Before you start

A passport with adequate validity and blank pages
Most long-stay visas must be applied for from outside Thailand — you generally cannot start them on a tourist entry
Proof of funds that has been seasoned in the account for the required period; crypto and brokerage balances are not accepted
A confirmed Phuket address, because your landlord's TM30 filing gates almost every subsequent immigration transaction

Step-by-step

1
Pick the route that matches how you are actually funded
DTV: a five-year multiple-entry visa for remote workers and certain soft-power applicants, with a savings requirement and up to 180 days per entry. LTR: a ten-year visa through the Board of Investment across wealthy, pensioner, work-from-Thailand and highly-skilled categories, each with its own income, asset and insurance conditions. Thailand Privilege: a paid membership that buys a long-stay privilege visa with no income test. Retirement: a Non-O extension for the over-fifties against a Thai bank balance or a monthly pension. Employment in Thailand needs a Non-B plus a separate work permit.
OnlineWho: YouDecide before you apply — switching routes later usually means leaving the countryVaries enormously by route; see the totals
2
Apply from outside Thailand through the e-Visa portal or the BOI
The Thai e-Visa portal handles the DTV, retirement and most non-immigrant categories, and requires that you apply from outside Thailand. The LTR runs through the BOI's own portal with a qualification endorsement step before the visa is issued. Thailand Privilege is bought through the state-owned membership company, which then arranges the visa. People already in Thailand on a visa-exempt stamp frequently have to leave — Penang and Vientiane being the usual runs — in order to lodge.
OnlineWho: YouDTV commonly a few weeks; LTR longer because of the endorsement stepSee totals
3
Enter, and get your landlord to file the TM30 immediately
Within 24 hours of you moving into any address, the property owner, landlord or accommodation operator must file a TM30 residence notification under s.38 of the Immigration Act. That is their legal duty, not yours — but a missing TM30 will stop your extension, your 90-day report and your certificate of residence, so it becomes your problem regardless. Get the receipt in writing on move-in day and keep it. Phuket's holiday-let landlords are markedly worse at this than long-term residential ones.
In personWho: Your landlord or accommodation operator (you chase the receipt)Within 24 hours of moving inFree; late filing carries a fine on the landlord
4
File your own TM47 every 90 days
Separately and confusingly, once you have stayed 90 continuous days you must report your address on form TM47. That one is yours. File online, by post, through the immigration app, or in person at Phuket Immigration. The window runs from 15 days before to 7 days after the due date, and leaving and re-entering Thailand resets the clock. Do not confuse this with the TM30 — they are different forms, different obligations and different people's responsibility.
OnlineWho: YouEvery 90 days of continuous stayFree; late reporting attracts a fine
5
Handle re-entry permits and extensions before you travel
If your permission to stay is single-entry, leaving Thailand without buying a re-entry permit first cancels it outright and you start over. The DTV, LTR and Thailand Privilege visas are multiple-entry, so this does not apply to them. Extensions of stay are filed at Phuket Immigration; allow more time in high season, when the office serves a much larger population than in the monsoon months.
In personWho: YouBefore any departure on a single-entry permissionRe-entry permit and extension fees are set nationally

Documents you’ll need

Passport with adequate validity and blank pages
Proof of funds: an official bank statement showing the required balance held for the required period
Category evidence: employment or freelance contracts (DTV), income and insurance evidence (LTR), pension or Thai bank balance (retirement)
Health insurance meeting the minimum cover your route requires
TM30 receipt from your landlord, and TM47 for your own 90-day reports
Digital arrival card confirmation for each entry

Things most newcomers don’t know

The LTR is the only one of these routes that comes with an actual tax rate attached — and only for one of its categories.

The Board of Investment's Long-Term Resident visa includes a highly-skilled professional category that carries a flat 17% personal income tax rate on qualifying employment income, in place of the progressive scale that reaches 35%. That is a real, structural advantage and it is the reason the LTR is worth the higher fee for some people and pointless for others. The other LTR categories — wealthy citizen, pensioner, work-from-Thailand — do not carry that rate. Read which category you would actually qualify under before treating the tax benefit as yours.

Source: BOI Long-Term Resident visa categories; Thai Revenue Department flat-rate provisions

Thailand Privilege is a purchase, not an application, and that is exactly why it suits Phuket.

There is no income test, no employer, no seasoning of savings and no annual financial condition — you pay a one-time membership fee and receive a long-stay visa with unlimited yearly extensions for the term. Tiers run from 650,000 THB for five years to 5,000,000 THB for twenty. That structure fits a large slice of Phuket's foreign population — semi-retired, self-funded, or with income that is real but awkward to evidence. The entry-level tier has been scheduled for withdrawal, which would push the starting price up substantially, so check the current tier list before assuming the cheapest option is available.

Source: Thailand Privilege Card Co., Ltd. (Tourism Authority of Thailand) membership tiers

The TM30 and the TM47 are constantly confused, and they are not the same obligation at all.

The TM30 is the residence notification your landlord or accommodation operator must file within 24 hours of you moving in, under s.38 of the Immigration Act. The TM47 is your own 90-day address report. Conflating them causes two distinct failures: people who think they filed a TM30 because they did their 90-day report, and people who blame themselves for a landlord's omission. In Phuket the TM30 problem is acute because so much of the stock is short-let and the owners have never filed one. Ask for the receipt on day one.

Source: Immigration Act s.38; Thai Immigration Bureau reporting requirements

Visa-exempt entry is mid-reform, and the length is not settled — do not plan a move around it.

Visa-exempt entry currently runs at 60 days, but the Cabinet approved a cut to 30 days for most nationalities on 19 May 2026, taking effect after publication in the Royal Gazette, which had not happened as of mid-2026. Separately, since late 2025 extensions of a visa-exempt stay and land-border entries have been capped, and repeated back-to-back entries attract scrutiny. Check your own nationality's current position on the Royal Thai Embassy's announcement before you fly, rather than assuming the figure you read last year still holds.

Source: Thai Cabinet decision of 19 May 2026 pending Royal Gazette publication; November 2025 visa-exempt tightening

Common mistakes to avoid

Confusing the TM30 with the TM47 — one is your landlord's duty within 24 hours of move-in, the other is your own 90-day report
Taking a Phuket holiday-let apartment whose owner has never filed a TM30, then finding your extension blocked
Applying for a DTV or retirement visa from inside Thailand on a tourist stamp, which is generally not possible
Transferring funds into an account at the last minute — proof-of-funds balances must be seasoned, and crypto and brokerage holdings do not count
Assuming the LTR's 17% flat rate applies to every LTR category, when it attaches only to the highly-skilled professional route
Leaving Thailand on a single-entry permission without buying a re-entry permit, which cancels your stay outright

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.