SMART Visa Guide

What is the SMART Visa?

A founder and expert visa for eighteen targeted industries, giving up to four years of stay and exemption from the work permit requirement. The startup track needs THB 600,000 deposited for three months and either a director role or 25 percent of a Thai company in a targeted industry. Only SMART S and SMART O are currently documented, and the BOI programme page has not been updated since 2019.

What it is for

SMART Visa was built to pull technology founders and specialists into Thailand’s priority sectors. The headline benefit is unusual: work permit exemption. On almost every other Thai route you need a separate work permit to work legally. On SMART you do not.

That single feature is why the programme still gets attention despite its age.

The eighteen industries

Next-generation automotive, smart electronics, affluent medical and wellness tourism, agriculture and food biotechnology, automation and robotics, aviation and logistics, biofuels and biochemicals, digital, medical hub, national defence, circular economy supporting industries, aerospace and space, science and technology human resource development, environmental management and renewable energy, technology and startup ecosystem management, target technology development, international business centres, and alternative dispute resolution.

Digital covers software, platforms and most technology businesses. If your company is a normal software company, you probably fit.

The five categories, and the problem

The programme was designed with five:

• Smart T, for talent
• Smart I, for investment
• Smart E, for executives
• Smart S, for startup founders
• Smart O, for dependants

The BOI site now details only S and O. The other three appear in the contact form subject list but not in published criteria.

That is a significant practical problem. A visa category that exists in a dropdown but has no published requirements is not a category you can plan a move around. If an agent offers you Smart T, Smart I or Smart E, ask for the written BOI criteria before paying anything.

SMART S requirements

• A technology-based startup in a targeted industry, already established in Thailand
• Director role, or at least 25 percent shareholding
• THB 600,000 deposit, held at least three months
• Health insurance
• BOI endorsement
• Up to four years of permission, with a two year initial grant

SMART O

Spouse and children of a main SMART Visa holder. They can live in Thailand and, under the programme documentation, work. Categories of dependant are more generous than the DTV, which allows only spouse and children under 20 with no work rights.

Process

1. Confirm your business is in a targeted industry.
2. Ensure the Thai company already exists, with you as director or 25 percent shareholder.
3. Deposit THB 600,000 and hold it three months.
4. Arrange health insurance.
5. Submit to BOI for endorsement.
6. BOI endorses, then Immigration issues the visa.
7. Collect the visa and, where applicable, the work permit exemption documentation.

Is it still functioning

The BOI SMART Visa website’s most recent news item is from 2019. The criteria page details two of five categories. The programme has not been actively marketed in years, and BOI has folded visa services into the TIESC centre at One Bangkok alongside the LTR.

That does not mean it is closed. People do apply. But the information environment around it is stale, which means any agent quoting you precise SMART Visa criteria is probably quoting 2018 material.

Treat everything here as accurate to the published page and verify against BOI directly before committing money.

SMART compared with the Business Manager route

The alternative for founders is the Non-Immigrant B plus work permit, which requires the 4 to 1 Thai employee ratio unless the company is BOI promoted, and a separate work permit application.

SMART gives work permit exemption and a longer stay. That is genuinely better, if you can get it.

The catch is that SMART requires BOI endorsement of the business as being in a targeted industry. Ordinary businesses cannot use it.

Good fit

Founders of technology companies in Thailand, already incorporated, in a sector on the list. Digital and software businesses especially. People who want work permit exemption and a four year horizon without the 4 to 1 ratio.

Poor fit

Businesses outside the eighteen industries. Anyone not yet incorporated in Thailand. Anyone who needs certainty about which category applies, given that three are undocumented. Founders who need a path to permanent residence.

Watchpoints

1. The BOI SMART Visa site has not been updated since 2019.
2. Only SMART S and SMART O have published criteria.
3. The company must already exist in Thailand with you as director or 25 percent shareholder.
4. THB 600,000 must be seasoned three months.
5. Targeted industry is a hard gate with no discretion.
6. BOI publishes a fraud warning about unauthorised agents.
7. Verify current criteria with BOI before paying anyone.

Sources

• Board of Investment, SMART Visa programme. Checked 2026-10-22.
• thaievisa.go.th, SMART Visa category. Checked 2026-10-22.
• BOI, TIESC and fraud warning. Checked 2026-10-22.