Visa / Work Permit for Foreigners with Thai Spouse

If a foreign employee is married to a Thai citizen, the foreigner may apply for a non-immigrant O visa (dependent visa) in Thailand. For the one-year extension of such a visa, issued by the Immigration Office, in particular, the following will be required:

• Marriage certificate;
• Evidence of income of not less than 400K/year, e.g., bank statement;
• ID card of the spouse; and
• Physical presence of the spouse.

The foreigner is then entitled to apply for a work permit under privileged conditions from the Department of Employment. For such work permit, in particular, the following will be required with regard to the employer:

• Capital of 1 Million THB for this foreigner and
• 2 Thai staff are employed for this foreigner.

There is no requirement for a non-immigrant B-visa in connection with such a work permit; the non-immigrant O-visa is sufficient. However, if a non-immigrant B visa is preferred and applied for, please note that 2 million THB in capital is still required for such a visa application.