The LTR visa's property route: how a $500,000 Thai real estate purchase counts toward 10-year residency

Can buying a villa or land on Koh Phangan get you a 10-year Thai visa? Indirectly, yes — but only under one specific LTR category, and only if the property is held the right way. The Board of Investment's Long-Term Resident (LTR) visa has a Wealthy Global Citizen track that lets real estate count toward its investment threshold, and the rules on exactly what qualifies are stricter than most marketing copy suggests.

What the Wealthy Global Citizen category requires

• At least $1,000,000 in global assets, held personally — financial instruments (investment portfolio, bank deposits) and real property. Cryptocurrency, gold futures, amulets, art, designer goods and jewellery are explicitly excluded.
• At least $500,000 invested in Thailand, in the applicant's own name. This is not additional to the $1 million — it counts toward it.
• No personal income requirement. The previous $80,000/year income test was removed by BOI Announcement No. Por 3/2568 in February 2025; asset ownership alone now qualifies.

What counts toward the $500,000 — and the catch for villa buyers

The Thailand-investment component can combine several qualifying assets, each separately documented:

• Thai government bonds with at least five years remaining to maturity.
• Direct equity in a Thai-registered company, or SET-listed shares held at least one year.
• Thai real estate — a freehold condominium unit is the clearest, best-documented route. Leasehold property with at least 10 years remaining may also count under some BOI guidance, but property is valued at its registered purchase price at the Land Department, not current market value, and — critically — it must be registered directly in the applicant's own name.

That last point is the one that trips up most Phangan buyers. Foreigners cannot own land here, so the standard villa purchase is a registered land lease plus separate ownership of the building — and a significant share of existing villas sit inside a Thai company structure rather than the buyer's personal name (see How foreigners own a villa on Koh Phangan). Property held via a company does not count toward the LTR investment threshold; only assets registered to the individual do. A freehold condominium is unambiguous, but Phangan's condo market is small — around 66 units across four projects in the Sri Thanu/Haad Yao corridor, per Visa and residency for property owners. Buyers who want to build the LTR requirement around a leasehold villa should get the structure certified by a BOI-registered advisor before relying on it, rather than assuming it will qualify.

Health insurance: pick one of three

• A health insurance policy with at least $50,000 of coverage valid in Thailand, or
• A $100,000 bank deposit maintained continuously for at least 12 months, or
• Existing Thai Social Security benefits.

What the visa gives you

Ten years of residence, structured as two five-year terms, with multiple re-entry and no minimum-stay requirement. Reporting drops from the standard 90-day cycle to an annual report. An optional digital work permit (THB 3,000/year) covers remote work for an overseas employer. On tax, foreign-sourced income remitted into Thailand is exempt from Thai personal income tax under Royal Decree No. 743 — a meaningful benefit for someone drawing income from abroad, though it does not extend to Thai-sourced income, and separate, category-specific rules govern anyone who takes up local employment.

Don't confuse this with the ฿40 million land-ownership route

A different BOI programme lets a foreigner who invests ฿40 million in Thailand directly own up to 1,600 sqm of land in their own name — see The ฿40 million investment route to land ownership. That programme grants land ownership itself; the LTR visa's property component grants residency status and simply lets a qualifying property count toward the investment test. They solve different problems and have different thresholds — treat them as separate decisions, not variations on the same scheme.

The practical takeaway: if an LTR visa is the goal, decide that before you structure the purchase — a freehold condo in your own name is the cleanest path to using real estate for the $500,000 test, and a leasehold villa can potentially work but needs BOI-level confirmation first. Get specialist immigration advice in parallel with your property lawyer, not after the deed is signed.