What are the visa options and cost considerations for moving a family of 8 to Bangkok in 2026?

Use numbeo.com to compare cost of living scenarios.

It sounds like you have never been here before …I have to tell you that is a big leap especially for 7 of you ….

Even if you can get cover the 500k baht for a DTV for yourself what are the rest of them going to do. I can't see any consulate would allow you to sponsor 6 other people using that same 500k baht. According to Numbeo the average cost of living for a family of 4 in Bangkok is almost 80k baht per month before you pay rent. So that's 100k baht and you have 4 more mouths to feed on top of that. Its highly unlikely any of you will be able to get a job here and the 80 year old will struggle to get health insurance so there are also hospital bills to consider. This can give you an idea of costs and you can change the cities to view different areas, but there are also visa costs as well

You are allowed to have dependents on the DTV visa. You would apply first, once you are approved your family members can apply as dependents and should not require the additional financial requirements. You would need to check with the embassy you would be applying at.

You raising entire thia family dummy

Thia family

The first post by the moderator says it all.. there’s more bad news that could be added to that like how limited the jobs legally available to foreigners are here but I think you should get the point. Thailand is not as cheap and easy as TikTok videos make it seem.

Like Beverly Hillbillies meets Green Acres.

But the idea of y'all just showing up here and starting from scratch sounds like an interesting premise for a reality show series.

Going from U.S. style home schooling to an international school setting would be very challenging. Your kids will be light years behind their grade level peers.

Thats a lot of money every month for schooling

Stay where u are ! Due to ur financial situation it will be very difficult or almost impossible to live in Thailand !

Even the most creative visa agent in Thailand couldn't help you with that. Good luck!

Why would to put your children I to that much pollution ?

Lots if great places in Thailand that are not psoriasis unhealthy

The 18 year is on his own as he is an adult

So it’s 7 of you

You will need at the very least ฿100k a month to cover all your expenses (housing food visas transportation health insurance diapers air fare etc etc etc)

Jobs are limited so it’s all on savings and your pension funds you have to maintain your lifestyle

International schools cost between $10-$40k USD a year per child usually a lump sum cost no financing for foreigners…so that means more money needed

Good luck

I dibt know what you are trying to run from or escape from but even with a lots of money you will be putting your children through a quantum cultural shift….

You will qualify if you have your children in school. However, international school is extremely expensive for all your kids. That could easily cost you 3-5k usd a month.

This does not sound workable for you.

Tuition at international schools in Thailand are hundreds of thousands of baht per year, per child. Each one would require their own education visa, which means each one would have to attend school.

One child on an ED can allow one parent to qualify for a non-O based on foreign child attending school, and each parent would have to show 400k or 500k (I forget which one) in your Thai bank account in order to get your extensions.

Unless you have a few million baht laying around, which doesn't sound likely because you said you cannot qualify for DTV based on bank balances, I don't think you will qualify for ED either.

And retirement visa is not a good option if funds are limited either, as your mother will need to have 800,000 baht in a Thai bank account, basically forever as long as she remains in Thailand.

There are more nuanced responses to many points of your post, but at a macro level, moving a family that large to Thailand will be prohibitively expensive.