🇹🇭 Thailand

The Ministry of Interior announcement, clause 2(1), names the permitted purposes: long-stay tourism; remote work by the high-skilled, the self-employed and remote workers; and other activities — Muay Thai and self-defence martial arts, cooking, study and sports training, medical treatment, training, seminars, and art and music performance. "Study and sports training" here covers learning and practising sport. It does not establish general academic study as a permitted activity. The following certification requirements apply at the extension stage — when an existing DTV holder applies to extend their permitted stay for one of these activity categories: Immigration Bureau Order 4/2568 requires, for martial arts, cooking and sports training, a letter of certification and support from a government agency connected to the activity; for medical treatment, certification from a hospital or state medical institution; for training and seminars, government support evidenced by an invitation from a state agency; and for art and music performance, certification from the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB). Photographs of participation are also listed. Missions add their own requirements. For Muay Thai, the Royal Thai Consulate-General in Los Angeles requires an official letter of acceptance and support from the Sports Authority of Thailand (SAT) and documents from a SAT-certified gym.

Dependants are the legal spouse and legitimate children of a holder. The Ministry of Interior announcement, clause 2(2), sets the age limit at not over 20 years complete; the mission application pages publish it as under 20 years old. The two differ at age 20, and we have not found a mission publishing the wider wording — treat admission of a 20-year-old dependant as unsettled. The visa fee is THB 10,000 per applicant. Clause 2.2 of Immigration Bureau Order 4/2568 sets this fee separately for dependants in the same terms as clause 2.1 does for the principal. Each person pays THB 10,000. At the extension stage, Immigration Bureau Order 4/2568 places the THB 500,000 financial obligation on the principal only — the extension checklist does not list it for dependants. At the visa-application stage, missions including London, Washington DC and Los Angeles publish financial-evidence requirements in their dependant checklists. The details vary by mission. Check the checklist of the mission you are applying through. They show evidence of the relationship — birth certificate, marriage certificate, or certification of a child or adopted child — and evidence of accommodation. Where the principal's permission to stay is revoked, the dependants' permission ends with it (clause 9).

Under clause 6, a holder who changes visa type, or obtains permission to stay for another purpose, may do so — but the original Destination Thailand Visa ceases to have effect.

Under clause 7, a holder, or a dependent legal spouse, who wishes to work in the Kingdom must first apply to change the visa to a non-immigrant category, and only then apply for a work permit under the foreign workers legislation.

Clause 7 requires a change to a Non-Immigrant visa and then a work permit before taking employment with an employer in Thailand.

Returning to Thailand needs no re-entry permit and no new visa. The Ministry of Interior announcement, clause 4, stamps each admission at not more than 180 days "without having to obtain a visa to re-enter the Kingdom again", an unlimited number of times during the visa's validity.

The statutory basis is section 37 paragraph one (5) of the Immigration Act B.E. 2522, applied to DTV holders and their dependants by the Ministry of Interior announcement, clause 8. The count restarts on return: after leaving and re-entering, the next report falls due 90 days from the last entry. It may be filed 15 days before or up to 7 days after the due date. Late filing carries a 2,000 baht fine, or 4,000 baht if the person is brought in under arrest. The form is TM.47. Ninety-day reporting is not an extension of stay — it does not lengthen the permitted period on the entry stamp. Channels are in person, by letter, or electronically, per Immigration Bureau Order 4/2568, clause 6; the Mahasarakham page is dated 22 April 2562 and predates electronic filing, so it is not the source for the channel list. This 90-day clock is not the calendar-year aggregation used for tax residence — the two counts are unrelated.