Do you intend to settle permanently in Thailand? If this is your plan, then go for Permanent Residence in Thailand. If you are successful in the process, you get legal permission to stay permanently in Thailand. No more would you have to worry about Visas or Visa extensions. Moreover, this will be a stepping stone for you on the path of obtaining Thai Citizenship.
For your information, the window for accepting Permanent Residence Visa in Thailand for 2022 has already opened and will accept applications till December 29, 2022. But before proceeding, you must have a thorough knowledge of the various aspects of this process of immigration to Thailand. We’re going to walk you through all the prerequisites, steps, fees, benefits, drawbacks, restrictions, and preparation tips for obtaining permanent residence in Thailand in this article.
- Permanent Residence in Thailand: Legal Significance
- Advantages of Permanent Residence in Thailand
- Demerits of Permanent Residence in Thailand
- Requirements for Permanent Residence in Thailand
- Process of Permanent Residence in Thailand
- Cost to Get a Permanent Residence Visa in Thailand
- Permanent Residence Certificate in Thailand
- Make your PR Visa Application in Thailand Successful
What is Permanent Residency in Thailand?
Anyone who intends to live in Thailand continuously or for an extended period of time must apply for permanent residence or PR. The Thailand Immigration Office refers to it as a resident’s visa or residence permit.
You can stay in Thailand forever with it. You do not need to obtain a visa and continually extend it. When entering and exiting Thailand, you can even use the Thai passport control line. You will be one step closer to obtaining Thai citizenship once you have obtained permanent residency in Thailand.
Advantages of Permanent Residence in Thailand
The ability to live continuously in Thailand isn’t the only benefit of permanent residence.
These are some of its additional benefits:
- 90-day notifications and TM30 reports are no more mandatory for a person with a PR.
- You may be included in a standard house registration (Tabian Ban a.k.a. blue book). Consequently, you no longer need to obtain a residence certificate in order to obtain a work permit, open a bank account, or obtain a driver’s license.
- Based on your permanent resident status, your spouse and children may be granted dependent visas.
- In order to purchase a condo in Thailand, you no longer need to transmit money from overseas.
- When entering and exiting Thailand, you can use the same line as Thai citizens.
- If you and your partner both have a PR status, your children will be eligible to apply for Thai citizenship.
- After five years, you can petition for Thai citizenship.
- In Thailand, you can serve as a director of a public business.
Demerits of Permanent Residence in Thailand
Becoming a PR, however, is not the same as being a Thai citizen. It has various restrictions, including the following:
- More than 364 days cannot be spent away from Thailand in a row.
- When working in Thailand, a work permit is still required. But now that you’re not required to obtain a business visa, it’s a lot simpler.
- Obtaining re-entry permission is still required before departing Thailand.
- You are not yet able to purchase real estate.
- Every five years, you must complete a notification at your neighborhood police station.
Requirements for Permanent Residence in Thailand
The basic prerequisites for applying for a residence permit include having a non-immigrant visa and having visited Thailand for at least three consecutive years with the same extension of stay.
Your extended visa must still be in effect at the time of application. You can apply for permanent residence, for instance, if you stay in Thailand for three years and receive a stay extension based on your business visa.
On the other hand, you cannot apply for permanent residency until you have lived in Thailand for a further three years with an extension of stay based on your marriage visa if you enter with a business visa and stay there for three years before switching to a marriage visa.
Process of Application for Thai Permanent Residence
Obtaining permanent resident status in Thailand needs some extra effort. It requires extensive planning, a tonne of paperwork, and numerous steps.
Let’s look at the steps involved in requesting permanent residence.
**Please be aware that the application process could change at any time.
For the most recent information, you should always check with your local immigration office.
Filing Documents
In Thailand, obtaining a residence visa necessitates a significant amount of paperwork.
You need to obtain some paperwork from your home country, some from your company, and some from the Thai government.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs must also legalize a number of documents.
Before obtaining a document of authorization from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, you have to notarize it from your embassy if its issuance was from outside of Thailand. It might be necessary to translate some documents into Thai.
They essentially want to know every detail about you. The total number of pages in the documents you need to produce may be considerably over 100.
So it makes sense to get things ready in advance.
To learn what documents you require based on your category, get in touch with your neighborhood immigration office. It varies from person to person and is subject to change annually.
Interview
You must wait a few months (or longer) after submitting all of the required paperwork before the immigration authorities schedule an interview with you.
Thai is the language of preference during the interview, which will be filmed. You must sign a statement in Thai based on the interview after the interview.
You may have to take a Thai multiple-choice exam after the interview. If you are unable to read Thai, an immigration officer will assist you.
Common questions on the multiple choice test are about Thailand (for instance, how many provinces are there in Thailand), culture, and the PR procedure.
They can also ask you for further paperwork as you wait for the interview.
Evaluation
The Immigration Commission is made up of a representative from each of the following government agencies:
- Ministry of Interior,
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
- Board of Investment,
- Royal Thai Police,
- Office of the Attorney General, and,
- National Security Council.
These government agencies reserve the right to then review, score, and award points for your application.
To pass the test, you must receive at least 50 of a possible 100 points.
The Thai Immigration Office provides you with a general idea of the evaluation factors, which include education, income, knowledge, skill, relationships with Thai citizens, Thai language proficiency, personality, attitude, and even your contribution to Thailand and its society, even though they don’t publicly disclose how the point system operates.
Additionally, you can receive bonus points if you belong to a charitable organization and consistently give to it.
Immigration agents may visit your area and inquire with your neighbors about your behavior during the evaluation.
Throughout this process, there is nothing you need to do.
Final Approval
Your application will be sent to the Interior Minister for final approval if you pass the evaluation.
It is not unusual for the examination and final approval processes to go longer than a year. It may even take longer than three years on occasion.
Permanent Residence Certificate in Thailand
When your application is accepted, the immigration office will send you a letter with specific directions on how to obtain your certificate of residence.
Typically, all you need to do is gather a signed copy of your personal documents, gather some photos, visit your local immigration office, and make your final payment.
After receiving the certificate of residence, you must visit a police station to obtain an alien book and a district office nearby to be recorded on a house registration book (Tabien Baan – blue book).
Please be aware that the local district officer may ask you and the home’s owner questions to make sure you two are familiar with one another.
How Much Does a Permanent Residence Visa Cost?
You must pay the initial government fee of 7,600 baht when you apply for permanent residency.
Once your application for permanent residency has been approved, you must pay an additional 95,700 or 191,400 baht in government fees, depending on your category.
For instance, the fee for applying for permanent residence based on marriage is 95,700 baht, whereas the fee for applying under the job category is 191,400 baht.
This does not, however, include the price of document preparation, which varies greatly from person to person and includes translation, notarization, and legalization.
The price of document preparation may easily exceed 10,000 Baht.
The Bottomline
Obtaining a permanent residence permit is a smart move if you intend to stay in Thailand permanently. You won’t ever have to be concerned about your visa again with it.
Despite being eligible, some people choose not to participate in it at all. They are unwilling to deal with the drawn-out, challenging process. Additionally, securing a visa in Thailand for over ten years is more expensive than getting permanent residence.
Some individuals only obtain the 20-year Elite visa. Though it is the most expensive choice, it is also the simplest. However, whether you go for a Permanent Residence Visa or Elite Visa, you will need the support of immigration professionals due to the following reasons:
- Knowledge and experience in the Thai Immigration protocols
- Completion of the complex documentation process
- Translation and Notarization of your documents
When you come to Konrad Legal Company Limited, you get some additional services from a single point which are:
- If you are willing to do business in Thailand after getting the PR Certificate, we specialize in business registration in Thailand.
- We will be by your side in all types of accounting and taxation requirements.
- We have more than a decade of experience in payroll management, which can be helpful for you if you open a company in Thailand.
- Our team comprises professionals experienced in licensing and civil documentation.
For any and all types of immigration requirements to Thailand, feel free to inform us at [email protected].
