Moving to Thailand: Visa, Housing, Money and First-Month Checklist

Pick your visa first, because the bank, the housing and the tax all follow from it. File the TDAC within 3 days before arrival. Once you move in, your landlord files the TM.30 within 24 hours. After that you report your address every 90 days. 180 days in a calendar year makes you a tax resident.

Moving to Thailand goes smoothly if you decide in this order: visa, then address, then money. The visa comes first because the bank follows it, since KBank opens no account for holders of tourist-type visas, including the DTV.

Your landlord then files a TM.30 notice within 24 hours of you moving in, and you report your address every 90 days. Stay 180 days in a calendar year and you are a tax resident. The diagram and checklist below put the early deadlines in order.

Pick your visa

Start from what you will do here, not from the visa name. Each row links to the full guide with fees, documents and the office that handles it.

For remote work, the DTV is the usual pick: it is built for remote workers and freelancers, though it bars a Thai work permit and work for Thai companies or Thai clients. The visa types overview sets every category side by side, and the visa changes page carries the newest rules.

If you only need a little longer, a visa-exempt visitor can ask for one extension of up to 30 days for THB 1,900. Overstaying costs THB 500 a day, up to THB 20,000.

Moving with a pet? Our guide to bringing a pet to Thailand covers the permit. Marrying a Thai partner? See marriage registration in Thailand.

Before you fly

File the Thailand Digital Arrival Card online within 3 days before arrival. It is free, and the only official site is tdac.immigration.go.th. The TDAC guide covers the steps and lookalike sites.

At the checkpoint, read the last permitted date on your stamp before you leave the counter.

The first weeks

Enter your arrival date in the move planner to get this checklist with your own dates.

1. Ask your landlord to file the TM.30 within 24 hours of move-in, and ask for the printed proof. See the TM.30 guide.
2. Register your SIM with your passport before use. See the eSIM and SIM guide.
3. Open a bank account once you hold a non-immigrant visa. See opening a bank account.
4. Buy a re-entry permit before any trip abroad: THB 1,000 for one trip or THB 3,800 for multiple trips. See the re-entry permit guide.
5. Report your address from 15 days before to 7 days after each 90-day due date. See the 90-day report guide.
6. Count your days toward the 180-day tax line. See tax residency.
7. Apply for any extension while your permitted stay still runs. See extending a stay.

The 90-day report starts once a permitted stay passes 90 days, and leaving Thailand restarts the count. A late report is made in person with a THB 2,000 fine. LTR holders report once a year instead.

Housing

Rent depends on the district, and where to live in Bangkok compares the expat districts by transit, schools and immigration access.

Before you sign, know the basics. A short-term lease runs three years at most, and advance rent and deposit together may not exceed three months of rent. The deposit comes back within seven days after the lease ends if there is no damage. If you are overcharged for water or electricity, call the OCPB hotline 1166.

The TM.30 duty sits with the owner, landlord or operator, and a host who fails to file faces a fine of up to THB 2,000. For your rights as a tenant, see renting in Thailand: the law.

Thinking of buying? Foreigners together may own up to 49% of a condominium’s unit area. See buying a condo in Thailand as a foreigner. Land is a different matter: a foreigner may acquire land only under a treaty, and no such treaty is in force.

Banking and moving money

Open the account after the visa is in place. KBank asks for a passport and a non-immigrant visa of any type, Krungsri will not open one on a tourist visa, and Bangkok Bank needs you at a branch in person. Once you are in, PromptPay links your account to a phone number. The PromptPay and banking apps guide covers each bank’s app.

A foreign Visa card pays THB 250 per ATM withdrawal at KBank, so withdraw larger amounts less often. The ATM fee guide covers the other banks.

To bring money in, the sender states a purpose for each transfer. See sending money to Thailand. Carrying cash needs a Customs declaration above THB 450,000 in baht or USD 15,000 in foreign notes; see the cash declaration guide.

Tax

Be in Thailand 180 days or more between 1 January and 31 December and you are a tax resident for that year. A stay of 179 days is not. A resident is taxed on foreign income earned from 1 January 2024 and remitted in the same or a later tax year. Read foreign income and residency and remote-worker tax before you move savings.

Health insurance

Insurance rules follow the visa: O-A needs cover of at least USD 100,000, and O-X needs a Thai policy. Even without a visa rule, get cover, because hospitals ask for a guarantee of payment before treatment. Call 1669 for a medical emergency.

The expat health insurance guide compares what each visa asks for, and hospital costs has price lists. Moving with children? See international schools in Thailand.

Working legally

A foreigner may not work without a work permit. Foreign workers without permits face fines of THB 5,000 to THB 50,000 and deportation. The work permit guide walks through the application.

Driving

Carry an international driving permit with your home licence. A 1968 permit stops being valid once you establish normal residence in Thailand, so residents apply for a Thai licence. See the driving licence guide and the IDP guide.

Chiang Mai and Phuket

City detail lives on the sister sites. Chiang Mai Jao (opens in a new tab) covers neighbourhoods, rent and daily life in Chiang Mai, and Phuket Anchor (opens in a new tab) does the same for Phuket. The national steps above apply in both cities. This site also has the Chiang Mai overview and the Phuket overview. More guides on settling in are in the living cluster.

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Not confirmed: Banks publish their own paper lists, and branches may ask for more. The Cabinet approved a draft change to residence notifications on 23 June 2026. It is a draft, not law.

General information checked against the sources listed above. Prices, opening hours and other details change; confirm them with the provider before you act. See how guides are checked.

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