As a serious investor in the Thai economy, applying for visas and visit extensions appears to be a necessary inconvenience. So are all the hoops you have to jump through to make bank transactions travel to other countries, buy real estate properties, and apply for a driver’s license. If you’re spending much of your time year after year in Thailand, you can actually save yourself a lot of that pain by applying for a Thai permanent residency. Fortunately for you, you can do this by doing what you’re already doing in Thailand: investing.
To obtain permanent resident status under the investment category of application processes, you need to do three things, namely (1) have your non-immigrant visa in order, (2) submit proof of investment before residency is granted, and (3) again after it is granted.
Have your non-immigrant visa in order
You need to have a non-immigrant visa for at least three years and have gotten 3 consecutive annual extensions before submitting your Thai Permanent Residency application. In addition to these, you must be a visa holder when you do submit your application.
Submit proof of investment before the Thai permanent residency is granted
As an investor, you must have invested at least 10 million baht into Thailand in one of these investment targets, namely:
- a Private or Public Limited Company;
- a government-issued bond; or a bond issued by a state enterprise that either has the Bank of Thailand or the Ministry of Finance as its guarantor; or
- Thai stock market investment instruments which have been certified by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
You must present documentary evidence of your investment as follows:
Investment in a Private or Public Limited Company
- Ministry of Commerce-issued certificate of company registration
- Documentary evidence of Specific Business Tax registration or Value-Added Tax
- copies of corporate income tax returns and financial balance sheets for the three years prior to you making your investment
Investment in government- or state enterprise-issued bonds
- Original copy of the bond certificate
- Bond purchase certification letter from a Thai bank
Investments in Thai stock market instruments
- Purchase certificate
- Other evidence of the investment
Submit proof of investment after the Thai permanent residency is granted
You may be granted Thai permanent residency status soon after submitting the requirements listed above, but this status will remain under review for three years. Every end of September for those three years, you must submit evidence to the Bureau of Immigration that you’ve maintained (i.e., not transferred) your investment. On its end, the Bureau will also exercise due diligence by doing its own annual investigation into your investment. If the Bureau determines that you’ve failed to meet its criteria, it would revoke your permanent residency status.
