How a typical consulting engagement runs
Engagement starts with a 45-minute consultation (free for first-time clients, in-person at our office or by video call). We map your nationality, age, income, family status, planned activity in Thailand and time horizon to the correct visa category — sometimes the answer is not obvious (a 49-year-old wealthy retiree might be better off on LTR Wealthy Pensioner than on retirement-O, a remote worker might fit DTV better than tourist-extension cycling). After alignment on the category, we issue a written document checklist tied to your specific Thai embassy or Immigration office, with notes on accepted formats, validity windows and the legalization chain needed for any foreign-issued documents. We then run the document chain — notarization, apostille coordination, translation, MFA certification, embassy authentication — and hand the complete file to your chosen visa agent or to you directly with filing instructions. We stay on retainer through the filing window so we can answer any officer-discretion question that comes up at the counter.
Where most cross-border applications go wrong
- Choosing tourist + extension cycles instead of properly applying for the right non-immigrant from abroad — this works once or twice but Immigration's pattern-recognition increasingly flags 'visa runners' and refuses re-entry.
- Applying for retirement-O in Thailand on the same trip as the bank-deposit transfer — Immigration requires the 800k THB to sit for 60 days continuously before the extension application, so the timeline only works if the deposit was made well before arrival.
- Marrying in Thailand on a tourist visa and assuming the marriage automatically grants the spouse a right to stay — the marriage is recognized, but a spouse-O visa or Bangkok conversion is still required, and the foreign-spouse must still meet the income threshold.
- Bringing a degree without prior apostille and assuming Bangkok translation will suffice — for B and ED visas, the degree must be apostilled in the issuing country first; Bangkok cannot retroactively apostille a foreign degree.
- Filing without checking the latest Department of Employment salary table — minimum salary thresholds by nationality are updated each year; a salary that worked last year may now under-qualify the applicant.
Long-Term Resident (LTR) and SMART Visa — when they beat traditional categories
Since 2022 BOI's LTR visa has reshaped the long-stay landscape for four applicant types. (1) Wealthy Global Citizen — USD 1M+ investable assets, USD 80k+ annual income, USD 500k+ in Thai government bonds/property/BOI-promoted businesses; 10-year visa, 17% flat PIT on Thai-source income, work-permit-exempt for executives, fast-track airport lane. (2) Wealthy Pensioner — 50+ years old, USD 80k+ annual pension income, USD 250k+ Thai investment; comparable benefits. (3) Work-from-Thailand Professional — USD 80k+ income (or USD 40k+ with master's degree from top 200 university), employer revenue USD 150M+ over last 3 years; comparable benefits without Thai investment requirement. (4) Highly Skilled Professional — same income thresholds, employer must be in 13 targeted industries; can include public-sector experts and academics. For traditional retirement-O applicants who clear the LTR thresholds, LTR is usually preferable: no annual extension, no 90-day report, work-permit exemption for accompanying spouse, multiple-entry without re-entry permit, and dependent visa for spouse and children. SMART Visa similarly outperforms standard non-immigrant B for executives in BOI-promoted companies — bundled work-permit, no 90-day report, multiple-entry, dependent visa.
Documents we handle on the consulting client's side
- Degree, transcript, professional licence — legalization (apostille or Thai-embassy chain abroad), Thai translation, MFA certification, optional OHEC equivalency for online degrees.
- Marriage and divorce certificates — same chain; for divorces from countries with multiple court orders, careful selection of which order to legalize (the final decree, not the interim).
- Bank statement and financial proof — for foreign banks, an apostilled certified statement; for Thai banks, original head-office-issued statement dated within 7 days.
- Employment letter and salary confirmation — apostilled in issuing country, Thai-translated and MFA-certified; for LTR Work-from-Thailand, also evidence of the employer's revenue.
- Sponsor affidavit — notarized by our Notarial Services Attorney with embassy-format clauses for the applicant's sponsoring relative.
- Police Clearance Certificate from country of nationality — for LTR, sensitive sector employment, BOI-promoted positions, and BOI's IDC dependent-children sponsorship.
Coordinating with your visa agent or Immigration counsel
We work as the document arm of your filing team — whether that team is a Bangkok-based visa agent, a BOI-registered immigration counsel, a Big-Four firm's Global Mobility unit, or your in-house HR. Our preferred operating model is to receive the agent's intake checklist (which varies by category and Immigration office), tag each line item to a deliverable in our system, run the chain in parallel where possible (apostille abroad while we draft and notarize affidavits in Bangkok), and deliver the complete file with a covering memo listing the source of each document and any officer-discretion notes the agent should be ready to address. For clients without a visa agent, we maintain a vetted referral list of three Bangkok agents and three BOI counsel firms we have worked with for multiple years and trust to file the categories we have prepared for. We are transparent about referral fees — we do not accept undisclosed commissions.
