K2938

On 8/28/2023 at 4:18 PM, stat said:

Regarding the TIN it is not mandatory if you reside in TH as stated in the OECD 200 page primer as TH does not give tax numbers to people who only reside in TH and have no work permit as the majority of people here.

Do you happen to have a link to the document you mention, please?

11 hours ago, CobyW said:

I have reached out to my local BOI in Australia to see what their official thoughts are too.

Better talk to the LTR people in Bangkok because they are the ones who will approve or not approve your scheme.  And talk to them by email because you want a record of what is said and you want that people carefully consider their answer which will probably not happen in a phone call.

P.S.:  I concur with aublumberg that this is very unlikely to work.  But you can of course always try.  Good luck!

5 hours ago, Photoguy21 said:

What happens if there is a change of mind and the "visa" is cancelled y the government or changed in such a way that many of the subscribers cannot accommodate the change? will they get part of their money back? Very doubtful I would think.

Even says in the contract that they can basically do whatever they want.  The pretty much only exception would be if the company were shut down by government order, but the Thai authorities could do a lot of negative things without fulfilling exactly this condition.  So you buy at your own risk.  No compensation.  The likelihood of you being totally ripped off is however low since there are also reputational factors.

If you get it at the airport when flying into Thailand, I believe you need a lot less documents.  But maybe you have no immediate travel plans

4 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

Does anybody have any recommendation for an Agent to use to do this for me, It would seem that it wouldn't cost me anything to use an agent & I'm in no rush to get the Visa so why not?

If you use an agent, you should only use an official agent, i.e. one of those also mentioned on the official website of Thai Privilege.  Then you might want to look for one who shares his commission in one form or another.  I think Siam Legal for example does this via gift vouchers and various other free services.  And for your own safety never make any payment to the agent, but only directly to Thai Privilege.

5 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

I can't help but consider the 'new prices' is a death knell and Thai Elite are about to kill their own business

I fear you might be wrong.  The number of applicants will certainly decline, but might well be compensated for by the higher fees per applicant. 

And if you look at neighboring countries, then Malaysia and even Indonesia are also quite costly long-term visa wise.  The Philippines for example is not, but there you also have high crime and various other problems which put off many people.  To be honest, the elite visa was quite cheap before the price increases for a country like Thailand.

So based on all this I fear one might also expect a significant increase in the price of Non-O visas in one form or another in the not too distant future

3 hours ago, sqwakvfr said:

The new package and prices were announced

Full details:

https://www.thailandelitevisas.com/thailand-privilege-introduced-new-elite-visa-packages/

11 hours ago, freeman01 said:

13 hours ago, K2938 said:

Where does it say this, please?

where do you think ? Thailand tax code.

Thank you, but unfortunately I did not find it there.  Neither there, nor in any of the commentaries on the Thai tax code did I find any hint that as you say "as a Thailand tax resident you are required by law to remit any money earn outside the country into a Thai bank".  So if you could kindly tell me where it precisely says this I would be most grateful.

7 hours ago, ukrules said:

It says payment must be made in 7 days on my form which is an upgrade form.

Yes, that is what the contract says, but the reality is that the invoice will then say 30 days I think

8 hours ago, El Matador said:

or going to another country such as Malaysia which is very tax friendly. 

In what regard would Malaysia be more tax friendly than Thailand?  It is the reverse

4 hours ago, Tuvoc said:

On this point, there is a clause in the agreement to say that if the program is cancelled, you will receive a refund of the "remaining membership fee".  I assume that is pro-rated.

Not sure what your contract specifically says as things changed over time, but the current protection clause is very narrow and so would most likely not cover you against a huge variety of imaginable adverse changes and really virtually anything could be structured such that it would not be covered by the protection clause which only applies:

"In case there is any order, rule, regulation or law announced by any related government authority which has an impact on the business operation of the Company to the effect that the Company is unable to continue its business or perform its operation as usual, the Company shall be entitled to terminate the Membership for the Member by giving an advance written notice to the Member."

On 8/18/2023 at 9:38 AM, fredwiggy said:

Shootings happen here daily, as much per capita as the US. Just not as many mass shooting, yet. You don't hear about all of them because the media focuses on gold thefts, snakes in Bangkok houses and kids attacking others 5 against 1 with sticks.

Gun deaths per 100k population:
US:  15.6

Thailand: 3.1

https://wisevoter.com/country-rankings/gun-deaths-by-country/

5 hours ago, JackGats said:

Ok, anyway it seems it is not recommended for the over 60 years old who never had dengue.

 

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1477893923000583

In the EU for example it IS also approved for people over 60 years old based on extrapolated data

On 8/18/2023 at 2:06 PM, BE88 said:

You can get it from the notary near Makro parking  1000 B

And how long does this take there, please?

8 hours ago, soalbundy said:

There is a new better vaccine from France but it looks rather expensive, I shall ask my insurance if they will pay for it.

What is the "new better vaccine from France" you are referring to, please?  You do not mean Qdenga which is Japanese (Takeda)?

8 hours ago, JackGats said:

Qdenga is a vaccine for those without previous infections. I wonder if it's worth getting.

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

On 8/14/2023 at 1:21 AM, wmlc said:

Dr. Jack is correct. This is an under consideration stamp. When your friend goes back, if approved, they will give him the Non O visa based on retirement. For the extension, some IOs are making you go back for a second time after you submit as well.

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?

1 hour ago, martinafr said:

I have same feedback from our Agent. Also i asked TPC directly via email and will post when they reply.

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.

36 minutes ago, martinafr said:

We submitted Elite Easy Access on the end of July and are waiting for approval. Than our Agent told us we should think about upgrading to the 20 Extension because of the Elite "relaunch". 

So we are organizing "EASY PEASY" another 20k for upgrade...???? 

Hopefuly the end of this "deadline scam" is true!

Now all the Agents are so silent...

Can someone else confirm or post the "no deadline anymore email" from Thailand Elite?

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

11 hours ago, stratocaster said:

Just received e mail from elite that if you wish to upgrade from the 5 year to the 20 year you now have until 3 months before your 5 year expires to renew. The new dead line has been cancelled.

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.

25 minutes ago, BritTim said:

Just do not maker a bank transfer until you are ready. I assume they do not have the ability to remove money from your bank account without your consent.

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

19 hours ago, BritTim said:

This is true for all Thailand Elite applications. You do not need to make a final decision and pay until the application has been approved.

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?