Thailand’s Cabinet has recently decided to ease rules for long-term visa applicants, a move expected to boost the migration of high earners to the country.
The authorities agreed to scrap the Smart visa types and instead stick with the Long Term Resident (LTR) visas, under significantly easier rules for digital nomads and wealthy individuals, VisaGuide.World reports.
Some of the benefits that the new measures will bring to this category include the minimum revenue requirements and the number of dependants permitted to be brought into the country.
No Minimum Annual Income Requirement for Wealthy Professionals Seeking to Move to Thailand
In an effort to attract skilled workers, the Thai government has decided to scrap the minimum income requirement that an applicant has to earn to be eligible for a long-term visa.
Before the changes, applicants had to present proof of their annual income of at least €80,000 for the last two years before they applied for the visa.
The Office of the Board of Investment (BOI) found this income threshold was the reason why some applications were rejected despite it not being a determining factor for LTR visa issuance.
As per digital nomads, the government decided to lower income requirements for companies whose employees have chosen Thailand as their remote work destination.
Up until Tuesday, when Thailand’s Cabinet gathered to make these decisions, the companies had to have annual revenues for the last three years that amounted to €150 million. The revenue threshold has dropped to €50 million, as BOI deemed the previous requirement to be excessive.
Thailand Scraps Cap of Family Members Digital Nomads & Other Professionals Allowed to Obtain LTR Visas
The Cabinet has also decided to abolish the requirement that restricts candidates for Long Term Resident visas to bring only four family members to Thailand, as Bloomberg reports. This was the only category of visa that had such a restriction imposed on it, whereas other types of visas did not have such restrictions.
In addition, the only Smart visa remaining is for startup business owners. The Cabinet revoked other Smart visas following BOI’s proposal, which noted that most Smart visas had the same conditions as the LTR visas.
According to previous reports by the Nation Thailand, the Kingdom is the second-most popular destination for digital nomads, with 12 percent of them picking this destination. Mexico holds the first spot as the top pick for 13 percent of digital nomads. Three of the most popular cities in Thailand for digital nomads are Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Koh Phangan.