Anucha Burapachaisri, spokesman for the Thai Prime Minister's Office, said on Tuesday that the cabinet has approved the expansion of the smart visa program from the original 13 to 18 target industries.
Anucha said the move was proposed by the Ministry of the Home Affairs to attract more foreign experts, investors, executives and startups to invest in Thailand, promote technology transfer, and help accelerate the development of the target industry.
The smart visa program was launched in February 2018. According to the government's policy of driving the economy through innovation and technology, it attracts talents and technologies from the 13 target s curve industry.
The updated visa program allows experts, investors, executives and start-up operators from 18 industries to apply for smart visas, and can stay in Thailand for up to 4 years. People who obtain such visas do not need a permit to work in Thailand, but must report to the authorities once a year (formerly once every 90 days). They will also receive unlimited re-entry permits, while their spouses and legal children can stay or work in Thailand for the same period as those of the visa holder.
The following are 18 target industries under the smart visa program, and the last 5 are newly added:
—Carat
—Electronic
—High-quality tourism
—Agriculture, grain and biotechnology
—Automation and robotics
—Transportation and logistics
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—Digital
—Medical
—High-resource development
—Environmental management and alternative energy
—Targeted technology development
—Other dispute resolution
—National defense
—Industry that directly supports circular economy, such as waste-derived fuel manufacturing, water resource management, etc.
—Aviation and Aerospace
—Technology, Innovation, Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Management
—International Business Center.
Another standard is that experts, executives and investors can stay in Thailand for up to 4 years, while startup operators can stay for up to 2 years. The visa fee for foreigners is 10,000 baht per year. If the term is less than one year, the fee will be rounded to one year.
