Remote worker or a retiree? Thailand has long-term residency options for you

Investing in foreign countries for global residencies has been gaining traction in recent years. Several countries have hiked the costs of their residencies, seeing this high demand. But there are still some low-cost alternatives available, with lower living costs and lower eligibility criteria.

Thailand recently launched two residency programmes that are gradually gaining popularity: the remote work visa and the wealthy pensioner visa for retirees. Here is a look at these options.

Remote work visa: eligibility

Thailand’s remote work visa or destination travel visa is for employees who still work from home. The visa applicant needs to show proof of current employment in the home country by furnishing their employment contract.

The applicant needs to show that they have the equivalent of 500,000 Thai baht or THB (about ₹12.4 lakh) in their bank account by submitting bank statement or payslips.

The applicant can add spouse and children under 20 years of age as dependents in the visa application. The visa processing fee is THB 10,000 per person, or about ₹25,000.

The visa holder also has to report their current address to the immigration bureau every 90 days. As this visa is granted to a remote worker, there is no right to work in Thailand on this visa.

The visa is valid for five years. After the first block of 180 days, the visa is extendable for another 180 days for a fee of THB 10,000. But after this extension, the visa holder is required to leave the country and re-enter. The visa holder is allowed to do this for five years. The programme was launched on 15 July 2024. Multiple entries and exits are allowed on this visa.

Also read: Cost of European residency programmes have shot up

Retirement visa: eligibility

Thailand’s retirement visa or wealth pensioner visa is a long-term residency visa that comes with a validity of 10 years and is renewable, as long as the eligibility conditions are maintained by the visa holder. Multiple entries and exits are allowed on this visa.

Apart from the financial eligibility criteria, the applicant needs to be at least 50 years old at the time of application.

The income eligibility requirement is a personal income of $80,000 ( ₹68.7 lakh) per annum. If the applicant doesn’t meet this criterion, they need to show a minimum annual income of $40,000 ( ₹34.35 lakh) and invest $250,000 ( ₹2.14 crore) in a property in Thailand.

The visa validity is split into blocks of five years. After the first five years, the visa is extendable for another five years. The applicant also needs a mandatory health cover of $50,000.

Unlike the remote work visa, the wealthy pensioner visa also offers a right to work. Such visa holders are also exempt from the 4:1 Thai:foreign employee rule, which requires local companies to hire four Thai people for every foreign employee. Also, this visa holder needs to report their current address to the immigration bureau only once a year.

The visa holder can add spouse and children below 20 years of age in the visa application. A maximum of four dependents. The visa processing fee per person is THB 50,000.

The draw for retirees 

Retirees look to settle in Thailand for multiple reasons. 

“We have for several years lived and worked in different countries. When deciding upon our retirement home, we looked at various factors such as cost of living, quality of healthcare facilities, quality of life, infrastructure, environment, community, etc., and we rated Thailand highly on those factors,” said 51-year-old Yogesh S., who has moved to Thailand along with his wife on a wealthy pensioner visa and runs a YouTube channel called The FIREd Couple.

“There is a good active community of foreign retirees here, which regularly meets up,” Yogesh said. “We have also been impressed by the healthcare facilities that we have encountered so far.”

When it comes taxation, long-term visa holders are also exempt from paying any taxes on their non-Thai income or global income.

“It is still a fairly new residency programme, launched in September 2022. It is slowly gaining traction. The process is also quite fast and seamless,” said Rohit Bhardwaj, country head-India and director-private clients at Henley & Partners. “Retirees see Thailand as a good low-cost alternative to Singapore or Dubai, which can be lot more expensive in terms of living costs.”

Living costs

According to estimates from various sources, a couple leading a reasonably comfortable lifestyle in a city like Thailand’s capital city Bangkok will likely have monthly expenses of about $1,995, or ₹1.70 lakh. If you add costs of schooling, the monthly costs would increase by $2,015, or ₹1 lakh.

These estimates take into account rent for a decently sized apartment in an upscale neighbourhood of Bangkok.