Thailand family visas for foreign workers’ spouses and children

If your spouse has a qualifying Thai employment-based permission to stay, you and eligible children can apply separately for a Non-Immigrant O (Non-O) family visa or family extension. It is not automatic: each person needs their own permission, and a dependant’s Non-O does not itself allow them to work.

The first useful step: obtain the worker’s passport visa/extension pages and work-authorisation record from the worker or HR. Put those beside every family member’s passport, marriage or birth record and current stay-until date. That establishes which application you need and whether there is time to prepare it.

This guide concerns temporary family residence with a foreign worker. If your spouse is Thai, use Thai-spouse stay. If the child’s education is the intended basis for the family’s move, the school and accompanying-parent route needs a separate assessment.

Choose the right starting point

The London embassy’s family page expressly includes spouses and children under 20 of people working in Thailand. Its single-entry product has 90-day visa validity and a stay of up to 90 days. Visa validity is the entry-use window; the admission stamp records the stay actually granted. A longer extension is a separate Immigration decision.

Who counts as an eligible family member?

For a spouse, prepare a legally recognised marriage record. Do not assume an unmarried partnership, engagement or shared lease is equivalent. For children, prepare evidence connecting the child to the sponsoring parent; adoption, parentage and a stepchild relationship can require different civil records.

The applicable extension rule changed after the original January 2025 order. Thai Immigration Order 12/2568, dated 23 January 2025, originally set out family-extension clause 2.20. The Royal Gazette's Order 238/2568 expressly replaces clause 2.20 effective 1 October 2025 (published 4 December 2025). Do not rely on an unamended provincial PDF or a 2020 checklist for the current extension category.

Under the replacement clause 2.20, eligibility is tied to specified temporary-stay sponsor categories, not every person with a long visa. A spouse needs a relationship both in law and in fact. For a child, adopted child or stepchild in the dependant category, the text requires an unmarried member of the household no older than 20, with an exception for a child unable to support themselves because of illness/disability and dependent on a parent. For an over-20 medical dependency case, the replacement annex calls for a certificate/request from a doctor at a government hospital or government medical institution. Parents as dependants have a separate age-50-or-older criterion. A grant under this clause is no more than one year per extension—not guaranteed one year and not a five-year family visa.

Your next action: ask the employer/HR and the issuing Immigration office to identify the worker's exact qualifying sponsor-extension clause and the family's clause 2.20 paperwork. Bring every applicant's passport, sponsor's permission, civil relationship proof, and case-specific medical records. For entry visas, verify the different mission-specific Non-O checklist; the Gazette extension annex is not itself an overseas visa-issuance checklist.

For an unusual employer or immigration category: The family provisions are not a shortcut around the sponsor’s own conditions. A 2026 Immigration amendment changed the business-necessity sponsorship requirements in clause 2.1, without replacing the family clause 2.20. Have HR identify the worker’s exact approved basis. This guide does not promise a grace period or permit-to-work route for every case.

A worker’s Non-B, a BOI-sponsored permission, an LTR and a DTV are different bases. Neither overseas income nor the description “digital nomad” proves sponsorship eligibility. Our LTR–DTV comparison handles those programmes; it also retains their separate family-rule uncertainties.

Prepare three document folders

This is a preparation checklist, not a substitute for the receiving mission’s or Immigration office’s final list.

Phnom Penh’s dependant checklist specifically asks for a company or school guarantee letter, sponsor passport/visa pages, work permit or student ID, company evidence and, for its BOI case, a BOI letter. Those are that mission’s published requirements, not a promise that every mission accepts the same pack.

For a child travelling with one parent, resolve consent and custody before booking. Los Angeles’ checklist includes parental identification, birth evidence, notarised sole-custody court evidence where relevant, and notarised travel consent from a non-travelling parent. A school emergency-contact form is not a custody order.

Ask the receiving authority which translation language and certification chain it accepts before paying for translations. Do not assume an apostille alone, a private translation alone, or an old certified copy is sufficient everywhere.

Do we need THB 400,000 or THB 500,000?

Do not import the Thai-spouse or student-parent deposit rule into a foreign-worker dependant application.

Consular financial evidence varies: London’s published non-Thai-family checklist specifies THB 30,000 (£700), while Los Angeles lists USD 1,000 per person or USD 2,000 per family for that category. These are examples from named missions, not nationwide extension thresholds. Confirm the amount, account owner, statement period and acceptable sponsor evidence with the mission handling your application.

Budget separately for government application fees, document authentication, travel and any optional agent service. Paying an agent does not replace a government decision.

Apply in the right order

1. Confirm the sponsor basis. HR supplies the records; the mission or Immigration confirms the family category. If the worker’s approval is incomplete, establish what evidence can be used before paying family fees.
2. Resolve civil documents. Correct name discrepancies and obtain required custody/consent evidence. Tell the authority early if a document cannot be obtained.
3. If applying abroad, select the correct mission and purpose in Thai e-Visa. The official manual, pages 20–31, distinguishes passport country, current location, receiving mission and purpose. Prepare an individual application for each person.
4. Respond to document requests and wait for the decision. A payment receipt or “pending document check” is not an issued visa. The manual explains the request-document workflow and downloading the confirmation.
5. After entry, record each admission separately. Keep copies of the e-Visa and actual stay stamp. Arrange the extension process early enough for missing evidence to be corrected.
6. For an in-country extension, use the office’s current instructions. The older government summary identifies TM.7, applicant and sponsor passport copies and relationship documents. Confirm current originals, photographs, address evidence, attendance and sponsor records with the receiving office.

Already in Thailand and considering a change of visa category? This is not the same transaction as extending an existing Non-O family stay. Immigration Bureau Order 237/2568, published in the Royal Gazette on 4 December 2025 and effective 1 October 2025, replaces item 11 of Order 14/2568 for specified in-country visa examination/change-of-category family cases. Its annex calls for the applicant’s and sponsoring foreigner’s passport copies, relationship evidence, and—where accompanying a foreigner under a business-necessity basis—the sponsor’s work permit or request letter. It separately addresses a spouse’s legal and factual relationship, qualifying unmarried dependent children and parents aged 50 or older. It does not guarantee that a tourist or visa-exempt entrant can apply in country, waive an admission/status restriction, or determine how much permitted stay must remain. Ask your actual Immigration office whether your current entry and sponsor category support this application, what form and lead time apply, and what further evidence it needs. The later Order 238/2568 governs extension clause 2.20; do not transplant its separate medical-dependency exception into item 11 without office confirmation.

Illustrative example: A worker is already in Bangkok; their spouse and nine-year-old remain in the UK. The useful first step is for HR to send the worker’s actual approval pack and for the family to obtain the marriage and birth documents. London’s Non-O route is the relevant starting point. The child’s school acceptance does not replace the family application, and the spouse cannot use the worker’s permit to accept a job.

Can a dependant spouse work?

Do not start work on the strength of Non-O dependant permission alone. A family stay and permission to perform a job are separate approvals.

If offered employment, give the prospective employer your current visa/stay pages and the proposed duties. Ask its HR team to establish with the Department of Employment (DOE) and Immigration:

• Whether your current family status can support the required work authorisation, or whether your immigration basis must change.
• Which employer and applicant documents are required.
• What actual approval or applicable exemption must exist before the first working day.
• What happens to that work arrangement if the sponsoring spouse loses their status.

The MFA employment guidance distinguishes a Non-Immigrant visa from a work permit. It does not establish that every dependant can retain their current status and obtain one. A prospective employer must obtain the applicable DOE and Immigration decision for the actual duties and visa basis. Do not rely on a blanket claim that every ordinary dependant can keep Non-O while working, or that every such person must always change status.

Do not generalise LTR or Smart programme concessions to ordinary Non-O dependants. Nor does calling an activity remote, unpaid or a trial shift establish an exemption. Use work-permit preparation to organise the employer’s response.

If the sponsoring worker resigns, is dismissed or changes employer

Include every dependant in the transition from the start. The government’s employment-ending instructions, updated July 2023, say that loss of the employment-based stay reason also affects dependent family and direct the worker to the original Immigration office on the last working day. This is an older procedural source, not proof of every 2026 case outcome.

For an employment-based extension with dependent family extensions, plan with HR and Immigration before the employment ends. For a sudden dismissal, contact the office immediately with all passports and the available employment-end evidence. Do not assume the employer’s later labour notification deadline gives the family additional stay.

Use this sequence:

1. Worker and old HR: establish the actual employment end date and obtain the signed employer letter and supporting records.
2. Each family member: identify whether their permission depends on that worker or has a genuinely independent basis.
3. Old and new HR, if changing jobs: ask Immigration how to coordinate the worker’s new sponsorship and each family application. A new contract does not automatically update dependant permissions.
4. Immigration: establish the cancellation outcome, any accepted replacement application and the last lawful date for each passport.
5. Family: keep a departure plan if the required replacement cannot be completed lawfully. Do not assume seven, 15 or 21 extra days.

If still on an initial admission, rather than an employment-based extension, ask Immigration to determine that admission’s treatment; the extension procedure does not settle it automatically. Similarly, a child with an independently supported school permission needs their own assessment, not automatic cancellation merely because a parent changed jobs.

Illustrative adverse case: A worker is dismissed today; the family’s stamps show several months remaining and HR will issue its letter next week. The family should save the dismissal evidence and contact Immigration today about missing documents and dependent cancellation. Waiting for HR or relying on the printed future dates is not a transition plan. The detailed worker-side process is in leaving a Thai job.

The cancellation outcome differs by the worker’s actual stay and each family member’s status. The older public procedural guidance does not establish a universal 2026 grace period; get an individual Immigration decision before the employment ends or as soon as a sudden dismissal occurs.

Keep the family’s permission usable

Maintain one row per person: passport expiry, current stay expiry, sponsor basis, next filing, requested documents and responsible adult. Renew the sponsor evidence and dependant applications in the sequence the office accepts; do not assume one household renewal.

Keep school enrolment, address reporting, accommodation notification and re-entry planning separate from the stay-expiry calendar. A lease, school receipt or reporting acknowledgement is not a replacement stay approval.

If a marriage ends, a child approaches the age limit, or sponsorship fails, investigate another qualifying basis while there is time. Ask for the actual missing requirement and whether it can be corrected before the current permission ends. Do not respond to rejection by buying another generic “family visa” package.

Five answers to write down now

1. Which exact permission does the worker hold, and which family category will each person use?
2. Who will supply the sponsor letter, relationship records and any custody/consent evidence?
3. Which mission or Immigration office will accept the application, and what is each person’s current lawful deadline?
4. If a spouse plans to work, what separate authority establishes their permitted start date?
5. If the job ends or a child turns 20, what replacement decision or departure plan must be arranged?

Scope of these rules: This guide covers the ordinary qualifying worker-family application and preparation sequence, not every specialist programme, discretionary domestic status change or an assurance that a cancelled sponsor permits extra days. A current decision from the responsible Thai authority controls your case.