🇰🇷 South Korea vs 🇹🇭 Thailand: Digital Nomad Visa Compared

South Korea offers Digital Nomad (Workation) Visa - F-1-D. 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. South Korea's initial visa period runs longer than Thailand's: 12 months versus 6.

🇰🇷 South Korea🇹🇭 Thailand

Minimum income

105,000,000 KRW / year

Per the 2026-07-07 Ministry of Justice announcement (visa relaunched as permanent 2026-06-30, replacing the pilot's flat 2x-GNI rule with this tiered formula). The rule is denominated in WON, not dollars: it keys off the Bank of Korea's published prior-year per-capita GNI (KRW 52.41 million for 2025), so 2x = ~KRW 105 million and the relaxed tier = ~KRW 52.4 million. This resolves the USD 65,800-vs-73,926 split tracked here since 2026-07-29: both were conversions of the SAME KRW 105 million rule at different exchange rates (~1,596 and ~1,420 KRW/USD respectively), not competing thresholds - which is why neither could ever be sourced to a distinct official figure. Publishing the won amount removes that FX artifact; any dollar equivalent drifts with the rate (the site's own FX table, used only by the eligibility shortlister, was itself found stale during this same pass and refreshed - see lib/matcher.ts). RE-CHECKED 2026-08-03/05: Korea Herald's post-launch visa Q&A independently corroborates a third tier - ages 18-34 intending to live in Greater Seoul need 1.5x GNI (~KRW 78.6 million) - and notes holders who relocate into Greater Seoul after approval must meet the higher threshold at renewal or move back out within 6 months. Not marked 'official' - hikorea.go.kr, immigration.go.kr and mofa.go.kr all still 403 on direct fetch, so no primary Korean-government page has been read. The full official multiplier table for other intermediate age/region combinations remains unpublished anywhere found - treat the three tiers above as the load-bearing ones, not a complete table.

source · verified 2026-08-06

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

1-year initial grant, renewable annually, extended from a 2-year to a 3-year total cap per a 2026-07-07 Ministry of Justice announcement - corroborated across 5+ independent secondary sources (incl. a EY Global tax alert and an immigration law firm), not yet read on an official Korean government page directly (hikorea.go.kr/immigration.go.kr/mofa.go.kr all 403 on direct fetch).

source · verified 2026-07-25

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

Remote income earned for a non-Korean employer or client - the only kind the F-1-D visa permits - is not taxed by Korea for the common case (physical presence under 183 days/year). Employees who do qualify as tax resident can elect an optional 19% flat tax rate instead of Korea's progressive brackets; freelancers and sole proprietors are not eligible for that flat rate.

Multiple independent tax-focused outlets (Greenback Tax Services, Bright!Tax, krinsider, Nomad Tax Guide) converge on Korea not taxing foreign-sourced remote income while the visa's own ban on Korean employers holds. Several of the same sources flag that guidance on the >183-day resident-status threshold is still evolving/unsettled - noted here rather than presented as resolved. Not marked 'official': hikorea.go.kr/immigration.go.kr/mofa.go.kr still unreachable on direct fetch, so this is search-result-synthesized secondary reporting, not a primary Korean-government page read.

source · verified 2026-08-16

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

Independent secondary coverage (Y-Axis, Bright!Tax, VisasUpdate, SharedHomies, Trenity Consultants) consistently reports that a spouse and minor children may accompany the primary F-1-D applicant as dependents, that only the primary applicant must meet the income threshold (dependents are not separately income-tested), that dependents cannot work in Korea, and that each dependent needs their own private health insurance. No source reports a distinct per-dependent income uplift for this program, so upliftPerDependent is left unset rather than guessed. Not marked 'official' - hikorea.go.kr/immigration.go.kr/mofa.go.kr still unreachable on direct fetch.

source · verified 2026-08-16

Spouse + children admitted

Dependents (spouse and children) may apply.

source · verified 2026-07-05

Application fees

90 USD

USD 90 for the initial 1-year multiple-entry visa application, plus 60,000 KRW (~USD 41) per annual extension up to the 3-year total cap. Three independent secondary sources converge on this figure (Korea Herald's post-launch visa Q&A, an EY Global tax alert, an Envoy Global news alert), replacing the previously-scattered range (~USD 45-100 depending on nationality/fee type) - a materially more specific and better-corroborated figure than before. Not marked 'official' - hikorea.go.kr/immigration.go.kr/mofa.go.kr still 403 on direct fetch, so no primary Korean-government page has been read; by-nationality fee variance may still apply and is not ruled out. RE-CHECKED 2026-08-19: no comprehensive by-nationality fee table found this pass either - the general pattern (USD 90 default; USD 45 flat reciprocity fee applying to ALL Korean visa categories for US nationals, not F-1-D-specific; CAD 121.50 via the Canada consulate's F-1-D page) is reconfirmed, not contradicted. No material change.

source · verified 2026-08-06

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 - Private health insurance covering medical treatment AND repatriation, minimum KRW 100,000,000 (~USD 75,000-76,000) coverage, for the full duration of stay.

Graduates out of TBD this pass: the KRW 100,000,000 figure, previously only a search-snippet-level lead, is now traceable to a consulate-level MOFA page (Consulate General of the Republic of Korea in Seattle, F-1-D program page) plus 5+ independent secondary guides (Seoulstart, HaniSeoul, krinsider, koreaplus-lifes, americanvisitorinsurance.com) converging on the same figure for medical treatment AND repatriation - several sources warn 'repatriation' must be explicitly named on the policy or the application is rejected. Not marked 'official' - hikorea.go.kr/immigration.go.kr/mofa.go.kr root pages remain 403 on direct fetch, so this rests on a consulate sub-page plus secondary corroboration, not a primary ministry page read.

source · verified 2026-08-19

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

TBD

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: South Korea 2026-09-15, Thailand 2026-09-15.