Chinese work-permit holders overtake Japanese in Thailand
Growing number of Chinese nationals working legally in Thailand is helping sustain condominium demand, despite fewer Chinese tourists.
- Chinese nationals have become the largest group of foreign work-permit holders in Thailand, with 56,202 permits, surpassing the 21,536 held by Japanese nationals.
- This shift occurred in 2022, reversing a long-standing trend where Japanese workers held the top spot for over a decade.
- The number of Chinese permit holders is rising sharply each year, while the number of Japanese nationals has been in continuous decline.
- A key driver is the US-China trade war, which has pushed Chinese companies to increase investment and establish new production bases in Thailand to avoid US tariffs.
Chinese nationals coming to Thailand generally fall into two groups: those who relocate for long-term living or formal employment, such as working for an organisation or company with a properly issued work permit, or running their own business by setting up a legal entity in Thailand and working under that entity, and those who work online while staying in Thailand for a permitted period, then leave for a neighbouring country to re-enter and restart the permitted stay, or return to their home country before coming back again.
Surachet Kongcheep, Head of Research and Consultancy at Cushman & Wakefield Thailand, said some people in both groups may be looking for permanent accommodation or buying condominiums in Thailand because they intend to stay for a long time, or, if they plan to stay for a shorter period, they may view it as a property investment.
He added that the number of Chinese nationals doing business and working legally in Thailand is significant and continues to grow.
This is particularly evident in the number of Chinese nationals holding work permits in Thailand, which now exceeds the number of Japanese nationals who had long held the top spot for more than 10–20 years.
As of the end of November 2025, Chinese nationals with work permits in Thailand totalled 56,202, the highest numberwhile Japanese nationals ranked second with 21,536, less than half.
Chinese nationals have been ranked number one since 2022, with numbers rising sharply every year, in contrast to Japanese nationals, whose numbers have continued to decline.
The rise in Chinese nationals working legally in Thailand may also align with the continued increase in the number of Chinese-nationality legal entities, even if they currently rank third overall.
What is notable is that the entry of Chinese legal entities, along with investment by Chinese investors, has continued to increase over the past 2–3 years.
A key factor may be the impact of the trade war, including higher US import tariffs, with the United States being a major customer for China’s manufacturing industry.
With import-tariff issues, investors in China have had to seek new production bases to avoid US import tariffs.
Thailand is one of the target countries and has become a production base for Chinese goods as well.
The share of Chinese-nationality legal entities investing in Thailand has continued to rise, similar to Singapore and several other nationalities, while Japanese investors have continued to decline, though they remain number one in total.
The increase in Chinese-nationality legal entities is consistent with the rise in Chinese investors applying for investment promotion in Thailand from the Board of Investment (BOI).
Investors of various nationalities investing in the industrial sector and applying for the BOI investment promotion form one of the largest groups by scale and volume, based on the number of promoted projects, which is the highest, even if the total investment value may not exceed that of other groups.
This industrial sector employs large numbers of workers, including Thai nationals, foreign nationals, and Chinese nationals.
Therefore, the increase in the number of legal entities and industrial investment is likely to have a knock-on effect on the number of Chinese nationals coming to work in Thailand, and subsequently on various housing markets, particularly the condominium market, where Chinese buyers continue to record the highest number of purchases and ownership transfers, even though the number of Chinese tourists in Thailand has declined.
However, there is another sizeable group of Chinese nationals with strong potential in Thailand: Chinese students in Thai higher-education institutions.
