Thai PR requirement

[PRwamnabe]

If I recall correctly to get PR you need to have stayed in Thailand for three years and own property exceeding three million baht yes?

 

What if in me staying three years I enrol for a Uni course and stay out of Thailand for three months per year due to summer but using the reentry permit. I wonder if this will disqualify me?

[jackdd]

Afaik you need to have paid tax in Thailand for 3 consecutive years.

[scorecard]

'stayed in Thailand' is not the way PR works in Thailand. 

 

The main requirement (by the regulations) is you need to have held a Thai work permit for 3 years and be able to prove that your personal Thai tax returns have been submitted and cleared for the same time period.

 

The applicable regulations says 3 years but (unless it's changed recently) the immigration folks who handle PR applications won't accept your PR application under around 7 years of work permits and tax clearances. Other members might have more up-to-date / current information about how many years.

 

There are other requirements about your education level and the work you are doing in Thailand needs to be 'contributing to the development of Thailand'.

 

Plus you need to show that you have enough personal funds / investments so that you will never be a burden on Thailand.

 

Plus you need written proof that you don't have a criminal record in Thailand or your home country, and there are a few more requirements.

 

Also note that the number of applications finally approved is a quite small % of the total applications. If not approved you don't get your application fee returned. 

 

 

 

[PRwamnabe]

From where I read both Thaivisa and http://www.thaiembassy.com/thailand/thai-permanent-residency.php

 

3Million to 10Million baht investment.

 

however the main point in this thread is will the 3 months summer break out of Thailand per year affect my PR application

[scorecard]

Yes there is a stream re 'investment in Thailand' however most folks who gain PR do so through the business  / work permit etc. stream.

 

Perhaps you have already investigated the regulations and requirements attached to the 3-10 Million Baht stream, from my understanding it's fairly complicated. 

 

There have been posts here before asking whether buying a house for 5 Million Baht / 5 Million in the bank fulfills the 3-10 Million Baht investment. The answer seems to be NO.

 

However maybe that's not your intention at all and that subject is of course your personal business.

 

Others members might be kind enough to post further on the 3-10 Million Baht stream. 

 

Small point; the website you quoted is a commercial website rather than an official website. Cut and paste from the bottom of the last page of the website: This is NOT the official website of the Thai Embassy. All Rights Reserved

In the website a law firm siamlegal is mentioned.

 

Perhaps if you get a lot more detailed information about the 3-10 Million investment route that will automatically give you answers to your questions about 3 months break in visas.

 

 

 

Edited November 4, 2018 by scorecard

[PRwamnabe]

Dear..

 

I have no skills nor any wish to work for some meager pay in LOS. All I have is Thai skills, willingness to study and a little money.

 

will the education stream suit me although I do not plan to work? If I get a PHD but do not work is this stream viable?

[scorecard]

2 minutes ago, PRwamnabe said:

Dear..

 

I have no skills nor any wish to work for some meager pay in LOS. All I have is Thai skills, willingness to study and a little money.

 

will the education stream suit me although I do not plan to work? If I get a PHD but do not work is this stream viable?

 

PR is not available purely on the fact that someone holds a Ph.D. or any numbers of degrees, and a Ph.D. wouldn't be an alternative to work permits and tax clearances, if I'm understanding your message correctly. 

 

 

 

[PoorSucker]

3 years working with minimum 80.000 baht income per year.

Read and write Thai language.

Fee 198.000 baht , nonrefundable, half if married to a Thai.

[PoorSucker]

1 hour ago, PRwamnabe said:

From where I read both Thaivisa and http://www.thaiembassy.com/thailand/thai-permanent-residency.php

 

3Million to 10Million baht investment.

 

however the main point in this thread is will the 3 months summer break out of Thailand per year affect my PR application

thaiembassy.com is not an official Thai web site nor affiliated with ThaiVisa.com

[TerryLH]

3 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

3 years working with minimum 80.000 baht income per year.

Read and write Thai language.

Fee 198.000 baht , nonrefundable, half if married to a Thai.

I think it's 80k a month, not a year.

The application fee is only around 6k.  That is what is nonrefundable.  The 198k would be the fee after you get approved.

[ubonjoe]

9 hours ago, PRwamnabe said:

3Million to 10Million baht investment.

That is incorrect info. The minimum is a 10 million baht invested. I think the writer of that false info was referring to extensions of stay based upon investment when 3 million was allowed prior to 2006.

The PR rules state 10 million baht investment in a Thai company and it would likely to be set up through the Board Of Investment.

[MARK74]

OP, you do not have any chance of getting PR in the situation you describe. You can forget that.

Did you honestly think that they would give people PR for owning a property worth just 3 million baht.

I'd just drop the idea, you will not be getting PR without working and paying tax for a decent number of years.

And as the post above says any investment would need to be in a business which is subsequently paying tax and not just an investment in a property, imagine the number of chinese jumping on that!

(to add IMO, due to the large numbers of chinese entering the condo market if anything I think in the future you will find thailand making it more difficult for foreigners to purchase property and certainly not giving any permission to stay based upon it)

Edited November 5, 2018 by MARK74
brackets

[MARK74]

"I have no skills nor any wish to work for some meager pay in LOS. All I have is Thai skills, willingness to study and a little money.

 

will the education stream suit me although I do not plan to work? If I get a PHD but do not work is this stream viable?"

 

Your thai skills will make no difference until you meet other requirements, they are not really interested in people with little money but will welcome you to spend what little you have. As you say you have no skills then you would not get a decent expat package here but most likely the meager pay you mention.

They would welcome you to get an education visa and pay for your studies and then on completion leave.

The only other option i think you would have on completion of studies is to teach or something like that.

I know these aren't the answers you were hoping for but it's best that you know early on so you don't waste your time.

[PRwamnabe]

Informative replies. However I read of the academic stream what exactly is it?

 

When I said I have a little money I mean I do have some money but not too much, like half a million USD liquid.

[scorecard]

Academic stream for PR?

 

Not sure what you meaning, can you please share more details. 

[MARK74]

4 hours ago, PRwamnabe said:

Informative replies. However I read of the academic stream what exactly is it?

 

When I said I have a little money I mean I do have some money but not too much, like half a million USD liquid.

your best bet would be to look into the elite visa i think 

[PRwamnabe]

In the link in this thread which I shall refrain from posting again since this may be viewed as promoting or advertising it states an Expert/Academic category

[jackdd]

10 minutes ago, PRwamnabe said:

In the link in this thread which I shall refrain from posting again since this may be viewed as promoting or advertising it states an Expert/Academic category

It is most likely for people who work in the academic field, for example as a professor or similar but don't have the required salary to apply in the employment category (could happen to people from certain nationalities like philippines who usually have a low salary compared to westerners), and not for people who only graduated ????

Instead of speculating here you could just call in Chaeng Wattana and ask what exactly the requirements in the different categories are. Then you can share what they told you with everybody else here.

Edited November 5, 2018 by jackdd

[ubonjoe]

4 minutes ago, PRwamnabe said:

In the link in this thread which I shall refrain from posting again since this may be viewed as promoting or advertising it states an Expert/Academic category

There is a expert category but no academic one. See see page 5 here on this from the immigration website.

 http://bangkok.immigration.go.th/2notice/residence61/residence_documents_en.pdf

[scorecard]

30 minutes ago, PRwamnabe said:

In the link in this thread which I shall refrain from posting again since this may be viewed as promoting or advertising it states an Expert/Academic category

 

Yes but it actually means performing some type of strongly value added work (valuable to Thailand) which required some sort of quite expert knowledge (probably gained through a completed degree(s), probably also meaning a masters degree of Ph. D. plus valuable insight into the subject area through vast experience.  Do you fit that description?

 

It's not meaning studying at the moment for a degree. As Ubonjoe (the expert) mentioned, from the official website there is no academic (actually studying) category which would qualify anybody to gain PR.

 

 

Edited November 5, 2018 by scorecard

[evadgib]

I'd like to see PR being grandfathered to any married/retired extn holders that have been here a while & currently flapping re the 'pension letter' malarky. Imm would then be free to concentrate on the real probs instead of targeting those that are doing things properly.

Edited November 5, 2018 by evadgib

[stbkk]

I've skimmed this thread out of interest, and it seems you need to refer to the excellent Camerata thread on PR for up to date accurate information.

 

Its a long thread, but full of what you need to know.

 

For what its worth, based on my own experience (applied in 2006 granted in 2012) and several personal friends who have had it granted since, a couple of things:

 

1. Work permit and completed Thai tax returns for 3 years (only 3 years - no idea where the 7 years came from?) as essential. They will not even accept your application without them.

2. Almost 100% of the applicants apply under the 'expert' category, I believe.

3. Not sure about the language requirements. Certainly when I got mine they were very limited. I've not heard of anybody being asked to read or write, that's for sure. Although the verbal 'check' is a bit more taxing now, I understand.

 

 

 

[PerkinsCuthbert]

I've loitered around Thailand and the SE Asia region for more than thirty years, waiting for someone to take me in. Can I have permanent residence here, please?

[Time Traveller]

So the bare minimum.....for every category of permanent residence is working in thailand with a work permit and 3 consectuive years of unbroken extension. If you don't have that, they will not accept your application.

While there are some minimum income levels needed there is no wealth required, No minimun stay required, no special skills required, no langauge ability required. Just employment with a thai company.

 

 

Edited November 6, 2018 by Time Traveller

[jayboy]

24 minutes ago, stbkk said:

I've skimmed this thread out of interest, and it seems you need to refer to the excellent Camerata thread on PR for up to date accurate information.

 

Its a long thread, but full of what you need to know.

 

For what its worth, based on my own experience (applied in 2006 granted in 2012) and several personal friends who have had it granted since, a couple of things:

 

1. Work permit and completed Thai tax returns for 3 years (only 3 years - no idea where the 7 years came from?) as essential. They will not even accept your application without them.

2. Almost 100% of the applicants apply under the 'expert' category, I believe.

3. Not sure about the language requirements. Certainly when I got mine they were very limited. I've not heard of anybody being asked to read or write, that's for sure. Although the verbal 'check' is a bit more taxing now, I understand.

 

 

 

I think the 7 years' tax returns aspect (compared with the 3 years official requirement) came from the perception (I think correct) that in practice PR success required quite a few more years than 3 years tax returns.

 

My own experience of friends/contacts with PR is that one or two have had the minimum requirement but most have many more years of tax returns under their belt. Others will have more recent knowledge.

 

My own view - just an educated guess - is that there is no real problem with just having the three years but in most cases, a successful applicant would be unlikely to meet all the other PR criteria without having spent several years in the Kingdom, more than three anyway. But I doubt whether there's some kind of unwritten understanding in Immigration that candidates with only a 3-year track record can't be processed.

[Sydebolle]

On 11/4/2018 at 9:04 PM, PRwamnabe said:

From where I read both Thaivisa and http://www.thaiembassy.com/thailand/thai-permanent-residency.php

 

3Million to 10Million baht investment.

 

however the main point in this thread is will the 3 months summer break out of Thailand per year affect my PR application

No, not if you leave/return with a re-entry visa; like that you have a three years continuous stay on the first initial visa while having left three months yearly with a proper re-entry permit. What helps though is if you do NOT change your passport during these three years. Not that it would disqualify you from applying but it is a hurdle less! 

[scorecard]

46 minutes ago, jayboy said:

I think the 7 years' tax returns aspect (compared with the 3 years official requirement) came from the perception (I think correct) that in practice PR success required quite a few more years than 3 years tax returns.

 

My own experience of friends/contacts with PR is that one or two have had the minimum requirement but most have many more years of tax returns under their belt. Others will have more recent knowledge.

 

My own view - just an educated guess - is that there is no real problem with just having the three years but in most cases, a successful applicant would be unlikely to meet all the other PR criteria without having spent several years in the Kingdom, more than three anyway. But I doubt whether there's some kind of unwritten understanding in Immigration that candidates with only a 3-year track record can't be processed.

 

I mentioned that the regulations state 3 years but when I applied (using a knowledgeable agent who was the Thai husband of a Thai female engineer work colleague) the Imm. folks at Soi Suan Plu said they would only accept applications where the foreign had about 7 years of WPs and Tax clearances.

 

At that time I had WPs and tax clearances quite a few years more than 7, and my application was accepted.

 

I did also mention (in this thread) that I didn't know whether the '7 years' part was still the 'rule' and I did invite others to share their experiences on this point.

 

What's happened on this point since I applied I have no idea. Several comments seen to indicate that the 3 year rule is now observed.  

 

 

 

[ubonjoe]

36 minutes ago, scorecard said:

I mentioned that the regulations state 3 years but when I applied (using a knowledgeable agent who was the Thai husband of a Thai female engineer work colleague) the Imm. folks at Soi Suan Plu said they would only accept applications where the foreign had about 7 years of WPs and Tax clearances.

The are certainly going by the written rule of 3 years now.  I have seen many reports of that being a fact.

[Mavideol]

1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

The are certainly going by the written rule of 3 years now.  I have seen many reports of that being a fact.

does PR applies only to working people? should one understands that retired people that have invested  a lot of money, living in Thailand for quite sometime can NOT have PR?

[ubonjoe]

42 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

does PR applies only to working people? should one understands that retired people that have invested  a lot of money, living in Thailand for quite sometime can NOT have PR?

You have to be working with a work permit and paying taxes for 3 years to apply for PR. There is no provision for those that are retired,