Recently, the Thai government introduced a land scheme to attract affluent foreigners. The scheme offers the opportunity to purchase land for residential use in the country.
And how does this change for foreigners?
The Interior Ministry is preparing measures to attract foreigners to buy a condominium and holding 1 rai of land (0.16 hectares) to be considered by the Cabinet. This will allow foreigners to invest 40 million baht to buy houses with land for 1 rai. However, the price ceiling for foreigners to buy condominiums will still not exceed 49%, according to Deputy Interior Minister Nipon Boonyamanee.
This scheme will also end long-standing laws that limit land and property purchases, except condominiums, to Thais or people married to Thais.
Who are the qualifiers under the new land scheme?
Four groups of high potential foreigners are as follow:
- The high wealth
- Retirees from abroad
- Those who wish to work in Thailand
- Specialists who can live and work in Thailand
These groups are allowed to stay in the country as a special case for a long-term resident visa (LTR Visa). It will be valid for 10 years and pay a one-time fee of 50,000 baht from previously 100,000 baht.
There are also Important guidelines that follow the Amendment Act Land Code, B.E. 1999 which is the current law:
- Must be a foreigner as announced by the Interior Ministry in accordance with the measures to stimulate the economy and investment
- Must invest at least 40 million baht (USD 1.09 million)
- Must invest at least 3 years in a specific type of business (such as investing in infrastructure funds established under the Securities and Exchange Act) or investments in real estate investment trusts organised under the Capital Market Transaction Trust Act B.E. 2550)
- Foreigners wish to acquire land totalling not more than 1 rai and must use it only for residential purposes.
In case of breach of investment conditions or not for residential use, these rights will be revoked, and the land must be sold out by this ministerial regulation. It will also be valid for only 5 years.
The Conclusion
This land scheme aims to attract foreigners with high wealth within the fiscal year 2022-2026 to increase the number of foreigners residing in Thailand by 1 million and increase the money supply by about 1 trillion baht. It will also increase investment by 800 billion baht and generate an additional 270 billion baht tax revenue.
It is one of the crucial measures under the ‘Boost up the Thai economy’. The aim is to stimulate the economy and investment through attracting high potential foreigners according to Thai Prime Minister and Defense Minister Prayut Chan-ocha’s strategy.
After all, the grant of the right to hold the land of foreigners is just one of the measures to create incentives and attract more investment in Thailand, and now we will have to wait and see how it will turn out in the future after the scheme has been implemented.
