4-Year Professional Visas Get Green Light

[Maestro]

One question that can and perhaps should be discussed is whether the four years mentioned are the period for which this visa will be valid for a single entry or multiple entries into Thailand or the period of permission to stay granted to the holder of this visa.

 

Quote

...Those who obtain the so-called “Smart Visa” can stay in Thailand with their spouse and children for up to four years without applying for a work permit. Unlike other visa holders who have to report to the authorities every 90 days, they would only need to present themselves to the Immigration Bureau annually, according to information published online by an agency promoting the prime minister’s agenda...

 

Source: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/business/2017/08/18/4-year-professional-visas-get-green-light/

[KiChakayan]

On 25/12/2017 at 1:02 PM, Thaidream said:

In addition, Thailand in 20 years will be an industrialized country with industrialized costs and possibly inflation to go along with it.

Funny, that's exactly what was being said of Thailand when I came here for the first time, back in 1979. There were some positive signs during the eighties, and... nothing more. For many pretty obvious reasons if you ask me. 

Interestingly in Korea they came up with goods..

[Maestro]

Another question is the basis on which the decision whether to approve or reject an application for this visa will be made. Some insight has already been given by our member Samran in this post:

 

Quote

[The applicants] will also need to have their skills assessed by one of the agencies at the Ministry of Science and Technology to ensure that it fits into the broader Thailand 4.0 skills set.

 

 

[Coconut Kidd]

^^^ Reading, writing, arithmetic and a fat bank account.

[FritsSikkink]

34 minutes ago, KiChakayan said:

Funny, that's exactly what was being said of Thailand when I came here for the first time, back in 1979. There were some positive signs during the eighties, and... nothing more. For many pretty obvious reasons if you ask me. 

Interestingly in Korea they came up with goods..

you didn't notice any change? where do you live?

[BritTim]

3 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

4 hours ago, KiChakayan said:

Funny, that's exactly what was being said of Thailand when I came here for the first time, back in 1979. There were some positive signs during the eighties, and... nothing more. For many pretty obvious reasons if you ask me. 

Interestingly in Korea they came up with goods..

you didn't notice any change? where do you live?

Incomes, including up country, have undoubtedly increased, and there is more infrastructure. However, I agree with @KiChakayan that Thailand has nowhere near achieved the promise of the 1980s. South Korea is a developed nation. Thailand is a perpetual developing one.

[KiChakayan]

16 hours ago, BritTim said:

Incomes, including up country, have undoubtedly increased, and there is more infrastructure. However, I agree with @KiChakayan that Thailand has nowhere near achieved the promise of the 1980s. South Korea is a developed nation. Thailand is a perpetual developing one.

Topic could probably be opened on a separate thread, but another interesting case is Vietnam. Back in 1989 in my UNHCR years one of my Thai colleagues had a disgustingly condescending attitude with the vietnamese staff. "look you guys your are 50 years behind us..". And now?...

[SicTransit]

As seen today on Khaosod:

 To be eligible for the Smart Visa, a foreigner must earn more than 200,000 baht a month in specialized industries such as tech, robotics, health care and more. 

Members of this forum worried about hordes of digital nomads peeing in their coffee and gobbling up their free wifi can probably relax.

[mjnaus]

On 12/27/2017 at 5:59 PM, SicTransit said:

As seen today on Khaosod:
 

 To be eligible for the Smart Visa, a foreigner must earn more than 200,000 baht a month in specialized industries such as tech, robotics, health care and more. 

Members of this forum worried about hordes of digital nomads peeing in their coffee and gobbling up their free wifi can probably relax.

If that's all it takes, than count me in! I can see how this would stop the yoga-course touting wantrepreneurs in Chiang Mai from being able to use this visa, however for serious location independent entrepreneurs who have been in business for years as well as remote professionals, that income requirement is very reasonable. 

 

Do you have a link to the article?

[FritsSikkink]

On ‎27‎/‎12‎/‎2017 at 1:16 PM, KiChakayan said:

Topic could probably be opened on a separate thread, but another interesting case is Vietnam. Back in 1989 in my UNHCR years one of my Thai colleagues had a disgustingly condescending attitude with the vietnamese staff. "look you guys your are 50 years behind us..". And now?...

40 years

[SicTransit]

If that's all it takes, than count me in! I can see how this would stop the yoga-course touting wantrepreneurs in Chiang Mai from being able to use this visa, however for serious location independent entrepreneurs who have been in business for years as well as remote professionals, that income requirement is very reasonable. 
 
Do you have a link to the article?

Here it is: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/business/2017/12/27/4-year-professional-visas-arrive-next-month/

My impression is that people with spending power of US$6000+ per month have quite a broad range of places for living to choose from.

If you want to make them jump through a (yet unknown) range of hoops every year just for the privilege of “staying here for a long time and bringing your family”, well, good luck.

[JackThompson]

4 hours ago, SicTransit said:

Here it is: http://www.khaosodenglish.com/news/business/2017/12/27/4-year-professional-visas-arrive-next-month/

My impression is that people with spending power of US$6000+ per month have quite a broad range of places for living to choose from.

If you want to make them jump through a (yet unknown) range of hoops every year just for the privilege of “staying here for a long time and bringing your family”, well, good luck.

Yes - once they reach that income-range, they will probably remain in the place where they built their career up to that income.  If that income-spec is correct - vs the more reasonable "money in the bank" quoted earlier - I suppose that means Thailand will continue interrogating their potential long-term pool of talent at the airport - accusing them of "Teaching English illegally" on Tourist Visas - until they decide to set up in HCMC, Vietnam and build the SE Asian Silicon Valley there, instead.

[mitsubishi]

On 12/25/2017 at 4:54 AM, genericptr said:

I'm too poor to be in Thailand I guess. No one I know back in the US has 20k unless they're working hard at their job and not messing around in Thailand like I am. :)  I love Thailand but if I had more money I would only be here 3-4 months out of the year (bad driving, pollution, noise affects life quality too much) and in which case just use tourist visas. Just my thoughts.

I think any online fivvrr worker or other such bugman worth his salt won't give this 'professional' visa the time of day.

 

Seriously you are going to spend so much money on a visa like that how will you even make ends meet trying to earn money online? Unless you are some international architect or top level consultant liking Thailand enough to partially relocate this is a milking scam. The Elite Visa is probably more their style.

[mjnaus]

3 minutes ago, mitsubishi said:

I think any online fivvrr worker or other such bugman worth his salt won't give this 'professional' visa the time of day.

 

Seriously you are going to spend so much money on a visa like that how will you even make ends meet trying to earn money online? Unless you are some international architect or top level consultant liking Thailand enough to partially relocate this is a milking scam. The Elite Visa is probably more their style.

 

You don't seem to realize that there people on Fiverr earnings millions, do you? Yep, millions. 

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2016/05/31/how-these-3-people-make-6-figures-a-year-on-fiverr/#5c2885001df2

https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2017/04/25/how-to-make-1-million-on-fiverr-secrets-from-the-sites-top-earner/#6fb9fc2131f8

http://moneyconnexion.com/14-fiverr-sellers-are-making-full-time-income-on-fiverr.htm

 

I bring this up, just to proof a point. A large chunk of people here on the forums, seem to be totally out of touch with reality. There's a large and rapid growing number of young people that are making a killing online, and for a large part they are indeed location independent. This isn't anything new either; 5 years ago I was earning low 5 figures ($) a month selling code on certain market websites. I also started a community on Slack of people doing the same thing; we currently have about 2,000 members, of which close 100 are living in Thailand. And these are all people earning significant money on a monthly basis. And that's just my small corner of the world. 

 

These are not people who run a travel blog nobody cares about or sell yoga courses in Chiang Mai; these are serious professionals and business owners who have the freedom to choose where in the world they establish their home base, and yes, many choose Thailand for a variety of reasons. 

 

If you're still not convinced, I would advice you to pop around the Conrad hotel in Bangkok somewhere in October next year. Every year, there's a large event held there for location independent entrepreneurs and professionals. It's membership based, and there's an income requirements of at least $5,000 per month to become a member of this community. 

 

Back to the visa matter; you mention it's "high cost", however actual costs have not yet been published (that I am aware of). Feel free to share a link discussing the costs the for Smart Visa. I personally doubt the costs will be high, even if this were to be sat 20.000 for the 4-year duration, that would still be very reasonable. In case you're confusing the income requirements with costs, well... they're obviously two different things. Even if there were to be a "money in the bank" requirements, it's still not part of the actual costs. 

 

Do I really need to point out the obvious difference between the Elite visa and the Smart Visa? The Elite visa will set you back 500.000b (for the cheapest, 5 year plan). The Smart Visa, although not officially known yet, will likely be significant less (I am expecting something around 20,000 for four years, but that's just a wild guess).

[FritsSikkink]

44 minutes ago, mjnaus said:

 

You don't seem to realize that there people on Fiverr earnings millions, do you? Yep, millions. 

 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2016/05/31/how-these-3-people-make-6-figures-a-year-on-fiverr/#5c2885001df2

https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2017/04/25/how-to-make-1-million-on-fiverr-secrets-from-the-sites-top-earner/#6fb9fc2131f8

http://moneyconnexion.com/14-fiverr-sellers-are-making-full-time-income-on-fiverr.htm

 

I bring this up, just to proof a point. A large chunk of people here on the forums, seem to be totally out of touch with reality. There's a large and rapid growing number of young people that are making a killing online, and for a large part they are indeed location independent. This isn't anything new either; 5 years ago I was earning low 5 figures ($) a month selling code on certain market websites. I also started a community on Slack of people doing the same thing; we currently have about 2,000 members, of which close 100 are living in Thailand. And these are all people earning significant money on a monthly basis. And that's just my small corner of the world. 

 

These are not people who run a travel blog nobody cares about or sell yoga courses in Chiang Mai; these are serious professionals and business owners who have the freedom to choose where in the world they establish their home base, and yes, many choose Thailand for a variety of reasons. 

 

If you're still not convinced, I would advice you to pop around the Conrad hotel in Bangkok somewhere in October next year. Every year, there's a large event held there for location independent entrepreneurs and professionals. It's membership based, and there's an income requirements of at least $5,000 per month to become a member of this community. 

 

Back to the visa matter; you mention it's "high cost", however actual costs have not yet been published (that I am aware of). Feel free to share a link discussing the costs the for Smart Visa. I personally doubt the costs will be high, even if this were to be sat 20.000 for the 4-year duration, that would still be very reasonable. In case you're confusing the income requirements with costs, well... they're obviously two different things. Even if there were to be a "money in the bank" requirements, it's still not part of the actual costs. 

 

Do I really need to point out the obvious difference between the Elite visa and the Smart Visa? The Elite visa will set you back 500.000b (for the cheapest, 5 year plan). The Smart Visa, although not officially known yet, will likely be significant less (I am expecting something around 20,000 for four years, but that's just a wild guess).

It might be more than 20K THB:

it would only cost 75k THB ($2290 USD) for my first year and then 45k THB ($1375 USD) for proceeding years.

https://www.stbcollaborations.com/blog/thailand-smart-visas

It will be for the whole family though.

 

[JackThompson]

2 hours ago, mjnaus said:

A large chunk of people here on the forums, seem to be totally out of touch with reality. There's a large and rapid growing number of young people that are making a killing online, and for a large part they are indeed location independent.

Agree 100% on this - many simply are not aware of the current reality of where/how money is made.

 

2 hours ago, mjnaus said:

Do I really need to point out the obvious difference between the Elite visa and the Smart Visa?

This is where I have concerns.  People who have a vested-interest in the Elite Visa money-stream are not going to be pleased with any alternatives which would reduce that flow.  Look for them to invest their Elite-Visa gains in lobbying efforts to tack-on nonsensical qualifications, so that this visa becomes as difficult to obtain as possible. 

[KiChakayan]

3 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

Agree 100% on this - many simply are not aware of the current reality of where/how money is made.

 

This is where I have concerns.  People who have a vested-interest in the Elite Visa money-stream are not going to be pleased with any alternatives which would reduce that flow.  Look for them to invest their Elite-Visa gains in lobbying efforts to tack-on nonsensical qualifications, so that this visa becomes as difficult to obtain as possible. 

I agree, and the still born 10 years retirement visa might confirm this.

On the other hand there isn't any guarantee that the elite scheme will be around forever either.

[Manitou]

Anyone hear of any updates on this visa?  Will it really happen?  Really happen this month?

[SicTransit]

February the 1st. Still no official list of requirements or how to prove the 200k salary but the date is set.

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/featured/2018/01/17/4-year-smart-visas-available-starting-feb-1/

[Master Jairam]

Why wait till August...mend as u go would be good biz i think.

[ubonjoe]

Being discussed in the news forum now.

This topic now