Thailand lures digital nomads with 10-year visas, ultra-low tax rate

The sandy beaches of Phuket, the bustling streets of Bangkok, and the mountains of Chiang Mai could all soon be options for digital nomads looking for their next home base.

Thailand will soon offer a 10-year visa to potential long-term residents, with applications opening Sep. 1. The scheme hopes to attract “foreign human resources with high potential and skills,” Narit Therdsteerasukdi, deputy secretary general for the Thai Board of Investment, told Nikkei Asia. 

The visa is targeted primarily at people working in high-tech industries, like electric vehicles, biotechnology, and electronics. But the visa will also be available to employees of foreign companies who want to base themselves in Thailand as a digital nomad—or “work-from-Thailand professionals,” as the visa describes them.

Visa holders would be taxed at a lower rate—17%, opposed to the 35% charged…