What are the best long-term visa options for UK expats moving to Thailand with a family?

@Tamara *****

you can come in with no visa (visa exempt) for 60 days plus another 30 while you get the lay of the land, and at any point take a trip to a neighboring country embassy to kick off the visa process suitable to your plan.

@Angelo **********

same sex marriage is not yet legally recognised despite it being passed by parliament. No doubt it will be in the future

@Tamara *****

then the DTV is probably the simplest for you based on your husbands remote work. But it wouldn't allow you to work inside Thailand. To do that you would need a non-b visa and a work permit which you can only get through a company (whether it's yours or someone else's but you would be restricted to the purpose the work permit was issued for)

Still it shows the obsticals for foreigner newbies, what they are up against.

No this is to obtain a workpermit.

Opening a business does not mean that you may work there.

@Tamara *****

Okey, most people have no clue here. Read the last line of my post and follow that advice. Because this post will likely get dozens of contradicting answers, and laughing smiles, that are completely WRONG. And probably gets deleted by a moderator who is not up to date about current law.

You most likely get no employment - for your specific purpose. Because of the financial requirements, aka earning something like 50,000 per month and the other hassles of your employer (a Thai Massage Retreat actually could be an employer) That is correct. But, you can work with an Non O visa based on volunteering. Because you can apply for a work permit, actually that comes with the package. That can be as low as 4h a week in what ever volunteering organization (elephant retreat?) you want to work. E.g. an organic farming school.

And since 2018: a work permit allows "side hustles", so within reason you can do what ever you want. Which year do we actually have ... wait ... I have to google that, 2024? Oh, sorry I am bad in math ... since 6 years, right? Since six years a work permit is no longer restricted to a single employer - single purpose - and allows you to free lance for what ever you want, as long as it is legal and does not require special licenses, like running a Pharmacy.

So: master plan (you can break that down and make simpler)

- Your significant other gets a DTV. Married or not with whom whatever does not matter. As you do not get a work permit based on marriage anyway, that only works if one partner is a Thai. Sex does not matter. I mean, Gender? Or is it Sex. Sex matters, but not that kind of sex: because gay marriage is legal since this year. And: encouraged. Why does it not matter? Because a DTV visa holder has no way to give his significant other a work permit.

- But he can found a company, if he has enough money, and employ you. Enough money means: he pays the minimum wage you have to receive per month to be eligible for the work permit. Founding the company costs only the lawyer fees ... you are not required to put any - and that I mean seriously: ANY MONEY - into the bank account of the company. There is a reason why it is called "registered capital" and not "founding bank account balance"

- Easier than the company founding and so on, is a Non O based on volunteering for you

- And your kids get a Non O based on child support

If your partner, or you together, have enough money (roughly 15,000 USD/Euro aka 500,000THB) then this is no problem. He has his DTV, he founds a company which hires you, or you take the Non O based on volunteering route, without a company.

My final sentence will be (and I actually repeat it at the end): for some of this things you need a lawyer. You need a lawyer anyway. Do not waste time on facebook, where people have no clue about the current laws. You will need a lawyer anyway, if you want to found a company.

EXPLANATION

The law making works different in Thailand. A law is never changed. It gets add ons, gets superseded or amended. So if you google "thai work permit" the top hits are laws from 1969, 1975 or what ever google thinks you actually wanted to know. Of course many people who are wrong here, once founded a company. And what they reproduce as their knowledge here: was accurate 10, 20 or 30 years ago. Same for work permits. Then with some luck one google hit hits a law firm that explains the "actual current situation" with references to law amendments and supper seedings and exceptions and so on. I kind of accept that most posters here know nothing about this changes, but: see last sentence.

The only people who know all this are lawyers who are specialized in the topic, and judges and of course the bureaucrats who stamp your paperwork.

Seriously: read the last and final sentence and comprehend it. You will not get accurate information about company founding on facebook. For example: no, a company does not need 4 employees. You need 4 "associates" to which you pay health insurance and pension fund, about 1k THB per month and person. They need no work contract, do not even need to work: and do not need to receive a wage!!! If you want a nanny, she would be one of them, or a cleaner, or a cook ...

Then "forbidden jobs". If you have a work permit which mentions that job: it is not forbidden. The people do not grasp the meaning of the law. Thai Massage is a "prohibited job", reserved for Thai. But if you are hired in an Russian run resort, speak Russian and the tourists obviously are mainly Russian speaking, they give you a work permit as "physio therapist". Now: you have a legal work permit to practice Thai Massage as a physio therapist - despite the fact that it is a "restricted occupation".

FINAL SENTENCE:

for some of this things you need a lawyer. You need a lawyer anyway. Do not waste time on facebook, where people have no clue about the current laws. You will need a lawyer anyway, if you want to found a company.

P.S. hoped that helped. Welcome to Paradise.

@Tamara *****

you can't work inside Thailand on the DTV visa. It only allows remote work

@Tamara *****

yeah, you're not going to get employed or be able to find a job in Thailand in those industries, I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure they are restricted jobs.

The only way you would feasibly be able to get into those sorts of jobs (if I'm correct in them being restricted) is by starting a company in Thailand which is another ball game altogether and can be a complete minefield to navigate and requires some serious equity to invest. Even on the off chance they aren't restricted however, employment is unlikely as you will not find somewhere that will happily pay you the required salary for meeting the requirements to obtain a work permit.

Realistically, your option is your partner gets a DTV, you piggyback off it and get your own DTV once theirs is granted and either convert to online workshops and events or change to an industry you have skills and qualifications in that is not restricted or highly unlikely to find employment in.

@Tamara *****

Take their advices with a grain of salt. I think they thought Tamara is a male name ...

@Tamara *****

I apologize, it was just an assumption based on some pictures. Just wanted to make sure that the you would be able to piggyback on your partners DTV if that was the plan. Now I have a red face from embarrassment. Lolol