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ResourcesThailand Real Estate & Property LawThailand Condominium LawCould Thai Property Owners be Slated for Issuance of Visas to Thailand?

Could Thai Property Owners be Slated for Issuance of Visas to Thailand?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai property owners and the prospect of them being able to get a visa to return to Thailand. We are talking about folks who have been stranded abroad. They do not technically meet the other criteria associated with a visa to Thailand but they do own property in Thailand so presumably that would be like a Thai condo although there may be other arrangements wherein somebody may actually have either substantial property rights or even ownership over other types of property or real estate here in the Kingdom. 

I suspect that this is most pertinent for those who otherwise have a Retirement Visa for Thailand and are unable to come back because Retirement Visas are not currently on the list of visas which are allowed to return to Thailand. 

A recent article from the Bangkok Post and the article is titled:  CCSA, and that is the sort of the committee that is dealing with the COVID-19 response, Names Groups That Can Return.  Quoting directly: "Long-term foreign residents and foreigners with permanent residences, that is different from Permanent Residence, it is permanent residences, so homes, in Thailand stranded overseas, will receive priority when seeking to return to Thailand under strict disease control measures, the head of a panel under the Center for COVID-19 Situation Administration, CCSA said. Deputy Army Chief Natthapon Nakpanich, chairman of the CCSA's panel on the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, said the panel will recommend, let's be clear recommend, the CCSA allow these two groups of foreigners back into Thailand as they have high purchasing power. Upon arrival they will still be subject to a 14-day quarantine General Natthapon said adding that about a hundred of them are ready to return to Thailand and willing to follow disease control measures." 

So first of all, let's note a couple of things. "Recommend".  This is not promulgated regulatorily so we have yet to see these folks or a category being created for folks like this to be able to come back to Thailand. So it remains to be seen but again we are talking about long-term foreign residents and foreigners with permanent residences. Interesting, I would be curious to know what long-term foreign residents means. There is lawful permanent residence in Thailand and then there's folks that can show that they have lived in Thailand for a prolonged period of time and just happened to get caught out and that they hold a Non-immigrant Visa status. I don't know exactly what the discernment factors will be on that, as well as foreigners with permanent residences and that is presumably folks with homes in Thailand. For example a Thai condo or other type of Thai property ownership.

Again all of this is kind of speculative; it is up in the air. We are quoting for example a lot of the papers of record notably the Bangkok Post, a very good source of information. Again, this is all news. It has yet to be promulgated into law. We will keep you updated as the situation progresses but for now I think it is certainly is "light on the horizon" or "light at the end of the tunnel" that we are probably going to see at least some substantive changes in the relatively foreseeable future regarding expanding who is going to be able to come in to the Kingdom of Thailand.