SMART Visa Thailand

SMART launched as a package of categories: talent, investor, executive, startup and the family members attached to them. It was designed to attract skilled individuals into Thailand's targeted industries without putting each of them through the conventional work-permit machinery.

The February 2025 announcement kept the mechanism and dropped most of the audience. New applications now run through SMART S for startup entrepreneurs, with SMART O for a spouse and children. The talent, investor and executive categories are closed to new applicants, which removes the salary and investment pathways that made the programme interesting to a much wider group of people.

Practically, that means the comparison articles ranking SMART against the LTR on income thresholds are comparing something that no longer exists. If a page quotes a monthly salary figure for SMART T, treat everything else on it with suspicion.

There is one more group worth naming: people who like the sound of annual reporting and no work permit, and who are trying to reverse-engineer a startup to qualify. The endorsement process exists precisely to filter that out, and a business built to satisfy an immigration criterion tends to fail both tests at once.

The endorsement is the part people underestimate. Before the visa itself is considered, an authorised agency has to certify that the startup belongs in a targeted industry and is credible. That judgement rests on the business — the product, the plan, the team — rather than on your personal profile, which is the opposite of how most visa routes work.

Once the company is incorporated, the programme expects a real stake in it: a shareholding of at least a quarter of the registered capital, or a directorship. SMART S is not a route for a passive founder listed on paper.

The published financial requirement is 600,000 THB, or the equivalent in another currency, in the applicant's own account. The figure itself is manageable for most founders; the seasoning is what catches people. The funds are expected to have been held for at least three months before the application, so this is a decision to make a quarter ahead of your intended move, not during it.

Each family member applying under SMART O adds a further 180,000 THB on the same basis. A founder moving with a spouse and two children is therefore looking at well over a million baht sitting still for three months, on top of whatever the business itself needs.

Health insurance covering the period of stay is also required, for the principal and for accompanying family members. Buy it against the actual length of permission you expect rather than a single year, and check that it will still be valid if the visa is renewed.

The list has been revised more than once since the programme launched, and the definitions matter more than the labels. "Digital" in particular covers a specific set of activities rather than anything with software in it. Check your intended activity against BOI's own definitions before you build a plan around qualifying.

A legal spouse and children can apply under SMART O alongside the principal applicant. The permission tracks the principal's, which means it also ends with it: if the startup status falls away, so does the family's basis for staying.

Work rights for SMART O holders changed with the 2025 reform, and the current position is not something we can state with confidence. If a spouse intends to work, confirm that directly with the TIESC before making it part of your plan.

Annual reporting and the absence of a re-entry permit are worth more in daily life than they sound on paper. Anyone who has queued twice a year for a 90-day report and bought a re-entry permit before every trip understands the difference. But these are conveniences, not reasons to choose the route — and a TM30 address notification is still expected when you move into a property.

Published processing times exist for each stage, but they assume complete documentation and a straightforward assessment. Treat the whole thing as a project measured in months and keep a fallback entry route available so that a delay does not leave you outside Thailand with no plan.

Nothing about SMART requires the business to be in Bangkok, and Hua Hin is a perfectly reasonable base for a small team: it is close enough to the capital for day trips, and the cost of running a life here is markedly lower. What you should expect is travel. The service centre that handles SMART Visa issuance and endorsement sits at One Bangkok, having moved from Chamchuri Square, and most agency contact happens there.

Bank onboarding is the other local factor. Opening a Thai account as a newcomer is achievable but rarely quick, and the three-month seasoning clock cannot start until the account exists and the money has arrived.