My Long-Term Residence Visa Journey

[LoneCelt]

 

I just received my long-term residence visa this month. It's a very new process, and when I was looking for advice, tips, and tricks, nobody really knew anything about it. So, I thought I'd put together a few paragraphs explaining the pros and cons and offering tips and tricks to ease the process.

It's the one class of visa where you really don't need an agent; they can't help you. It's mostly done directly through the Board of Investment (BOI). It's all web-based, and you really can't interact with them by phone or email (there is a workaround).

The Long-Term Resident Visa (LTR) is offered to four categories of foreigners:

1. Wealthy Global Citizen
2. Wealthy Pensioner
3. Work-From-Thailand Professional
4. Highly-Skilled Professional (Spouses and dependents of LTR visa holders will also qualify for the same visas.)

The a single payment of 50,000 Thai Baht for a 10-year visa with multiple re-entry.
There are also several other pros. For instance, you can get a work visa for 3,000 baht a year. There is no 90-day reporting; it's just once annually. Finally, if you set up a business, you are exempt from the four Thais to one foreigner rule. Another little perk is that you get to use the Fast Pass channels at the airports.

The Wealthy Global Citizen class represented my needs best. "Wealthy" is slightly misleading. In essence, you must have global assets of greater than 1,000,000 U.S. dollars, the first hurdle. Secondly, you must make an investment in Thailand of at least 500 U.S. dollars. This may sound like quite a lot, I understand. However, if you own a property at home or abroad and/or have a good pension, you may well find that the paper value of your assets is over 1,000,000 U.S. dollars.

To make a qualifying investment in Thailand, there are many ways. In my case, I was committed to the idea of spending the next 10 years here, at least, so I bought a condo, which I regard as a reasonable investment. The purchase was less than $500K, so I made up the balance by investing in Thai government bonds. Government bonds are very low-risk assets (even Thai ones) and do pay a coupon. When the bond is finished, your capital is returned to you. The whole investment can be made up of government bonds, if you wish. The only stipulation is that these bonds must be capable of being held for at least five years and three months.

To apply, you go to www.ltr.boi.go.th and create an account. You are now dealing with the Board of Investment (who make the final recommendation to Thai immigration). There are no costs until the visa is granted. After successful registration, the online portal invites you to upload the usual details such as name, passport, etc. Then, you provide supporting documentation proving your eligibility (e.g., tax returns, bank statements, pensions, etc.). They also look for final evidence of your $500K in Thailand (if that's the route you choose).

They will also look for a health insurance policy with a coverage of more than 50,000 USD and with the remaining maturity of at least 10 months at the time of application or a $100K deposit (held for 12 months). My health insurance in Ireland is community-rated, so I chose to offer this. Eventually, it was accepted as it had overseas coverage.

The tricky part is the communication with BOI. They are not great at replying to emails, which is very frustrating. When something is uploaded to the portal, it either is accepted or rejected. Rejections very much leave you in the dark about why. A workaround for this, for me, was to create and file a PDF explaining concisely what my Irish tax return looks like, etc. This made the process smoother, as the deciding officer had more to go on. They also have a phone +66(0) 2209 1100 ext. 1008,1109 but it's rarely attended. Applicants will be notified of the qualifications endorsement result within 20 working days (processing time might take longer if additional documents are requested).

When the BOI process is completed, the portal will present two template forms for immigration and a selection of appointments to attend the One Stop Shop Immigration in Bangkok (very similar to Jomtien). On arrival, you will find the floor equally divided between immigration and BOI. The BOI offices are calm, luxurious, and very helpful. With the benefit of hindsight, when I was hitting awkward obstacles, I should have travelled up to see them in person. There are standards in that immigration office (wear a mask and business clothing), or you are not getting in. Finally, you pay at the counter (THB 50K for the ten years), and you walk out within the hour with your new visa (also a considerable feeling of satisfaction).

 

[taylor1975]

Interesting. Good info.

The govt bond is a single issue or a batch of varying timescales, aggregated into a 'fund' style? Whats the coupon % 

You are under age 50? If not why not retirement visa.

[PICCOLABESTIA]

hi, does the 500k in Thai government bonds have to be in a Thai bank or can I keep it in my eu bank?

[LoneCelt]

I separated the investment stake into a condo purchase and the residue into Thai government bonds.

 

Unless you buy property in excess of $500K, it is handy to pick up bonds for the remainder. You are  at liberty to invest in a business venture and so on. I picked up my bonds from www.KGIeworld.co.th who are a reputable investment bank.

The exotically named LB28DA bond with a coupon of 2.875% was where I ended up. Bonds have a secondary market and you can buy and sell at will but I would imagine at the 5 year review stage a dim view might be taken if you had not retained ownership. You are in essence giving the Thai government an interest bearing loan. Only Argentina has a nasty habit of defaulting on it's sovereign debt, all other countries including Thailand consider default a step too far.

Thailand is going to be my base going forward so I did'nt look into the possibility of holding them with an EU institution, so I can't answer that part.
 

I am over 50 but the work permit was the kicker for me. There are an awful lot of restrictions about what you can and cannot do in LOS without a work permit, so it suited me to go that route. There was no difference in complexity or cost between any of the classes in my view.

[LoneCelt]

 

One other aspect that should be of interest, is that it appears the LTR is exempted from the proposed taxation around taxing worldwide income.
There is a specific committment in the publicity advertising it. It might not not hold up but it's the closest anybody has got to an exemption, as far as I know.

https://ltr.boi.go.th/#what

[HansumMan4365]

Hi LoneCelt,

Congratulations! Did you get a work permit under your category? I was under the impression that the work permits were only for the two "Professional" categories. Various major goal posts have been moved often since the scheme's inception, but usually it's in a restrictive direction.

HM

[LoneCelt]

1 hour ago, HansumMan4365 said:

Hi LoneCelt,

Congratulations! Did you get a work permit under your category? I was under the impression that the work permits were only for the two "Professional" categories. Various major goal posts have been moved often since the scheme's inception, but usually it's in a restrictive direction.

HM

I am pretty new around here so I can't comment on the history.

I did get my work visa, but you have to be employed by a company (which you can own or setup) The permit rests with the company but obviously if you control the company you are your own boss. This is the same with all work permits, I understand.

[HansumMan4365]

7 hours ago, LoneCelt said:

I am pretty new around here so I can't comment on the history.

I did get my work visa, but you have to be employed by a company (which you can own or setup) The permit rests with the company but obviously if you control the company you are your own boss. This is the same with all work permits, I understand.

You stated that you got a WGC visa, so if you got the digital work permit too, it means you are not bound by the limitation of LTR categories 3 and 4 (show a job offer for a company of a certain minimum value/listed on stock market etc...)

[LoneCelt]

1 hour ago, HansumMan4365 said:

You stated that you got a WGC visa, so if you got the digital work permit too, it means you are not bound by the limitation of LTR categories 3 and 4 (show a job offer for a company of a certain minimum value/listed on stock market etc...)

 

Correct. The rule that companys need to have four Thai employees (For WP purposes), is dipensed with LTR

[HansumMan4365]

Thanks for the precisions. It's good info: I was not aware that a work permit was optionally available with the two first visa categories.

[TeacartManse]

Thanks for the info.

So am I reading you correctly that the USD 1m asset requirement is gross assets, not net assets? E.g., if you own a house worth $1m but your mortgage balance is $600k, that still fits the requirement?

[direct_voyage]

Thank you for posting @LoneCelt.  What documents did you need to provide for your house / bond investments?  A scanned copy of the paperwork for the house,  and a screenshot of the bank statement for the bonds?  I'm 5 years away from retiring, but this seems like an even better option than the elite visa given the huge run up in cost for those. 

[LoneCelt]

They wanted a scan of the deeds in your name, won't settle for anything else.

I asked the bond provider to provide a cover letter explaining how the bond meets their criteria. There was a bit of back and forth with BoI to have it accepted, but no drama.

Because the scheme is new, the criteria are fixed but with all the different nationalities proving your compliance is still a matter for neogiation

[Sloracer]

Thanks for the info. I've just started the application process and I was concerned about how padantic they may be with their rules and proof of investment documents. 

Great tip on the PDF and providing background information to help the review board with their evaluation.

[wanderingmonger]

On 09/11/2023 at 14:17, LoneCelt said:

Secondly, you must make an investment in Thailand of at least 500 U.S. dollars.

Is that suppose to be 500k USD? From the condo + bonds route it seems so, but I just want to make sure.

Super appreciate all the detailed information. I had been dreaming of retiring early and doing the 5 year elite visa to get me to 50 then switch it for a retirement one, but I meet 1 of the options, and maybe 2 more.

[duke main]

I just had a conversation with a falang lawyer about this. Here's the q&a:

For a LTR visa can the investment be a house/Thai company? no but it can be a condo in foreign name.

Is a Thai company a viable way to hold property for a foreigner? yes 

Can my Filipina spouse be included on a LTR visa? yes

 

[Caine]

The Wealthy Pensioner over 50 needs $80k passive income or $40k to $80k passive income plus $250k invested.

Requirements for each category:

https://www.siam-legal.com/thailand-visa/long-term-residence-ltr-visa-thailand.php

[LoneCelt]

16 minutes ago, Caine said:

The Wealthy Pensioner over 50 needs $80k passive income or $40k to $80k passive income plus $250k invested.

Requirements for each category:

https://www.siam-legal.com/thailand-visa/long-term-residence-ltr-visa-thailand.php

For pensioner yes, correct.

For those going the "wealthy global citizen route, the requirement is to show USD80K for the previous two years

On another note, the LTR route seems to be picking up steam, given it's price and efficiency compared with the Elite visas.
It's almost too good value if you qualify.

[Caine]

17 minutes ago, LoneCelt said:

For pensioner yes, correct.

For those going the "wealthy global citizen route, the requirement is to show USD80K for the previous two years

On another note, the LTR route seems to be picking up steam, given it's price and efficiency compared with the Elite visas.
It's almost too good value if you qualify.

Yes, that's in the link I posted.

The 2.85% to tie money up for 5 years, doesn't seem a good return to me. There's also the danger that if interest rates went up, the bond value would drop.

[Just Browsing]

On 09/11/2023 at 15:24, LoneCelt said:

Unless you buy property in excess of $500K, it is handy to pick up bonds for the remainder. You are  at liberty to invest in a business venture and so on. I picked up my bonds from www.KGIeworld.co.th who are a reputable investment bank.

Thank you for the very informative thread, I've been looking at getting the Wealthy Pensioner Visa using the $40K pa income + a $250K investment but had read that going down the Bond route can be "Challenging" with lots of bonds closed to Non-Thai citizens, what was your experience like with the selection of Bonds available & how easy it was for you to invest in them? 

 

[LoneCelt]

2 hours ago, Just Browsing said:

Thank you for the very informative thread, I've been looking at getting the Wealthy Pensioner Visa using the $40K pa income + a $250K investment but had read that going down the Bond route can be "Challenging" with lots of bonds closed to Non-Thai citizens, what was your experience like with the selection of Bonds available & how easy it was for you to invest in them? 

 

It was nearly a year ago now but, from memory, their own site gave links the Thai Bond Assoician, and various dealers, usually divisions of the High St banks.

All the bonds are there and there are filters for you "make what you want"

[ChiFlyer]

Interesting thread.

Just out of curiosity, I own 49% interest in a Thai LLC that owns the house we live in. Could my ownership in this LLC qualify as my Thai investment?

[duke main]

11 hours ago, ChiFlyer said:

Interesting thread.

Just out of curiosity, I own 49% interest in a Thai LLC that owns the house we live in. Could my ownership in this LLC qualify as my Thai investment?

 

On 01/04/2024 at 14:37, duke main said:

I just had a conversation with a falang lawyer about this. Here's the q&a:

For a LTR visa can the investment be a house/Thai company? no but it can be a condo in foreign name.

 

The lawyer I talked to said, no.

[LoneCelt]

16 hours ago, ChiFlyer said:

Interesting thread.

Just out of curiosity, I own 49% interest in a Thai LLC that owns the house we live in. Could my ownership in this LLC qualify as my Thai investment?

I doubt it, someone else owns 51% so debateable what value the asset is.
You can buy condo's all day long, invest in an arms lenght project, develop your own business. Plenty of ways to invest.

The thing people are forgetting is these are investments, not donations. With proper due diligence, you get your investment back.