Are You Required To Have Life Insurance For Extended Visa In Thailand?

Tourists, expats, workers, students and other travelers needing to apply for an extended visa in Thailand are not required to have life insurance. However, there is a long list of documents that are required, and there are some long-term visas that require proof of health insurance.

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Are you an expat, student, tourist, retiree, or employee in Thailand who needs to extend your visa? In this article, we will discuss which documents are required to apply for an extended visa in Thailand for a variety of reasons and which visas require health insurance.

A lot of travelers heading to Thailand want to know about the insurance they may need for their trip, so we’ve written a whole series of articles about it. We highly recommend you read our article What Insurance Do I Need in Thailand? because it contains links to all the articles we have on this topic.

If you’re planning to spend an extended time in Thailand, you may want to learn about the cost of living in Thailand, whether or not it’s expensive there, what it’s like living there as an American, and how to move to Thailand.

Our article Living Abroad in Thailand tells you all of these things, and if you’re not completely set on living in Thailand, learn about Living Abroad in Asia and in Europe.

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Is Life Insurance Required To Extend A Visa In Thailand?

Travelers, tourists, students, retirees, and expats are not required to have life insurance to extend their visa in Thailand. They are required to have an application form, a valid passport, and a photo of yourself that isn’t more than 6 months old.

Thai White Gate: Visa Life Insurance Insights

You’re also required to have additional documents specific to your reason for requesting a visa extension.

Read here to learn how to extend a visa in Thailand.

Reasons For Needing To Extend A Visa In Thailand

You may need to extend your Thailand visa if you are there for business that hasn’t been completed yet, if you’re there as a tourist, if you’re there for investment purposes, if you’re there as a foreign student, and more. Each reason has its own list of required documents for visa extension.

Here is a list of reasons you may have for needing to apply for an extended visa in Thailand:

Business necessity
Investment purposes for a ministry or bureau
Governmental duties
Tourism
Investment
Teacher, professor, or expert purposes
Studying in a Thai institution
Conducting training or research in a University or Institute
Family members of foreign students
Mass media duties
Studying Buddhism or religion
Missionary work
Skilled laborer or medical professional sharing knowledge with local groups
Installing or repairing machines, aircraft, or ocean vessels
Actor, vocalist, or musician performing for an entertainment company
Family members of Thai nationals and residents
Family members of foreigners permitted temporary stay in Thailand
Necessity for a charitable organization or other association
Retirement
Individual who used to be a Thai national who is returning to visit
Visiting a spouse or child who is a Thai national
Receive medical treatment, to attend rehabilitation, or take care of a patient
For court or litigation proceedings
Performing duties or missions for a government organization
By necessity, with a certification or request from an embassy or consulate
To prove nationality
Person in charge of conveyance and crew conveyance
Performing duties in a Juristic Person

To see the exact criteria for consideration and documents that are required to apply for each of these reasons, visit the website for the Immigration Bureau for the Royal Thai Police.

In the following section, we will only discuss in detail a few of the above reasons for needing an extended stay and what is required to apply.

Requirements To Extend A Visa In Thailand

Every reason someone may have for applying to extend their visa in Thailand has its own unique requirements. Most include an application form, a value passport, a photo, and some sort of proof for your reason for applying.

Bangkok's Wat Arun Temple: Life Insurance Insights

Let’s look at several requirements below.

Read here to learn the requirements to extend a visa as a tourist, employee, student, and retiree.

Family Members of Thai Nationals

If you’re a parent, spouse, child, adopted child, or the spouse’s child of a Thai national, you will be required to present the following documents when you apply to extend your visa in Thailand:

Application form
Copy of your passport
Copy of documents proving your relationship to the Thai national
- Examples are a marriage certificate or a birth certificate
Copy of evidence that proves the Thai nationality of your Thai family member
- Examples are a national ID card or a household registration certificate
A funds deposit certificate issued from a Thailand bank and a copy of a bankbook that proves the parents or Thai husband earns a minimum average monthly salary of THB ฿40,000 (USD $1,120)
An affidavit confirming the foreigner’s marital or parental status with the Thai national

Family Members of Thai Residents

If you’re a parent, spouse, child, adopted child, or the spouse’s child of a Thai resident, you will be required to present the following documents when you apply to extend your visa in Thailand:

Application form
Copy of your passport
Copy of documents proving your relationship to the Thai resident
- Examples are a marriage certificate or a birth certificate
Copy of residence permit and copy of foreign residence certificate

Visiting a Spouse or Child Who is a Thai National

If you’re a spouse or child of a Thai national, you will be required to present the following documents when you apply to extend your visa in Thailand:

Application form
Copy of your passport
Copy of a household registration certificate
Copy of a national ID card of the person having Thai nationality
Copy of documents proving your relationship to the Thai resident
- Examples are a marriage certificate or a birth certificate

Family Members of a Foreigner Granted Temporary Stay

If you’re a parent, spouse, child, adopted child, or the spouse’s child of a foreigner who was granted temporary stay in Thailand, you will be required to present the following documents when you apply to extend your visa in Thailand:

Application form
Copy of your passport
Copy of the passport of the foreigner who has been permitted to stay in Thailand
Copy of documents proving your relationship to the Thai resident
- Examples are a marriage certificate or a birth certificate

When Insurance Is Required For A Thailand Visa

Applicants for a retirement visa (Non-Immigrant O), a Long Stay Visa (Non-Immigrant O-A and Non-Immigrant O-X), and the Long-Term Resident Visa (LTR Visa) are required to show proof of health insurance in Thailand as part of the application.

Setting Sail at Ao Nang Beach, Krabi, Thailand

The insurance policy must cover the entire duration of your Thailand visit.

Retirement Visa: Non-Immigrant O

Applicants for the Non-Immigrant O Visa (Retirement) are required to have health insurance coverage for:

Outpatient treatment of no less than THB ฿40,000 (about USD $1,100)
Inpatient treatment of no less than THB ฿400,000 (about USD $11,600)
The complete duration of your stay in Thailand

Long Stay Visa: Non-Immigrant O-A

Applicants for the Non-Immigrant O-A Visa (Long Stay) are required to have health insurance coverage for:

COVID-19 with a total sum of no less than THB ฿3,000,000 (USD $100,000) per policy year
The entire duration of your stay in Thailand

Long Stay Visa: Non-Immigrant O-X

Applicants for the Non-Immigrant O-X Visa (Long Stay) are required to have health insurance coverage for:

COVID-19 with a total sum of no less than THB ฿3,000,000 (USD $100,000) per policy year
The entire duration of your stay in Thailand

Long-Term Resident Visa (LTR Visa)

Applicants for the Long-Term Resident Visa (LTR Visa) are required to have health insurance coverage for:

At least USD $50,000 per policy year
Social security benefits insuring treatment in Thailand, or at least USD $100,000 deposit

Thailand Elite Card

Applicants for the Thailand Elite Card are required to have health insurance coverage for:

A minimum of USD $10,000 of medical costs incurred in Thailand
COVID-19 medical expenses and treatments

Read here to learn more about mandatory health insurance for Thailand visas and the best COVID-19 health insurance for Thailand.

Bangkok Temple: Visa Life Insurance Insights

Frequently Asked Questions

Is health insurance required to extend a visa in Thailand?

Health insurance is not required to extend a visa in Thailand, but health insurance is required to apply for a Retirement Visa (Non-Immigrant O), a Long Stay Visa (Non-Immigrant O-A and O-X), a Long-Term Resident (LTR) Visa, and an Elite Card.

Do you need health insurance to move to Thailand?

Because most domestic insurance companies will not provide coverage outside of their country, expats moving to Thailand do need to buy a health insurance plan that covers them in Thailand. You can consider a private health insurance plan in Thailand or a global health insurance plan.

What does the spouse of a Thai national need to extend their visa?

The spouse of a Thai national who is visiting their Thai spouse needs several documents to extend their visa in Thailand. They must present their extension application, copies of the applicant’s valid passport, the Thai national’s registration certificate and national ID, and a marriage certificate.

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Conclusion

Even though life insurance is not a requirement for an extended visa in Thailand, there are many other documents that are necessary as part of your application. There are also visas that require health insurance coverage for your application to be approved.

If you need to purchase health insurance, we recommend learning about a variety of health insurance options and private health insurance in Thailand available to you.

If you need the advice from an insurance broker that has covered over a million people around the world, contact Pacific Prime today.

Get a free quote today with our insurance quote generator. This makes it easy for you to compare insurance quotes from dozens of providers at the same time. You’re also able to save your quotes so you can refer to them later.

Happy traveling!

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Serena Fung

Head of Content at Pacific Prime

Serena Fung is the Head of Content at Pacific Prime, a global insurance brokerage and employee specialist serving over 1.5 million clients in 15 offices across the world. With 6+ years of experience writing about the subject, she aims to demystify the world of insurance for readers with the latest updates, guides and articles on the blog.

Serena earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from the University of British Columbia, Canada. As such, she is an avid advocate of mental health and is fascinated by all things psychology (especially if it’s cognitive psychology!).

Her previous work experience includes teaching toddlers to read, writing for a travel/wellness online magazine, and then a business news blog. These combined experiences give her the skills and insights she needs to explain complex ideas in a succinct way. Being the daughter of an immigrant and a traveler herself, she is passionate about educating expats and digital nomads on travel and international health insurance.