Long-Term Resident Visa · Thailand
Thailand LTR Visa for Wealthy Pensioners
A ten-year Thai residence visa for retirees aged 50 and over with a pension or passive income, with an exemption on foreign income. Emerhub checks your eligibility, prepares the documents, and handles the BOI submission.
10-year visa (5 + 5)50+ years oldUSD 80K passive incomeForeign-income tax exemption
Overview
What is the Wealthy Pensioner LTR visa?
The Wealthy Pensioner category is one of four categories of Thailand's Long-Term Resident (LTR) visa, the ten-year residence visa administered by the Board of Investment (BOI). It is built for retirees aged 50 and over who live on a pension or other passive income, and want to make Thailand a long-term home.
Like the other wealthy categories, it carries an exemption from Thai tax on foreign-sourced income, which is a meaningful benefit for a retiree drawing a pension or investment income from abroad.
Only passive income counts, not salary. This is the point applicants get wrong most often. The income test looks at unearned income: a pension, rental income, realized capital gains, dividends, or interest. Earned income and salary are not counted toward the requirement, even if they are substantial.
What you get
Benefits of the Wealthy Pensioner visa
Ten years of settled residence for your retirement, with the tax treatment to match.
Ten-year residence
Five years up front, renewable for a further five.
Foreign-income tax exemption
An exemption from Thai tax on your foreign-sourced income, subject to conditions.
A long-term home in Thailand
Settle for years at a time, without the renewals an ordinary retirement visa demands.
Multiple re-entry
Travel freely, and report once a year instead of every 90 days.
Fast-track service
Expedited immigration lanes at Thailand's international airports.
Family can join
A spouse, children under 20, and dependents can hold the visa with you.
Eligibility
Key requirements for the Wealthy Pensioner LTR visa
Three things define eligibility: your age, your passive income, and your health coverage.
50+
Age
Open to retirees aged 50 and over at the time of application.
USD 80K
Passive income
A year, from pension, rental, dividends, or interest. Salary does not count.
USD 50K
Health coverage
Or a USD 100,000 deposit, or social security in Thailand.
Age and passive income
You must be aged 50 or over, with passive income of at least USD 80,000 a year at the time of application. The income has to be unearned: a pension, rental income, realized capital gains, dividends, or interest payments. Earned income and salary do not count toward the requirement, which is the single most important thing to get right for this category.
The lower-income route
If your passive income is below USD 80,000 but at least USD 40,000, you can still qualify by making an investment of USD 250,000 in Thailand, held in your own name. The qualifying investments are set out in the next section.
Health coverage
As with every LTR category, you need health insurance of at least USD 50,000, social security benefits in Thailand, or a USD 100,000 deposit held in your own name for at least twelve months. Every condition behind the visa, your income, any investment, and your coverage, has to be maintained for its full term, not just at the point of application.
Lower-income route
Qualifying investments in Thailand
This applies only if your passive income is between USD 40,000 and USD 80,000. In that case you invest USD 250,000 in Thailand, in your own name, in one or a combination of the following.
| Qualifying investment | What the BOI looks for |
|---|---|
| Thai government bonds | Remaining maturity of at least five years, held in your name |
| Direct investment | Direct investment in a company registered in Thailand, held in your name |
| Thai property | Property registered in your own name; corporate-owned property does not count |
You must already hold the qualifying assets and have made the investment before you apply. Where a direct investment or a property is co-owned, only your share counts, divided equally or pro-rata among the owners.
What to prepare
Documents required
- A passport from your country of nationality, valid for at least six months.
- Proof of passive income, such as pension statements, or records of rental, dividend, or interest income.
- Proof of the USD 250,000 Thai investment, if you are qualifying on the USD 40,000 to USD 80,000 route.
- Evidence of health coverage: a USD 50,000 insurance policy, a USD 100,000 deposit, or social security benefits in Thailand.
The detail that catches pensioners out is the nature of the income: the BOI wants clear evidence that it is passive, and it will not count a salary. Getting the income documents framed correctly is where most of the care goes.
How Emerhub helps
How to apply
From confirming your income qualifies, through the BOI endorsement, to the visa in hand.
1
Eligibility check
We confirm your age, that your income is the passive kind the BOI accepts, and your insurance, and we work out whether you qualify on income alone or need the USD 250,000 investment route.
2
Document preparation
We prepare your proof of passive income framed the way the BOI expects, any investment evidence, and a compliant health-coverage document, all to standard.
3
BOI submission and endorsement
We submit through the BOI LTR portal and manage the endorsement by the relevant agencies. The official result comes within about 20 working days of a complete file.
4
Visa issuance and after
After approval you have 60 days to collect the visa, as an e-visa at a Thai embassy or at the One Stop Service Center in Bangkok, with a government fee of 50,000 THB. We then support you on the annual reporting and the five-year renewal.
Find out if you qualify
Tell us your age and where your income comes from, and we'll tell you whether you qualify on income alone or need the investment route, and what the application looks like.
Why Emerhub
Why apply through us
The income question, settled first
Whether your income counts as passive is the make-or-break point. We check it against the BOI criteria before you spend anything.
The right route
If your income is between USD 40,000 and USD 80,000, we map the USD 250,000 investment route, or tell you if another LTR category fits better.
Documentation done right
Pension and investment income has to be evidenced the way the BOI expects. We prepare it so the file goes in complete.
In-country and end to end
From the first eligibility call to issuance and renewals, one Bangkok team stays with it.
Common questions
Wealthy Pensioner visa FAQs
The questions retirees ask most about this category.
What are the requirements for the Wealthy Pensioner LTR visa?
You must be aged 50 or over, with passive income of at least USD 80,000 a year, plus health coverage of USD 50,000, a USD 100,000 deposit, or social security in Thailand. If your passive income is between USD 40,000 and USD 80,000, you can still qualify by investing USD 250,000 in Thailand in your own name.
What counts as passive income?
Unearned income such as a pension, rental income, realized capital gains, dividends, and interest payments. Earned income and salary do not count toward the requirement, even if large. This is the most common reason an otherwise wealthy applicant is turned down, so it is worth confirming before you apply.
Is the visa for over 50 or over 60?
The age requirement is 50 and over, so if you are 60 or older you meet it comfortably. Age is only one part of it; you also need the passive income, or the lower-income investment route.
Can I qualify with less than USD 80,000 of income?
Yes, if your passive income is at least USD 40,000 and you invest USD 250,000 in Thailand, held in your own name. That can be Thai government bonds, direct investment in a Thai company, or Thai property, and you must hold the investment before you apply.
What is the tax benefit?
Wealthy Pensioners are exempt from Thai tax on foreign-sourced income, subject to conditions. That has become more valuable since Thailand tightened the rules on remitting overseas income. Tax depends on your own circumstances, so it is worth confirming the detail with an adviser, which we can help arrange.
Can I work on this visa?
The Wealthy Pensioner category is built for retirees, not for taking up Thai employment. If you want to work for a Thai employer, the Highly-Skilled Professional category is the LTR route that includes a work permit. If you want to work remotely for an overseas employer, the Work-from-Thailand Professional category is built for that.
Can my family join me?
Yes. A legal spouse and children under 20 can hold LTR visas based on your eligibility, up to four dependents in total, with the same ten-year validity and re-entry privileges. Same-sex marriages are recognized; unmarried partners are not. Each dependent has to meet the health-coverage condition (USD 50,000 insurance, social security in Thailand, or a USD 25,000 deposit per dependent) and pay the per-person government fee. See the dependents route at /thailand/visas/ltr/dependent/.
How long does it take and what does it cost?
The BOI's official review is around 20 working days from a complete application, though most run over two to three months once documents are gathered, particularly any investment evidence. The visa fee is 50,000 THB for the ten years, on top of our service fee. We give a fixed quote once we've seen your situation.
Wealthy Pensioner LTR visa?
Talk to our Bangkok team
A free, no-obligation call: thirty minutes with our Bangkok team to confirm your eligibility, work out which route fits you, and lay out the documents and timeline.
Emailthailand@emerhub.com
Phone+66 92 554 5444
OfficeUnited Business Center II
591 Sukhumvit 33, Watthana
Bangkok 10110
591 Sukhumvit 33, Watthana
Bangkok 10110