🇮🇹 Italy vs 🇹🇭 Thailand: Digital Nomad Visa Compared

Italy offers Digital Nomad / Remote Worker Visa - Decree Law No. 79/2024. Thailand offers Destination Thailand Visa (DTV). Every figure below comes from each country's own sourced, dated fiche - compare income, duration, tax, family rules, fees and processing time before you decide. Italy's initial visa period runs longer than Thailand's: 12 months versus 6.

🇮🇹 Italy🇹🇭 Thailand

Minimum income

24,789 EUR / year

Some consulates round up to ~EUR 28,000 - confirm with your consulate. Income must derive from the remote work; passive income (pensions, rent, stocks) is excluded. Eligibility also needs a degree OR 5 years' experience (3 for ICT) + 6 months remote-work experience. RE-CHECKED 2026-07-23: the ~EUR 28,000 figure some 2026 guide sites cite does not trace to any 2026 Gazzetta Ufficiale decree - the operative decree is still the original 2024-02-29 one (GU Serie Generale n. 79); ~EUR 28,000 looks like consulate-level rounding of the same formula, not a sourced threshold rise. EUR 24,789 remains the better-sourced figure. RE-CHECKED 2026-08-01: a visahq.com claim of a specific '2026-03-02 Gazzetta Ufficiale decree' behind the ~EUR 28,000 figure could not be verified anywhere - no matching GU entry, decree number, or independent source found; treated as an unverified/likely-spurious citation. EUR 24,789 stays published. RE-CHECKED 2026-08-05: verified the arithmetic directly - EUR 24,789 = 3x the 2026 healthcare-exemption threshold (EUR 8,263.31), confirming the formula rather than a guessed figure; ~EUR 28,000 is a loose rounding, not a competing legal number.

source · verified 2026-08-05

TBD

The DTV has NO monthly income floor. The financial requirement is a SAVINGS balance of at least THB 500,000 held for the last 3 months (bank statement). Reported from the MFA DTV checklist; not an income threshold. RE-CHECKED 2026-08-11: multiple 2026 guides (Siam Legal, ThaiEmbassy.com) reconfirm THB 500,000 unchanged, with more consulates reportedly wanting the balance genuinely seasoned across 3 months of statements rather than a same-day deposit - an enforcement-practice detail, not a change to the requirement itself.

Visa duration

12 months, renewable

National visa then a 1-year residence permit (permesso di soggiorno), obtained within 8 working days of arrival and renewable locally at the Questura.

source · verified 2026-07-05

6 months, renewable

5-year, multiple-entry validity; up to 180 days per entry, extendable once by another 180 days (THB 1,900 extension fee) at a local immigration office.

source · verified 2026-07-05

Tax regime

If you become an Italian tax resident (183+ days), income is taxable under IRPEF. Two optional favorable regimes (cannot be combined): Regime Forfettario (5% flat for self-employed under EUR 85k, first 5 years, 15% after) or Regime Impatriati (50% of qualifying income exempt for 5 years). Employees kept on a foreign contract may be taxed under treaty rules.

Regimes have conditions (e.g. Impatriati needs 3 years' prior non-residence + a 4-year residency commitment; the two regimes cannot be combined). Verify with the Agenzia delle Entrate. UPDATE 2026-07-15: the 2026 Budget Law was enacted as Law No. 199 of 30 Dec 2025 (Gazzetta Ufficiale), extending the Regime Impatriati (D.Lgs. 209/2023 - 50% tax-base reduction, EUR 600,000/year cap, arrival year plus 4 more) to foreign workers who transfer tax residence to Italy from 2026. RE-CHECKED 2026-08-01: located the specific Agenzia delle Entrate ruling behind the 'foreign employer / smart working' question - Risposta ad interpello n. 2/2026 (12 January 2026) confirms a worker who returns to Italy and does smart working for a foreign employer (including one different from their pre-return employer) can access Regime Impatriati, provided the work is carried out predominantly on Italian territory and all other D.Lgs. 209/2023 requirements are met. This is an official AEdE ruling, sourceUrl updated to it directly, but confidence stays 'reported' rather than 'official' because the page itself 403s on direct fetch (same proxy-policy pattern as other .gov.it domains) - this rests on a search-engine read of AEdE's own indexed document, not a page fetch. It resolves the foreign-employer question generally but does not explicitly name 'digital nomad visa holders' as a category, so whether a separate, still-undefined 'Digital Nomad Tax Bonus' also exists remains open.

source · verified 2026-08-01

Foreign income may be taxable in Thailand if you become a Thai tax resident (183+ days) and remit it; rules on remitted foreign income tightened recently.

Confirm your position with the Thai Revenue Department; treatment of remitted foreign income changed. RE-CHECKED 2026-07-19: Revenue Department Order Por. 161/2566 (effective 2024-01-01) remains in force unchanged - Thai tax residents owe tax on foreign-sourced income when remitted, regardless of which year it was earned or remitted. A draft proposal to add a 2-year exemption window (income earned 2024+ exempt if remitted within 2 tax years) had been circulating for the 2026 filing season, but it stalled: Parliament dissolved for the 2026-02-08 election, all pending legislation lapsed, and the post-election government had not revived it as of PwC's Thailand tax summary (updated 2026-02-02). No relief is in force - status quo confirmed, not a change. RE-CHECKED 2026-08-04: thaievisa.go.th still 403 on direct fetch. The 2-year remittance-tax exemption proposal remains stalled, unrevived since Parliament's dissolution. DTV savings requirement (THB 500,000/3 months) unchanged; sources note stricter deposit-seasoning enforcement in 2026, which is enforcement practice rather than a change to the requirement itself. No material change to any tracked field. RE-CHECKED 2026-08-11: a new government formed in spring 2026 (PM Anutin Charnvirakul, cabinet sworn in 2026-04-06) but did not revive the exemption proposal - a current secondary source (brerrabbitlegal.co.th) confirms it remains unenacted, not in the Royal Gazette. No material change.

source · verified 2026-07-19

Family (spouse / children)

Spouse + children admitted

Spouse (not legally separated) and a child under 18. Children over 18 and parents cannot currently be sponsored.

source · verified 2026-07-05

Spouse + children admitted

Dependents (spouse and children) may apply.

source · verified 2026-07-05

Application fees

116 EUR

EUR 116 visa application fee (non-refundable). Plus ~EUR 116 for the residence permit on arrival (contributo EUR 40 + electronic permit EUR 30.46 + stamp EUR 16 + postal kit EUR 30). The consular visa fee varies quarterly by the EUR/USD rate.

source · verified 2026-07-05

10,000 THB

THB 10,000 government fee. e-Visa only (thaievisa.go.th) since 2025-01-01.

source · verified 2026-07-05

Health insurance

Required - Min EUR 30,000 (or USD 50,000) covering medical care, hospitalization and repatriation. Cited by the consulate as the number-one cause of visa rejection.

source · verified 2026-07-05

TBD

Checked 2026-07-12: health insurance does not appear as a required document on the official DTV checklist itself, but multiple sources report individual Thai embassies/consulates exercising discretion and sometimes requesting proof of coverage (commonly cited figures: ~USD 50,000, or THB 40,000 outpatient / THB 400,000 inpatient). No single authoritative universal figure found, so this stays TBD rather than stating one.

Processing time

Reported 30-60 days for remote employees, 90-120 days for freelancers/self-employed, plus consulate appointment backlog

No single official government figure exists; range is a consulate-guidance consensus across independent 2026 immigration-guide publishers, with freelancers/self-employed applicants taking longer due to more document scrutiny. Consulate appointment-booking backlogs (New York, London, Los Angeles) add further weeks-to-months on top of processing itself. Confirm with your specific consulate.

source · verified 2026-07-25

Varies (e-Visa; typically a few weeks)

source · verified 2026-07-05

Figures marked TBD are not yet verified and are never shown as facts. Last full review: Italy 2026-09-05, Thailand 2026-09-05.