Moving Your Family to Thailand: 4 Visas for 4 People and the Real Budget

A family of four landed in Phuket in August: two adults, a 17-year-old daughter and a 20-year-old son, with a deposit already paid on a two-bedroom condo in Chalong. The plan was simple: the father secures a status and everyone else follows as a dependant. By mid-September it turned out that the 20-year-old son qualified for no dependant category at all, and the daughter's school required a confirmed status before the academic year began, not after.

Thailand has no single family visa. Status is assessed per person, including infants, so a relocation budget is not one number but four line items, one per passport.

Buying property does not grant a visa or any right to stay long term. A 2.67M THB condo and a 30M THB villa are equal on that score: zero.

Quick Answer

• Status is personal. A spouse and children do not receive residence rights automatically. Each person needs their own category: main applicant, dependant, or a separate standalone status.
• The age cutoff is 20. In dependant categories (DTV, LTR, Non-O) a child no longer qualifies after turning 20. For a grown child, plan a separate route from scratch.
• DTV: consular fee of 10,000 THB per person, 5-year validity, up to 180 days per entry with a possible extension of another 180 days. Proof of funds is 500,000 THB. A spouse and children under 20 apply as dependants and each pays the same fee.
• LTR (BOI): 50,000 THB per person for 10 years, covering a spouse and children under 20, up to 4 dependants in total. A yearly report replaces the 90-day reports. Income requirements start from USD 80,000 per year depending on category.
• Non-O by age (50+): 800,000 THB in a Thai account or income of 65,000 THB per month, per adult applicant. The second spouse goes in as a dependant.
• Thailand Privilege: membership is personal, and relatives are added as extra members with a separate fee each. Take current package prices, membership terms and privilege points only from the operator's current price list (Thailand Privilege Card Company Limited). Terms the operator has not confirmed to us are marked as 'to be clarified'.
• Daily obligations apply per person too: TM30 must be filed within 24 hours of check-in, and each family member, children included, files their own 90-day report.

None of these routes gives the right to work in Thailand, permanent residency or citizenship. Processing times and outcomes depend on the authority's decision, not on how much you pay.

One market note for context: Thailand's condo market has recovered to near pre-Covid levels of about 13,000 foreign-bought units per year, and buyers now come from a wide mix of countries (Russia, Taiwan, India, the UK and other European nations). Buying is easy for foreigners; securing the right to stay is the hard, separate task.

Scenarios and Options

Scenario 1. Parents 50+, children already adults. The cheapest path: Non-O by age for one spouse plus dependant status for the other. The financial requirement is met once, with 800,000 THB on account held for the required periods before and after filing. Trade-off: the money is frozen in a Thai account, health insurance is mandatory, and coverage requirements depend on visa type and the specific consulate, so confirm them before buying a policy. An adult child over 20 is not covered by this scheme at all.

Scenario 2. Parents aged 35-45 with remote income and two school-age children. DTV for four people: 40,000 THB in fees for five years of validity, an order of magnitude cheaper than the alternatives. The price of that saving: every 180 days you must exit or extend, extensions are handled at an immigration office and are not automatic, and some schools ask for a status with a longer horizon. Consulate practice on proof of funds for dependants varies, so confirm the per-person amount at the consulate where you file.

Scenario 3. Income can be documented. LTR covers a family of up to six for 300,000 THB over ten years and removes the 90-day reports. It is the best value for price and duration if the applicant has a clean tax and salary history for two years. The weak point is paperwork: proof of income, assets and insurance coverage takes months, and refusals on formal grounds are common.

Scenario 4. Criteria are not met, but predictability matters. This is where Thailand Privilege comes in: the programme requires no proof of income, assets or age, the status is built for the long term, and relatives are added through extra fees. It is a deliberately expensive way to buy freedom from annual bureaucracy, not an investment. If your family spends three months a year in Thailand, membership will not pay off; a DTV or ordinary tourist entries are the honest choice.

Comparison Table

Main Risks and Mistakes

Budgeting per family instead of per person. Multiply every fee and financial requirement by the number of passports before comparing routes. Four DTVs cost 40,000 THB, not 10,000.

Forgetting the child's 20th birthday. If your son or daughter is 18, you have two years until dependant status ends. Plan the replacement route (student visa, own DTV, own membership) well ahead, not in the month school finishes.

Paying for the visa before securing the school place. International schools in Phuket cap class sizes, and in Cherng Talay and Bang Tao the queue for popular programmes forms a year ahead. Get written confirmation of enrolment first, then make large visa-related payments.

Underestimating school and healthcare costs. By market estimates, annual tuition in Phuket ranges from roughly 200,000 THB for a bilingual programme to 700,000-900,000 THB for top-tier British and IB schools. Multiply by the number of children: this line almost always exceeds the visa line.

Choosing an area by map instead of travel time. In Phuket, 12 km to school at rush hour can mean 50 minutes. Check real travel time to school and hospital. The east (Koh Keo, Wichit, Phuket Town) is closer to city medicine and schools, the west (Cherng Talay, Bang Tao) to beaches and Western campuses, and the north (Nai Yang, Thalang) is cheaper for housing but farther from everything else. Local data shows how much family needs shift prices: in Bang Tao a four-bedroom home costs about 64% more than a three-bedroom, and in Chalong a four-bedroom adds roughly 27% with about 200 sqm more plot.

Missing TM30 and 90-day reports. The landlord or management company must file TM30 within 24 hours of check-in; the foreigner pays the fine. The 90-day address report is filed per family member, and nobody files it for a child automatically.

Treating a condo purchase as a visa basis. A condo in Chalong for 2.67M THB or a villa in Bang Tao for 30M THB does not change your immigration status by a single day. These are two independent tasks, and solving them in parallel is cheaper than doing them in sequence. Note too that foreigners cannot own land in their own name; villa buyers typically use long-term leaseholds of around 30 years, and Thailand is tightening enforcement against nominee structures, so structure matters.

A practical tip. Do a dedicated trip to view schools and areas separate from the move itself. A week with overnight stays in two different parts of the island shows logistics more honestly than any map, and it is easier to book a hotel near the campuses you are considering in advance.

FAQ

Can I add my wife and children to my visa in Thailand?

No. Each family member receives their own stamp and status. DTV, LTR and Non-O have a dependant category, but it is a separate application, a separate fee and separate documents for each person.

Does buying an apartment or villa give the right to live in Thailand?

No. Ownership and the right to stay are not linked. A condo owner without a visa may remain only as long as their current stamp allows.

How much does Thailand Privilege cost for a family of four?

The fee for the main member and the surcharge for each additional member depend on the specific package. Check amounts, membership term and privilege points only against the operator's current price list on the date of application. Terms the operator has not confirmed in writing are marked 'to be clarified'.

What happens when a child turns 20?

Dependant status ends. Options include a student visa for a Thai or international university, an own DTV if grounds exist, or own membership in a long-term programme. Decide several months before the birthday.

Which is cheaper for a family: DTV or Thailand Privilege?

On direct costs, DTV is cheaper by an order of magnitude: a 10,000 THB fee per person versus a one-off membership fee. Privilege wins only where a long uninterrupted stay without exits every 180 days and without annual proof of funds is critical.

Do children need to file the 90-day report?

Yes. The obligation is personal and applies to all foreigners staying in the country more than 90 consecutive days, regardless of age. LTR holders file a yearly report instead.

Can I work for a Thai company under these statuses?

Neither DTV, Non-O by age, nor membership in a long-term programme gives the right to work. Employment requires a work permit and the appropriate visa; certain LTR categories allow work only under BOI conditions.

What does the first year really cost a family of four in Phuket?

Add up four lines: visa costs, rent or purchase of housing, school for each child, and health insurance for each person. The visa part is almost always the smallest of the four; the main budget risk is school and medical costs, not fees.

My recommendation: first build a four-line table, one row per passport, with each child's date of birth and the year they turn 20, and only then choose a route. If your income can be documented for two years, treat LTR as the first option and a membership programme as the second. If your family spends less than half the year in Thailand, do not pay for a long-term status at all.

Source: The Nation Thailand

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