FlyingThai

1 minute ago, Phillip9 said:

Yes, I don’t understand why they aren’t selling special one year covid visas.  Something like a one year elite visa.  Many of us already here would gladly pay a premium to stay.  People all over the world would gladly pay for them and be willing to quarantine for 2 weeks to come and live here for a year in safety while the rest of the world deals with covid.

That's exactly the point. Thailand doesn't want people from all over the world trekking here right now and with good reason given the situation. That's like opening pandora's box with or without quarantine.

9 hours ago, BritTim said:

While a change of mind is possible, I think announcements from immigration make rather clear that they want those on tourist entries out by September 26th (six months after the March 26th date where it was deemed difficult or impossible for many to immediately leave to return to home country). I am not sure what clearer announcement they could make.

Remember though that immigration isn't the entity making these decisions. The Government is and the decision of amnesties, extensions and whatnot are rested in the cabinet / PM.

While some many think of Immigration, police etc as gods they are nothing but the (corrupt) puppets of the political masters upstairs. Their personal sentiments don't matter to policy.

1 hour ago, Berti said:

 

Are you sure?

Seem like it depends on the application and whether it goes through an agent or the company directly. Some application forms I find online also say the applicant has to pay within seven days of getting the confirmation letter or incur a late fee. Mine said nothing like this.

The only thing regarding refunds TE sent me back in the day was concerning "Excessive Payments/Overpayments" and they have a 3000 THB processing fee for the refund.

Quote

 

The practice guideline for Thailand Elite member who remits the excessive amount of

membership application fee and demands a refund:

 

As the practice guideline for Thailand Elite member, a company determines the refund policy for those who have made an excessive amount of membership fee payment more than what is required by the company through both the local and international transactions as follows;

 

1. In the case that the member has made an excessive amount of membership fee payment and intends to get a refund. Please make a written request to the company within 15 days after getting a written notice from company. The company reserves a right to refund in all cases if the said period is overdue.

 

2. THB 3,000 (three thousand Baht) will be charged for each refund transaction, excluding the extra charge

by the beneficiary’s bank of the transferee.

 

3. A remittance of membership application fee must be completed in single transaction according to Anti - Money Laundering Act, B.E. 2542 (1999) (AMLA) and its amendment, (such as a mobile banking remittance shall be equivalent to the membership fee in one-time transaction only.

 

Nevertheless, the rate of refund fee is subject to the sender’s bank. The company reserves the right to change without prior notice.

 

17 minutes ago, TimBKK said:

It sure would be a kick in the balls to the new Elite card recipients if it was decided that they don’t qualify.

Thailand Elite has a refund policy in case your visa hasn't been affixed yet.

From what I understand the language in all publications has always been about existing Thailand Elite Visa holders and not Thailand Elite members. This exception was designed to help those with an established base in Thailand to get back into the country, not to provide a backdoor for those outside Thailand to use TE and slide in. But hey, stranger things have happened and money talks.

In any case the visa has to be affixed in Thailand either at an immigration office or at the airport upon arrival. Before that happens one is just a member with a plastic card (scrap) and if the rules are no flights to TH without a valid visa/waiver this would be a catch 22 unless an Embassy would issue a tourist visa for a prospective TE visa holder. More red tape!

These flights are pretty much all speculative right now and even if they're operating who knows if inbound passengers are allowed to board them unless organized by the Thai Government. Right now it's not possible as I understand it. Even with these certificates in hand you can't just hop on any flight bound for Thailand.

8 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

They have been using visa stickers for a few years now. It doesn't matter where you get it done at.

Sorry to clarify my post, yes they do use stickers but the information on these visa labels is hand written/rubber stamped. Some that are issued at BKK Airport are at least part printed.

6 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

They have been using visa stickers for a few years now. It doesn't matter where you get it done at.

Negative. My last one was done at CW and they scribbled it by hand plus some rubber stamps which already drove me nuts. Friend of mine got his in August 2019 and same thing, it looks like a job done in Somchai's basement. In fact Somchai would likely do a better job.

On 8/8/2020 at 2:35 AM, ukrules said:

Mines a 5 year membership, it says PE from memory, the first one was hand written but this newer one is printed, it's elsewhere in the house and I'm not checking it right now.

Where did you get the printed visa, at the airport or when renewing it at CW?

Having handwritten visas in my passport drives my OCD wild.

Anyone has experience with the Moevenpick ASQ ?

I like the Anantara Siam but that's out of my friends budget.

12 hours ago, HerewardtheWake said:

I am in the same situation as Skeptic7. Any information on a couple of questions would be appreciated:

 

1. There seem to be at least two agencies advertising the Elite program. Are they contractors sanctioned by the Thai government?

2. Is Elite actually a government sponsored program? Which ministry is responsible for it?

3. What is the legal recourse if the contracting agent disappears from the scene? I am enquiring about the scenario where one pays 500,000 Baht and the agency goes under for whatever reason after, say, 7 years.

The sales agents just funnel you to Thailand Elite and their only purpose is to convince you to buy. The entire transaction will be through Thailand Elite themselves, the agent gets a commission and is out of the picture.

I never got the point of using an agent unless they'd offer me a discount which hasn't happened anymore in recent years.

2 hours ago, alyx said:

Agreed...and that is why I am confused as you all seem to be writing about the sixth year (so the number of renewed visas is irrelevant ) or I must be missing something as I am pretty certain that the immigration would not give an extension at a later than the date stipulated on the visa of the member.

That "6th year" thing people are talking about here is different from the current "extra 6 months" promotion TE is running.

The promotion is official while the 6th year was never official and has been contingent upon leaving and re-entering the country short before expiration of the TE Visa, maybe even in combination with a re-entry permit. You'd get another one year stamp and as such could remain 6 years even though the visa is officially just for five. Same as you could use a TV that is good for entries until lets say 15.8. for another 3 months when you arrive on 14.8.

1 minute ago, alyx said:

Well I am confused or maybe I did not understand the comment I replied to.

I was talking about the kind of visa the member is on: the immigration officer knows if it is a 5/10/20/life as the categories are labelled accordingly.

Now, what you are saying is that they cannot know if the member is on their 1/2/3/4 or fifth year? But...the dates of issue and when the visa ends is clearly specified. How would anyone "not" know ?

Again I might be misunderstanding

Apologies in advance

The Visa itself only shows you "Issued on: xx.xx.xxx" and "Valid until xx.xx.xxxx" and that's a 5 year period.

The label doesn't contain the date your TE membership started or when your first visa was issued.

Of course they know the type of visa which is "PE" [or "SE" for the older types].

3 minutes ago, alyx said:

What do you mean, the immigration does not know what kind of "class" the visa is? If I am not mistaken these visas are labelled according to their categories and therefore the immigration officer is well aware of the duration of these visas

The IO can't tell if you're on your 1/2/3/4th 5 year visa sticker just by the designator of the membership number on the visa label (UP/FP/SE etc). The only way to check that would be the membership card.

1 hour ago, jacob29 said:

You're missing the point. It wasn't created as a cost effective way to remain in Thailand long term, something that backpackers or budget tourists could take advantage of. It's a way to encourage high net worth individuals who want to settle in Thailand an option, which benefits the Thai economy. They don't want people to live here, but if there's enough benefit for the Thai economy, they're willing to make concessions. That's not corruption, that's just pragmatic. Set the price to extortionate, to filter out people who aren't flush with cash. That's by design, it wouldn't work otherwise.

 

Exactly. Although I wouldn't call $3k per year (or $1600 on the 20 year SE Option) extortionate. I've dealt with immigration lawyers in the U.S. and Canada before and THAT was extortionate. the sums we're talking about here pale in comparison to that.

I seriously don't get the type of people who complain about a program that already carries the word ELITE in it's name. I don't consider myself "elite" as per definition but if the government wanted every bum to get this card/visa they would have named it Thailand Poverty and sell it at Khao San Road.

2 hours ago, BritTim said:

It is a good question. Simplest would just be to tell immigration at every entry point to treat Thailand Elite visas with an expiry date between the appropriate limits as if it was actually six months later. Another fairly easy alternative is for immigration to amend the current visa (requiring a visit to the immigration office).

I don't think that first option would be a very good idea and as someone who is getting a new 5 (5.5) year TE next month I definitely wouldn't accept a quasi "handshake deal" that the IO's know about it 5 years from now. Not in Thailand. In fact not anywhere if a $16k purchase is involved. I'm having a meeting next week at their office and will get this matter cleared (gonna report back here).

It wouldn't be practical either. Several times over the years I had an IO give me an incorrect entry in the passport and since the first time that happened I immediately check the stamp every single time, I don't trust them handling even a normal stamping correctly and they get really defensive when you demand a correction because then they have to tell their boss. The best was one time when I got a stamp that was dated a week in the past. This lady had stamped in people all day long with a wrong date and they refused to fix it until the head honcho arrived who then appeared to give the involved officers a serious colonoscopy. They sit around, play on their phones or get otherwise distracted. Nah!

In my case it's actually easy since my passport expires in 3 years and I need a new label into the renewed passport anyway.

Considering TE now has a promotion that gives you six months extra validity how exactly does that work when it comes to the visa issued if all they do is attaching a 5 year label into the passport?

Are you getting a new 6 month visa 5 years from now?

12 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

That declaration would only be needed if immigration said it is required.

Correct and that's what the last requirement was, hence the denial of most embassies to issue any more letters. Oh well let's see what their "plan" is if you can call it that.

I have an Elite Visa in the works but the THB shot up like crazy vs USD and we're now talking $16,150 / 500k Thb. Not gonna happen unless the Baht comes down again.

5 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

There is no waiver of the one 60 day extension rule per entry to the country.

If you did not apply for a 30 day extension of your 30 day visa exempt entry you should able to apply for it.

I think the UK embassy will start doing the letters again after immigration informs them they are needed.

They can't issue the letters if they have to declare that there are no flights to the UK because that would be a false statement as things stand right now. That's also the reason given by the German Embassy.

11 hours ago, Airalee said:

Good answer.  
 

There is also the basic math behind it.  Let’s say (for arguments sake) that 40,000,000 tourists come to Thailand annually and that there are 150,000 full time expats/retirees.  At ฿100 per tourist entry, if all the proceeds went to the expats, each expat would get less than ฿30,000.  Not even close enough to covering proper insurance/healthcare costs.  I do feel, however, that the premiums charged here for these newly required policies are not proportional to the policy limits coverage or the cost of healthcare here in Thailand (when compared to policies and healthcare costs in the US for example) and either the coverage limits should be higher...or the premiums lower.

My Aetna (formerly BUPA) Platinum costs me 3,600 Baht per month for the 5 Mio Baht worldwide coverage package and that includes coverage for Covid-19 (confirmed to me via official letter for immigration purposes).

That being said IMHO any real "Expat" aka person with legal papers to stay in a foreign country should have a medical insurance as precondition for even being allowed to stay.

6 hours ago, Captain Monday said:

The only country I knew of that did free insurance for visitors was Panama, no longer.

So not Many countries as the OP quoted.Of course it is not for long term care but for immediate sickness and accidents for short term visitors. Thailand should mandate a 300 baht per day required fee for all short term visitors. Example 30 day visa exempt 3000 baht. 60 day tourist visa 6000 baht. Applied to tourist facility improvements, tourist police improvements and a emergency injury fund that should solve most problems with the various lowlifes who supposedly "skip out" on hospitals fleeing the Kingdom leaving large medical bills.

 

Ridiculous. Why should visitors pay $10 a day for some random insurance coverage? That exceeds by far what a very good travel insurance policy costs. We all know where this money would go and it's definitely not ending up improving any facilities.

The bad medical debt per year in Thailand is 300 Mio Baht which isn't a lot at all.

Have you seen the existing lines at BKK Immigration (pre Covid)? Good luck trying to ask 100 THB cash from each tourist. There isn't even an ATM in the concourse prior to immigration and even if how is that supposed to work?

You can't automatically tag it onto the ticket price because in that case it would charge everyone including Thai passengers as there is no distinction during a ticket purchase when it comes to nationality.

Based on a BKK Post article from March 2019
 

Quote

 

... Last year, foreigners incurred Bt305 million in unpaid medical bills. Foreigners in 2017 left Bt346 million in unpaid medical bills. If categorised by the number of medical visits, statistics show about one-fifth of foreign patients did not pay their bills.

For instance, foreigners made 3.42 million medical visits last year, and did not pay for 680,000 of them, while in 2017, foreigners made 3.3 million medical visits and did not pay for 565,000 of them. ...

 

I'm not a fan of unpaid bills but those number aren't a lot for a country that draws 17% of it's GDP from tourism (3.20 Trillion Baht).

Do the numbers based on the total arrivals, even 100 Baht would simply be a cash grab! 3.8 Billion Baht would be taken in annually based on 100 Baht/arrival but the actual amount of bad medical debt per year is around 300 Mil Baht. That a 13-fold of the actual amount on unpaid medical bills.

That being said there are plenty of foreigners who pay dearly (get ripped off by hospitals) for their treatments and one can argue the hospitals have already priced the default rates in, just like any prudent business would do.

On 8/3/2020 at 9:36 AM, LukKrueng said:

Any citizen of any country is supposed and should be able to get back to his country of citizenship in any circumstances. Thailand must allow Thai people back in even if their passport has expired, or they are sick, or even if they are hard core violent criminals. So even if a Thai person is tested positive to the virus, the Thai authorities CAN'T refuse him/her entry to the country.

The 14 days quarantine allow to separate the sick from the healthy and make sure that no local infections will result from letting them in.

Now - non-Thais is a different story. Thailand does not HAVE to take them in and can put any restrictions they see fit. If a non Thai tests positive there is no reason to allow him/her to go on a flight and enter Thailand. 

 

So if you know Thai people are not tested and you consider that to be too risky for you - you have the choice not to take the flight.

It's one thing to be legally entitled to enter your home country under any circumstances. A different matter to be put on a plane with 400 other people while carrying a highly contagious airborne virus that has so far put every country on the planet in peril. It's absolutely CRAZY that this is being allowed or in the very least not prevented. Emirates makes you provide a negative test and without that or let alone a positive test you ain't getting on the plane. No matter if Emirati or not.

On 8/3/2020 at 3:29 PM, Seik said:

Update: I pressed Elite again on my likelihood of getting the approval letter before the end of Amnesty. They say based on their experience they're confident it should arrive by the end of this month, so I'm going to put aside the Agent lead for now.

You will be fine. Depending on your nationality and record this should be processed quickly and most definitely prior to SEP 26th.