LTR Timeline, Costs and Documents

How long does the LTR application take?

Six to twelve weeks in practice, not the four to eight that gets quoted, and the real constraint is the two year evidence window rather than the processing time. BOI endorsement comes first, then Immigration issues the visa. The government fee is THB 50,000 for ten years. Budget USD 500 to 1,500 in ancillary costs for translations, notarisation, insurance and medical certificates.

Stages

Stage one: qualification check. Confirm which track and that you can evidence it. This is where most people discover they do not qualify, and it should take an afternoon of reading, not a month of hope.

Stage two: evidence assembly. Two years of income or asset documentation, translated and notarised where required. Two to four weeks.

Stage three: BOI submission. Through the BOI portal. The endorsement is the substantive assessment.

Stage four: BOI endorsement. Four to eight weeks is the published expectation. Six to ten is common.

Stage five: Immigration visa issuance. After endorsement. One to three weeks.

Stage six: collection and work permit. Highly skilled track collects the digital work permit at the same time.

Costs

The fee is trivially small relative to the ten year term. The expensive parts are insurance and, if you use one, an agent.

Documents by track

All tracks:

• Passport with at least 18 months validity
• Photograph
• Health insurance certificate with USD 50,000 minimum cover, or Thai social security evidence, or USD 100,000 bank balance held twelve months
• Medical certificate
• Police clearance from country of residence
• Evidence of current immigration status where applying from a third country

Highly skilled:

• Employment contract or offer with a targeted industry employer
• Two years of income evidence: tax returns, payslips, employer letters
• Degree certificates and transcripts where using the USD 40,000 to 80,000 band
• Company documents proving the employer operates in a targeted industry

Work-from-Thailand:

• Employment contract with a qualifying employer
• Two years of income evidence
• Corporate documents proving the employer is listed, or meets the revenue test, or is a qualifying subsidiary
• Degree where using the fallback band

Wealthy global citizen:

• Asset evidence totalling USD 1,000,000, dated and in your name
• Thai investment evidence: bonds, share certificates, or property title deeds
• Source of funds documentation

Wealthy pensioner:

• Evidence of age 50 plus
• Two years of passive income evidence: pension statements, rental agreements, dividend records, interest statements
• Investment evidence where using the USD 40,000 to 80,000 band

The two year window

Every income-based track looks back two years. That means your evidence has to exist before you decide to apply, not after.

Freelancers and business owners often cannot produce it. Two years of clean tax returns, matching bank credits and employer letters is a real administrative burden, and it is the main reason people with high actual income end up on a DTV or Privilege Card instead.

If you are planning an LTR application in eighteen months, start producing the paper trail now. Bank statements, filed returns, and a contract that states your remuneration clearly.

Why the employer test costs people months

The work-from-Thailand employer test is not a formality. BOI wants corporate documents proving the company is listed, or has USD 50 million in combined revenue over three years, or is a wholly owned subsidiary of one.

Applicants routinely submit an employment contract and a salary letter, wait six weeks, and get refused because nobody sent the parent company’s consolidated accounts. Get those documents at the start.

Good fit for a fast application

Salaried employee at a listed company, two years of tax returns, degree in a technical field, insurance already in place. That file can move in eight weeks.

Poor fit for a fast application

Self-employed with informal income, employer is a small private company, no degree, no insurance yet, documents in a language requiring embassy legalisation. That file takes four months and probably fails.

Watchpoints

1. Start the two year paper trail before you need it.
2. Get employer corporate documents upfront, not after a refusal.
3. Insurance must be in place at application and maintained.
4. The fee is small, the insurance and agent costs are not.
5. BOI endorsement is the real decision. Immigration is procedural after that.
6. Only pay an agent who is on the BOI list. BOI publishes a fraud warning.

Sources

• Board of Investment, LTR application process and fee. Checked 2026-10-22.
• BOI, required documents by track. Checked 2026-10-22.
• thaievisa.go.th, LTR category. Checked 2026-10-22.