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What does 'foreign talent' refer to in the context of Thai immigration?

Feb 21, 2025
17 days ago
Ēad *******
ORIGINAL POSTER
I was wondering… What is meant by ‘foreign talent’ in this regard?

The designation seems a bit vague
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TLDR : Answer Summary
The term 'foreign talent' in Thailand primarily refers to individuals with specialized skills or expertise that are recognized as beneficial to the country's economy and culture. This includes professionals such as musicians, fitness trainers, and other highly skilled individuals. The designation is somewhat vague and can overlap with terms like 'highly skilled professionals' used by Thailand's BOI (Board of Investment) for visa classifications. Overall, it is aimed at attracting individuals who can contribute positively to Thailand's development.
DTV VISA RESOURCES / SERVICES
Lee ***********
Took me 2 minutes to Google that
Ēad *******
ORIGINAL POSTER
@Lee **********
… Thanks.

Ok, I searched and even trawled Reddit as a result, so it seems my Google prompts were lacking.

This answers my question, and I’m certain that I qualify in this regard.
G ********
decent & non criiminal foreigners.
Lorraine ******
Degrees in higher education
Clare ******************
How it was defined on the extension information.
Greg ********
@Clare *****************
Exaxtly. The same as BOI define it.
Shaughn ***********
Last year I attended a two day event hosted by Fitness first (one of the large gym franchises in Bangkok). They hosted a large fitness event in an indoor event centre to promote some new fitness programmes that are produced by a global brand called Les Mills. Anyway they had some rather famous international guest fitness trainer stars from this industry attend the event as presenters to perform on the stage along side FF’s best trainers. Since they represented a global brand they would now qualify as foreign talent for DTV
Greg ********
@Shaughn **********
The definition is highly specialised technicians, scientists, engineers or executives. The salary requirements are lower if you have a Masters or above too for LTR
Ēad *******
ORIGINAL POSTER
@Gr**
… It seems a bit more expansive in this regard. Did you see the post that Lee Le Bruce just made?
Greg ********
@Ēad ******
This is what is on extension information. Pretty much copied from LTR and BOI. I have gone through this with BOI myself
Daniel *********
What does it matter?
Ēad *******
ORIGINAL POSTER
@Daniel ********
… I’m trying to understand the definition, to ascertain whether or not I qualify.
Paul *********
@Ēad ******
are you a professional pole dancer
Daniel *********
@Ēad ******
do you work for a foreign none Thai company?

Can you get the documents they want and have the funds?That’s all your need to prove.
Nick ******
"Clean" foreigners. A rarity in Thailand.
Ēad *******
ORIGINAL POSTER
@Nick *****
… what do you mean by ‘clean’?
Nick ******
@Ēad ******
well, according to Anutin Charnvirakul (Ministry of Interior), all foreigners are physically/biologically 'dirty'.
Anonymous ******************
If you had to guess what would you guess? Smh
Ēad *******
ORIGINAL POSTER
Anonymous participant 864 …

Well, being a vague definition, a person might guess several things … which is the reason I ask the question.

Maybe someone has specific knowledge, here in a group dedicated to topics relevant to the DTV.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask.
Anonymous ******************
@Ēad ******
Well I'm pretty sure it's vague because it covers many different subjects. That's just a guess though.
James *******
Male porn star
Tim *****************
Good looking foreigners I guess 🤷‍♂️
Pyae *********
Its mean like musician etc..
Greg ********
Probably along the same lines as BOI define it for some of their visas and LTR. They usually use the term "Highly Skilled Professionals" though. "Foreign Talent" term used more in Singapore. This is an immigration document after all.
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79/boi-expands-ltr-visa-opportunities-for-highly-skilled-professionals
Ēad *******
ORIGINAL POSTER
@Greg *******
Perfect, thanks