Non-B visa vs TRC
The Thailand Non-Immigrant B is the visa you enter on to take a salaried job or run a business, and it costs 2,000 Baht for a single entry valid three months or 5,000 Baht for a one-year multiple-entry; a three-year version costs 10,000 Baht. It is not a residence permit and not work authorisation: each entry gives you a maximum of 90 days, and you must be granted a work permit before you start work. The company sponsoring you carries the real burden — to get your stay extended to a year, Immigration requires the employer to hold paid-up registered capital of no less than 2 million Baht and a ratio of one foreign employee per four permanent Thai employees, and you must earn at least the figure set for your nationality (50,000 Baht a month for nationals of European countries, Australia, Canada, Japan and the United States). Vietnam's Temporary Residence Card is not a visa you apply for from abroad — it is an upgrade granted after you are already in Vietnam on a qualifying visa, and only a sponsoring company, investment or family member can file it for you. Validity is capped by the card's symbol: ĐT1 investor cards run up to 10 years, NG3/LV1/LV2/LS/ĐT2/DH up to 5 years, NN1/NN2/ĐT3/TT up to 3 years, and the LĐ1/LĐ2 employment cards most foreign workers actually hold up to 2 years, always at least 30 days shorter than your passport. The state fee is USD 145 per card up to 2 years, USD 155 for over 2 to 5 years and USD 165 for over 5 to 10 years, with a 5-working-day statutory decision window.
| Non-B visa | TRC | |
|---|---|---|
| Country | thailand | vietnam |
| Stay per entry | 90 days | Continuous residence for the whole validity of the card. You do not accrue a per-entry stay limit and there are no border runs; the card replaces the visa for the period it covers. |
| Total validity | 3 months (single entry) or 1 year (multiple entry); a 3-year multiple-entry version is issued for 10,000 Baht | Depends entirely on the card symbol: ĐT1 up to 10 years; NG3, LV1, LV2, LS, ĐT2 and DH up to 5 years; NN1, NN2, ĐT3 and TT up to 3 years; LĐ1, LĐ2 and PV1 up to 2 years. Since 1 July 2026 the new UĐ1 and UĐ2 cards also run up to 10 years. Every card must be at least 30 days shorter than the remaining validity of your passport, so a passport with 18 months left caps even a 10-year entitlement at about 17 months. |
| Government fee | ฿2,000 — single-entry Non-B with three-month validity; 5,000 Baht for one-year multiple entry; 10,000 Baht for the three-year Non-B. Work permit fees, extension-of-stay and re-entry permits are all separate and additional. | $145 — Per card, for a TRC valid no more than 2 years — the tier that covers the LĐ1/LĐ2 employment cards most foreign workers get. USD 155 for over 2 to 5 years, USD 165 for over 5 to 10 years. Set by Circular 28/2026/TT-BTC, in force 1 April 2026. Excludes the work permit, the sponsor's paperwork and any agent fee. |
| Income required | ฿50,000 — minimum gross monthly salary for nationals of countries in Europe (except Russia) plus Australia, Canada, Japan and the USA, applied at the one-year extension of stay, not at the embassy. Lower bands apply to other nationalities; we have not yet sourced those figures | None |
| Savings required | ฿20,000 — evidence of adequate finance shown at visa application: 20,000 Baht per person, 40,000 Baht per family | None |
| Deposit required | ฿2,000,000 — paid-up registered capital the employing company must hold — a requirement on the employer, not on you, tested when Immigration considers your one-year extension of stay. Representative offices, regional offices and overseas branch offices are exempted from this test. | ₫100,000,000,000 — Not a refundable deposit — this is the capital contribution that buys the longest card. VND 100 billion or more (or investment in an incentivised business line or locality) gets you an ĐT1 visa and so the 10-year ĐT1 TRC. VND 50bn–under 100bn is ĐT2 (5-year card), VND 3bn–under 50bn is ĐT3 (3-year card), and under VND 3bn is ĐT4, which gets no TRC at all. |
| Minimum age | None | None |
| Health insurance | Not required | Not required |
| Processing time | Not published | 5 working days from receipt of a complete dossier, by statute. In practice provincial immigration offices commonly take 5 to 10 working days, and the clock only starts once the file is accepted as complete — an incomplete dossier is handed back rather than queued. |
| Apply from |
Choose the Non-B visa if
- Leads to indefinite renewal — the one-year extension can be repeated annually for as long as the job and the employer keep qualifying, and years on a Non-B count toward the permanent residence application
- Your spouse and children under 20 can hold dependent Non-O visas tied to your extension rather than needing their own qualifying job
- A three-year multiple-entry version exists at 10,000 Baht for people who mainly travel in and out for business rather than living in Thailand
- The employer-side tests are relaxed for representative offices, regional offices and overseas branch offices, which are exempted from the capital and financial-statement requirements and only need one Thai employee per foreigner
- BOI-promoted employers route through a separate channel that sidesteps the standard capital and ratio tests entirely
Choose the TRC if
- Acts as a multiple-entry residence permit — you leave and re-enter Vietnam freely for the life of the card with no visa run, no extension stamps and no per-entry day count
- Genuinely long: an ĐT1 investor card runs up to 10 years, longer than almost any comparable Southeast Asian residence permit
- Cheap by regional standards — USD 145 to USD 165 in state fees for the whole multi-year term, not per year
- A holder can sponsor a TT card for a spouse and children under 18, keeping the family on one legal footing
- Statutory 5-working-day decision window, and applications are filed at the provincial immigration office where your sponsor is based rather than requiring a trip to Hanoi
Non-B visa last checked 11 September 2026; TRC last checked 11 September 2026. Sources are listed on each visa page.