Relocating to Thailand with your family
Bangkok as a family base: visas that are not tourist stamps, international schools, private hospitals, and why a birth in Thailand does not make the baby Thai.
Who this is suitable for
Families with a reason to be in Bangkok or another city with a real school, including Thai-foreign households who already know the paperwork is the work. Not a fit for a beach visa and a hope.
Visa and residence
Thailand distinguishes tourist entry, non-immigrant visas (work, family, education, retirement), the long-stay options that are marketed heavily, and elite membership. They are not interchangeable. A child in school needs a status that covers the term. We sit with counsel and pick one. We do not sell visa runs.
Family residence
A non-immigrant dependent status follows a parent who holds the principal visa. If the principal visa lapses, the family’s status lapses with it. That is the sentence to understand before you sign a one-year lease.
Work
Work permission is a work permit plus the right visa, tied to a Thai employer in the ordinary case. Working online for a foreign company while living in Bangkok is a question for counsel and the revenue department, not a lifestyle slogan. Apichaya’s own life between Thailand and Germany is why we do not romanticise this.
Business
A Thai company has foreign-ownership rules. Some businesses need a majority Thai shareholding or a specific licence. We introduce a corporate lawyer. We will not put a nominee shareholder in place. That structure is a known problem, and we will not build it.
Schools
Bangkok’s international schools (NIST, ISB, Bangkok Patana, the German Swiss school, and others) are the constraint. Fees are high, waitlists are real, and the campus picks the neighbourhood: Nichada, Sukhumvit, or the north of the city are not the same commute.
Healthcare
Private hospitals in Bangkok (Bumrungrad, Bangkok Hospital, Samitivej, BNH) are why families plan births and paediatrics here. Public hospitals are not the newcomer plan. Choose the obstetrician before the third trimester if the birth is in Thailand.
Housing
Condominiums are the usual family rental. Houses with gardens exist near international schools and cost more. A lease of one year is normal. Ask who pays the common area fee and whether the building allows a home office.
Cost of living
School fees dwarf rent for many families. A cook or a nanny costs less than in Europe. International groceries, cars, and school trips do not. Do not budget Thailand from a holiday.
Family-friendly areas
Follow the school. Sukhumvit, Thonglor, and Phrom Phong for some campuses. Nichada Thani and Pak Kret if the school is there. Phuket and Chiang Mai only if that school, not the beach, is the reason.
Safety
Bangkok is ordinary big-city life for most families: traffic, balconies, and pool gates matter more than a national threat level. Road accidents are the risk we actually plan around.
International schools
Ask for the fee schedule including the enrolment fee, the bus, and lunch. A seat offered for August is not a seat offered for January. Get it in writing.
Birth abroad
A child born in Thailand to foreign parents receives a Thai birth certificate. The child does not become a Thai national because of the birth. Thai nationality law is narrow and is not a product we sell. The child’s nationality comes from the parents, through their embassy.
Birth registration
The hospital certificate is taken to the district office for the Thai birth certificate. Then the parents’ embassy registers the birth and issues a passport. Without the parents’ passport process, the child cannot leave. Start that list before the due date.
Citizenship rules
There is no jus soli shortcut. Parents do not become Thai. The child does not become Thai by delivery. Any later application for Thai nationality is a separate, strict file we will not advertise.
Parent immigration
Having a baby in Bangkok does not produce a visa. The parents’ non-immigrant status has to exist on its own facts. We will not plan a birth as a way to remain.
Banking
Banks ask for a passport, a visa, and often a work permit or a long-stay basis, plus proof of address. Some banks refuse new foreign clients without a work permit. We prepare the meeting. The bank still decides.
Property
Foreigners may own a condominium within the foreign quota of the building. They may not own land. A house is usually a lease. Anyone offering ‘you will own the land through a company we control’ is offering a structure we will not touch.
Business setup
Possible, with a lawyer who will say no to nominee shareholders. Useful when there is a real business. Not a visa costume.
Transportation
The BTS and a car with a seat are the city. School buses are worth it. A driver is common and is a hire, not a luxury label. We arrange the airport pickup.
Nanny and childcare
A live-in or daily nanny is a normal Bangkok arrangement and a real employment relationship. Agree the language spoken to the child. We introduce. You employ, on local terms.
International health insurance
Use a plan that pays the Bangkok private hospitals directly, and read the maternity waiting period. A travel policy will not pay for a planned birth at Bumrungrad.
Timeline
School places can take longer than the visa. Start both. A birth planned in Bangkok needs the doctor and the embassy list in the second trimester.
Estimated budget
Coordination is quoted for the household. The large lines are school fees, rent near the campus, insurance, and, if you ship a container, freight. A nanny is real money and still less than a European nursery.
Documents
Passports, marriage and birth certificates, school reports, and the translations the embassy or the school names. Thailand is particular about names matching across every document.
Professional partners
Thai immigration counsel, a corporate lawyer if there is a company, the hospital’s international office, and the school. The Bangkok office is Apichaya Brako’s.
Frequently asked questions
Does a baby born in Thailand become Thai?
No. Foreign parents receive a Thai birth certificate for the child. Nationality follows the parents, through their embassy, unless a narrow Thai-nationality rule actually applies. We do not sell that rule.
Can we own a house?
You can own a condo in the foreign quota. Land is a different rule. We will not build a nominee company so that you can pretend to own land.
Is Phuket a family move?
Only if the school and the visa exist there. Otherwise it is a holiday with a long lease.
Book a family assessment
Tell us the passports, the children’s ages, and whether a birth is part of the year. We come back with a plan, or with a no.
This is family orientation, not a visa grant and not legal advice. Licensed counsel in the country confirms the rule before you travel, sign, or give birth.
