# Board of Investment (BOI) promotion and Thai property — what foreign owners actually get

> How BOI promotion intersects with Thai property — when it allows foreign land ownership, and why it rarely fits residential buyers.

Buyers researching Thai property routinely hear about "BOI" as a way around foreign ownership restrictions. Most of what they hear is wrong, outdated, or applies only to commercial-scale projects. **For a residential villa, BOI promotion is not a workable path to land ownership in 2026.** The legitimate BOI-property intersections are narrower than the marketing implies.

## What is Thailand's Board of Investment (BOI)?

The Board of Investment (BOI) is the Thai government agency that grants incentives, under the Investment Promotion Act B.E. 2520 (1977, amended multiple times), to companies undertaking activities the Thai government wants to encourage — manufacturing, technology, certain services, agriculture, infrastructure. Incentives include corporate income tax holidays (3-8 years), tariff exemptions on imported machinery, work-permit facilitation, and — relevant here — the right under Section 27 for a majority-foreign-owned promoted company to own land for the promoted activity.

What BOI is not: a residential investment scheme. There is no "buy a villa worth THB X and BOI gives you ownership" pathway in current law.

## Does Section 27 let a foreign-owned company own land in Thailand?

Yes — Section 27 of the Investment Promotion Act lets a BOI-promoted company own land for its promoted activity, even when the company is majority foreign-owned. That right comes with conditions:

- Approval is project-specific — the land area is approved at promotion grant
- Land must be used for the promoted purpose; conversion to personal residential use triggers revocation
- On revocation or activity wind-down, the land typically must be sold within one year (Section 27 paragraph 2)

In practice this means BOI land ownership is for factories, hotels operated commercially, large serviced-apartment buildings, R&D campuses, and similar — not private homes.

## Can foreigners use Section 96 bis to own residential land?

Yes, but it is exceptional and not a BOI residential program. Older articles sometimes treat Section 96 bis of the Land Code as discontinued or as a BOI residential program. Neither framing is right. The Department of Lands still publishes the application procedure: a foreign individual may apply to own up to one rai of residential land after bringing in at least THB 40M in qualifying investment categories listed in the official Department of Lands Section 96 bis procedure linked below, maintaining that investment for at least five years, and obtaining Minister of Interior approval. The land must be in Bangkok, Pattaya, a municipality, or a designated residential zone, and outside military safety zones.

This is active law, but it is exceptional. It is a personal residential-land permission under the Land Code, not BOI promotion and not a general "buy a villa, get freehold land" route. Most foreign buyers should still plan around condominium freehold, registered leasehold, superficies, usufruct, or a genuine business structure.

## Does the LTR visa give BOI-promoted foreigners land ownership?

No — the Long-Term Resident (LTR) visa, launched September 2022 and administered by BOI, is a residency visa, not a land-ownership grant. It's the BOI program most buyers actually encounter.

LTR offers:

- 10-year renewable visa across four categories (Wealthy Global Citizen, Wealthy Pensioner, Work-from-Thailand Professional, Highly-Skilled Professional)
- Multi-entry, no re-entry permit needed
- Streamlined 90-day reporting (annual instead)
- Tax exemption on foreign-sourced income for Wealthy Global Citizen, Wealthy Pensioner, and Work-from-Thailand Professional categories, subject to applicable official conditions — significant given the 2024 remittance changes covered in [[taxes-thai-tax-resident-180-days]]
- Digital work permit available for LTR holders working for an entity in Thailand, with a THB 3,000 annual maintenance fee
- Legal spouse, parents, children under 20, and legal dependents under the care of the primary LTR holder may apply for dependent visas, with no numerical cap

LTR holders buy condos under the same 49% foreign quota as any other foreigner ([[condo-foreign-quota-49-percent]]) and lease land under the same leasehold rules ([[freehold-vs-leasehold-thailand]]).

## When does BOI promotion make sense for buying property?

Only for genuine commercial or industrial projects — never a private home. BOI promotion makes sense for property if:

- You are building a hotel of 100+ rooms (BOI activity 7.4)
- You are developing serviced apartments at meaningful scale (some sub-activities qualify under the service sector)
- You are operating a healthcare, retirement, or wellness facility (eligible under activity 7.32)
- You have an industrial or commercial project where the property is incidental to the promoted activity

For these, BOI's tax holidays and land-ownership right meaningfully change the economics. For a residential purchase, every shortcut BOI seems to offer either does not exist or is the wrong instrument — a regular Thai-company structure ([[thai-company-property-ownership]]) carries less ongoing reporting burden, though it has its own significant risks.

## What does it cost to set up and maintain a BOI-promoted structure?

There's no universal figure — costs scale with the project, so treat any flat number a broker quotes with suspicion and get a project-specific written quote instead (the same principle governs [[thai-company-property-ownership|Thai-company setup costs]]). What recurs regardless of project size:

- BOI application: government filing fees plus advisor fees for the application itself
- Company formation and structuring, on top of the BOI application
- Annual BOI compliance reports, audited accounts, and activity progress filings
- Penalty exposure: privilege revocation, retroactive tax liability for unfulfilled commitments

These obligations make sense against a commercial or industrial project's revenue. They are not proportionate for a residential villa purchase.

## Who is BOI promotion the right fit for?

BOI promotion fits developers and operators running commercial-scale projects, not individual home buyers:

- Developers building hotels or serviced apartments at scale
- Operators of healthcare or wellness facilities
- Industrial or technology projects where the land is functional to the business

## Who might BOI promotion not be the right fit for?

BOI promotion might not be the right fit for an individual buyer seeking a private villa with land — the program is built for commercial and industrial projects, not personal residences:

- Individual buyers seeking a private villa with land
- Buyers told that "BOI gives you freehold land for THB 40M" — Section 96 bis is a separate Land Code permission, not a BOI residential program
- Anyone hoping [[ltr-visa-thailand-property|LTR visa]] solves freehold land ownership — it does not

## Links

- Thailand Board of Investment — Investment Promotion Act B.E. 2520 (consolidated) — https://www.boi.go.th/en/investment_promotion_act
- BOI — Section 27 land ownership procedure for promoted companies — https://www.boi.go.th/index.php?language=en&page=procedures_land
- BOI — Long-Term Resident visa program — https://ltr.boi.go.th/
- Department of Lands — application procedure for foreign residential land under Section 96 bis — https://www.dol.go.th/media/813280771027636224/2026/05/Sa2XBso9zQCH43WV5FPMw0E8.pdf
- BOI activity list 2024 — https://www.boi.go.th/en/eligible_activities