Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing Thai Business Visas. We are specifically discussing how often do they need to be renewed. That would seem to be a simple question or excuse me, a question with a simple answer but it's not quite so simple. It depends on a number of factors. 

What I would call Classic Business Visas, what we often assist folks with when they set up a small Company here in Thailand, standard Business Visa and Work Permit, you are looking at yearly renewals on those, okay? That is a standard Business Visa. Then, when you are dealing with things like the BOI, the Board of Investment here in Thailand, it may be possible to obtain a Visa that only needs to be renewed every 2 years. So depending on the concessions granted by BOI, it may be possible to have a 2-year Visa under a BOI set up here in Thailand. Now generally speaking, BOI Companies tend to have a larger investment capital base and they also tend to be just larger concerns compared to sort of SMEs that are started up here in Thailand. 

Then you get into things like the Smart Visa which again not really in great wide usage but yeah it is out there. It may be an option depending on circumstances and Smart Visas may provide a little bit of long-term, in some cases it is my understanding they can be issued with a 5-year validity although candidly I haven't seen one issued with a great deal of validity. In fact in many of the cases it is my understanding have been denied with respect to applications for a Smart Visa.

On the horizon, we are looking at the so-called Long-Term Residence Visa which is being discussed quite heavily out there among the pundits if you will in the Immigration world on YouTube out in in the media. That has yet to come online; it is being discussed as a 10-year Visa; again it is not a Resident Visa, we have discussed that in many other videos although it is kind of euphemistically being called that, it is a misnomer. But yeah, supposedly once issued it can have a 10-year validity although we have yet to actually see this thing be played out in practice. It is not going to happen until I think at the earliest September, so we are not going to be seeing this come online quite yet. Now we will certainly keep folks updated on this channel as the situation evolves.