Thailand Work Visa (Non-B)

Requirements

• A letter of approval from the Thai Ministry of Labour, obtained by your employer before you apply — without it the consulate will not issue the visa
• Corporate documents of the hiring company: business registration and licence, list of shareholders, company profile, details of business operation, list of foreign workers with names, nationalities and positions, a map to the office, balance sheet and tax filings
• Evidence of adequate finance: ฿20,000 per person or ฿40,000 per family
• Passport valid at least six months, application form, and a 4×6 cm photograph taken within six months
• Alien income tax documentation if you have worked in Thailand before
• A separate work permit, applied for at the Department of Employment after you arrive — the visa alone does not let you work

How to apply

1. Get hired first. Nothing in this process can start without a Thai employer, because the paperwork is theirs — if you are trying to work for yourself, this route means incorporating a Thai company and meeting its conditions, not applying as an individual
2. Your employer applies to the Ministry of Labour for the approval letter and assembles the corporate document pack
3. Apply at a Royal Thai Embassy or Consulate-General from outside Thailand: ฿2,000 for single entry valid three months, or ฿5,000 for multiple entry valid one year
4. Enter Thailand. An immigration officer grants a maximum of 90 days — that is the visa's whole entitlement
5. Apply for the work permit at the Department of Employment. Do not work before it is issued
6. Before day 90, file an extension of stay at the Immigration Bureau. The MFA states this may be granted for one year from the date of first entry

Renewal and long-term stay

• Renewable: yes

SOURCE: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' own Non-Immigrant B page, read 2026-08-27. Its words: entry gives "a maximum period of 90 days", and an extension of stay may be granted at the Office of the Immigration Bureau "for a period of one year from the date of first entry". Renewal runs on an annual cycle tied to continued employment — lose the job and the basis for the extension goes with it. ⚠ PR IS RECORDED AS NOT PUBLISHED, NOT AS ABSENT. Thailand does run a permanent residence route that long-term Non-B holders are the main users of, but the MFA's Non-B page says nothing about it and we have not yet verified the Immigration Bureau's criteria. Leaving the field null renders "None published", which is the honest state; writing "No" would be a positive claim we cannot support, and writing "Yes" would be worse. This is a research gap with a name, and it is the next thing to close on this record.

Applying: where and how

• Apply from outside the country: yes — apply before you travel
• Where you file: at an embassy or consulate
• Income requirement as published: ฿20,000 per person / ฿40,000 per family in accessible funds

SOURCE: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs page for Non-Immigrant Visa B (Business and Work), read 2026-08-27, which is also official_url. Unlike the ED visa, the fee here IS published nationally in baht rather than set per post: ฿2,000 single entry valid three months, ฿5,000 multiple entry valid one year. cost_usd converts the single-entry fee at ฿32.74 to USD 1, the rate on 26 August 2026 — the baht figure is the real one. ⚠ THE EMPLOYER TEST IS THE REQUIREMENT THAT DECIDES THIS APPLICATION, AND WE COULD NOT VERIFY IT OFFICIALLY. Thai law firms publish it consistently as a 2:1:4 rule — ฿2 million of fully paid-up registered capital and four Thai employees per foreign hire, with the capital halved for a foreigner married to a Thai national. We checked the Board of Investment's own One Start One Stop page for non-BOI businesses on 2026-08-27 and it sets out documents and restricted occupations but states no capital threshold and no employee ratio. So this record carries the figures as practitioner consensus with that caveat attached, the same way the Thailand ED record handles the 2025 crackdown having no numbered regulation behind it. Naming what we could not confirm is the point — the competing pages state it as settled law without a citation, and a reader planning around it deserves to know which it is. ⚠ THE VISA IS NOT THE WORK PERMIT. The MFA requires a Ministry of Labour approval letter BEFORE the visa is issued and a separate work permit from the Department of Employment AFTER arrival. Guides that describe the Non-B as "the Thailand work visa" are describing half a process, and the half they omit is the one that makes the work legal.

Bringing a partner or children

Not published on the MFA's Non-B page. Spouses and children of Non-B holders are in practice handled through a separate Non-Immigrant O application rather than as dependants on this visa, but that is a different record and we have not verified its rules, so this one makes no claim. Ask your consulate before assuming family can travel on your approval.

Tax

• You become tax resident: after 180 days in the country
• Foreign income taxed locally: yes — taxed once you become tax resident
• Special nomad or expat tax regime: no — ordinary resident rates apply

Two layers, and Non-B holders are the group most likely to owe on both. Income earned in Thailand for a Thai employer is Thai-source and taxable from the first baht regardless of how many days you spend here. Separately, more than 180 days in a calendar year — not the 183 most countries use — makes you a Thai tax resident, after which foreign income earned since 1 January 2024 is taxable when you remit it into Thailand.

This summarises published rules, not your situation, and it is not tax advice. Two things it can't tell you: your home country may tax you anyway — US citizens are taxed on worldwide income wherever they live — and day-count is only the most common trigger for tax residency, not the only one. Having a permanent home, a family or your centre of economic interests in a country can make you resident well before the day count does. Get advice before you move.

Moving abroad means more than the visa — sort your travel insurance (many visa applications require proof of coverage), set up borderless banking, and land with data working.

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