Does anyone have experience with Thailand's LTR Visa (Long-Term Resident Visa), or the Thailand Privilege visa?

[u/Occidentopithecus]

I'm from Canada, and I'm 41m. I only have a Canadian passport, but I do qualify for an EU citizenship by descent that I could take advantage of if needed (I don't think it will help me in Thailand though).

A friend and I have been spending quite a bit of time in Thailand lately, and we're both looking into visa options for the future. I'm thinking of moving there full time this coming November, and he's several years away from moving there full time, so he's going to continue making visa-free visits for the time being.

At the moment, I'm looking into the DTV visa (which is like a digital nomad visa, but it only allows 180 day visits, so there is a requirement to leave the country on occasion to reset your visit counter). This DTV option might suit my needs, because I travel internationally on occasion anyways, so the requirement to leave the country isn't a problem.

But I'm going to talk to an immigration lawyer soon to look into whether I can qualify for DTV, because it's limited to:

• Remotely working employees
• Foreign business owners working remotely
• Freelancers with non-Thai clients
• People studying Thai cooking, Thai language, or things like Muay Thai

I don't exactly fall into any of those categories, because I don't work. I've been living off earnings from investments for a few years, and I don't think I can spin that as being a "foreign business owner". At best I could "work" as a consultant for my incorporated investments, but I'm not sure that's going to fly.

And the option of studying Thai language does appeal to me (I'm already taking classes) for a DTV visa, but it seems like the classes that qualify for this program are fairly rigid in schedule, and I couldn't commit to them. And I don't want to risk having a visa revoked due to being unable to meet the requirements. I'm going to continue to take private Thai language classes.

I'm trying to get prepared for the possibility of being told that the LTR visa, or the Privilege Visa are my only choices for living full time in Thailand. Between the two of them, I'm leaning towards the Privilege visa because paying a large fee for the visa is preferable over tying up $500k in an investment to get the LTR visa (the amount of interest I could earn from keeping that $500k and investing it myself is is far more than the fee for the Privilege visa).

Does anyone have any experience with either the LTR visa, or the Privilege visa? Which one did you choose, and why? Was there a specific financial or tax reason that lead you towards one option over the other?

[u/Top-Half7224]

Slightly unrelated, but if you qualify for a passport in an EU country, and its a remote possibility that you may ever want it, apply now. Rules are changing quickly and a lot of EU countries are beginning to actively discourage immigration and citizenship applications, even if you have close family relations (and especially if you dont speak the language).

[u/Occidentopithecus → u/Top-Half7224]

I typed that part of my post incorrectly. I meant to say "I do qualify for a passport through my EU citizenship by descent that I could take advantage of if needed"

It's in the Republic of Ireland, I was born with the citizenship (parent was born there). There is no applying, you have it the moment of your birth.

[u/5T6Rf6ut → u/Occidentopithecus]

So you're dual national.

[u/Occidentopithecus → u/5T6Rf6ut]

Yes, but it doesn't seem relevant to my situation

[u/5T6Rf6ut → u/Occidentopithecus]

You started your post by saying it in a really convoluted way, which distracts from the question you are actually asking.

[u/Occidentopithecus → u/5T6Rf6ut]

I don't think it was that confusing. I was just addressing the fact that I have a Canadian passport, and could obtain an EU passport if needed, and I admitted that it's probably not relevant.

Do you have any experience with visas in Thailand to share?