Foreigners Can Own One Rai Of Land In Thailand

[GarryP]

For single men, you first need to get a PR. If you are married to a Thai, you can apply for citizenship without the need for PR. There is a wonderful thread in TV which gives loads of interesting info on the topic of citizenship.

That's news to me.

Why don't all these foreigners with Thai wives get citizenship and put the land in their own name?

Seems it would solve a lot of problems? and cut down the number of posts on ThaiVisa by half.

On top of being married to a Thai, you need to meet other criteria such as being able to communicate in Thai language and a number of other things. It is calculated on a points system. PR carries a large number of points, however, without it, it is possible to get enough points to qualify if you are married, just that it is a little bit more difficult. Have a look at the citizenship thread. It is all explained in detail there. Like you, I was surprised when I first heard about this earlier this year. I was even sure I would not qualify, however, after assessing my likely points score I should be able to meet minimum points needed with a few left over. So I will be going for it in a couple of years, if the law does not change in the meantime, which woould be just my luck.

I have added the link to the thread for you.

Edited October 15, 2010 by GarryP

[PattayaParent]

On top of being married to a Thai, you need to meet other criteria such as being able to communicate in Thai language and a number of other things. It is calculated on a points system. PR carries a large number of points, however, without it, it is possible to get enough points to qualify if you are married, just that it is a little bit more difficult. Have a look at the citizenship thread. It is all explained in detail there. Like you, I was surprised when I first heard about this earlier this year. I was even sure I would not qualify, however, after assessing my likely points score I should be able to meet minimum points needed with a few left over. So I will be going for it in a couple of years, if the law does not change in the meantime, which woould be just my luck.

http://www.thaivisa....n/page__st__325

I have added the link to the thread for you.

Thanks for that, I'd read cadmaerati's thread on PR but not the one you linked.

[klikster]

That should read "Aliens/Foreigners Cannot Own Land in Thailand". Bill Heinecke, a "farang", owns quite a bit.

Bill Heinecke is a Thai citizen.

Precisely my point. "Farang" does not necessarily equal foreigner. Mr Heinecke is a "farang" Thai citizen.

There are several "farang" Thai citizens here on TV .. all of whom can own land in their own name.

[klikster]

For single men, you first need to get a PR. If you are married to a Thai, you can apply for citizenship without the need for PR. There is a wonderful thread in TV which gives loads of interesting info on the topic of citizenship.

That's news to me.

Why don't all these foreigners with Thai wives get citizenship and put the land in their own name?

Seems it would solve a lot of problems? and cut down the number of posts on ThaiVisa by half.

Because there is a great difference between applying for Thai citizenship and having citizenship granted.

But I've never read of any of those posters that lost 'their' land and house to the Thai wife complaining that they were not granted Thai citizenship after having applied for it.

Maybe you could advise us of the difficulties and obstacles?

Just because someone buys land in their wife's name there is no guarantee that she will transfer it back to them if/when they get Thai citizenship. And certainly not everyone who applies for citizenship gets it done.

As for the "difficulties and obstacles", 'dbrenn' posted a long and involved explanation of his experiences. No need to duplicate the information.

[MAJIC]

IMO anyone so desperate to want to own land here @ 40,000,000 baht investment is even crazier than someone who wants Thai Citizenship.

There is no really worthwhile gain for either course of action.

Yes I know,get Thai Citizenship and you can buy land,and no more Visa runs,

Big Deal! i'll stay Patriotic to my own Country, thanks.

And use my money for concrete investments,not Clay land and promises!

Edited October 15, 2010 by MAJIC

[leon1503]

mmm well I was only paying tax while I was working so I guess that doesnt help, as for a PR I wouldnt know where to start.

Bloody hel_l Im 27 and trying to plan a future here seems impossible

From what i have experienced in thailand your no more than dirt . just fork out your money and be happy . you will never own anything in this country . and even if you did somehow sooner or later the thais will have it . dont expext to get anything out of thailand .

[thomo]

Why, no matter how long I spend here, do I never really feel welcome or accepted?

If that is important to you, you know where you need to go back too...

If there is a Falang out there owning land, please come forward and introduce yourself , because I have never met one.

I don't. But I know a few you have bought land with 49/51% companies where the 51% owned by Thais are Thais that don't exist.

Which of course is quite illegal and cannot be recommended, but they are the only existing shareholders of the company that owns the land, which is pretty close. They do say it's quite common and were all quite surprised by my slight surprise, and all accepted it that that's how they thought it was always done.

Not the thing for me though. Keep it legal folks.

Edited October 15, 2010 by thomo

[thomo]

From what i have experienced in thailand your no more than dirt . just fork out your money and be happy . you will never own anything in this country .

From your experience? Tell us what you tried to own, and were told that you couldn't?

I own a vehicle in my name, and if I wish to buy a nice condo that'll be in my name. They only thing restricted to residents is land, anyother property and it's no problem sir.

Where did you pick up your notions from?

Edited October 15, 2010 by thomo

[MAJIC]

mmm well I was only paying tax while I was working so I guess that doesnt help, as for a PR I wouldnt know where to start.

Bloody hel_l Im 27 and trying to plan a future here seems impossible

From what i have experienced in thailand your no more than dirt . just fork out your money and be happy . you will never own anything in this country . and even if you did somehow sooner or later the thais will have it . dont expext to get anything out of thailand .

Spot on!

Apart from a Car or Motorcyle in your own name if you have the relevant Visa

Edited October 15, 2010 by MAJIC

[basjke]

Why, no matter how long I spend here, do I never really feel welcome or accepted?

If that is important to you, you know where you need to go back too...

If there is a Falang out there owning land, please come forward and introduce yourself , because I have never met one.

I don't. But I know a few you have bought land with 49/51% companies where the 51% owned by Thais are Thais that don't exist.

Which of course is quite illegal and cannot be recommended, but they are the only existing shareholders of the company that owns the land, which is pretty close. They do say it's quite common and were all quite surprised by my slight surprise, and all accepted it that that's how they thought it was always done.

Not the thing for me though. Keep it legal folks.

You mean Thais with a Thai id card and house registration papers but that actually don't exist?Can please explain this a bit further.

[Arkady]

This is actually described in the Land Code Amendment Act (No. 8) of the 10th of May 2542 (1999).

The wording is:

Section 96 bis The provisions of an alien who may acquire land by virtue of the provision of a treaty under Section 86 paragraph one shall not apply to alien who bring money to invest as amount specified in the Ministerial Regulation which not less than forty million baht. Thus, an alien shall acquire the land for residence not more than one rai and shall obtain permission from the Minister.

The acquisition of land of an alien in paragraph one shall be in accordance with the rules, procedures and conditions prescribed in the Ministerial Regulation in which shall contain at least the following essential matters:

(1) The type of business invested by an alien shall be beneficial to the economic and social of the country or shall be eligible to obtain the promotion of investment pursuant to the Investment Promotion Law as declared by the Board of Investment.

(2) The investment period needs to be maintained not less than three years.

(3) The location of land permitted for acquisition shall not beyond the confines of Bangkok, Pattaya, Municipality of land specified for residence purpose provided by the law of Town and Country Planning.

i.e. nothing new and I have never heard of anyone who has got permission to buy one rai this way.

I have also never heard of any one using this provision to buy land. It was introduced in the 1999 Land Act and was watered down from a bill proposed by the ruling Democrat party at the time which would have allowed all foreigners married to Thais to buy land, as a means to help revive the property market that had been hit by the 1997-98 Asian crisis. After getting badly mauled in Parliament by coalition and opposition alike, it ended up as it is now. It took several years for the Interior Ministry to issue the ministerial regulations necessary to implement the new law and to this day I have no idea whether it is actually possible to pass all criteria required by the ministry and the BoI. I suspect there is a Catch 22 in there that makes it impossible to use this law which the bureaucrats probably decided to sabotage as they may have thought it misguided. I think it is also necessary to get all the approvals, which would probably takes months or years, before buying the land. Anyway there are not so many people wanting to invest B40 million in BoI approved investments in addition to building a house in a designated area. Another provision in the Land Code allows foreigners to inherit 1 rai of residential land or 10 rai of agricultural land at the discretion of the minister. This is also almost certainly impossible to do in practice.

Interestingly, Taiwan and Korea now allow land ownership on a reciprocal basis to citizens of countries that allow their citizens to own land. Perhaps this trend will expand and extend to ownership of businesses as well.

Edited November 16, 2010 by Arkady

[johnnyk]

If I remember correctly not more than about 20-30 falangs obtain citizenship in a year. The hurdles are high. And enough bleating about being treated poorly despite etc etc. Their country, their rules. Next.

Lots of countries act samesame, next to impossible for a single Thai woman to get into Canada for eg.

[spirodj]

Lots of countries act samesame, next to impossible for a single Thai woman to get into Canada for eg.

Are you joking. Pls tell you are joking. If she is married to Canadian citizen I don't see any problem for her to stay in Canada. Have lots of friends (male/female) married and went to Canada without any problem, few of them will be soon get Canadian citizenship. Don't see why with would be different with thai ppl or you are trying to compare visiting Canada with getting citizenship ?

[elliss]

>>Because there is a great difference between applying for Thai citizenship and having citizenship granted.

Isn't it generally 10 years or more? IIRC, only a handful of foreigners each year are granted Thai citizenship.

how much does it cost ? ..... pang marr. :jap:

[johnnyk]

Lots of countries act samesame, next to impossible for a single Thai woman to get into Canada for eg.

Are you joking. Pls tell you are joking. If she is married to Canadian citizen I don't see any problem for her to stay in Canada. Have lots of friends (male/female) married and went to Canada without any problem, few of them will be soon get Canadian citizenship. Don't see why with would be different with thai ppl or you are trying to compare visiting Canada with getting citizenship ?

Read my post again.

[spirodj]

Read my post again.

I read it again. And i still think you chose bad example with putting Canada in your post because talk was about citizenship and you cant compare rules of Thailand and Canada in that area.

Tho i do agree that it is their country and they can put rules whatever they like or want.

[Arkady]

If I invest 80,000,000 baht can I but 2 rai of land?

No.

[johnnyk]

Read my post again.

I read it again. And i still think you chose bad example with putting Canada in your post because talk was about citizenship and you cant compare rules of Thailand and Canada in that area.

Tho i do agree that it is their country and they can put rules whatever they like or want.

Read it again.

[Canada]

Read my post again.

I read it again. And i still think you chose bad example with putting Canada in your post because talk was about citizenship and you cant compare rules of Thailand and Canada in that area.

Tho i do agree that it is their country and they can put rules whatever they like or want.

Read it again.

"single" Thai women....read it again

[peakness]

Considering the huge discrepancies of the income per capita, Thailand would have no land left if they allow foreigners the land ownerships by simple purchases.

The general historical pulse of this society suggests anyone who'd let any foreigners take a piece of land would be considered committing an act of treason. This came from rich stories of legends and wars which gave the Thais their fundamental, and possibly last 'honest' pride as a nation as it geographically stands.

Having said that, it is not impossible to become Thai and start owning lands. Let's take examples from the Chinese and Indian immigrants. It took them a bit of time to assimilate with work, contribution, many cases with changing their names, definitely by losing their original citizenships to become Thais. Of course, this is a far spectrum of an example, but it needs to be brought up. This is to hint you the idea of what loyalty is required to be part of the Thai clan. My grandfather, a Chinese immigrant, did it and he paid back, as implied in the language used, by becoming involved in the religious culture, served in the government, and also have 3 of his 10 children served in the government. ('Government officer' is translated to 'government slave' - this is why they get a cheaper pricing structure when patronizing businesses, since their salaries are very fixed and low.)

I'd risk to sound critical of the western norm, but often I hear people voicing only in the "what about ME?" and "what about NOW?" contexts. This generally creates a resistance with the Thais, their treatment to you, and their policy making in general. Maybe things will change seeing that the Thai society itself is shifting so fast. But for now, I think it's just a part of self-preservation for them to enforce such laws.

Edited December 29, 2010 by peakness

[clinique]

This subject has indeed been beaten to death and the fact remains the same - Falangs cannot own land in Thailand.

If there is a Falang out there owning land, please come forward and introduce yourself , because I have never met one.

That should read "Aliens/Foreigners Cannot Own Land in Thailand". Bill Heinecke, a "farang", owns quite a bit.

Sorry, but if I am not mistaken Mr. H. has Thai citizenship and therefore can do so.

[Khun Jean]

This subject has indeed been beaten to death and the fact remains the same - Falangs cannot own land in Thailand.

If there is a Falang out there owning land, please come forward and introduce yourself , because I have never met one.

That should read "Aliens/Foreigners Cannot Own Land in Thailand". Bill Heinecke, a "farang", owns quite a bit.

Sorry, but if I am not mistaken Mr. H. has Thai citizenship and therefore can do so.

Klikster stated the same thing!