Thailand Long-Term Visa: 9 Ways to Live in Chiang Mai

To live in Chiang Mai for longer than a holiday you need a long-stay visa. The visa-free entry most people arrive on gives 30 days, for tourism only, since 15 September 2026. Thailand has nine long-stay routes: three for people aged 50 and over (the retirement Non-O, the O-A and the O-X), the Destination Thailand Visa (DTV), the 10-year Long-Term Resident visa (LTR), a Thailand Privilege membership, work on a Non-B visa with a work permit, study on a Non-ED visa, and marriage to a Thai on a Non-Immigrant O8 visa. Your age, passport, income, where you live now and whether you work for anyone in Thailand decide which are open to you. Permanent residence sits above them, capped at 100 people per nationality a year.

• Visa-free entry: 30 days, for tourism only, for 60 countries and territories since 15 September 2026; it can be extended once by up to 30 days for ฿1,900.
• Switching to a long-stay visa inside Thailand: file with more than 15 days left on your stay, about day 14 of a 30-day entry.
• The retirement money test is unchanged: ฿800,000 in a Thai bank or ฿65,000 a month, from age 50.
• Health insurance is a legal condition only for the O-A, the O-X and the LTR.
• The 90-day report applies on every route except the LTR. A bill that would let the police decide whether to keep it passed the House on 30 September 2026 and is not law (checked 28 October 2026).

The nine long-stay routes in one table#

Each route has its own money test, length and duties. The three tables below set the nine side by side on official facts as of 28 October 2026: who qualifies and what it costs, how long it lasts and what it allows, then the duties, tax and family rules. Each route's name links to its own guide where we have one.

"General rules" for tax means you become a Thai tax resident after 180 days in a calendar year, and a resident's foreign income is taxed in the year it is brought into Thailand (Revenue Department Order Por. 161/2566). Only Royal Decree 743 exempts anyone, and only three LTR categories. A draft that would spare foreign income brought in within a year of earning it is not law (checked 26 October 2026).

Three cells rest on weaker ground. Privilege's year per entry comes from the operator's own terms; we found no government text for it. The DTV's 180 days per entry rests on the Foreign Ministry's infographic; we found no Royal Gazette text. And the O-X list of 14 countries (Japan, Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, Canada and the US) is the one the Washington embassy, the Immigration Bureau and The Hague print. The consulate in Los Angeles printed 18 on 1 October 2026, adding Austria, Belgium, New Zealand and South Korea, with no Foreign Ministry notice behind it.

The Foreign Ministry's list of 31 August 2026 uses new codes: the retirement visa is O2, the Thai-spouse visa O8, and a retiree's foreign spouse comes on O7. There are no IM or EX codes on it. Each code is only the way in: on the retirement, marriage, work and study routes the one-year stay is an extension granted in Thailand under Order 12/2568. The list also holds a SMART visa endorsed by the BOI, valid up to four years, which this guide does not cover.

Which routes are open to you#

A few facts rule most routes in or out before money is counted: your age, whether an insurer will cover you, your passport, the country where you live now, and whether you work for anyone in Thailand. Below, each kind of reader gets the facts that decide; none of them ranks one visa above another.

Retiree aged 50 or over#

Five routes are open from 50: the retirement Non-O with yearly extensions, the O-A, the O-X, the LTR's wealthy-pensioner category and Thailand Privilege. Insurance decides first. The O-A needs at least US$100,000 or ฿3 million of cover at the visa and every extension, the O-X a Thai policy, and the LTR a US$50,000 policy, Thai Social Security or a US$100,000 deposit; the Non-O extension and Privilege need none.

Your passport decides second. The O-X is for 14 nationalities, which leaves Chinese and Korean retirees with the LTR and a Privilege Platinum membership (฿1.5 million for ten years) as their ten-year options; the consulate in Los Angeles lists South Korea, which the Foreign Ministry has not confirmed. The form of the money decides third: ฿800,000 kept in a Thai bank or ฿65,000 a month for the Non-O and the O-A, ฿3 million in a Thai bank before you apply for the O-X, US$80,000 a year of pension or passive income for the LTR (about 3.4 times the retirement test, our arithmetic), and no means test for Privilege. The US Embassy no longer certifies income, so American retirees can plan only on the Thai deposit.

Each year the Non-O, the O-A and Privilege cost a ฿1,900 extension and the 90-day reports, the O-X a yearly check and the reports, and the LTR only an address report after a full year without leaving. Only the LTR carries a written exemption on foreign income, and no retirement route allows work. Under 50 you have none of the retirement visas: Privilege and the LTR's wealthy-citizen category have no age limit, and a retiree's spouse of any age can stay under clause 2.20.

Thailand retirement visa

The three routes from 50, the ฿800,000 and how long it must stay in a Thai bank, insurance, and the yearly extension in Chiang Mai.

Read the retirement visa guide

Remote worker#

Two routes are built for remote work: the DTV and the LTR's work-from-Thailand category. Where you live decides first: since 31 August 2026 the DTV is issued only where you are a national or permanent resident, with a police certificate, and no official route lets you apply from inside Thailand. Your clients decide second: DTV holders may not work for companies in Thailand or for Thai clients, and LTR remote workers get no work permit, so Thai clients mean a Non-B visa and a work permit.

Your employer and income decide third. The LTR remote worker needs US$80,000 a year averaged over two years (or US$40,000 with a master's degree, own intellectual property or Series A funding) from an employer that is listed or has had US$50 million of revenue over three years; the DTV needs about ฿500,000 in bank statements. The labour law has no remote-work exemption: since 2018 "work" means any occupation, with or without an employer, and Chiang Mai Immigration arrested a DTV holder in Hang Dong on 16 June 2026 for selling online. On tax, the DTV gives no status, and pay for work done in Thailand is Thai income wherever it is paid; whether the LTR exemption covers days worked in Chiang Mai is not settled by any official text.

Family with children#

A child stays in one of two ways. As a student, on a Non-ED visa (ED1 for school pupils), with a parent staying under clause 2.11 on at least ฿500,000 in a Thai bank, held three months before filing or 30 days before a first application. Or as the dependant of a parent's own status: clause 2.20 for work-permit and retirement holders (unmarried, living with you, not over 20, ฿1,900, no money test), an LTR dependant visa (at most four dependants, ฿50,000 each, their own cover), a DTV of its own (DTV3), or a Privilege family membership from Platinum up (฿750,000 each until 31 December 2026, no age cap).

Two facts decide most cases. Schooling is not a DTV purpose: the embassy in Budapest refuses a DTV "for a child whose stated purpose is studying in Thailand", and no official page says whether a DTV child may attend school. And age 20 ends most dependant routes: an LTR dependant visa becomes invalid at 20, DTV dependants must be under 20, and clause 2.20 stops at 20 except for illness or disability; only Privilege family memberships have no age cap. Whether both parents can stay under clause 2.11 at once is not stated officially.

International schools in Chiang Mai

All 21 schools with their own fees, a first year's costs, and the visas for children and parents.

Read the schools guide

Employee of a Thai company#

The standard route is a Non-B visa and a work permit, filed on the e-WorkPermit system since 13 October 2025. The job itself can rule it out: 27 occupations are closed to foreigners outright, among them brokerage in the sale or rental of property, tour guiding, clerical work, Thai massage and hairdressing, and 13 more are restricted.

At each yearly extension the employer must show ฿2 million paid-up capital, audited accounts and four Thai employees per foreigner, and your salary must reach a floor set by nationality: ฿50,000 a month for Europe (except Russia), the US, Canada, Australia and Japan; ฿45,000 for South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong; ฿35,000 for the rest of Asia and other regions; ฿25,000 for Africa, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam. Representative offices, 18 target industries and startups have lighter rules. Working without a permit costs ฿5,000 to ฿50,000, removal from Thailand and a two-year bar on a permit. The alternatives are the LTR's highly skilled professional category (a digital work permit, 17% flat tax on qualifying salary, no four-to-one staff rule) and, for the spouse of a Thai, the marriage extension, which has no employer test.

Student#

The route is the Non-ED visa; its code ED3 covers "a short course (Thai or English language)/ attend Muay Thai training". The course decides the length: a language school or Muay Thai camp gives 90 days at a time and one year in all, while a university or formal school gives up to a year per extension with no total cap.

Language study is not a DTV purpose; Muay Thai and cooking are, and the 60-day tourist visa TR3 also names Thai massage training. On a 30-day entry a switch to an ED must be filed by about day 14, and some embassies, London among them, still turn away students of non-formal schools. Students may not work: a required internship has its own code, ED6, and any other internship is a Non-B (code B4).

Investor#

Three routes accept money in place of age or a job: the LTR's wealthy global citizen (US$1 million in assets, US$500,000 of it invested in Thailand, no income test since 4 February 2025), the LTR's wealthy pensioner on its investment variant (US$40,000 a year plus US$250,000 invested), and Thailand Privilege, which sells the stay outright. The O-X adds a ten-year route for 50-year-olds of 14 nationalities. The LTR investment may be Thai government bonds, a direct investment in a Thai company, or property in your own name, including a freehold condo bought before you apply.

No route gives a right to own land. A condo is bought within the 49% foreign quota either way, and the Privilege operator answers "Can I own land? No." itself. The wealthy-citizen LTR carries a digital work permit and the foreign-income exemption, while Privilege "does not provide tax advantages", in the operator's words. A paid membership rests on the Council of State's 2011 opinion that the visa privilege "belongs to the state", and on a refund of "the remaining Membership Fee" only if government action stops the company. Permanent residence has its own investment category at ฿10 million, inside the yearly quota.

Spouse of a Thai#

The route is the O8 visa and the yearly extension under clause 2.18, described below, with no age limit and no insurance requirement. Three facts decide: who carries the money test (a foreign husband, or either partner in a marriage of persons of diverse genders), whether the marriage is registered or recorded in Thailand, and whether you need work, which a spouse may do with a work permit without the employer tests. After three consecutive years of one-year extensions, a spouse can apply for permanent residence in the family category.

Visa-free stays, tourist visas and visa runs#

Since 15 September 2026, visa-free entry gives nationals of 60 countries and territories 30 days, for tourism only; the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Germany and Japan are among them. It can be extended once by up to 30 days for ฿1,900. It is a way to visit, not to live here.

Four Interior Ministry announcements in the Royal Gazette of 31 August 2026 made the change. One repealed the 2024 scheme that gave 93 countries and territories 60 days "for tourism, work or short-term business"; people already here under it kept their permitted stay. Entries through a land border are capped at two per calendar year, except for nationals of Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Singapore. Seychelles and Mauritius get 15 days, and visa on arrival survives only for Azerbaijan, Belarus and Serbia: 15 days, ฿2,000 in cash, tourism only.

Korea and China sit outside the list. According to the Foreign Ministry's table of May 2026, Korean citizens keep 90 days and Chinese citizens 30 days under bilateral agreements; we did not read the agreements themselves.

The tourist visa is the longer short stay. Code TR1 gives 60 days, single entry valid three months or multiple entry valid six, with at least ฿20,000 in funds and a base fee of ฿1,000 per entry. Like the exemption it can be extended once by up to 30 days for ฿1,900, so the longest lawful stay on one entry is 60 days visa-free or 90 days on a tourist visa (our arithmetic).

"Visa runs" are an enforcement topic. On 12 November 2025 the Immigration Bureau announced closer screening of frequent entrants and possible refusal for anyone repeating runs "more than 2 times without an explainable reason"; it had refused about 2,900 people at airports in 2025 by then. The embassy in London advises anyone visiting more than twice a year, or for anything but tourism, to get a visa. We found no official statement since September 2026 on how many entries by air are tolerated.

To switch to a long-stay visa inside Thailand, the Immigration Bureau's checklists ask for more than 15 days left on your stay, which on a 30-day entry means about day 14. No official text we read says whether a tourism-only entry can still be changed in practice, so apply from home where you can. Every Thai visa has been applied for online at thaievisa.go.th since 1 January 2025, and since 1 May 2025 every arrival files the free Thailand Digital Arrival Card, which "is not a visa".

The Chiang Mai Immigration Office

Where to go for extensions, switches and reports in Chiang Mai, and what each of the two counters handles.

Read the immigration office guide

Marriage to a Thai#

A foreigner married to a Thai enters on a Non-Immigrant O8 visa, then stays a year at a time under clause 2.18 of Immigration Bureau Order 12/2568, for ฿1,900 each time, if the marriage is real "in law and in fact". The O8 visa asks for ฿40,000 a month in income or ฿400,000 in the bank.

The yearly money test has two versions. In a marriage between a man and a woman, the foreign husband shows at least ฿40,000 a month, or ฿400,000 kept in a bank in Thailand for the past two months, or both together reaching ฿400,000 for the year. In a marriage between persons of diverse genders, either spouse or both together may meet it. Read as written, the clause sets no money test for a foreign wife of a Thai husband, though the O8 visa abroad asks every applicant for it.

The marriage must be registered in Thailand (Kor Ror 2), or a foreign marriage recorded here (Kor Ror 22). The file holds the Thai spouse's ID or house registration, the bank letter and passbook or proof of income, a statement certifying the marriage, current family photos (two in front of the house showing its number and two inside) and a map. In Chiang Mai it is filed at the main office on Airport Road. The extension has no employer test, so a spouse can work with a work permit without the ฿2 million capital and four-Thai-staff rules of a Non-B.

Thailand opened marriage to any two persons from 23 January 2025 (Thai PBS news). We found no official text saying whether a same-sex marriage registered abroad before then counts without registering it again here.

Permanent residence#

Thailand admits at most 100 permanent residents per nationality a year, plus 50 stateless people, and you need three consecutive years of one-year extensions on a Non-Immigrant visa before you apply. The interview tests spoken and heard Thai. Applying costs ฿7,600, and an approved permit ฿191,400, or ฿95,700 for the spouse or a child under 20 of a Thai or a resident.

Applications open once a year at the local immigration office. For the 2025 quota the window ran from 9 March to 3 April 2026, so the quota runs about a year behind the calendar. The categories are investment of at least ฿10 million, work (an executive, or three consecutive years of work permits with ฿80,000 a month for two years), family of a Thai or a resident, experts and special cases. For the spouse of a Thai, that means at least two years of marriage with a child together (otherwise five years, or a medical certificate of infertility) and ฿30,000 a month on average for two years, with tax returns.

Three years of yearly extensions rules out the DTV, Privilege, the LTR and every visa-free or tourist stay. Retirement extensions meet the time rule, but there is no retirement category, so a retiree needs a family, investment or expert basis (our reading). The Immigration bill at the Senate would take the fixed 100-per-country cap out of the law and let the minister set a number with the Cabinet's approval; it is not law (checked 28 October 2026).

Leaving and coming back: the re-entry permit#

If you live on a yearly extension, leaving Thailand ends it unless you buy a re-entry permit first: ฿1,000 for one trip or ฿3,800 for several, on form TM.8 with one photo. With it, you come back to the time you had left.

The rule is section 39 of the Immigration Act. It matters on every extension (retirement, marriage, work, study) and on an unused single-entry visa; holders of a valid multiple-entry visa (the DTV, LTR, Privilege, O-A and O-X) get a new stay at each entry while the visa lasts (our reading). A multiple permit pays for itself from the fourth trip in one extension year (our arithmetic), and every return restarts the 90-day count.

In Chiang Mai the permit is issued at the main office on Airport Road and at the Central Festival branch between 09:00 and 12:00; it cannot be bought online. Bangkok's airports issue it at departure passport control. No official source confirms a counter at Chiang Mai airport, so get it in town before you fly.

What every route shares in Chiang Mai#

Whatever the route, life here runs through the same offices and duties: two immigration counters, the 90-day report (except on the LTR), your landlord's TM30 and, on three routes, health insurance.

• The main immigration office at 71 Airport Road handles every kind of extension, retirement, marriage and work among them, with its own queue for Thai-family cases and re-entry permits.
• The branch at Central Festival takes 90-day reports, re-entry permits from 09:00 to 12:00, and tourist, teacher and formal-school student extensions.
• The LTR visa is collected at the BOI's Bangkok centre or an embassy; Chiang Mai Immigration's booking calendar offers no LTR service. The Privilege visa can be stamped on a direct international arrival at Chiang Mai airport.
• Work permits come from the Chiang Mai Provincial Employment Office at City Hall.
• The 90-day report is due on every route except the LTR. A late report costs ฿2,000; if you are caught without having reported, up to ฿5,000 plus ฿200 a day.
• Your landlord files the TM30 within 24 hours on every route, and the bill at the Senate keeps that duty.
• Health insurance is a legal condition only for the O-A, the O-X and the LTR; a Thai bank account carries the money test on the retirement and marriage routes.

What changed in 2025–2026, and what is only proposed#

The money tests held still: the retirement test of ฿800,000 or ฿65,000 a month is unchanged in the 2026 visa list and in Order 12/2568. What changed is the way in: visas online, the DTV only where you live, and 30 tourism-only days on arrival. Three changes are proposals, not law.

The bill touches the one duty almost every long-stay reader has. In the Cabinet's text the national police chief "may" require foreigners staying over 90 days to report, by a method and at intervals he sets, and existing rules would stay in force for up to a year after the Act takes effect. The House passed it 403 to 0 on 30 September 2026, after amending two of its eleven sections, among them turning the penalties back into criminal ones (Prachatai news). A government list of 20 October places it before the Senate (Thansettakij news), and the Senate's agenda for 2 and 3 November lists other bills (Siamrath news). Until an Act appears in the Royal Gazette, the 90-day report is required.

The ฿450 fee is a draft after a public hearing that ran from 24 August to 28 September 2026, aimed at "foreign tourists who meet the criteria" (The Standard Wealth news, 8 October 2026). It still needs the tourism policy committee and the Cabinet, and whether long-stay residents would pay is not settled.

Retire in Chiang Mai

Every retirement route side by side, with the money, insurance, tax, rents and hospitals here.

Read the retirement guide