Moving to Thailand with a family: visa first, then school, healthcare — and housing last

Which visa should a family start with?

The one that matches how you earn. The DTV visa runs for 5 years: 180 days in the country, an extension for another 180 without leaving, then an exit and a fresh entry. It was first known as the digital nomad visa.

Its scope is now wider. It covers people working remotely for clients abroad, and also those coming for medical treatment, sports training or study. The required funds may sit in an account outside Thailand.

From the age of 50 a retirement visa is available, with the balance on the account confirmed every year. The paid Thailand Privilege programme offers terms from 5 to 20 years, but it carries no right to work.

Buying a unit does not in itself confer status. Status comes from a visa, and it is safer to plan the move around one of the routes above than around a purchase.

Can a parent stay on a child’s visa?

Yes. A child enrolled in a school receives an education visa, and one parent receives a guardian visa attached to it. In the Emirates it works the other way round: the child sits on the parent’s visa.

Education visas are also issued to adults, for a university course, a language school or a training programme. A large number of people from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan live in the country on exactly this basis.

Only one guardian can be attached to a child’s visa, so the second parent needs a ground of their own: a DTV, a work permit or a retirement visa.

Why is the school chosen before the home?

Because it is the family’s largest recurring cost and it ties you to a city. International schools on British and American curricula are more expensive in Thailand than in Dubai, and the dearest of them are in Bangkok.

By local standards the fees are very high, which is why these schools are filled largely by foreigners. Chinese families are a visible part of the demand: competition for places at home is intense, and children are brought to Thailand to study.

Universities are the opposite case and cost less than schools. Foreign students mostly choose artificial intelligence, IT, engineering, business, finance, biotechnology and international relations; those who intend to stay tend towards law, medicine and film directing.

How daily life is arranged

A nanny, a cleaner or a driver does not have to be sponsored on your visa, as in the Emirates. Household staff arrange their own documents, and the employer simply pays for the service. Russian-speaking help is easy to find.

The temperature stays between 27 and 33 degrees all year, a little cooler in December and January and hottest in April, when the Thai New Year is celebrated with about two weeks of water-throwing in the streets.

Connectivity and everyday services cost noticeably less than in Dubai. Imported cars are the exception and cost several times more than locally assembled ones.

From Dubai there are roughly five flights a day to Bangkok and about three to Phuket, so the move does not cut a family off from the Gulf.