Moving to Thailand in 2026: long-stay visas, cost of living and taxation

The Thai Revenue Code defines a resident as a person staying in Thailand for 180 days³ during a tax year, which is the calendar year. The test is purely quantitative: neither housing, nor family, nor the centre of interests forms part of the definition.

The tax base rule, on the other hand, is unusual, and it is what makes the country distinctive. A resident is taxable on Thai-source income, and on the portion of foreign-source income that is brought into Thailand. This is known as the remittance principle.

In other words, income received abroad and left abroad does not enter the tax base. This is a mechanism significantly different from an exemption: it does not depend on the nature of the income, but on the movement of funds.

Tax scale and investment income

The progressive scale starts with a first bracket at 0%⁴ and peaks at 35%⁵. Thai-source dividends bear a withholding of 10%⁶, and corporate income tax stands at 20%⁷.

For a French retiree receiving a French-source pension, however, what matters most lies elsewhere than in this scale: in the applicable treaty, which allocates the right to tax between the two States. The remittance principle does not remove the need to examine what the treaty allows.

The question of income received in one year and remitted in another is now settled. Since 1 January 2024, the Revenue Department considers that foreign-source income received from 2024 onwards is taxable when it is brought into Thailand, even if the remittance takes place in a later tax year (instructions Por. 161/2566 and Por. 162/2566). Income earned before 1 January 2024 remains out of reach, whatever the date of its remittance. A proposed exemption for income remitted in the year of receipt or the following year has been announced, but it has not been adopted: we do not present it as settled. This is the point that determines whether the arrangement is worthwhile: deferring the remittance no longer takes recent income out of the tax base.

It is also necessary to consider what the remittance rule implies in practice. It requires being able to distinguish, in one's accounts, what has been brought into Thailand from what has not, and to maintain that traceability over time. A single account fed indiscriminately makes the demonstration difficult on the day it is requested.

Thailand has multiplied its long-stay routes, to the point that choosing the right visa has become the first difficulty of the file.

The Destination Thailand Visa

The DTV is aimed at remote workers, freelancers, and people coming for activities falling under Thai soft power — Muay Thai practice, culinary training, medical treatment — and their spouses and children aged less than 20 years⁸.

It is valid for 5 years⁹, with multiple entries, with a length of stay per entry of up to 180 days¹⁰, extendable once per entry for a period that may not exceed the same limit. The application requires proof of financial means of at least from THB 500,000¹¹.

The structure deserves attention: the authorised length of stay per entry exactly reaches the tax residence threshold, and the extension exceeds it. The visa therefore leads automatically to Thai tax residence if one stays, without any tax step having been taken.

Other routes exist — retirement visa, investor visa, long-term residence programmes — with their own conditions regarding age, income and deposits.

The Long-Term Resident (LTR) visa is the best documented. The Board of Investment issues an initial permit of 5 years¹², renewable for a cumulative period of 10 years¹³. The wealthy global citizen category requires assets (from $1,000,000¹⁴) and an investment in Thailand (from $500,000¹⁵); the retiree and work-from-Thailand professional categories require annual income (from $80,000¹⁶), reduced under certain conditions, and a minimum age for retirees; all require health insurance covering from $50,000¹⁷ or an equivalent deposit. These three categories exempt foreign income brought into Thailand, and highly skilled professionals employed in a targeted industry are taxed on their salary at the flat rate of 17%¹⁸ (Royal Decree No. 743).

The conditions of the retirement and investor visas — income thresholds, bank deposits, durations — do not appear in the official sources available to us in a usable form: we do not quantify them.

This is the most misunderstood point about the country. A foreigner cannot, in principle, own land in Thailand. They can, however, own a condominium apartment, within a foreign quota set for each building.

This rule has two practical consequences. First, the market that is genuinely accessible is limited to the segment of eligible condominiums, and the quota conditions resale to another foreigner. Second, arrangements designed to circumvent the prohibition — a Thai company held by nominees, a long lease presented as ownership — expose one to serious legal risks.

A long-term lease is a lawful option, but it is a personal right whose duration and renewal conditions must be examined precisely: it does not confer the prerogatives of an owner.

We do not publish Thai transfer duties, property tax or the taxation of rental income: we have not consulted an official source giving these scales in a clear and dated form.

One positive point is worth noting: the Thai land registry is well structured and condominium titles are clear. The difficulty is not the legal security of the title, but the scope of what a foreigner may own. Once that scope is respected, the transaction is ordinary.

The cost of living in Thailand remains well below European levels, although the gap is narrowing in Bangkok and on the most touristy islands, where housing and dining aimed at foreigners follow their own pricing logic.

We do not publish a typical monthly budget: we have not found an official Thai series that measures a basket of expenses comparable to that of an expatriate.

Three items shape a budget. Housing, which varies widely depending on the city and the season. Healthcare, where private hospitals offer a high standard at a lower cost than in Europe, but where insurance becomes expensive with age — a decisive item for a retirement project. And finally international schooling, for families.

A fourth element, specific to the country, must be factored in: if you organise your finances so as not to bring your income into Thailand, you have to live on funds already there or on earlier savings. This constraint carries a cash-flow cost that a simple price comparison does not reveal.

1. Choose the residence route according to the length of stay you actually intend, and not the visa that is easiest to obtain;
2. count your days of presence by calendar year, since that is the reference tax year;
3. organise your money flows before moving: the remittance rule is managed in advance, not at the time of filing;
4. for a property purchase, check the building's foreign ownership quota and rule out any workaround structure;
5. deal with your departure from France according to its own criteria and the applicable tax treaty, as the remittance rule settles nothing on that side.

The order matters: once the funds have been brought into the country, the classification is final. What is decided beforehand cannot be corrected afterwards.

We do not publish processing times: they vary depending on the consular post and the immigration office involved, and we have no official, dated source with figures.

• The tax residence threshold — 180 days³ — is reached simply through the length of stay authorised under the DTV. Staying is not tax-neutral.
• The remittance rule is not an exemption: it depends on a movement of funds and, since 2024, it captures foreign income received from that year onwards, regardless of the year it is brought into the country.
• Land ownership is closed to foreigners. Workaround structures are a risk, not a solution.
• The Thai passport gives visa-free access to about 82¹⁹: naturalisation offers no mobility advantage for a European national.
• Health insurance is the item that determines whether a retirement project on site is viable, more so than taxation.

Finally, in recent years Thailand has changed several times both its residence schemes and its doctrine on the taxation of remitted income. A five-year project must allow for both to change — and should not rest entirely on the tax set-up of the moment.

For a French retiree, one last point is often discovered too late: French health coverage does not follow you outside the European Economic Area on the same terms, and both voluntary affiliation and private insurance must be arranged before departure, at an age when they are already expensive.