Thailand launches limited appeal work visa

Thailand launches limited appeal work visa

Thailand launches limited appeal work visa

Issued at the same time as a number of G20 countries are cracking down on work visas, Thailand’s new work visa has limited appeal due to its financial requirements.

Referred to in the Thai/English press as a ‘smart visa’, the new work visa is aimed at skilled professionals and entrepreneurial investors, and grants four years’ stay in the kingdom for high earners and those with much-needed skills. Applications are invited from expat professionals in the medical and wellness, agriculture, biotechnology, smart electronics and next-generation automotive sectors, with this group referred to as First S-Curve industries.

Thailand is also attempting to lure expert expats in what is referred to as the New S-Curve industry sector, including aviation, logistics, biochemicals, robotics and automation, digital business, eco-friendly petrochemicals and medical hubs. Each sector will be divided into four groups, including ‘targeted industries’ and ‘scientific fields suffering shortages of specialists’. Totally excluded are Thailand’s wave of expat digital nomads, some of whom might well be qualified but are not, in the main, earning high enough salaries to actually qualify.

Minimum financial requirements for applications are a salary of 200,000 baht per month – the equivalent of £4,536 and $6,258 at present exchange rates. It’s quite possible a few expats amongst those seen sitting in internet cafés or on southern Thailand’s seductive beaches may well be earning mega-sums playing the financial markets, but are they likely to want to tie themselves down to an unfamiliar officialdom in order to go legal? To work for pay or even volunteer in any employment or NGO sector without a hard-to-get ordinary work permit is against the law for foreigners in Thailand and can result in a large fine and deportation as it’s considered a threat to the Thai labour market.

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