Misty

Hi I applied for my initial LTR visa last year while I was outside of Thailand. The LTR BoI unit approved the application and issued an approval letter. I then had 60 days to either make an appointment in person in Thailand, or to use the approval letter to apply for an LTR e-visa from a US consulate. I chose to apply for the LTR e-visa from the NY consulate and received the pdf of the visa very quickly. I then had plenty of time to enter Thailand with the LTR e-visa print out.

This is from the LTR BOI website, privileges of the LTR visa: https://ltr.boi.go.th/#pri

This is from the LTR BOI website, privileges of the LTR visa: https://ltr.boi.go.th/#pri

Yes, I do already have an LTR visa since last year. However with the expansion in the industry categories for the LTR-HSP visa earlier this year, I now qualify for one of those. The LTR-HSP visa comes with a lower 17% flat tax on salary and bonuses. This would mean significant tax savings for me (well above the cost of the new visa), so I'm switching to that visa type.

An update on the overall application process: I just submitted a new LTR visa application. Compared to my first application a year ago, there was a dramatic improvement in ease of use. No real hiccups, other than that I had to have a different email address from my original application. Different documents were required for this version of the visa, but overall the process went smoothly. The application status went from "draft" to "pending" as I completed the submission. The LTR unit says it should take 20 business days for them to review and hopefully approve the new application.

It doesn't seem like the BoI would care one way or the other.

Hi Coby, for a list of Thai tax professionals, take a look at this link from the AMCHAM directory:https://connect.amchamthailand.com/list/ql/accounting-tax-3 You might need to contact a couple of the firms to see which ones can help with your specific circumstances. I have had to file Thai tax PND90/91 every year for decades and this didn't change with the LTR visa. However, I plan to reapply for a different type of LTR visa that will cut my Thai tax rate to a flat 17%, so I understand then I'll switch to filing a different form, maybe PND95? for my salary income when I get that new LTR visa.

Seriously do some western marriage vows still include women promising to obey their husbands? I thought that was already changing about 150 years ago. As a child, I still remember reading a book by Laura Ingalls Wilder in which that phrase was removed from her marriage vows to husband Almanzo - that was the year 1885.

Yes, as I said, it is wrong use of the word dowry. If the foreign man is giving money to the bride and her family, it is called a bride price. If the bride and her family are paying the foreign man, it is called a dowry.

Thanks for posting the article. There's at least one paragraph in it that could be misleading or incorrect: "Moreover, if one is considered a tax resident of Thailand, as a result of being present in the country for a period of 180 days or more in a year, income from an employment abroad that is brought into Thailand within the same tax year would be subject to Thai income tax." How is "employment abroad" being defined? For example, if the person is earning the income while working in Thailand, it isn't "foreign source income." The income is taxable immediately, whether or not it is paid overseas, or even ever brought into Thailand. Or so says the tax professionals we work with. I'll double check with the tax professionals we work with. It appears at least one of the authors of this article worked there at one time as well, so perhaps they can clear this up.

Since the man is being asked to pay the bride's family, the article is actually discussing a "bride price," not a "dowry." Dowry = property or money brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=dowry+meaning Bride Price = a sum of money or quantity of goods given to a bride's family by that of the groom. https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-51264574

Traditionally Thai banks such as BBL or KBANK have been very competitive on THB to USD exchanges (or vice versa) for cross-border wire transfers, as compared to their foreign bank counterparts. So from my observation it's always better to have a bank like BBL or KBANK do the THB-USD conversion. I can't speak for Dee Money or Skrill's exchange rates, however.

Yup, misleading article. It concludes: "All you need is a notebook or smartphone, and you can work hassle-free anywhere." Makes no mention of legal requirements such as type of visa and work permit.

I definitely agree, although I'd say the guidelines could be for all passengers, rather than just women. Maybe include some that may not apply to women at all, like don't get into drunken fight with driver, he may have a machete, etc etc.

Okay, but that one is easy. My 10 yr LTR comes with a 5 year digital work permit, no thai employees needed. Hands down better than any of the other options open to me. Can't work on elite card. Better than either PR status or NonB where at best only a 1 year work permit + 4 Thai employees required. No 90 day reporting. Deal with the pleasant BoI staff, not the CW folk.

I'd be interested in seeing the actual PR numbers, although I'm not sure if they are public. I've been told their might be around 20 US citizens a year who receive PR status. So no where near the 100 limit. Of course more do qualify and try to apply, but may not be interested in paying the VIP service fees through an agent that are required just to get an application in the queue. Compare that to around 8,000 Thais/year who get US green cards and it doesn't seem like a fair exchange.

I have assets route experience, and my Thai Ltd was included in my application (net value). It could have been excluded however, as I had other assets. My best guess is yes, if you own 100% of your Ltd and it has shareholders' equity or NAV greater than the amount needed, that could be acceptable. Best source is always directly from the BoI so suggest giving them a call..

In case anyone else is searching for this answer at some point in the future, here's what I learned: 1) The BoI lower personal income tax rate applies only to wages and salary, not to sale of assets. This is reported on a PND95 form. 2) Sale of a condo would be reported and taxed differently. Cheers.

Thanks, Ant, it's good to know the process worked for you. The year before, I only met people like myself who'd had a different experience. In my case, I'd handled my application much as you did, with my accountant helping as I don't have an HR dept. That didn't work, and my accountant was even mistaken as an agent during the process. But again, glad to know it all worked for you a year later. Perhaps things have improved again. Just to make sure people understand: the PR desk folks weren't asking anyone for a bribe. There was nothing near so obvious or direct going on as that. It was just that they were only accepting applications from people who were working with a law firm or other independent agent that had an established relationship and would deliver the VIP service fees. The fees were imbedded in the overall fee the applicant was paying to that firm or other agent. You have to talk with the law firm or agent to learn the ins and outs. Unless you know them personally, many may not discuss it openly, so that a level of plausible deniability is preserved.

I'm guessing you may have applied some years ago. I was applying in November during the yearly country quota system window which had opened. CW was pretty empty, it was during the covid period and there were two other applicants that afternoon, both with agents and paying the VIP service fees. The other applicants did not have a 3 hour grill and were in and out quickly, from what I could tell without speaking much Thai at all. Having worked in Thailand for many years I had the all the Thai tax documents, company documents, affidavits, old passports & visas, work permit copies, benefit to thailand, education records, police report, medical records, etc, etc prepared.

I remember consulting with two separate law firms at the time, hoping to hire one to help with all the paperwork. Both said that VIP service fees were now required, and one even consulted their contacts at CW and came back with an estimate of how much would be involved. Separately, I checked with friends who had received PR status years ago, and some folks on this forum. Their general view was that VIP fees are not required, you can do the application yourself and in fact this would be appreciated by the PR desk staff at CW. Unfortunately it was the law firms that proved correct. Not just in my case but in at least several others I talked to who had hoped to apply that year. No real problems were identified in the application. The discussion lasted nearly 3 hours in Thai and each "issue" was discussed and resolved. But in the end (after the accountant shake-down occurred), I was told "we just don't think our bosses will accept this application" but with no problem identified. As I learned from others that year, the real problem was the lack of use of an agent with VIP service fees attached. And that apparently was the state of play for several recent years. I hope it's not the case this year. However, applicants should be aware before they spend a lot of time on putting together an application. You may actually need an agent to get anywhere with the process.

I'm afraid things may have changed a lot in the 10+ years since you applied. In the recent year that I applied, as part of my preparation I spoke to a number of people, to include would be applicants. I also posted a number of times on this thread to get answers to technical questions. Folks on this thread were very responsive, but unfortunately their information turned out to be out of date in many cases. I wish someone had mentioned about the required agent & VIP service fees and I wouldn't have bothered preparing my application. Of the would-be applicants I talked to, unfortunately all had the same experience that I did. If you were willing to pay an agent "VIP service fees" (min six digit), then you could apply. The PR desk staff even gave one person the business card of an agent who could "help." If you weren't willing to pay (such as me), you might have the "perfect application" and it wouldn't matter. You would get no where. When I went to the PR desk to submit my application, my accountant wasn't actually there to negotiate on my behalf. Of course I was very respectful, but I was well-qualified and had never heard I would have to "negotiate" in any way. My accountant was only there in case there were some specific questions in Thai on the accounts that I didn't have the vocabulary to answer. In the end, she wasn't asked anything other than cornered in a back room to find out if she was actually an agent. So now I have a 10 year LTR visa from the NY consulate and a 5 year digital work permit, renewable for another 5 years. It's actually a much better fit for my situation. The BoI was truly a pleasure to work with. After the PR fiasco, it was really heartening to have the senior staff there say that I was exactly who the program was looking for. Such a different experience than applying for PR.

That's great, but when did you apply? I would completely agree with you about not paying, however, in the year I prepared my application it was required. I hear that is still the case. I did not use an agent. The PR desk at Immigration spent 3 hours grilling about the application in Thai, but couldn't find any reason I wasn't qualified. However, they would not accept my application since I had no agent (although they did try to shake down my Thai accountant, who came with me but who is not an agent.) I'm actually quite happy with the LTR visa and its accompanying digital work permit, so perhaps it was all for the best.

Non US citizens too. I know of cases of non US citizen, non green card holders having to pay US federal and state tax when working temporarily at one of their employer's US locations.

Ah, but can you also facilitate the "VIP service fees"? These have been more or less required (and therefore use of an agent also required) in recent years.