Thailand LTR (Long-Term Resident) visa: four categories, requirements and fees

All conditions below come from the programme site ltr.boi.go.th and from documents of Thailand’s Board of Investment (BOI), checked on 19 October 2026. The BOI publishes some documents as an unofficial translation; the original is in Thai. The BOI sets the programme’s terms, and they changed in 2022, 2023 and 2025, so open the current site before you apply.

What the LTR is and how it differs from other visas

The LTR is a BOI programme that gives a long visa and benefits to people Thailand wants to attract: wealthy foreigners, pensioners with a steady income, remote workers and specialists. The first stay permission is for 5 years, the second for another 5 if you keep meeting the conditions. Every condition, including the investment amounts, employment, the account balance and insurance, must be maintained for the whole length of the visa.

What sets the LTR apart from the DTV, the retirement visa and Thailand Elite is that it is a selection on BOI documents, checked by several agencies, with tax benefits. We found no nationality restrictions on the BOI pages.

Four categories and family

Details for each category are from BOI Announcement Por. 3/2568 of 4 February 2025.

Wealthy Global Citizen

You need an investment in Thailand of USD 500,000 or more in the applicant’s name, made before applying. Three kinds qualify: Ministry of Finance bonds with at least five years left to maturity, direct investment in a Thai company (or a venture capital company or private equity trust company registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission), and property. Total assets must be USD 1 million or more, and they can include that same investment. If several people own an investment, its value is divided equally or pro rata.

What counts as property, per the BOI FAQ: a freehold condominium or house in the applicant’s name with proof of ownership and the sale and purchase agreement, or a lease in the applicant’s name with at least 10 years remaining on the date of application. An apartment registered to a wife or a child does not qualify: the investment must be in the applicant’s name. On how buying a home relates to a visa, see the answer does property give a visa in Thailand.

Wealthy Pensioner

Age 50 or over and retired on the date of application. The income must be passive: pension, rent, dividends, interest, realised capital gains. Salary and earned income do not count. If passive income is below USD 80,000 but not below USD 40,000, you also need an investment in Thailand of USD 250,000 or more in the applicant’s name (the same three kinds of investment). Monthly withdrawals from principal count only if they clearly come from retirement accounts, private pensions or provident funds.

Work-from-Thailand Professional

For people who work remotely for a large company abroad. Average income of USD 80,000 a year over 2 years, or USD 40,000 for holders of a master’s degree or higher, intellectual property or Series A funding of USD 1 million or more. The employer must be one of three kinds:

• a company listed on any stock exchange
• a private company at least 3 years old with combined revenue of at least USD 50 million over those 3 years
• a wholly owned subsidiary of one of the two above

A freelancer without such an employer is not covered by this category. No work permit for work in Thailand is issued for it, because the visa exists for work for a foreign employer. If you have a Thai employer you need another category or a work permit on a Non-B visa. Remote work on different visas is covered in the answer can you work remotely in Thailand.

Highly-Skilled Professional

You need a contract of employment or services with a Thai or foreign enterprise, assigned to work in Thailand, or employment with a university, research institute, training institute or government agency in Thailand. The activity must fall into one of the priority industries in the BOI announcement:

• automotive and electronics
• affluent tourism
• agriculture, food and biotechnology
• transportation and logistics
• automation and robotics
• aviation, aerospace and space, and national defence
• biofuels, petrochemicals and chemicals
• digital and medical industries
• the circular economy
• International Business Center (IBC)

There is also an “other industries” line: research and development, vocational and higher education instructors, applying AI and robotics in business, digital systems, financial or marketing analysis and advisory, environmental and energy management, incubator and startup ecosystems, alternative dispute resolution, and foreign chambers of commerce. The BOI gives the full list in its Targeted Industries section.

Common to all categories: insurance

One of these: a health insurance policy covering medical expenses in Thailand of at least USD 50,000, with at least 10 months of cover left on the date of the endorsement letter; or evidence of social security in Thailand; or a deposit of at least USD 100,000 in a bank account in Thailand or abroad held for at least 12 months. The applicant must not have characteristics that bar entry under immigration law. On policies see do you need health insurance.

Family

A spouse and children under 20, up to 4 dependents per holder (BOI site). The text of Announcement Por. 3/2568 also names parents among dependents; the BOI site does not mention them, so ask the BOI. Each dependent needs a policy of USD 50,000 or a deposit of USD 25,000 held for 12 months. The marriage must be legal: an unregistered partner is not accepted as a dependent. The BOI site says same-sex marriages are eligible. For a stepchild you need a court order on guardianship.

What it costs

In Bangkok you pay in cash or by Thai mobile banking QR. The BOI warns separately that at embassies and via e-Visa the fee can be considerably above THB 50,000 and depends on the exchange rate. The USD 2,000 figure comes from the Moscow embassy’s consular fee table, which lists LTR directly.

How to apply: steps

1. Register and apply online on ltr.boi.go.th (login via visa.boi.go.th). Applications are not accepted directly at the BOI unit. Each family member gets their own account: the main applicant first obtains a document number and then approves the dependents
2. Wait for the qualification decision. The application is registered in 3 working days and the agencies (Immigration, BOI, the Department of Consular Affairs and others) take about 17 working days to consider it. In total the BOI quotes 20 working days, longer if more documents are requested. Anything not supplied within 30 days of a request can lead to rejection, and the agencies’ decision is final
3. Go through pre-approval of issuance. You add missing details and documents, which takes 1-3 working days
4. Choose where to collect the visa. The TIESC centre in Bangkok (One Bangkok, 6th and 7th floors), or a Thai embassy or consulate that offers e-Visa. For e-Visa you need proof of residence
5. Book the issuance within 60 days of the date of the approval letter, otherwise the approval lapses
6. Bring to the appointment printed forms TM.94 and STM.8, original passports, a 4 x 6 cm photo, documents proving relationship for dependents, your TDAC and the THB 50,000 fee. For issuance in Thailand your current visa, for example a Non-B, must be terminated with enough permitted stay remaining
7. If you work, apply for the digital work permit through the LTR system right after the visa is issued, which takes 3-5 working days, then collect it from the Department of Employment at the One Stop Service centre for visas and work permits in Bangkok

The BOI advises not to terminate your current visa until the application is approved. Document translations are accepted only from a certified translator, a notary, or a notarised translation by an embassy.

What the LTR gives

• A stay of 5 years, extendable by another 5
• A residence report once a year instead of every 90 days, and no re-entry permit needed
• Fast track at Thailand’s international airports
• A digital work permit (except Work-from-Thailand)
• No requirement of 4 Thai employees per foreigner
• Tax benefits
• Service at the One Stop Service centre for visas and work permits

TM.30, the notification by the property owner that a foreigner is staying, stays mandatory after the LTR is issued (BOI FAQ).

Taxes for LTR holders

The terms are set by Royal Decree No. 743 of 21 May 2022 and Revenue Department Notification No. 427, in force from 1 September 2022. Both are published on the BOI site as unofficial translations.

• Highly-Skilled Professional. A withholding rate of 17% on salary from a company in a priority industry, if the ordinary scale would withhold more. You need an employment contract with such a company, and it must send employee details to the Revenue Department. The 17% is withheld at source, and as long as you do not claim a refund or credit, that income is left out of the tax computation when you file. You file a return anyway, and the notification names form P.N.D. 95
• Wealthy Global Citizen, Wealthy Pensioner and Work-from-Thailand Professional. Exempt from tax on income under Section 40 of the Revenue Code from employment, business or property abroad if it is brought into Thailand. Conditions: a valid LTR visa and compliance with BOI requirements

If conditions are not met in a tax year, the benefits are suspended for that year (Section 7 of the decree). For the general rule on bringing income in, see taxes for foreigners in Thailand. LTR holders with income in Thailand get a tax ID at any Revenue Department office (BOI FAQ).

Who the LTR is not for

• People without a suitable employer, income of USD 80,000 or the required investments: the thresholds in the categories are firm. For remote work without such thresholds look at the DTV
• People who simply want to work for a Thai company: the LTR is not needed for that, the usual route is a Non-B and a work permit
• People who want a visa “just in case”: the investments must be made before the application, and cannot be added after approval

What we did not find in official sources

• Processing time specifically at the Royal Thai Embassy in Moscow: the BOI quotes a general 20 working days
• The date of the last update of ltr.boi.go.th: the pages show only a 2022 copyright mark, so the currency of the terms rests on Por. 3/2568 (February 2025) and a BOI news item of February 2026
• A clear answer on parents as dependents: the announcement names them, the site does not
• How the Revenue Department applies the exemption to a particular year: the decree speaks of income derived in the previous tax year and brought into Thailand, and we found no department guidance on this
• Possible nationality restrictions: we found none on the BOI pages, but ask the BOI (ltr@boi.go.th) before you collect documents

We re-check this page every 30 days. If you want a specialist to look at your documents, write to us: we will pass your request to a visa partner we have vetted.

Found an error or outdated fact? Tell the editors, we will fix it and update the check date.