K2938

While approved in Thailand, it does not seem to be available yet in Thailand

So just to make sure there is no misunderstanding: You are saying it is NOT any longer true at least in some immigration offices that a Non-O based on retirement does NOT have a consideration period? And if so, that only applies to the initial visa or also to annual extensions?

According to various Fb posts in the Thai Elite groups, different people were told different things and sometimes even the same person was told different things by two different people. So confusion really seems to rein.

As there are a huge number of posts on this in the social media, it is virtually certain that the deadline is gone for sure. But this does not really help you so much because there is a lack of clarity on what terms you could upgrade. So to be on the safe side, you might still want to upgrade, though best to wait a couple of weeks to see what other news might come out

Good! Sounds like too many people complained that their rights were violated by the Aug. 15 deadline and so Thai Elite eventually decided not to pursue this any further.

Well, they could theoretically sue the applicant for breach of contract as the applicant needs to sign the agreement at the time of submission of documents, i.e. at point zero, way in advance of approval. And with this they would then also have an enforceable claim regarding the applicant's bank account, depending on the country involved maybe also even abroad

I in no way doubt that what you are saying is right, but since we are talking about big amounts of money is there somewhere where this is actually stated in writing?

Where does it say this?

Yes, I also encountered this problem, but surely there must be some way to contact them? Or is the only option to sue them in case of problems (which depending on the country might not lead to much)?

And how long is processing time? If all your documents are in order, you get the extension stamped in your passport immediately on the day of submission or is there some longer processing period for a Non-O retirement extension?

You have uncertainty everywhere. The Elite visa terms could also be changed following your purchase. From a reputational point of view it is unlikely that you will get totally screwed, but you have no legal protection and the recent changes to upgrade options for certain existing Elite visa holders shows that Thai Elite does not refrain from making adverse changes to the disadvantage of current Elite visa holders

The vast majority of the Russians and Chinese who have enough money to pay the current prices will also have enough money to pay any reasonably increased prices. These are not the poor. So price increases would not really solve this problem very much

Re 2 definitely no

So how fair is it that the Thai Elite Easy Access visa was sold us upgradable to a longer term over its exisiting life (20 years instead of 5) and now this upgrade possibility is suddenly only available to Aug. 15? And on top of this people are only informed about this approximately two weeks in advance? Is this fair?

Just to clarify: You mean access to your THAI bank accounts?

Well, I think we can all agree that prices are unlikely to go down! And making a product too narrow by price rises does not seem to be a concern. The LTR program is also much too narrow and nobody in power seems to care

When applying for Elite is it better to use the official page or an agent?

Will the new prices be announced before Sept 15, i.e. while one can still apply for the existing packages?

I now believe that it has actually been approved in Thailand: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/peter-streibl-3117422a_ตรวจสอบผลตภณฑ-activity-7061678608972468224-y675 https://pertento.fda.moph.go.th/FDA_SEARCH_DRUG/SEARCH_DRUG/pop-up_drug_ex.aspx?Newcode=U1DR2C1072660000411C So should actually be locally available sometime in the not too distant future

1) No, if you actually look at the trial data the Qdenga vaccine is more effective if you already had dengue. See for example: At the 18-month timepoint, vaccine efficacy against all dengue in dengue immune recipients was 76.1% and 66.2% in dengue non-immune recipients. You are absolutely right that Qdenga does not have the severe and potentially fatal drawbacks of the previous vaccine. However, it is less effective if you did not already have dengue. (See also: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41541-023-00658-2; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1477893923000583). 2) I have also seen the article stating that Qdenga has been approved in Thailand, but while I do not know I actually suspected this might be a typo as just a few days before I read some senior Thai scientist saying the opposite. So just wanted to ask you if you are really sure about it having been approved in Thailand. When I looked, I only found - like in your article - a side comment on Thailand in articles on the withdrawal of the application in the U.S. and this could be just one article copying from the other a potential typo.

As the U.S. has a much higher GDP per capita than most European countries, Europe is probably much lower on average

True, but the BOI appears to have no interest in this. On the contrary, various LTR requirements were actually made more restrictive over time rather than the opposite.

Applied, not approved. There is a reason that the number of approved LTR visas is not disclosed

Not quite true. It had been submitted for approval in the U.S. and due to data deficiencies Takeda just withdrew the approval submission in the U.S. again as stated in the link I posted a few posts higher up: https://www.empr.com/home/news/drugs-in-the-pipeline/takeda-withdraws-us-application-for-dengue-vaccine-candidate/ So all does not seem to be going as smoothly as one would wish unfortunately. The EU and other countries approved the vaccine, but maybe the U.S. authorities - but that is just speculation - were looking deeper. Certainly it would have been nicer if the U.S. had approved it.