For a retiree who can meet its income test, the Long-Term Resident visa’s most valuable line is the tax exemption. Since 2024, a Thai tax resident who brings foreign income into Thailand can owe tax on it. The LTR’s Wealthy Pensioner category carries an exemption written into a royal decree.
This page covers what the Board of Investment (BOI) asks of that category and what changes once you hold it. The four Thai routes for a retiree, side by side places it among the others. Everything below is from the BOI’s LTR site and its legal texts, read on 24 September 2026. Their English versions are marked as unofficial translations.
The tax exemption, in the decree’s own words
Royal Decree No. 743, which the BOI publishes, exempts a foreigner categorised as a Wealthy Pensioner holding an LTR visa from income tax on income “derived in the previous tax year from an employment, or from business carried on abroad, or from a property situated abroad, and brought into Thailand.”
A Revenue Department presentation on the BOI’s site adds that “No application or prior approval is required”. If you have no Thai-sourced income apart from the foreign income you bring in, “no Personal Income Tax return filing is required.”
The Revenue Department’s Notification No. 427 makes the exemption conditional on continuing to meet the BOI’s LTR conditions. The decree says that if you do not, “benefits will be suspended in that tax year.”
Thailand’s tax on the pension you bring in gives the general rule. This is not tax advice. How the decree’s reference to the previous tax year applies to your own pension or savings is a question for the Revenue Department, whose presentation offers consultations on international tax.
What counts as income
The BOI’s announcement No. Por. 3/2568, dated 4 February 2025, requires the applicant to “Be 50 years old or over and retired at the time of application.” The income test is US$80,000 a year of pensions or other passive income at the date of application. The BOI’s summary lists pension, rental, realised capital gains, dividends and interest, and states that “earned income and salaries WILL NOT be considered”.
Two details decide borderline cases:
- The FAQ says “Monthly withdrawals of principal that are not clearly from retirement accounts, privet pensions or provident funds are not counted as passive income.”
- The dollar figure is converted at the “Official Exchange Rate for currently published by the World Bank”, which the BOI notes may “differ from commercial bank exchange rates or prevailing market exchange rates.” A pension that clears US$80,000 at your bank’s rate may not clear it at the World Bank’s. How the currency sits inside a retirement visa test has more.
Between US$40,000 and US$80,000 of passive income, you also need US$250,000 invested in Thailand in your own name, in Thai government bonds with at least five years to run, a Thai-registered company, or Thai property. “The applicant must already have made the investment and hold the qualifying assets before applying”. A leasehold counts only with a “remaining time of lease agreement of no less than 10 years” on the application date.
Insurance: the ten-month detail
You need US$50,000 of health cover for medical expenses in Thailand, or Thai social security, or US$100,000 held for twelve months. The announcement adds two details the summary omits. The policy must have a “remaining coverage period of at least 10 months” on the date the BOI issues its endorsement letter, and the deposit may be “in a bank account in Thailand or abroad retained for at least 12 months”.
Every condition must still hold at year five
The visa is stamped for ten years, but the stay is granted for five, and “Every condition and requirement must be maintained during the length of the visa”. Before year five your qualifications are checked again. If they fall short, for example because you cancelled your insurance, “the LTR visa shall be revoked.”
The FAQ tells you to apply “within 120 to 60 days prior to the expiration of your current permission to stay”, and says “the second validation does not require a visa fee”. Announcement No. Por. 4/2568 also provides for extending beyond the full ten years, on the same criteria.
What it changes day to day
The fee. 50,000 baht, stated as “50,000 THB per person per 10 years”, paid when the visa is issued in Bangkok. At an embassy or through e-Visa it “may vary and is usually more than the fee in Thailand”. The BOI charges nothing for the endorsement itself.
Reporting. A yearly report on form TM.95 replaces the 90-day report. If you leave and return, “the next reporting date will reset to one year from the date of your most recent return.” Two duties remain. The FAQ confirms “Yes, maintaining a TM30 is required”, and you must still complete the digital arrival card “every time you enter Thailand.”
Work. On work permits, the FAQ says “Wealthy Global Citizens, Wealthy Pensioners, Highly Skilled Professionals and Dependents types are included”. You need an employment certificate to apply, and “The processing fee is 3,000 Baht per year to maintain the work permit.”
Dependants. The BOI’s website allows a spouse and children under 20, with a “Maximum 4 dependents in total per one LTR visa holder”. Each needs their own insurance, social security, or US$25,000 held for twelve months. Same-sex spouses qualify; unmarried partners do not. The formal announcement lists “legitimate spouse, parents, and children under 20 years old”, which goes further than the website. If you hope to bring a parent, ask the LTR unit in writing first.
The Thailand Privilege card is a different product
The Thailand Privilege card, whose older membership lines carry names such as “Elite Ultimate Privilege”, is sold by Thailand Privilege Card Co., Ltd., which describes itself as “a state enterprise” founded “with TAT as its sole shareholder”. It is a paid membership, starting at a THB 650,000 fee for five years. Its tiers, family fees and one-year stays have their own page. The LTR is a BOI visa with a 50,000 baht fee, earned by meeting an income test.
Who should consider it
The ordinary route, set out in the ordinary one-year extension as Chiang Mai runs it, asks for 800,000 baht in a Thai bank or a pension of 65,000 baht a month, renewed yearly at your local immigration office, with a report every 90 days.
The LTR is worth the paperwork if both of these hold:
- Your pension or passive income comfortably clears US$80,000 at the World Bank rate, or clears US$40,000 and you already hold US$250,000 in qualifying Thai bonds, company shares or property.
- You will spend enough of the year in Thailand for the tax on remitted income to matter.
It is the wrong route if your income is mostly earned, if you would qualify only by drawing down savings, or if your income sits near the line. The test is applied again at year five, and falling short then ends the visa as well as the tax exemption.