Permanent residence: Thailand welcomes foreign investors and people with families

[Zeelee]

Where we can get the details (required docs, fee, etc.) In English...

If anyone aware of the link, kindly share...

[renz]

anyone here having a PR ? what is the cost of applying for one ? as a PR still need to apply for work permit for work and business ? what is the real benefits ? disadvantages of having a PR ?

[hotchilli]

6 hours ago, webfact said:

The Ministry of the Interior presented proposals to the government that will see many foreigners eligible for permanent residency. 

Paying through the nose for the privilege.

[AhFarangJa]

Same S*** different day. They are giving away Zero...........Foreigners will always be second class citizens here no matter how much icing and pretty flowers they put on it.

100 vacancies as against how many Foreigners here married to Thai's and raising families.............

I cannot wait for the next traunch of verbal diahorrea to issue from the mouths of these imbeciles in order to try to grasp back a lot of what they have lost over the last few months..............I do however suggest that it is written in Chinese.........after all they are the puppet masters.

Edited April 16, 2020 by AhFarangJa

[Yadon Toploy]

1 hour ago, DrTuner said:

But they want their money in. Unfortunately for them, some can't be separated easily from their cash and they need to allow the dirty farangs in to squeeze them dry.

Yes, they also need foreigners in certain managerial, supervisory and skills/knowledge transfer roles to facilitate the squeezing. Without this, there would not be the impetus for foreign investment especially in the high skill sectors where Thailand is currently lagging behind. Don't let the rapid development fool you, The Thai workforce is still woefully under-skilled in many areas.

 

They want to be able to cherry pick the PR candidates that they know will benefit the country and the economy.

 

That's why they are not interested in retirees, married men or expats living with bargirls in Patts.

[TPI]

5 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

Why would I even bother, it offers me nothing, I have Citizenship in my own country which is worth it's weight in gold.

 

Thailand is behind the rest of the world, example: my Thai wife applied for her permanent residency after getting married in Australia, she was granted permanent residency after 2 years, after that she applied for Australian Citizenship and received that 2 years later, she now has dual citizenships.

 

What is so precious about permanent residency in Thailand, marriage or retirement extensions are enough, albeit they are very repetative and waste a lot of paper and peoples time, both sides of the fence.

It must have been some time ago, now it's 5 years for PR and 4 years continuous for citizenship! All applications are vetted by Indians or Mauritians and can be rejected out of hand, the system exists for appeal but it's never granted! Yes, I'm rather bitter (with reason)!

[GlassWayOverHalfFull]

6 hours ago, Assurancetourix said:

Too late ..Regarding the farang; they relocate home
So they want to speed up the process that will make Thailand a Chinese province

 

Usual negative nonsense .. are you saying 100 Chinese a year will have some effect?

[Assurancetourix]

18 minutes ago, renz said:

anyone here having a PR ? what is the cost of applying for one ? as a PR still need to apply for work permit for work and business ? what is the real benefits ? disadvantages of having a PR ?

It is written in English and Thai in all Immigration offices.
It costs 7800 baht of non-refundable registration fees if your application is refused.
Those who are married to a Thai national pay half as much as those who make an individual request which costs around 170,000 baht.
The main advantage (there are others) is that when you are PR, you no longer do the annual visa extension file every year; so you do not need to have 800,000 baht in a Thai bank account or 400,000 if you are married to a Thai.
On the other hand if you want to leave Thailand you must always fill in an exit permit and pay 1,000 baht for it otherwise you lose this precious PR.

It is certain that for a retirement it is not profitable, provided that your file accepts:
170,000 divided by 1900 = 89 years of extensions!
and even for someone married to a thai 89 divided by two = 44.5 years;
on the other hand the fact of no longer having the conditions mentioned above can be considered as a great advantage.

[Assurancetourix]

3 minutes ago, GlassWayOverHalfFull said:

Usual negative nonsense .. are you saying 100 Chinese a year will have some effect?

I dont know and I don't care ;

I'm not chinese.

[Ceruhe]

Something tells me 90 day reporting would still be a thing even if you do get PR ????

[sambum]

6 hours ago, Liverpoolfan said:

So does this mean that foreigners who are married with families and who aren't employed can apply to become a Permanent Resident?

 

Or is this just business as usual?

Once again, the way it's written is about as clear as mud.

foreigners who can apply for PR would be working in Thailand, investors, have families and possibly be married with children. 

[NoComment]

I'm wondering if the same system and rules will apply to the mighty,big spending, all conquering (in the eyes of the Thai government) Chinese masses that are free to treat Thailand in anyway they please?????

[smutcakes]

2 minutes ago, NoComment said:

I'm wondering if the same system and rules will apply to the mighty,big spending, all conquering (in the eyes of the Thai government) Chinese masses that are free to treat Thailand in anyway they please?????

Well if its any consolation and makes you feel better, out of the 40 or so people in the waiting room with me for interview a month or so ago, there were no Chinese. Plenty of westerners, plenty of Indians and assorted other Asian nationalities, but could not spot a Chinese passport. (Taiwan aside)

 

I presume they will be subject to the same rules as everyone else, and given the time/effort and restrictions, i doubt many will be doing it.

[thedemon]

34 minutes ago, Ceruhe said:

Something tells me 90 day reporting would still be a thing even if you do get PR ????

 

All the reporting requirements and other nasty stuff is in Chapter 4 of the Immigration Act which covers "Temporary Stay in the Kingdom". Permanent residence is dealt with in Chapter 5 and contains none of that.

 

It would take an act of parliament to change it and that hasn't happened for 41 years.

[billd766]

4 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

 

Exactly, so you got to feel for those applying for PR in U.K, that have to pass the test in a 2nd language !! Talk about a hoop to jump through...

I agree with you,  but being partly deaf in both ears and mostly tone deaf after years of working on jet aircraft many decades ago it is hard to understand Thai. Thai is a tonal language and when I try to speak to Thais, what I think I said is not necessarily what they hear.

 

If one person speaks to me I can sometimes understand them, but if they are part of a group most of what I hear is noise, and if someone speaks behind me or facing away from me I have to get them to stand where I can see them speak.

 

My wife has a habit of talking away from me, and sometimes gets the hump when I ask her what she said.

[zyphodb]

5 hours ago, RichardColeman said:

Here's an idea, just give PR to anyone that can prove they have been married to a Thai and taking care of them for 5 years - by then they would have obviously proved they can take care of them and not a drag on Thai society

If only, mate. But unfortunately too easy. You have to make the aliens jump through many hoops as they're not members of the master race... ????

[WhereIsMyRyeBread]

Given how hard it seems to be awarded a PR in Thailand it's just beyond belief there's still a separation between residence and permission to work.
BOI still need to make an assessment whether to grant a work permit to the PR holder each time the applicant change jobs.  

In cases where the applicant attempt to change careers it's by no means assured to that the updated work-permit is approved, quite the opposite. 

 

Getting a PR would be the stepping stone towards a citizenship, but the latter would obviously be a whole new battle.

Now I ASSUME one would have working rights as a CITIZEN, but given this is Thailand, I almost can't be sure.
Maybe there's yet another label 'foreign born' citizen v.s 'native born' citizen ? I hope not, but who knows.

 

When I got my PR to Australia, the Mayor shook my hand and gave me a pint of beer in the city hall - true story. 
Couple of years later and the Aussies threw a passport my way and I didn't even need to marry or escape from war to get it. I just had to work my butt off to get it as a skilled migrant. Now that's what I call a fair country!
 

 

 

 

 

 

[thaiowl]

Having lived and worked in Thailand since 1990, I applied for PR in 2007 and eventually got it in 2012. My reasoning was this:

1. I had a wife and two children (and still have) and wanted some legal standing in the country should anything happen to my wife.

2. I was of the opinion that the authorities were making it more and more difficult for foreigners to stay here long term and this was only going to get worse...and it has. e.g. border runs every 30 days now obsolete, new financial requirements for retirement visa, requirement of TM30 etc. etc.

3. No 90-day reporting.

4. I could retire here with my PR (and I have retired) without the yearly hassle of a marriage visa/retirement visa.

 

There were a few hoops to jump through in the PR process, but it was pretty straightforward, despite taking five years to be approved. In hindsight, it was a very good idea to apply for PR.

[zyphodb]

25 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I agree with you,  but being partly deaf in both ears and mostly tone deaf after years of working on jet aircraft many decades ago it is hard to understand Thai. Thai is a tonal language and when I try to speak to Thais, what I think I said is not necessarily what they hear.

 

If one person speaks to me I can sometimes understand them, but if they are part of a group most of what I hear is noise, and if someone speaks behind me or facing away from me I have to get them to stand where I can see them speak.

 

My wife has a habit of talking away from me, and sometimes gets the hump when I ask her what she said.

I'm just the same, different reasons, same result...

 

[Chicken Man]

I've been here 14 years off & on. Had a non-imm for last 7 without a break. 3 kids n a wife. I would have no problem paying the fees. Just one thing, I'd have to go for some good Thai lessons, apparently I speak like a fisherman !

[thaiowl]

1 hour ago, Ceruhe said:

Something tells me 90 day reporting would still be a thing even if you do get PR ????

90-day reporting is not required if you have PR.

[digger70]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

The Ministry of the Interior presented proposals to the government that will see many foreigners eligible for permanent residency. 

 

But this will be limited to 100 per nationality. In addition 50 stateless persons will be granted PR. 

So where are the Many Foreigners they want ? They want a lot of money but only 100 per Nationality. That just shows what they Really are/want. 

[BobbyL]

5 minutes ago, Chicken Man said:

I've been here 14 years off & on. Had a non-imm for last 7 without a break. 3 kids n a wife. I would have no problem paying the fees. Just one thing, I'd have to go for some good Thai lessons, apparently I speak like a fisherman !

How good does a person's Thai have to be to get PR?

[evadgib]

Why not grant PR to married or retired applicants automatically after say 3-5 trouble free years in the kingdom & include a 'no drink driving' clause, rendering anyone caught having to start all over again?

[thaiowl]

1 minute ago, BobbyL said:

How good does a person's Thai have to be to get PR?

Pretty basic. Stuff like "where do you live", "what work do you do" etc etc

[HaleySabai]

The hoops to jump through; Language - must read,write and speak fluently in high-Thai.

                                         Culture - Must be able to perform a dance routine in Issan,Lanna  

                                                        and Pat Pong styles.

                                                        Sing 3 Thai song in Karaoke.

                                            And the final hoop: Drink 5-shots of Lao Kao in rapid succession

                                                                         without vomiting...most Farang go down here.

Nope, they don't make it easy to be one of them!

                    

                                        

[KKr]

8 hours ago, webfact said:

 

Foreigners who get PR are important for the stability and development of the country, they said, and many granted PR would help to ensure that family units are together and happy. 

absolutely, and imho should be granted WP so they can start contributing to the Thai economical development.

[berrec]

Say What?
 

 

 

 

[CLS]

Even after naturalization you have to wait another 5 years to get voting rights. Go figure.

[Jester69]

8 hours ago, Liverpoolfan said:

So does this mean that foreigners who are married with families and who aren't employed can apply to become a Permanent Resident?

 

Or is this just business as usual?

Once again, the way it's written is about as clear as mud.

It may be only for people employed, Such as teachers or those who are sponsored. But I am only suggesting that because of this paragraph:

.Foreigners who get PR are important for the stability and development of the country, they said, and many granted PR would help to ensure that family units are together and happy.