The requirements
- Programme status
- Open, accepting applications
- Minimum monthly income
- No income minimum
- Required savings
- $15,000
- Annual total
- $15,000
- Initial duration
- 5-year multi-entry; 180 days per entry
- Family allowed
- Yes
- Apply online
- Yes
No monthly minimum; THB 500,000 bank balance.
How this figure is set: No income test at all. Formula: no income test; THB 500,000 funds.
Income confidence: medium · checked 2026-09-07
Legal basis: Cabinet resolution 28 May 2024 / MFA DTV announcement (not fetched).
Does this lead to permanent residence?
No pathway. DTV is a tourist-class visa, not Non-Immigrant; time doesn't count toward PR.
Thai PR requires 3 consecutive years on one Non-Immigrant visa extended annually, under the Immigration Act B.E. 2522 ss.40-41, administered by the Immigration Bureau with a per-country annual quota. Embassy/consular pages mirroring MFA/Immigration Bureau content describe the DTV as a special tourist ('workcation') visa category, separate from the Non-Immigrant series. immigration.go.th (403 Forbidden) and mfa.go.th's own DTV page (404) could not be loaded directly despite repeated attempts, so the DTV-vs-Non-Immigrant classification and the PR exclusion rest on secondary/embassy sources rather than a directly-read primary text.
Pathway confidence: low · checked 2026-09-07
Where it is
Bangkok sits at 13.75° N, 100.50° E.
Open in Google Maps ↗A map of Bangkok. This is the only link here that leaves the site.
Your position is worked out on this device. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Time zone
- UTC+7 Bangkok (Asia/Bangkok)
The country
- Region
- Asia · Southeast Asia
- Capital
- Bangkok
- Currency
- THB
Next door
1 of the 4 countries Thailand shares a land border with is covered here.
- MalaysiaOpen$2,000 / mo
What it costs to live there
$392 per person, per month. That is what one resident of Thailand spends in an average month with housing included — not what a newcomer renting at market rates will spend, which is higher, and furthest above it in the cheapest countries.
- Bangkok
- $942 / month incl. rent
of which rent $374 - Chiang Mai
- $750 / month incl. rent
of which rent $292
City figures are crowdsourced from livingcost.net, not official: one person's monthly spending plus the rent of a one-bedroom flat outside the centre. They are here because a national average cannot show the spread between a capital and the places people actually move to. Checked 2026-09-20.
Cost of living confidence: high · checked 2026-09-20World Bank national accounts, reference year 2025: households and NPISHs final consumption expenditure (NE.CON.PRVT.CD, current US$) divided by population (SP.POP.TOTL) and by twelve. This is what one resident spends in an average month with housing included, since national accounts count the imputed rent of owner-occupiers. It is an average over the whole population, not a visitor's budget, so a newly arrived remote worker renting at market rates will spend more - see the city figures for what that looks like.
Languages
- Thai official
- English widely spoken
- Isan common in cities
- Northern Thai common in cities
- Southern Thai common in cities
Shares of the population from Unicode CLDR: official, then anything spoken by a quarter of the country, an eighth, or a fiftieth. It answers "will I be understood", not "how good is their English".
Where you apply from
Filed online, from anywhere. No mission appointment.
The DTV is filed entirely on the e-Visa portal and you never appear in person, so where you are does not decide the route. Which mission may take it does: from 31 Aug 2026 the application goes to the one with jurisdiction over your nationality or your proven permanent residence, which ends the practice of applying from whichever neighbouring post was cheapest to reach. The criminal record certificate each mission asks for differs in issuer and in how old it may be.
Where you apply confidence: high · checked 2026-09-19Read 2026-09-19 from the Royal Thai Embassy London announcement 'Adjustment of Supporting Documents for Destination Thailand Visa (DTV) Applications' (8 Sep 2026), which sets an effective date of 31 Aug 2026 00:00 Thailand time, replaces evidence of current location with proof of permanent residence in the UK, Ireland or a British Overseas Territory, and requires a criminal record certificate issued within 6 months. Cross-checked against the Royal Thai Consulate-General Los Angeles DTV page (updated 1 Sep 2026, FBI certificate within 3 months), Munich (nationality or country of application, within 3 months) and Ho Chi Minh City (Criminal Record Certificate No. 2 plus a Vietnamese ID or residence card). Submission remains online at thaievisa.go.th with no consular appointment. No central MFA notice was found; the rule is being published mission by mission, and Vientiane and Washington DC had not published one when this was checked.
Say where you are now and this names your country.
How to apply
- Check you clear the requirements above.
- Gather what the official page asks for. Expect proof of income, a passport, health insurance and a criminal-record check as the common core.
- Apply online through the official portal.
- Sort out where you will stay for the first stretch. Airlines check this at the desk and will not board you without it, whatever your visa says —what counts as proof of accommodation.
- Verify every figure on the official page before you spend money. Thresholds are set in local currency and move every year.
Fee THB 10,000. e-Visa only. From 31 Aug 2026 the application must go to the mission with jurisdiction over your nationality or proven permanent residence, and a criminal record certificate is required; the document and its age vary by mission (London: ACRO/Irish, 6 months; Los Angeles: FBI, 3 months; Munich: 3 months).
A starting point, not advice. Figures are converted to US dollars at open-market rates; official thresholds are set in local currency. Sources: official source ↗. Data checked . Compiled by Junaid Qadir.