Thailand’s long-term ‘high potential’ resident visa fee to be halved to ฿50,000

[snoop1130]

A tourist enjoys the view of the Hong islands from the infinity pool of a resort on Koh Yao Yai island in the Andaman Sea. (Photo by Mladen ANTONOV / AFP)

 

Thailand’s cabinet decided to cut the long-term resident (LTR) visa fee by half on Tuesday, to 50,000 baht, for foreigners who have “high capability or potential” and want to stay in the country for up to ten years, according to Deputy Government Spokesperson Rachada Dhnadirek.

 

The measure, to come into effect 90 days after it is published in the Royal Gazette. is targeting four groups of foreigners, their spouses and no more than four children who are not over 20 years old. They are high-income individuals, foreign pensioners, people who want to work from Thailand and specialists.

 

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The incentive is to encourage foreign investment in Thailand and to stimulate the economy, with an aim of up to one million such foreigners entering and staying in Thailand in the next five years. They could inject up to one trillion baht into the Thai economy, including 800 billion baht in investments, said Rachada.

 

Full Story: https://www.thaipbsworld.com/thailands-long-term-high-potential-resident-visa-fee-to-be-halved-to-50000/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2022-05-10

 

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[StayinThailand2much]

Meaning, such 'high potential foreigners' are expected to come to Thailand because it costs 50,000 baht (1,400 US$) less now? Is that such a big issue for those 'high-income individuals', i.e. 120 bucks/month?

Edited May 10, 2022 by StayinThailand2much

[Gottfrid]

9 minutes ago, StayinThailand2much said:

Meaning, such 'high potential foreigners' are expected to come to Thailand because it costs 50,000 baht (1,400 US$) less now? Is that such a big issue for those 'high-income individuals', i.e. 120 bucks/month?

10 year

[Sparktrader]

Rich people dont need cheap visas. What pensioners are rich? 

[Onerak]

Still waiting for this visa availability. 50K USD insurance checked. 100K USD in a foreign bank checked. 80K USD annual income for the last two years checked. 10 year visa. When is it available?

Edited May 10, 2022 by Onerak

[RandiRona]

Reducing visa fees in half only means two things..

1. No one is coming.

2. No one is applying.

 

 

[Onerak]

36 minutes ago, FalangKino said:

How about making one without ridiculous requirements for people under 50?

If people under 50 can't meet the requirements, should not they stay in their own country and try to achieve the requirements before moving to Thailand

[StayinThailand2much]

39 minutes ago, Gottfrid said:

10 year

Oops, okay. Even worse. So, 12 bucks a month are supposed to make a difference for these 'high-income individuals'... ????

[Adumbration]

31 minutes ago, Onerak said:

Still waiting for this visa availability. 50K USD insurance checked. 100K USD in a foreign bank checked. 80K USD annual income for the last two years checked. 10 year visa. When is it available?

I not too concerned when it is available.  What I am interested in is how much will the agents charge for the no money in the bank and no annual income require version.

[CharlieH]

Misleading remark and response removed.

[Adumbration]

I also can't wait for this visa to go live.  Then the cost of living threads here will be a real hoot.  Instead of the usual knobs saying oh...I couldn't dream of getting by on anythingless than 100,000 a month we will have the 10 year visa guys saying oh....I couldn't dream of getting by on anything less than 500,000 per week....These dudes are going to make the guys with the Elite visa look like chimney sweeps...

[Onerak]

28 minutes ago, Adumbration said:

I not too concerned when it is available.  What I am interested in is how much will the agents charge for the no money in the bank and no annual income require version.

It's a visa that means must be obtained outside Thailand in an embassy. How can an agent help? Of course if more than 50, can get agent assisted extension for 15K BHT which I did for two years and kept my money outside Thailand to earn more than what I paid to agents. There is an option now (except the Work permit) for me (being more than 50 years old) and it's called O-X but that requires bring 100K USD to Thailand which I refuse to do so. THis will be great for people who are less than 50 years old and working remotely.

Edited May 10, 2022 by Onerak

[FalangKino]

39 minutes ago, Onerak said:

If people under 50 can't meet the requirements, should not they stay in their own country and try to achieve the requirements before moving to Thailand

The requirements for an over 50 are much more lenient, as well as way more options a available.

 

Most use an agent to get around even those.

 

Pensioners don't need to be included in another visa, they should create a nomad or equivalent for under 50s, that don't have requirements that 99 percent of people won't.meet.

[Adumbration]

22 minutes ago, Onerak said:

It's a visa that means must be obtained outside Thailand in an embassy. How can an agent help? Of course if more than 50, can get agent assisted extension for 15K BHT which I did for two years and kept my money outside Thailand to earn more than what I paid to agents. There is an option now (except the Work permit) for me (being more than 50 years old) and it's called O-X but that requires bring 100K USD to Thailand which I refuse to do so. THis will be great for people who are less than 50 years old and working remotely.

I have been here a very long time.  I knew only a handful of people who where working remotely here and were on more than 80K USD.  One guy was in charge of spinning up any new server deployments for Philip Morris.  He was on circa 250K USD per year and used to rent the villa next to me and work from a 600 baht supercheap particle board table while sitting on a 150 baht plastic chair.

 

Most people working in the internet - website space are not pulling down 80K pa.  And if they are they are in a crucial or management role and therefore (mostly) not allowed to work remotely.  As one example I knew a guy here who was a game animator.  He recently landed a job managing a team who is building a game that will be available in the Metaverse.  Players will be rewarded in Crypto.  A prerequisite to accepting the new role was working in (the Australian) office.  Two billionaires are staking the game development and they paid this guy (and his Thai wife) to relocate to Oz.  Company house and visas provided....and paying for his wife to attend univeristy for post graduate studies.

 

There are handful of people who can qualify for this visa (and actually want or need to live in Thailand for 10 years).  I could be wrong (I am more often than not) but I don't think there are going to be millions.

Edited May 10, 2022 by Adumbration

[JeffersLos]

2 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

They could inject up to one trillion baht into the Thai economy

Better off focusing on the Indians that inject up to one trillion spermatozoa between 6 of them. 

[MadMac]

Fee for a normal yearly extension is 1900B. Why would anyone pay 50k?

[ThailandRyan]

27 minutes ago, FalangKino said:

The requirements for an over 50 are much more lenient, as well as way more options a available.

 

Most use an agent to get around even those.

 

Pensioners don't need to be included in another visa, they should create a nomad or equivalent for under 50s, that don't have requirements that 99 percent of people won't.meet.

It's called buy an elite visa then your home free...  

[Onerak]

26 minutes ago, FalangKino said:

The requirements for an over 50 are much more lenient, as well as way more options a available.

 

Most use an agent to get around even those.

 

Pensioners don't need to be included in another visa, they should create a nomad or equivalent for under 50s, that don't have requirements that 99 percent of people won't.meet.

May be they need something for one percent like me. I would like to get for 10 year with Work permit so that I can take up remote consulting work for the 6-month I am in Thailand. Yes, I know I can do that now but some companies in the USA insist on seeing a work permit at your location so that they won't be legally liable. Also, for the current O-X visa, I have to put 100K USD in a Thai bank which I refuse to do so. Considering all the challenges that have today, it will ease for 1% people like me. Also, this will be a boon for people less than 50-years old who meet the requirements but unable to do so now unless they buy an elite visa with no work permit. This has lots of potential. I welcome it and eagerly waiting for it. 

[Onerak]

21 minutes ago, MadMac said:

Fee for a normal yearly extension is 1900B. Why would anyone pay 50k?

I will pay for a 10-year visa with work permit. 

[Onerak]

9 hours ago, Adumbration said:

Most people working in the internet - website space are not pulling down 80K pa.  And if they are they are in a crucial or management role and therefore (mostly) not allowed to work remotely.

The average salary in 2022 for college graduates is $55,260, according to a National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) survey. This figure is 2.5% higher than the starting salaries of the past year. Technical majors have the highest starting salaries with an average starting salary of $87,989 for petroleum engineers. You have no idea how much 10% College technical graduates earn in a year. Some earn as much as 150K a year including RSUs and bonuses. I'm working in silicon valley for the last two decades and this year alone top companies are offering 60-80K to Indian engineers for remote works. I couple can earn more than 120K USD remote work from India only. Not all but few. The visa is meant for a hand full  of people only not for the the run of the mill digital nomads

[FriendlyFarang]

29 minutes ago, Onerak said:

I will pay for a 10-year visa with work permit. 

Why do you want to work for a Thai company if you make 80k USD abroad?

[Onerak]

20 minutes ago, FriendlyFarang said:

Why do you want to work for a Thai company if you make 80k USD abroad?

I don't work for a Thai company. All my life I worked for US multinationals. Now I take up consulting work from time to  time. The new visa you can work anywhere in the World. Does not say for Thai companies. I have worked remotely for 20-years and the last ten years as a consultant. When I take up a job, I have to tell them that I can't meet all US working hours for meetings so that they can accomodate me in morning hours only. And If I say I am located at   such and such country, some companies (e.g. Cisco, Microsoft, ADM, Intel) insist that I must have a work permits in the country where I am located. Yes, I can lie my ways but for some reason if caught, they may also  refuse to pay me my fees and it will jeopardize availability of future works for me. That's the reason, pre covid, when I used to take a job while in Thailand, I would go back to the USA to fulfill my contract. With a work permit in Thailand I won't have any issue. I can come and go at will.

Edited May 10, 2022 by Onerak

[FriendlyFarang]

49 minutes ago, Onerak said:

I don't work for a Thai company.

As far as I know a foreigner can't work freelance in Thailand, you can only work as employee for a Thai company.

So to be able to do what you plan to do you would have to register a Thai company and bill your clients through this company.

[Onerak]

31 minutes ago, FriendlyFarang said:

As far as I know a foreigner can't work freelance in Thailand, you can only work as employee for a Thai company.

So to be able to do what you plan to do you would have to register a Thai company and bill your clients through this company.

The discussion is about the new Thai visa that is expected to come with a Work permit who can show 80K USD incomes (from a foreign source) and 100K USD in a bank account (anywhere in the World not necessarily in a Thai bank) and I was discussing the benefits of the visa for people 50 years older or younger. we are not discussing about current visas. The details are yet to come. Not sure when. It is always prudent to familiarize yourself with the discussion before posting meaningless comments. 

Edited May 10, 2022 by Onerak

[Adumbration]

8 hours ago, Onerak said:

The average salary in 2022 for college graduates is $55,260, according to a National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) survey. This figure is 2.5% higher than the starting salaries of the past year. Technical majors have the highest starting salaries with an average starting salary of $87,989 for petroleum engineers. You have no idea how much 10% College technical graduates earn in a year. Some earn as much as 150K a year including RSUs and bonuses. I'm working in silicon valley for the last two decades and this year alone top companies are offering 60-80K to Indian engineers for remote works. I couple can earn more than 120K USD remote work from India only. Not all but few. The visa is meant for a hand full  of people only not for the the run of the mill digital nomads

Thanks for posting this information. 

 

You have shed light on why this new 10 year Thai visa will fail.

 

Why on earth would a young Indian graduate, living in India, but working for a US fortune 500 company, and pulling down 120K usd a year, want to move to Thailand?  

 

He would stay in his own village and save 118K usd per year, or be ballin it up with hookers and blow in Bangalore.

[bendejo]

5 hours ago, FalangKino said:

How about making one without ridiculous requirements for people under 50?

Consider it as optimism, as if you just may live past 50.

 

 

[Onerak]

2 hours ago, Adumbration said:

You have shed light on why this new 10 year Thai visa will fail.

I really don't care if it fails or not and that was not the point of this thread.  It is another option that will benefit me and scores of people like me who can demonstrate 100K USD in a foreign bank with 80K USD incomes. With rising home prices in the USA reaching almost 400K USD, with a salary of 100K won't be easy for many people to buy a house in the future and they migrate to Thailand if it comes with a work permit. Certainly this visa is not for bloggers who proudly post their life achievement of living in Thailand in <deleted> holes for $150/month and bragging about it in Youtube. 

And never forget the biggest attraction of coming to Thailand for a 40/50 something single person and then finding a wife and may be a family in the future. Thousands have done that in the past with visa runs and on meagre teachers salary. May be in the future they will be equipped with better salary, no worry about work permit, etc. 100K USD salary in the West does not guarantee a wife/family for 40/50 years old person but in Thailand it certainly does. We will only know its success or failure in 10-years time. 

Edited May 10, 2022 by Onerak

[garyk]

1 hour ago, Onerak said:

I really don't care if it fails or not and that was not the point of this thread.  It is another option that will benefit me and scores of people like me who can demonstrate 100K USD in a foreign bank with 80K USD incomes. With rising home prices in the USA reaching almost 400K USD, with a salary of 100K won't be easy for many people to buy a house in the future and they migrate to Thailand if it comes with a work permit. Certainly this visa is not for bloggers who proudly post their life achievement of living in Thailand in <deleted> holes for $150/month and bragging about it in Youtube. 

And never forget the biggest attraction of coming to Thailand for a 40/50 something single person and then finding a wife and may be a family in the future. Thousands have done that in the past with visa runs and on meagre teachers salary. May be in the future they will be equipped with better salary, no worry about work permit, etc. 100K USD salary in the West does not guarantee a wife/family for 40/50 years old person but in Thailand it certainly does. We will only know its success or failure in 10-years time. 

Must be a generational thing. 25-30 years ago I was working in the US and would of never dreamed of coming to Thailand or any other country to work?????

 

[Onerak]

30 minutes ago, garyk said:

Must be a generational thing. 25-30 years ago I was working in the US and would of never dreamed of coming to Thailand or any other country to work?????

There were hardly any remote work during those days. The four hour work week was not in the print and nobody heard about digital nomads also. But I bet many people migrated to Thailand and found Work and settled in Thailand. And I know a few. 

Edited May 10, 2022 by Onerak

[ikke1959]

Not many interested apparently.. no wonder with all rules changing all the time and the not welcoming attitude of the Government , although they pretend to say the opposite...With the requirement for this vsa there many more and better opportunities