LTR Visa is Now available for Long Term Residency

[oldcpu]

2 hours ago, K2938 said:

I would like to ask some questions regarding the latest policy application on the LTR visa.  Apologies for the rather technical nature of some of them:
 

 

My view.

 

1. no appetite

 

2. no appetite

 

3. This might be accepted if you can prove the paper trail

 

4. For me it was 2 years of income tax returns, but others have stated 1 year. Frankly, I speculate it depends on the specific individual in BoI who is handling one's case. ie. no standard at BoI.  TiT.

 

5. I have read of others who had regular income sources, but no need to file an income tax return in their foreign income sources country have simply provided their income proof. That strikes me as a more difficult route than showing a tax return, but I believe it doable. For example the German-Thai DTA states if one is a Thai resident, that Germany can not tax one's German pension (only Thailand can tax that pension) so its possible someone on a Type-O visa switching to a LTR, whose pension is from Germany, will have no recent German tax returns going back years. So instead they need to show BoI their annual letter from the German pension authority indicating what their annual pension income is.

 

6. Good question. I don't know. I avoided this by simply bringing no money into Thailand.  I brought a lot into Thailand in previous years when I was not a Thai tax resident, and then when Thai ministerial directives Por-161/162 came out, I bought a bunch more savings (dating back decades) into Thailand prior to 1-Jan-2024.

[gravity101]

16 hours ago, K2938 said:

I would like to ask some questions regarding the latest policy application on the LTR visa.  Apologies for the rather technical nature of some of them:

1) For the wealthy pensioner visa what is the latest appetite of the BOI for realised income from capital gains?  So you e.g. hold a fund which you bought for 100 000 USD and then sold for 300 000 USD.  Is the 200 000 capital gain admissable income or not?  Some time ago, they did not like this very much.

2)  What is their appetite for unrealised income from capital gains, i.e. e.g. increase in value of a broker account from x to y over a year without actually having sold and thereby realised this?  So you e.g. hold a fund which is worth 100 000 USD at 01.01.2024, but 300 000 USD at 01.01.2025.  Is the 200 000 USD difference admissable income or not?

3)  What is their appetite for undistributed dividend income, i.e. for example a holding of various companies paying dividend with the dividends being immediately reinvested instead of distributed (so-called accumulating vs. distributing investment funds [which are uncommon in the U.S. due to certain tax advantages there])?  So you e.g. hold a fund which receives 100 000 USD in dividend, but immediately uses this 100 000 USD for buying additional shares.  Is this admissable income or not?  In many jurisdictions, you would pay income tax on this in spite of not actually physically having received the dividend, but the fact remains that this is not a dividend you actually received in cash.

4) For how many years does the BOI now require income proof for wealthy pensioners, one year or two?  It used to say one year, but then they really wanted two at least for some time.

5) What happens if the applicant cannot provide income tax statements since his or her circumstances were such that no income tax declaration was due (e.g. due to previous non-taxation of various foreign remittances, tax residence in a tax-free place etc.)?

6) From when does the tax benefit of non-taxation of foreign remittances start for people already previously in Thailand on a different visa?  The benefit is given for the entire calendar year in which the LTR visa was obtained, pro-rata to the time of the LTR visa or how in case anybody knows?

Thank you.

Ill answer this generally. As long as you can prove you have the required income to spend in thailand, they do not care. So unrealised gains are out, so are non-dis dividends - probably. Realised gains are in. Your situation seems similar to me in terms of having no bank account, no pension, no obvious income per se, I got a lawyer to do it, as their criteria is very fluid and flexible(Probably even more so now given the low take up of LTRs). My lawyer did it on distributed coupons and realised gains reported from my brokerage account only. Best 50k I could have spent. They will tell you what you may need to adjust in your brokerage to get your application accepted (if anything)

 

As for 4. Was 1 year for me.

 

As for 5. I had no income tax statements. Because I live in Thailand. So they are sure not required.

 

As for 6. I wouldn't even give it any thought at the moment. See 5.

[gravity101]

16 hours ago, K2938 said:

I would like to ask some questions regarding the latest policy application on the LTR visa.  Apologies for the rather technical nature of some of them:

1) For the wealthy pensioner visa what is the latest appetite of the BOI for realised income from capital gains?  So you e.g. hold a fund which you bought for 100 000 USD and then sold for 300 000 USD.  Is the 200 000 capital gain admissable income or not?  Some time ago, they did not like this very much.

2)  What is their appetite for unrealised income from capital gains, i.e. e.g. increase in value of a broker account from x to y over a year without actually having sold and thereby realised this?  So you e.g. hold a fund which is worth 100 000 USD at 01.01.2024, but 300 000 USD at 01.01.2025.  Is the 200 000 USD difference admissable income or not?

3)  What is their appetite for undistributed dividend income, i.e. for example a holding of various companies paying dividend with the dividends being immediately reinvested instead of distributed (so-called accumulating vs. distributing investment funds [which are uncommon in the U.S. due to certain tax advantages there])?  So you e.g. hold a fund which receives 100 000 USD in dividend, but immediately uses this 100 000 USD for buying additional shares.  Is this admissable income or not?  In many jurisdictions, you would pay income tax on this in spite of not actually physically having received the dividend, but the fact remains that this is not a dividend you actually received in cash.

4) For how many years does the BOI now require income proof for wealthy pensioners, one year or two?  It used to say one year, but then they really wanted two at least for some time.

5) What happens if the applicant cannot provide income tax statements since his or her circumstances were such that no income tax declaration was due (e.g. due to previous non-taxation of various foreign remittances, tax residence in a tax-free place etc.)?

6) From when does the tax benefit of non-taxation of foreign remittances start for people already previously in Thailand on a different visa?  The benefit is given for the entire calendar year in which the LTR visa was obtained, pro-rata to the time of the LTR visa or how in case anybody knows?

Thank you.

Ill answer this generally. As long as you can prove you have the required income to spend in thailand, they do not care. So unrealised gains are out, so are non-dis dividends - probably. Realised gains are in. Your situation seems similar to me in terms of having no bank account, no pension, no obvious income per se, I got a lawyer to do it, as their criteria is very fluid and flexible(Probably even more so now given the low take up of LTRs). My lawyer did it on distributed coupons and realised gains reported from my brokerage account only. Best 50k I could have spent. They will tell you what you may need to adjust in your brokerage to get your application accepted (if anything)

 

 

 

As for 4. Was 1 year for me.

 

 

 

As for 5. I had no income tax statements. Because I live in Thailand. So they are sure not required.

 

As for 6. I wouldn't even give it any thought at the moment. See 5.

[ThailandRyan]

On 6/26/2025 at 3:42 AM, Pib said:

I was on an OA Visa Marriage extension when I transitioned to an LTR -P Visa.   The LTR immigration office cancelled this OA visa and wrote a couple of lines in my passport with an immigration officer signature saying the OA visa had been cancelled due to issue of the LTR visa.  Then my LTR-P visa/Stay Permit was stamped into my passport. 

 

Yea...don't expect to see something saying/stamped "cancelled"....it could be as simple as a few lines of handwritten Thai with a signature saying one visa was cancelled and replaced by another.   

Exactly as what I experienced as one if the First LTR-P visas granted at BOI back in 2022. Notation was made on the immigration side across the hall from BOI in my passport.