THE CABINET last Tuesday (Sept. 14) approved measures to attract “high potential” foreigners to the country by offering them various benefits among which is the right to buy land, Thai Rath newspaper said today (Sept. 18).
Ms. Ratchada Thanadirek, deputy spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office, said these measures are aimed boosting the Thai economy with four groups of foreigners falling under the “high potential” category being as follows:
– High net-worth individuals;
– Retirees;
– Those who want to work from Thailand;
– Those with special skills.
This category of foreigners will benefit from two key measures as follows:
– A new type of visa will be issued for them with this granting them various exceptions and benefits such as those holding long-term resident or Smart visas would no longer have to submit a written notice to officials after 90-day stay;
– Various laws and regulations will be amended, for example law on land ownership, work management, allowing foreigners to work for both local and overseas employers, exemption from the regulation that for every one foreigner hired four Thais have to also be hired and exemption from various types of taxes and customs procedures.
Ratchada added that the Interior and Finance ministries will together work on the amendment of land ownership law and study adding rights to purchase land.
The government wants to get this project off the ground in 2022 and details such as whether the foreigner buying land would have to be married to a Thai are still being considered.
The National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDB) said the implementation of this measure over a five-year period will increase the number of foreigners in this country by one million, boost spending by 1 trillion baht, increase investment by 800 billion baht, and increase tax income by 270 billion baht.
However, the Cabinet agreed with NESDB’s proposal that the project be assessed every five years, with tax and land ownership privileges to end after five years of implementation.
CAPTIONS:
Top: Foreign tourists arriving at Suvarnabhumi airport. Photo: NNT
Home Page: Deputy spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office Ms. Ratchada Thanadirek. Photo: Thai Rath
Oh, nice work. This will rise the prices extremely.