Asia · Move Kit
🇹🇭 The Thailand Move Kit
Pick the right Thai visa, price your city, and land with the paperwork already done.
A step-by-step kit for moving to Thailand on the routes that actually exist: the 5-year Destination Thailand Visa (DTV), visa-exempt/tourist entry, the Non-Immigrant O-A retirement visa, the Non-Immigrant ED student visa, and the 10-year Long-Term Resident (LTR) visa. You get a document checklist per route, real monthly costs for Chiang Mai, Hua Hin, Koh Phangan, Phuket and Bangkok, a first-30-days order of operations, and a straight answer on the 180-day tax line that catches long-stayers. Every figure comes with the official government source so you can check it before you spend a baht.
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What's inside
Which route is yours
All five visa routes on file, who each suits, who should walk away, and which ones forbid local work.
Where to live on your budget
Every city we have costs for, side by side, with the trade-off each one makes.
The money, broken down
Rent, food, transport and coworking split out so you can see which line you can actually move.
What you have to produce
The NEEDS list on each visa turned into a document checklist you can work through.
The first 30 days
Ordered arrival plan — what blocks what, and what you cannot start until something else is done.
Tax and healthcare
The 180-day rule, the 2024 remittance change, and an honest map of what we have not verified.
Read before you buy
Free chapter: The first 30 days
The complete chapter, exactly as it appears in the Thailand Move Kit. Open it on its own page
Order matters here. Several items block others, and doing them out of sequence costs you a week.
Before you board (this is still part of day one). Visa approved and printed, passport in hand, insurance policy active from the date you fly, Wise account open and funded, and — if you are on a tourist entry — your onward ticket and funds statement printed and in your carry-on, not buried in cloud storage on a phone at 3% battery. Book the airport transfer in advance with Welcome Pickups if you are landing at night with luggage; it is the one arrival expense that reliably pays for itself in not being scammed at 1am. Install and switch on NordVPN before you leave, not after — you will be on hotel and café Wi-Fi constantly, and some home-country banking and streaming services behave badly from a Thai IP.
Days 1–3: land, sleep, do not sign anything. Book a hotel or short stay for two weeks, not a year-long lease. Use Trip.com, Travala or Aviasales for the flight and first stay. If you are apartment-hunting between check-out and check-in, Bounce and LuggageHero let you dump bags for the day rather than dragging them round viewings. Get a local SIM in the first 48 hours — everything from apartment viewings to bank appointments assumes a local number, and that is the block: no number, no viewings, no bank.
Days 3–10: neighbourhood first, apartment second. Spend a week in the area you think you want before committing. Test the internet at the actual address at the actual hour you work — this matters most on Koh Phangan (~60 Mbps) and least in Bangkok (~230 Mbps) and Chiang Mai (~210 Mbps), but test it everywhere, because the city average is not your building. Visit two or three coworking spaces on day passes before buying a month at $90–$130. Only then sign a lease, and ask for the deposit terms in writing.
Days 7–20: the paperwork that needs an address. Most of the next steps — bank account, longer-term rental agreement, any immigration extension — assume you have a confirmed address and a local number. That is why the lease comes before the bank and not after. If you are on the ED visa, the in-country extension at the immigration office is the item to book the moment your course confirms enrolment; it has a queue and it is the thing standing between your initial 90 days and the rest of your course.
Days 20–30: set the clock running. Start a day-count log on day one of arrival — not day thirty, when you have already lost track. Tax residency starts at more than 180 days in a calendar year, and if you are on a DTV planning to use the 180-day stay plus its 180-day extension, you will cross that line inside the first year. Diarise your visa expiry and any extension window with two reminders, one at 60 days out and one at 30. Then, and only then, buy the motorbike, join the gym, and start saying yes to things.
That's one of 7 chapters — get the full Move Kit.
Get the full kit — $49Still deciding? The free Thailand guide covers every visa route, living costs by city and safety.
Visa rules change often and official sources can conflict. This is AI-assembled research, not legal or immigration advice — always verify with the official link before you act. Full disclaimer
The full Thailand plan is locked
Unlock the visa playbook, taxes, healthcare, city picks, the first-30-days checklist and the templates.
Get set up for Thailand
The tools we use for every move — insurance, money, connectivity and more.
Bounce — luggage storage
Drop your bags at 15,000+ spots worldwide between check-out and your next move.
Solis (SIMO) Go Hotspot
Global 4G/5G pocket Wi‑Fi with pay‑as‑you‑go data in 140+ countries — the flagship "always connected" device.
Nomad travel gear
Passport holders, packing cubes, and the carry-on jacket that swallows a wardrobe.
SafetyWing — nomad insurance
Health + travel cover built for people who live abroad. Monthly, cancel anytime.
Insubuy
Compare travel-medical and expat health plans, including the long-stay policies visa applications ask you to prove. Useful before you file, not just before you fly.
AirHelp — delayed or cancelled flight?
Claims compensation for delayed, cancelled or overbooked flights. No win, no fee. Worth knowing when you fly as often as nomads do.
Travelex — trip insurance
Trip cancellation, interruption and baggage cover for the moving-day flights, where a missed connection costs real money.
Welcome Pickups — airport transfer
A local driver meets you at arrivals with your name on a sign, at a fixed price. The single easiest thing to get right on day one in a new country.
LuggageHero — luggage storage
Store bags by the hour or day in shops and cafes across Europe and North America — for the gap between one lease ending and the next starting.
Aviasales — flight search
Searches hundreds of airlines and agencies at once, including the budget carriers the big sites miss. Good for one-way and open-jaw routes.
Trip.com — flights & hotels
Particularly strong across Asia, where the Western booking sites are often more expensive or miss carriers entirely.
Travala — stays, pay your way
Hotels and apartments worldwide, with crypto accepted alongside cards — handy when your money lives in more than one place.
Travel Freely — track your points
Free tool that tracks credit-card sign-up bonuses and annual-fee dates across every card you hold, so points fund the flights.
Allianz Travel Insurance — trip protection
Trip cancellation, travel medical and baggage cover from Allianz, bought through a licensed travel agency's storefront. Check each plan's terms — plans are sold to US residents.
Medjet (medical evacuation)
Air‑medical transport + evacuation membership — if you're hospitalized 150+ mi from home, get moved to the hospital of YOUR choice. Not travel‑medical insurance; it pairs with it.
NEXT Insurance — business insurance for freelancers
Online small-business insurance — general and professional liability, errors & omissions, equipment — for US-based freelancers and one-person LLCs who keep working while they travel. Quotes in minutes; US businesses only.
NordVPN — stay secure
Public-wifi safety, and reach your home services from anywhere.
TravelFun.Biz — earn 25% sharing travel
Travel creators on TikTok, Instagram or a blog earn 25% on every sale they refer to the TravelFun host travel agency and agent training. Free to join, 365-day cookie, paid within 30 days of the sale. Earnings aren't guaranteed.
GetYourGuide
Tours, day trips and skip-the-line tickets in your new city.
Viator
Large tour and activity marketplace, useful for the first weeks of exploring.
Tours By Locals — private local guides
Private guides who actually live there — good for orientation in a city you have just moved to.
Tiqets — museums & attractions
Instant mobile tickets for museums and attractions.
EconomyBookings — car hire
Car rental comparison, for the stretch before you sort local transport.
BikesBooking — scooter & bike rental
Scooter and motorbike rental, the default way to get around much of Southeast Asia.
Busbud — intercity buses
Intercity bus tickets across 80+ countries — usually the cheapest way between nearby cities.
Project Expedition — tours & excursions
Curated tours and excursions worldwide.
Rocket Lawyer
On‑demand legal documents, business formation (LLC), and attorney Q&A — useful for nomads setting up a base or a business.
Booking.com
Hotels + apartments worldwide; the default lodging affiliate.
Some links are affiliate links — we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We only list tools we'd use ourselves.
Questions
Can I just keep doing visa runs on the tourist entry instead of applying for anything?
You can enter visa-exempt for up to 60 days, extendable by 30, if you hold an exempt passport and can show onward travel and funds. But no local work is permitted on that entry, and it was never designed as a residence strategy. The DTV exists precisely so long-stayers do not have to live that way: five years of validity, 180 days per entry extendable once by 180, for a 10,000 THB fee. If you plan to be in Thailand for more than a few months, apply properly.
Does the DTV let me work?
Our file records the DTV as allowing local work, and the requirement is remote work for a foreign employer, freelance work, or a qualifying Thai soft-power activity. That is a different question from whether you may take Thai-based clients or take a job with a Thai company, and it is exactly the kind of detail that changes. Confirm the scope at https://www.thaievisa.go.th/ before you invoice anyone inside Thailand. For contrast: the tourist entry, the O-A retirement visa and the ED student visa all prohibit local work, with no ambiguity.
Does the THB 500,000 for the DTV have to sit in a Thai bank account?
We do not know, and we are not going to guess. Our file says roughly THB 500,000 in the bank and does not specify the country, the bank, or how many months of statement history are required. That is a question for the official DTV portal at https://www.thaievisa.go.th/ or the consulate that would issue your visa — ask in writing and keep the reply. Financial-proof mechanics are one of the most commonly misreported details in online Thailand guides.
Will I have to pay Thai tax?
If you spend more than 180 days in Thailand in a calendar year you are a tax resident. Residents pay tax on Thai-source income plus the portion of foreign income they remit into Thailand, and since 1 January 2024 foreign income is taxable when remitted whether that happens in the same tax year or a later one. Non-residents are taxed only on Thai-source income. Source: https://rd.go.th/english/6045.html. We have not verified the bracket rates, allowances or how your country's treaty with Thailand affects you — take that to the Revenue Department and a cross-border tax professional. Note the LTR route carries a 17% flat rate for skilled professionals.
Is the LTR income requirement really about $80,000 a month?
That is the figure recorded on our file, and the LTR thresholds are category-specific — wealthy global citizen, pensioner, work-from-Thailand professional and highly-skilled professional are assessed differently. This is the one number in this kit we would tell you to check first and plan around second, at the Board of Investment's own portal: https://ltr.boi.go.th/. If you are anywhere near the line, the DTV gives you five years of validity at far lower friction and is the more realistic route.
Which city should I pick if I'm on the tightest budget but still need reliable video calls?
Chiang Mai. It is the cheapest on our list at $1,100 a month all in — $400 rent, $320 food, $40 transport, $100 coworking — with roughly 210 Mbps internet, 8/10 safety and a 10/10 nomad score. The only city with faster internet is Bangkok at ~230 Mbps, and that costs $1,720. Avoid Koh Phangan for calls-heavy work: $1,250 a month and roughly 60 Mbps.
Is the student visa a real option or just a loophole?
It is a real, ordinary route: a Non-Immigrant ED visa obtained before you travel, then extended in-country at an immigration office for the length of your course. Language schools, martial arts and wellness programmes and universities all run on it. Two honest caveats. First, working on it is not permitted at all. Second, the extension is tied to actual enrolment, so you have to attend. The budget upside is real — a student in Chiang Mai runs about $740 a month against $1,100, mostly through shared housing rather than a private flat — but the course fee sits on top of that and varies by school.
Instant access · lifetime updates · yours to keep.
Moving somewhere else too? The All-Access Vault unlocks every country kit.
Research & planning only — not legal, immigration or tax advice. Verify every step at its official source. All sales final.