Look inside
The plan for Thailand, from the inside
These are all 36 steps of the Thailand journey, exactly as they appear in your personal plan — with the lead time and the costs next to them. Not a brochure: this is the file that feeds the platform. Pick another country below if you're heading elsewhere.
For which country?
Every country has its own steps, its own order and its own clocks. Switch as often as you like.
- Steps
- 36
- Phases
- 5
- Official sources
- 48
- Only for your situation
- 4
Phase 1
6 steps
Orientation
Thailand isn't a country where you settle; it's a country where your residence is granted again and again. That difference decides everything — your money is locked, your insurance is your own problem, and one missed report can cost you your status. Whoever knows and accepts that lives there cheaply and well.
- 1.1
Understand the system: a visa isn't a right of residence
- Lead time
- reading step
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 1.2
Choose your route: O-A, O-X or Non-O
- Lead time
- an evening of comparing
- Costs
- none
3 official sources
- 1.3
Get a picture of what it's going to cost
- Lead time
- 1-2 hours with the calculator
- Costs
- none
- 1.4
Be honest about healthcare: this is the real risk
- Lead time
- a conversation, and requesting quotes
- Costs
- see the cost indication
1 official source
- 1.5
Take the decision together
- Lead time
- no fixed one; take your time
- Costs
- none
- 1.6
Choose your target date
- Lead time
- five minutes, below
- Costs
- none
Phase 2
6 steps
Your visa
The visa is a paper chase with three hard requirements — money, insurance and a medical certificate — and one soft one: the embassy wants to see that it adds up. Everything you do well here saves you six months of hassle at the first extension in Thailand.
- 2.1
The financial requirement: 800,000 baht, or 65,000 a month
- Lead time
- the money has to be demonstrable before the application
- Costs
- no costs, but locked capital
1 official source
- 2.2
The insurance requirement: 400,000 and 40,000 baht
- Lead time
- quotes 2-4 weeks; the policy before the application
- Costs
- see the cost indication
2 official sources
- 2.3
The medical certificate and the certificate of conduct
- Lead time
- both can be arranged within a few weeks
- Costs
- see the cost indication
1 official source
- 2.4
Lodge: the e-visa, from the Netherlands
- Lead time
- count on a few weeks between lodging and issue
- Costs
- see the cost indication
2 official sources
- 2.5
With your family: the dependant's visa
- Lead time
- run in step with the main application
- Costs
- see the cost indication
1 official source
- 2.6
With a pet: start in time
- Lead time
- start three months before departure
- Costs
- see the cost indication
1 official source
Phase 3
11 steps
Closing the Netherlands
With an EU move you slide over to another system. Here you step out of it. There's no S1, there's no treaty contribution, and Thailand isn't on the SVB's treaty list — with consequences that go beyond your AOW. What is a relief: the tax treaty of 1975 neatly allocates your occupational pension to Thailand.
- 3.1
Healthcare: there's no treaty route, you buy cover yourself
- Lead time
- start 3 months before departure
- Costs
- see the cost indication
2 official sources
- 3.2
AOW and pension: the treaty works with you, the treaty list doesn't
- Lead time
- an afternoon, plus the application at the SVB
- Costs
- none
3 official sources
- 3.3
The tax office: M return and the protective assessment
- Lead time
- the M return follows in the year after departure
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 3.4
Benefits and child benefit: everything stops
- Lead time
- an hour
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 3.5
Deregister with the municipality
- Lead time
- five working days before departure, not earlier
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 3.6
DigiD, bank and your vote: there's no counter in Thailand
- Lead time
- an afternoon
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 3.7
Documents: legalise, because this isn't the EU
- Lead time
- apostille and legalisation together take a few weeks
- Costs
- see the cost indication
1 official source
- 3.8
Partner comes along without a job of their own
- Lead time
- an evening together, then a few things to arrange
- Costs
- none — the consequences are in the article
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.9
Living partly in the Netherlands: the eight-month rule
- Lead time
- one decision, before you commit to anything else
- Costs
- none
4 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.10
The house in the Netherlands: sell, rent out or keep
- Lead time
- one conversation with the mortgage lender and one with a tax adviser
- Costs
- advisory hours; when renting out possibly an interest surcharge from the bank
2 official sources
Only if this applies to you
- 3.11
Children staying in the Netherlands: DUO, healthcare and the house
- Lead time
- an evening, and after that one report a year
- Costs
- none
1 official source
Only if this applies to you
Phase 4
5 steps
The move
Eleven hours' flying and a sea container of six to ten weeks. The car stays here: importing is so expensive in Thailand that it almost never pays. And the medicines deserve attention — the rules on what you may take with you are stricter than people think.
- 4.1
The household contents: sea freight, and what you'd better leave behind
- Lead time
- quotes 6-8 weeks ahead; the voyage takes 6-10 weeks
- Costs
- see the cost indication
- 4.2
Medicines: take the certificate with you
- Lead time
- an appointment with the GP
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 4.3
The pet: the flight and the permit
- Lead time
- the route from step 2.6 ends here
- Costs
- see the cost indication
1 official source
- 4.4
The car: sell it here
- Lead time
- sell in the last month
- Costs
- proceeds, no costs
1 official source
- 4.5
The travel day: papers in your hand luggage
- Lead time
- the day itself
- Costs
- see the cost indication
Phase 5
8 steps
Arrival in Thailand
From here on you live with four clocks at once: the annual extension, the ninety-day report, the re-entry permit and the 180 days that make you a tax resident. None of the four sends you a reminder. That's precisely what this step-by-step plan exists for.
- 5.1
Within 24 hours: your host's TM30
- Lead time
- the first day
- Costs
- none
1 official source
- 5.2
The bank account — and the clock of your 800,000 baht
- Lead time
- the account in the first weeks; the balance months ahead
- Costs
- see the cost indication
1 official source
- 5.3
The extension: every year anew, at your office
- Lead time
- the application in the last 30 days before your stamp date
- Costs
- see the cost indication
1 official source
- 5.4
The re-entry permit: don't leave the country without one
- Lead time
- can be arranged the same day
- Costs
- see the cost indication
1 official source
- 5.5
Every ninety days: the report
- Lead time
- online, or a trip to the office
- Costs
- none
2 official sources
- 5.6
Housing: renting, and why you can't buy land
- Lead time
- searching 2-6 weeks
- Costs
- see the cost indication
2 official sources
- 5.7
Tax: 180 days, and the rule that changed in 2024
- Lead time
- the return follows in the spring
- Costs
- n/a
2 official sources
- 5.8
Driving licence, language and life with four clocks
- Lead time
- spread over the first year
- Costs
- see the cost indication
1 official source
4 of these steps aren't always there. They appear only when your answers call them up — a pet, a car, children staying behind. That's the difference between a plan and a checklist in which you have to work out yourself what applies.
Look inside
This is what one step of your plan looks like
Not a brochure but the real thing: this is one of the steps of the Thailand journey, exactly as it appears in your personal step-by-step plan — with the deadlines, the counters and the sources.
Step 5.4 of your plan
The re-entry permit: don't leave the country without one
- Lead time
- can be arranged the same day
- Costs
- see the cost indication
The most expensive mistake newcomers make, and it's completely avoidable. If you leave Thailand without a re-entry permit, your granted stay lapses the moment you depart — even if there's still half a year on your stamp. You then come back as a tourist and may do the whole journey again.
The permit can be arranged the same day at Immigration or at the airport, in a variant for one trip and a variant for several. If you go to the Netherlands or a neighbouring country even once a year, take the multiple.
What this step rests on
This is step 5.4 of 36. The other 35 are ready for you — each with the same sources, the same counters and a planning that watches your dates.
And what you don't see here
This page shows the content. What a page can't show is the work the platform does for you afterwards:
- The clocks that start running the moment you begin, and a nudge at the moment something is asked of you — not earlier.
- Your documents in one place, with their expiry dates watched, so nothing lapses while you wait for something else.
- The ticking off, together with your partner on the same journey.
- The steps that drop out or appear based on your answers, so your plan holds only what really applies to you.
Ready to start on Thailand?
All 36 steps, set to your situation and with the deadlines watched. € 399 once, no subscription.
The departure guide
Five mails, and you see your whole journey
Not ready to start yet? Then we'll send you the departure guide for Thailand: five mails in a week and a half, with the order, the pitfalls and the real costs. After that one question about where your plans stand, and beyond that only a short update when something in Thailand really changes — at most one a month, no newsletter, and you can switch it off at any time.
Ready to begin?
Thirty-six journeys are fully ready — Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Canada, Panama, United States, Suriname, China, Dubai, Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Turkey, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand: your step-by-step plan, your documents and your costs in one place, with the timing watched. Pay once, and it's yours.