KoreaElte

11 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

Thailand needs to come up with a TV show like "You wouldn't believe it" that features these people. 

There was a British Reality TV show "Bangkok Aiport" that comes close.

29 minutes ago, allane said:

I have a good laugh anytime I see the TAT, or anyone else, talking about "vaccine passports". How would this ever be made to work ?  Everyone and his dog would be creating and printing their own "vaccine passport" on their home computer. Immigration officials would have no way of knowing if it was authentic.

+1 I saw these news today and I was excited about the concept. For about 3 seconds. Then Photoshop came to mind. People don't care. I guaranteed you the first day a vaccine certificate / pass / document is out there someone will do a 1800dpi scan of it and start selling templates for bitcoin and there will be plenty of takers.

They would need a rapid antibody test on arrival. Crazy times. Blood test before immigration counter.

It seems now almost all that recently applied for TEM-Q have been pre-approved and most are in the process of getting their COE. I have heard from some people still being told "you are not on the list" at the embassy or consulate even a week after being told they are good to go but for the most part it seems the teething problems are actually being resolved. For a while I thought this whole process is dead in the water or fake news but it seems they really are working it out.

Some news report today also claims that over 500 TPC members who applied for TEM-Q are now approved. A huge jump in numbers vs Sept 15 and Oct 1. ????

11 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

How many entries to Thailand are you aware of from TE? Any figures on this?

There seem to be CCSA meetings ~twice a month where they report stats.

These guys have something on it if you scroll to the bottom: https://temq.net/timeline/

Apparently as of September 15 it was still pretty much a joke and TEM-Q entries as well as COE issued could be counted on one hand.
By October 1 TEM-Q gained some traction and 49 COE were issued. Those people are likely doing ASQ right now. Also hundreds of members are now told they are good to go ahead and approach the embassy for a COE. Based on all that I expect that we will see a good increase in arrivals when they update the stats sometime this week.

3 hours ago, rimpsstar said:

This "source" is incorrect or misinformed.

 

They are affixing the Elite Visa stamps into the passport at the overseas embassy. You then begin the COE process. I have just had this done.

 

This is another one of those YMMV situations as there are many Thai consulates and embassies who will NOT do it. The new member is then told by TPC that they need to have it affixed at Suvarnabhumi at first entry.

12 hours ago, Genix said:

Thanks! Will work on getting a CC in order to use CC points. Not looking for the money but rather the points, so this will come in valuable.

I wonder now if I misunderstood your question. I was talking about getting a Thai Credit card with the help of Thailand Elite once you are in the country. If you mean "do they let me pay the membership fee with a card" then it depends. If you go through an agent its up to the agent. If you applied directly I have people report that Visa and Mastercard are accepted but they seem to be quoting in USD, not Thai Baht and at a <deleted> exchange rate. Member found it more palatable to use transferwise and pay cash rather than with a CC due to this.

On 10/10/2020 at 7:44 PM, Farma said:

Yes I applied mid august and received my approval letter a few days ago. What I found strange was the letter says my application was approved with approval on 8th September but the approval letter was dated and emailed to me a month later.

Wait are you talking about approval of Thailand Elite Visa / membership ? I was referring to Certificate of Entry pre-approval from the MFA for existing members trying to get back.

22 hours ago, Genix said:

Credit Cards (not debit cards) are not provided for Elite Visa holders right?

They can assist you with gaining a footprint by establishing a Bangkok Bank Savings Account and debit card. For credit cards you can go with a secured product to build rating and then change to unsecured a year later. YMMV. The banking story in Thailand is very much YMMV. We have a whole forum category on that topic and you will often see that two foreigners, same nationality, same visa class and status, same set of documents on hand go into 2 different branches of the same bank in the same province and one is shown the door whereas the other has an account opened no probs. Another route into credit cards and NCB (sort of like Thai FICO) is if you have enough assets to go into something like Citigold. They are usually willing to get you started with a credit card product by virtue of your AUM.

About Thailand Elite... Had you asked me a week ago I would have told you its BS and their repatriation efforts are a myth. They seem to be resolving this now. A lot of members got certificate of entry approved this weekend. And they have found a way to get official stats they seem to publish every ~2 weeks. I would wait until the mid-October stats on TEM-Q applicant CoE approvals come out to confirm that they have indeed resolved their issues before considering the Thailand Elite visa.

Edit: BritTim's advice in post #11 is actually pretty solid. Apply, watch what existing members report in coming weeks re: Certificate of Entry backlog, then decide.

There seem to be some updates. Apparently the Thailand Elite members who applied late August are getting approvals now.

The TEM-Q process seems back on track. Dozens of approvals in one day. If this is a trajectory of sorts it beats the 49 approvals between late August and October 1 and will put things back on track. There seem to be meetings every 2 weeks where they report their numbers. Let's hope October 15 update will show that they have indeed picked up.

Ref https://temq.net/

and

2 hours ago, MajorTom said:

When was this restructure? I inquired about this specifically a couple of years ago as it was a deal breaker for me. They said unfortunately it was not possible to get a 5 year license or IDP with the elite visa.

2012 or whenever the lifetime memberships with the SE class visa and 90 day entry stamps were phased out and changed to the limited-term memberships that get PE visa class and 1 year entry stamps. Of the life-timers that I know of who got a 5 year license with an SE visa they had other stuff like a pink ID card and it was a YMMV thing. Of the PE visa elite members I know of who got 5 year licenses they walked into Ekkamai with their expired 2 year license, med cert and passport and got the new 5 year license with QR code without fuss. Maybe some DLT offices are interpreting the regs differently ? Instead of HQ with an Elite EPL try going to a suburban branch and DIY.

3 hours ago, toolpush said:

That is not true. I emailed Elite Visa on that very subject and they replied that a person on an Elite Visa can only get a 2 year DL renewal. They said they were trying to change that, but were not getting anywhere with Transport department.

Yet here I am on my Elite visa and a 5 year license.
To be fair, this time around I did not go with Elite to DLT HQ to renew. I do have a pink ID card and yellow house book and went to the DLT at at Ekkamai and done it myself.
But DLT HQ told me on a previous renewal that the Elite PE visa can go on 5 years, the SE visa cannot because the entry stamp only allows 90 days.
Could be one of those YMMV things we get with immigration and bank account opening all the time.

Can if in a designated country. For example Swiss seem to be able to right now. Americans not.

12 minutes ago, cerox said:

I just quoted what they wrote me.

You are free to call them and ask about the January 2021 fees and whether they increase or not. Maybe you get a different price ????

It is just a marketing move to get you to buy it this year. More sales.

Could it be a discrepancy where one person talked to TPC directly and some who got a different story were talking to an agent who is not yet up to date. Or the other way around ?!

The official TPC website is thailandelite.com .com without any hyphen. They also sell directly.

There are a myriad of other similar looking websites that are sales agents. The discrepancies about upcoming pricing changes may well be innocent. Just a matter of them all getting the memo.

1 minute ago, Lammbock said:

The Elite Visa is just a tourist visa and not a NON-IMMI visa. You can play Golf all day but not legally work. 

You can't even get a 5 year thai driver license. (only temporary 2 year to be extended every 2 year)

lol 

That has been fixed when they restructured. The new visa class they have since they restructured seems to get 5 year licenses and 1 year entry stamps. But none of those guys seem to get a certificate of entry.

4 minutes ago, thaiclan said:

What a terribly written plea.  I mean I know this is an awful situation for so many (my family included), but this document is just too long and persuades nobody.
It's a plea to MFA but then lists things such as Elite supposed to be offering so many benefits of residency.  What about those poor farang on retirement visas? They too were promised to be able to retire here and they still can't return - 7 week wait or not!

 

There is a timeline tab that seems structured. https://temq.net/timeline/

10 minutes ago, NCC1701A said:

i guess everybody saw this:

 

https://temq.net/

Wow there is a PDF that shows a presentation where they say only 3 people got a certificate of entry 3 weeks into the process and there are 259 waiting in the first batch.

2 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

The ownership has not changed.

Cool then I stand corrected.

3 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

Thai Elite but they changed their minds due to being threatened with lawsuits for breach of contract by existing life time members.

I realize. I was in that group.

4 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

As I stated before it is not a private company.

My error about the company structure aside you cannot deny that the government concierge service and / or clout of TPC are greatly diminished if you compare pre-2012 to now.
Which can be seen now in the way the Certificate of Entry are being mishandled.

Then the ownership in the Co. Ltd. might have changed?

What I recall is that before 2009 they had deep government ties. Government concierge facility was a prime feature and worked well.

Since at least 2012 it's just a private company with no clout and the only thing they will assist with is a driving license. Yellow Housebook, ID Card etc. they will say "sorry no can do"

12 hours ago, ChaiyaTH said:

So the OP paid 500,000 Thai baht to not even get any proper concierge service as they advertise to be one of the big benefits? Pffeewh, I would want my money back (not that that would ever happen lol). He should not be doing anything other than booking a flight, signing a paper or paying the hotel.

Yes the government concierge thing was severely weakened during the last administration and is more or less completely gone under this administration. Nowadays they will tell you this:

7 hours ago, Thingamabob said:

Very sorry for you. I have always felt the Elite Visa is a waste of time and money. Anyway, persevere and you will get through this. When your current elite visa has eventually expired would recommend a normal retirement visa, with annual extensions. Costs you one day a year plus 1900 baht, and you are free to come and go as you please 

A good number of Thailand Elite members are in their 20s / 30s and not eligible for retirement visa for a long time yet. Neither are they interested in a marriage so the Thailand Elite Visa does fit a number of use cases. If you are over 50 and not planning on flying in and out all the time the retirement visa is indeed the way to go.