Transcript of the above video: 

So I thought of making this video after we saw a recent comment on our channel and sometimes, we get these comments where I don't know why people make the comment. It is sort of like “hey I'm trying to show you” and I am not going to put my own perspective on things but I often think sometimes it's people being genuinely trying to weigh in and provide some insight, sometimes I think it's people trying to be snarky or something or one up me like they know more than me about this stuff. Long story short the comment was: "How about Land Code 96, 40 million Thai baht up to 1 Rai???" Well what about it? I talked about this a lot in the past frankly but fair enough, I haven't talked about it much recently, so this may be one of those videos where I am retreading some older topics - definitely going back more than a year frankly - so okay, maybe some of the newer viewers are not up to speed on this. 

That said, in doing some research in trying to make this video, I came upon an article from the Nation, that is nationthailand.com, the article is titled: Land Department updates criteria for foreigners to own land. Let me say, I think the title, I'm not going to say it's disingenuous or dishonest or anything, it's not but it's a bit sensational insofar as they didn't really update anything. They just kind of talked about the law as it already existed. That said, within that article, quoting directly: "The Department said article 96 of the Land Code allows foreigners to buy one Rai of land for building a residence if they invest at least 40 million baht in the Kingdom." Yeah, I've talked about this many, many times in the past. That has always been there and even Google AI, when you Google this, and I'm just going to quote what Google AI said, but I have said this in videos in the past, if you don't believe me go back and check the record, it's there. Quoting directly: ”Under Thai Land Law, specifically section 96 bis, a foreigner can potentially own up to 1 Rai (1600 square meters) of land for residential purposes if they invest at least 40 million Thai Baht in specified assets or Government Bonds beneficial to the Thai economy and obtain permission from the Minister of Interior," - that's key - that said, quoting further: "This is a rare exception to the general prohibition on land ownership by foreigners." - and rare is an understatement. I've never seen this actually applied okay. 

First of all let's talk about the specific investment issue. You have got to invest 40 million Thai baht standing alone in Government Bonds etc., that are deemed to be to the benefit of Thailand. Now it's my understanding if you went back 20, 25 years ago, there were these bonds available. It's my understanding - I could be wrong on this - but I have not seen anything to the country. That specific type of bond issue hasn't since been done, and those bonds have all been paid out and effectively extinguished. So as a practical matter, the investment criteria is no longer there. Meanwhile, the big thing that nobody ever talks about with regard to the possibility of foreign land ownership, which I have gone into in many other videos in the past is yes, in theory there are sets of circumstances, this one included, including other ones under certain investment promotion acts and things from some years ago, that do allow the possibility of foreign land ownership but it requires the sign off of the Minister of Interior. Now as a practical matter, this sign off is virtually not given okay. I'm not going to say, never say never, because it's not impossible but this is somewhat to the equivalent of what's called CFIUS in the United States: the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, where there is a Committee in the US that can override otherwise private ownership transactions if it's against the national interest if you will. So for example, if a foreign company wanted to come in and buy up a critical piece of infrastructure in the United States, CFIUS can come in and say, "Hey no you can't do that; it contravenes the national interest; it violates national sovereignty" or something. We are not going to allow that. This is similar to the paradigm that exists with regard to foreign ownership of land and in my opinion, it's the underlying reason why there are all these requirements, notably the 40 million Baht investment requirement which is a high threshold for many people and again has nothing to do with the purchase of the land itself. It's a standalone investment that has to exist alongside the possibility of buying Thai land. Then on top of it, the Minister of Interior sign-off, which again is not a foregone conclusion by any stretch of the imagination. If anything, the opposite is more a foregone conclusion than would be the possibility of actually getting the signature for much the same reason as CFIUS might say; again that is the acronym, CFIUS might say, yeah, no you can't buy this. We view it as not in the interest of the United States.

Thailand zealously guards property rights; they are zealously guarded; they are reserved to Thai nationals. I myself am a naturalized Thai. To a great extent, I do understand why this restriction exists. So yes, in theory there is a legal avenue in theory for a foreigner to own land in Thailand. As a practical matter though, it's simply not something you are going to see. Now that said, it's important to point out, it is possible for foreign nationals to own condos in Thailand; it's also possible for foreign nationals to do long-term leasing in Thailand. Usufruct is another where you can have a lifetime usage of a given piece of property. There are a number of possible property rights that can be conferred to foreigners in Thailand, but land ownership is not necessarily one of them.