, or Thai Social Security covering full medical treatment costs, or a deposit held for twelve months — USD 100,000 for a main applicant and USD 25,000 per dependent.

The visa is described as ten years renewable, but that is not how it is issued. On entry you are granted a five-year stay, or up to your passport's expiry if that comes sooner, and it is extended for a further five years after that.

Every condition has to be maintained for the life of the visa, not just met at the point of application — the investment, the employment, the deposit balance and the insurance alike.

Shared benefits across the categories include multiple re-entry, the 90-day report replaced by a single annual report, fast-track lanes at Thai international airports, and immigration and work-permit facilitation at the Thailand Investment and Expat Services Center. Some benefits are category-specific: the flat 17% personal income tax rate applies to Highly Skilled Professionals only, and the exemption from overseas income tax, the right to a digital work permit and the exemption from the four-Thais-to-one-foreigner employment ratio each apply to some categories and not others. Check the benefits table in the BOI brochure against your own category before you rely on any of them.

Question 3

Thailand Long-Term Stay: what documents do you need?

Accepted Answer

The application is an online registration with supporting documents, submitted for a qualification endorsement rather than to an embassy.

What you supply depends on your category, and follows directly from the criteria: proof of income over the past two years, your employer's listing status or audited revenue, evidence of the Thai investment and of worldwide assets, or proof of passive income and age. Dependents add proof of the relationship.

Everyone adds the health cover evidence — the insurance policy, Social Security registration, or the bank deposit held for twelve months.

The current required-documents list for each category is published on the BOI's LTR site and is the version to work from.

Question 4

Thailand Long-Term Stay: what does it cost?

Accepted Answer

The BOI provides the qualification endorsement free of charge. This is the part people expect to pay for and do not have to.

The visa itself costs 50,000 baht per person when issued by the Immigration Bureau at the Thailand Investment and Expat Services Center in Bangkok. Applying instead through a Royal Thai Embassy or Consulate on the e-Visa system means the fee is set in local currency and varies with the exchange rate.

The work permit, for the categories entitled to one, is a separate cost set by the Ministry of Labour.

The real financial bar is not the fee but the qualifying threshold — USD 500,000 invested in Thailand for a Wealthy Global Citizen, or the USD 100,000 deposit if you satisfy the health requirement that way rather than with insurance.

Question 5

Thailand Long-Term Stay: where do you apply?

Accepted Answer

Online, to the Board of Investment, at ltr.boi.go.th. This is the part that differs most from every other Thai visa: the substantive decision is made by the BOI, not by an embassy.

The sequence is: register online and submit the documents; the BOI verifies them, which takes 20 working days from the point everything, including any follow-up requests, has been submitted; if endorsed, you have 60 days to apply for the visa to be issued.

Issuance happens either at the Immigration Bureau desk inside the Thailand Investment and Expat Services Center, which gives you a stamp in your passport valid to the passport's expiry, or through a Royal Thai Embassy or Consulate on the e-Visa system, which gives you an e-Visa with no physical stamp. The work permit, if your category has one, is requested online afterwards and collected from the Department of Employment at the same centre.

The BOI publishes a standing warning about entities claiming to be authorised LTR or SMART visa agencies. The endorsement is free and the application is made directly; there is no step that requires paying an agent.

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