The Thailand LTR visa

Thailand's LTR visa gives ten years of residence, split five and five. Four tracks serve high earners and asset holders, run by the Board of Investment. Three of the four tracks need US$80,000 a year. Only Highly-Skilled Professionals get the 17% flat tax rate. BOI's February 2025 reform eased several thresholds. Most readers still will not clear the bar.

Current at 9 September 2026. Dollars at THB 32.9 to US$1, the rate of 8 September 2026.

Ten years, and one report a year instead of four

Ten years, issued in two five-year blocks. Five now, another five if you still meet it at renewal (ltr.boi.go.th, read 11 September 2026). Multiple entry, the entire time, with no per-entry day cap. The DTV instead stamps 180 days at each crossing. The 90-day report that governs every other long-stay route shrinks to one report a year. You're also exempt from the re-entry permit. That is the one rule that can end a retirement extension the moment someone forgets it.

The Board of Investment runs the whole programme, not Immigration. You get BOI's endorsement first. Then comes the visa itself, issued either at a Thai embassy abroad or from inside Thailand. That second option is the clearest difference from the DTV. You cannot apply for a DTV once you're already in Thailand. The Thailand Investment and Expat Services Center opened 17 March 2025 at One Bangkok and issues the visa. Work-permit collection still happens elsewhere, at the Department of Employment (ltr.boi.go.th, read 11 September 2026).

USD 80,000 a year is the bar most readers will not clear

Four tracks, four different bars.

Source: ltr.boi.go.th, read 11 September 2026. At THB 32.9, US$80,000 is THB 2,632,000 and US$1,000,000 is THB 32,900,000. The 2025 reform also dropped the Wealthy Global Citizen income test. That track now runs on assets alone (BOI Announcement No. Por. 3/2568, 4 February 2025).

Every track also needs cover. Choose a US$50,000 (THB 1,645,000) health policy with 10 months left on it, or Thai social security. Otherwise, hold a US$100,000 (THB 3,290,000) bank balance, in Thailand or abroad, for 12 months. That hold does not appear in any city guide in this series. Hua Hin and Pattaya print the deposit with no hold period. Each dependant adds US$25,000 (THB 822,500), held the same 12 months. A dependant is a spouse, a parent, or a child under 20, or otherwise a legal dependent. There is no cap on the count (BOI Announcement No. Por. 3/2568). BOI's own public page still shows the older cap of four, spouse and children only. That page is stale.

The visa fee is THB 50,000 ($1,520) a person for pickup inside Thailand. All six city guides print that as a flat, everywhere fee. BOI itself states overseas pickup "varies considerably" by mission and can cost more (ltr.boi.go.th, read 11 September 2026). Check the issuing embassy's own schedule before you budget the number.

The 2025 reform took effect 4 February 2025, after a Cabinet vote on 13 January. BOI's Announcement No. Por. 3/2568 repealed the old rules that day. It dropped the five-year work-experience test for Highly-Skilled and Work-from-Thailand applicants too (ltr.boi.go.th, read 11 September 2026). It also cut the employer's revenue bar from US$150 million to US$50 million. Emerhub still lists five years as current. But that page restates a repealed rule. If you were refused before 4 February 2025 on experience alone, reapply.

What the LTR will not let you do

Work-from-Thailand Professionals get no digital work permit. BOI excludes the track outright. It is built for people paid by a foreign employer to work remotely (ltr.boi.go.th, read 11 September 2026). Every other track can hold one if it takes Thai employment. That takes 3 to 5 working days, for THB 3,000 a year. Four of the six city guides in this series say the LTR comes with a digital work permit. None of them names which track it excludes. Hua Hin and Pattaya do not mention one.

The 17% flat rate is Highly-Skilled Professional only, on Thai employment income. Wealthy Global Citizen, Wealthy Pensioner and Work-from-Thailand Professional holders instead get a separate benefit. It is a tax exemption on foreign-source income they bring into Thailand. Royal Decree No. 743 (Revenue Department, 21 May 2022) grants it. The two benefits do not overlap, and neither is a blanket exemption from Thai tax.

No Thai clients on the Work-from-Thailand track. The income has to come from your foreign employer, not local billing. Ten years is ten years. It is not permanent residence. Each five-year block, and any renewal past ten, needs a fresh BOI endorsement on the same tests.

The paperwork gets lighter, but it does not stop

The yearly report replaces the 90-day cycle. That is the one real win. You still file the TDAC within 72 hours before every arrival. It is been mandatory and free for all foreigners since 1 May 2025 (thaiembassy.com; tdac.immigration.go.th). TM30 covers your address the same as anyone else's: your host has 24 hours to file it. Spend 180 days in a calendar year and you're still a Thai tax resident, under Revenue Code section 41. Overstay costs THB 500 ($15) a day, capped at THB 20,000 ($608). It also brings an entry ban scaled to the overstay (siam-legal.com, 10 February 2025). It is rare for an LTR holder. But the rule has no exception.

Four readers this visa is wrong for

Clear the bar and this is Thailand's best document

The small slice of readers clear US$80,000 a year, or hold the assets to skip that test. They get Thailand's best long-stay document. Ten years beats the DTV's five. One report a year beats a 90-day cycle. No re-entry permit means nothing to forget before a flight. It also opens a Thai bank account normally, the way Thailand Privilege and retirement holders do. DTV holders succeed at only around 20% of counters at selected Bangkok Bank branches.

For everyone else, the thresholds are just what the BOI built them to be. No amount of paper gets you around them.

Chapter 10 of Living in Southeast Asia 101 covers long-stay routes in prose, LTR included. Its only seven-country table covers visa-free stays alone.

Related

Phuket's guide calls the LTR the better choice once you clear the bar. The same filter applies whether you are weighing Phuket or anywhere else in Thailand. A Wealthy Global Citizen or Wealthy Pensioner route can mean buying property here. It would be owned outright and already held before you apply. Buying in Phuket covers the ownership rules the LTR does not touch. Still choosing a country at all? Compare all ten cities on visas, cost and climate before you commit.