tautomerica

I wonder if I have been misled by a hallucinating large language model. Question posed to GPT-5 mini: Can one apply for a LTR Highly Skilled Professional visa on the basis of employment with a foreign company outside Thailand, for work to be done in Thailand? And response from the LLM: Short answer: Yes — under Thailand’s Long-Term Resident (LTR) visa for Highly Skilled Professionals you can qualify based on employment with a foreign (non‑Thai) company if the work to be performed is physically in Thailand and you meet the LTR eligibility requirements (minimum salary, qualifications/experience, and other criteria). But when pressed to link an actual report of someone in that situation the LLM waffles and is unable to do so. The HSP LTR flavour does not have the same high bar for company size/revenue that the WP flavour has, so I had been wondering if it may be an option for people working for smaller foreign employers in the right industries. Seems like the answer is no, and the DTV is the go.

Is anybody here on a LTR Highly Skilled Professional visa through a foreign employer, and if so, can they comment on the income tax situation? The BOI material suggests a 17% income tax for Thai income, but what if that income is paid by a foreign employer to a foreign account and never remitted to Thailand? Is there still a Thai tax liability? If so, it seems like one would be better off financially to be on the DTV, no? As far as I know, DTV holders are treated like normal Thai tax residents and not expected to pay tax on unremitted foreign income?

Can anybody recommend someone in the Pattaya area who can descale shower glass? The previous inhabitants of my condo left it to build up for years so it needs a real deep clean. Probably the vinegar soak followed by baking soda brush treatment. It's a big job and I have more money than I have patience for housework; figure there must be someone around who knows how to do this and is looking for work?

Does anybody know whether the terms of the new US-Thailand trade deal specify revised import duties on american wine? I have been trying to find some details in news reporting but couldn't find information on implications for US exports to Thailand. Would be great news if the price of american wine in thailand were to drop to a level that is only mildly extortionate.

Hi @Knight Rider I applied via Chicago about 1 year ago and was successful, you can read a brief account of it on the post linked below (page 42 of the DTV thread, near the bottom, in case the link doesn't work). Unless something has changed, which is possible or even likely after a year, I would guess that you'll be asked for articles of incorporation and a self-signed statement from your Arizona company that you can work remotely. Best of luck with it. As an under-50 who had very limited options before the DTV came along I have to say it has been fantastic. I travel enough that the 6 months stay limitation is a non-issue for me. Hoping to never endure another cambodia border run, once was enough for this life!

I don't know about Bangkok but in Pattaya there are several options. The only place I found offering the breath test was Bangkok Hospital Pattaya at 3300 baht. Neither Pattaya memorial nor the government hospital on buakhao currently (April 2025) offer the breath test. I ended up getting an antigen test at lifecare labs. I tested negative, but the sensitivity of blood antigen tests is not great compared to the breath test. Please report back if you find the breath test at a reasonable price in Bangkok. I still have symptoms and partner had H. pylori so I may get it done next time I'm up that way.

I was in a similar situation when I applied for a LTR-WP around June of last year. My employer's parent company is a large and publicly traded US company with many subsidiaries around the world. I was able to resolve various other queries they had, but they insisted on receiving the subsidiary company's financial statements and I was not able to provide them. I ended up abandoning the application and instead took a DTV visa in September of this year. The DTV was far easier and suits my situation almost as well as the LTR-WP. The only reason I may consider going for the LTR again would be if Thailand starts taxing worldwide income and the LTR remitted income exemption turns out to remain valid after the tax code update. I wonder if under a literal interpretation of current law all global income may have to make a roundtrip through a thai bank account in the first few months of the year after it was earned in order to remain exempt? If so it could become awfully cumbersome. Hopefully BOI/TRD would amend the code to strengthen and clarify the tax exemption if worldwide income tax becomes law.

I have no clue what they see in the visa database

There have been some questions raised previously in this thread about whether immigration officers would do any additional checks upon subsequent entries after the initial DTV entry. From my own experience the answer so far is "no". I entered BKK airport on the DTV for a second time yesterday and the IO just smiled and stamped my passport, no questions asked. I'm on the digital nomad flavour of DTV, so can't speak to what might happen in the case of e.g. a 5 year visa based on a medical appointment.

I was successful with a DTV application last week and want to thank the various posters here and elsewhere for sharing their experiences with the application process, it was helpful for me. I applied to the consulate in Chicago. They processed it relatively quickly, with a request for additional documentation coming just 1.5 days after the initial submission, and the approval coming about 4 business days later (across the labor day holiday weekend). I applied in the digital nomad category. I am a founder / director of a company in the US and have an employment contract with a nominal salary, < $10k. Most of my income comes from other sources. In the initial application I sent only the employment contract, along with bank statements from January and July that show continuously held balances above the threshold. They did not question the income, but did ask for a statement from the company that I am allowed to work remotely. So I sent them a self-signed PDF asserting my authority as busines owner / director to work remotely, along with the company's articles of incorporation showing that I incorporated the business. Just as we heard previously from the report of a London embassy application, this approach seems to be accepted in Chicago as well and the visa was issued without further questions. I was very happy to see the approval. As someone under the age of 50, the visa options were not very good before the DTV came along. Best of luck to those of you who are applying.