Thailand visas
Most short trips need no visa at all. Stay longer, work, study or retire here and you need the right one. Every route we’ve written up is below, or answer a few questions and the visa finder will narrow it down.
Short visits
Visa exemption and Visa on Arrival
Most passports get 30 days visa-free since 15 September 2026 (it used to be 60), and only three nationalities can still get a visa on arrival.
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Tourist visa
For trips longer than 30 days visa-free. The single-entry gets you up to 90 days; the multiple-entry can stretch to almost 9 months.
Read guideWork, business and remote work
Destination Thailand Visa (DTV)
Five years of 180-day stays for remote workers and anyone here for Muay Thai, cooking classes or other approved activities. You’ll need 500,000 baht in savings.
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Non-B visa
The visa for working for a Thai company. It gets you in, but you can’t start work until the separate work permit comes through.
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SMART Visa
Since February 2025 it’s only for founders of certified startups already established in Thailand, and their families.
Read guideFamily, study and retirement
Education visa (Non-ED)
For genuine students: a real course, a school that will back you and classes you actually attend. ED Plus covers full-time university degrees.
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Non-O family visa
Married to a Thai, raising a Thai child or here with a partner who works? The Non-O, the money it takes and the yearly extension.
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Retirement visas
Over 50 with 800,000 baht in the bank or 65,000 a month coming in? The O-A, O-X and Non-O routes to retiring here.
Read guideLong-stay and specialist options
Long-Term Resident (LTR) visa
Ten years in Thailand if you fit one of four groups: wealthy global citizens, wealthy pensioners, remote workers for big companies or highly skilled professionals.
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Thailand Privilege
Pay up front for 5 to 20 years with no visa runs and no hassle. It isn’t cheap, but nothing is easier.
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Specialist visas
Not a tourist, worker, student or retiree? Visas for journalists, film crews, researchers, religious work, medical treatment and diplomats.
Read guidePractical visa and immigration guides
These aren’t visas, but you’ll need them once you’re travelling, working or living here.
Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC)
Free, online and done in the three days before you arrive. Every foreign visitor needs one, so never pay a website to fill it in for you.
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Work permits
A visa isn’t permission to work. How work permits work, the jobs foreigners can’t do, and who doesn’t need one.
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Visa extensions
An extra 30 days on the visa exemption costs 1,900 baht on form TM.7. What to bring, and the longer extensions for work, family and retirement.
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Changing visa status
Switching to a Non-Immigrant visa without leaving Thailand, on form TM.86 or TM.87, and when it’s simpler to leave and apply from abroad.
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Re-entry permits
Leaving on a single-entry visa or an extension? Without a re-entry permit your stay ends when you go. 1,000 baht, or 3,800 for multiple.
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90-day reporting
Stay more than 90 days in a row and you have to tell Immigration where you live. It’s form TM.47, and you can do it online.
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Overstay rules
500 baht a day up to 20,000, and bans of 1 to 10 years for longer overstays. What to do if you’ve already overstayed.
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Permanent residence
Years here don’t make you a resident: there’s a yearly quota and one window to apply. The categories, documents and process.
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Thai citizenship
Marrying a Thai doesn’t make you Thai. The routes to citizenship, from naturalisation to descent, and what the process involves.
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