Hi.

 

I have applied for a 20year membership.

But now have some concerns that, that even if approved, and pay the membership fee,

that I will not get any the visa, due to previous overstays

I learned that this can happen, from this video from "Integrity Legal Thailand"

https://youtu.be/yb0w8MAIjx4

I know that I did previously have 1 day overstay,

but I can not remember if I might actually had another 1 days overstay a few years ago.

I wish to avoid the risk of paying for the membership, but without getting the visa.

 

Is there any way to look up my over-stay record ?

( I have looked through my current and old passports, and found no overstay stamps )

 

Or would it be wise to contact the Thailand Elite Program,

and ask them to only approve the application, if the Visa will be granted ?

 

Thanks for any advice.

Best regards.

 

 

A one day overstay would not affect the applications approval or issuance of the visa from others doing the application have told.

The are only concerned about long overstays.

there has been a couple of posters recently,who were granted the elite and had short overstays, this was after another thread on elite which basically panicked everyone, that any overstays would be denied, i think after that thread and this lawyers video it would panic even me, in reality no body since has come on here to say they have been denied with an overstay, so right now i am going on that, and maybe just maybe the corner had turned on the annus horrible of the last 12 months, 

Ive missed out somewhere, what exactly is the Elite program? Ive never heard of it.

You will only pay after you've been approved for the Visa so if they were to deny you for your short overstay(s) (which i highly doubt), they won't ask you for payment

35 minutes ago, xkkpafi said:

Ive missed out somewhere, what exactly is the Elite program? Ive never heard of it.

Info about the various membership options is here. https://www.thailandelite.com/?locate=en

I have Thailand Elite and I had a 1 day overstay the year before I applied for my visa (counted the days wrong when booking my return ticket).

 

I'm sure ubonjoe is correct in that they only care about proper long overstays, not tiny little mistakes.

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Info about the various membership options is here. https://www.thailandelite.com/?locate=en

Thanks, much appreciated.

I did receive this email from Thai Elite, after submitting the application:

Important Notice* Please read thoroughly;

·         Despite the Approval Letter that has been received in the initial stage of the application procedure, Member who has record of any type of over staying more than once will be rejected at the immigration when affixing the Elite Visa stamp later.

 

I did get someone who can ready Thai, to help me go through my current and old passports,

and found that my current passport has a Stamp that says "Overstay under 24 hours". (2 years ago)

And also in a older passport another stamp that says "4 days overstay, fine payed" (3 years ago)

 

So it looks that I would be in the situation that even with the approval, and the membership fee payed,

the "Affixing of the Elite Visa Stamp" would be rejected at the immigration.

 

Would be great if there was a way to find out, if "Affixing of the Elite Visa Stamp" would be approved,

prior to paying the membership fee.

 

Best regards.
 

5 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

A one day overstay would not affect the applications approval or issuance of the visa from others doing the application have told.

The are only concerned about long overstays.

 In previous old posts it's been mentioned that the Thai Immigration folks recognize that some people may get confused how to calculate the days, therefore 1 day overstay not serious.

 

ubonjoe, would you please share your understanding on this point. 

 

STEP ONE :  if you ever overstayed : NO ELITE FOR YOU

 

small prints, no bullshit

21 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

A one day overstay would not affect the applications approval or issuance of the visa from others doing the application have told.

The are only concerned about long overstays.

sorry JOE, my contact person of THAI ELITE said : NEVER OVERSTAY, not even a day...

 

we will see who is correct on this one

I did have a 3 day overstay before I got my Elite visa, had no problems.

7 minutes ago, justin case said:

STEP ONE :  if you ever overstayed : NO ELITE FOR YOU

 

small prints, no bullshit

 

5 minutes ago, justin case said:

sorry JOE, my contact person of THAI ELITE said : NEVER OVERSTAY, not even a day...

 

we will see who is correct on this one

I can assure you people have gotten a PE visa issued at immigration with a one day overstay.

I think Thai Elite are overly precautious because they had a one rejected at immigration because immigration found that a person had a long overstay before so they are warning people it could be a problem.

It could be the person was on an overstay when they went to get the PE visa since we do not have all the info about it.

Money talks and Thai laws are fluid and open to interpretation.

My guess is that you're fine.

17 hours ago, Seven11 said:

I did receive this email from Thai Elite, after submitting the application:

Important Notice* Please read thoroughly;

·         Despite the Approval Letter that has been received in the initial stage of the application procedure, Member who has record of any type of over staying more than once will be rejected at the immigration when affixing the Elite Visa stamp later.

 

I did get someone who can ready Thai, to help me go through my current and old passports,

and found that my current passport has a Stamp that says "Overstay under 24 hours". (2 years ago)

And also in a older passport another stamp that says "4 days overstay, fine payed" (3 years ago)

 

So it looks that I would be in the situation that even with the approval, and the membership fee payed,

the "Affixing of the Elite Visa Stamp" would be rejected at the immigration.

 

Would be great if there was a way to find out, if "Affixing of the Elite Visa Stamp" would be approved,

prior to paying the membership fee.

 

Best regards.
 

This is correct, what matters is not the LENGTH of overstays, but their NUMBER. 

 

To be sure, you can always go to your immigration office, especially if you stay upcountry, and ask a friendly officer to check your status for you... that takes only a couple of minutes if you tell him correctly the date of your first arrival. 

 

If you have had more than one confirmed overstay, then better forget about the Elite visa. 

 

You may get it, or you may not, depending on who you will be dealing with at the immigration... and that's a 2 million baht bet! 

 

As far as Elite is concerned, well, they are not concerned and decline all responsibility regarding this issue. 

 

In other words, you won't get any help from them... 

The faq for Thai elite visa says you can not get one if you are in the country on overstay, you have to leave the country first.

Im sure that it will be a case of give me the money!

46 minutes ago, Brunolem said:

This is correct, what matters is not the LENGTH of overstays, but their NUMBER. 

 

To be sure, you can always go to your immigration office, especially if you stay upcountry, and ask a friendly officer to check your status for you... that takes only a couple of minutes if you tell him correctly the date of your first arrival. 

 

If you have had more than one confirmed overstay, then better forget about the Elite visa. 

 

You may get it, or you may not, depending on who you will be dealing with at the immigration... and that's a 2 million baht bet! 

 

As far as Elite is concerned, well, they are not concerned and decline all responsibility regarding this issue. 

 

In other words, you won't get any help from them... 

 

The 1 day overstay inder 24 hours is likely not in their system so it prolly won't matter. 

 

Also it's a 500k thb betzi assume he takes the cheapest visa and not 2mio thb

This makes no sense to me-  when one makes application for Thai Elite- they have stated that part  of the processing is to see if the applicant qualifies-  they must check with Thai immigration to determine if there are any issues prior to approval such as overstay history that would cause any issues.

 

How can they approve an applicant and then state it is possible Thai Immigration will not issue the Visa- since part of their process is to get clearance before the application is approved.

 

Something is not clear about this whole process.

20 minutes ago, Thaidream said:

This makes no sense to me-  when one makes application for Thai Elite- they have stated that part  of the processing is to see if the applicant qualifies-  they must check with Thai immigration to determine if there are any issues prior to approval such as overstay history that would cause any issues.

 

How can they approve an applicant and then state it is possible Thai Immigration will not issue the Visa- since part of their process is to get clearance before the application is approved.

 

Something is not clear about this whole process.

Indeed, the FAQ states... 

Why Does Thailaing Elite Require a Copy of Your Passport.

The copy of the identification page of your passport will be sent to the Immigration office for a due diligence check.  This is to insure that you are not on the blacklist, watching-list or anything that would prevent you to obtain the Visa.
 

... Which means Immigration would do a due diligence check before you were approved.

 

The only time I could see Immigration refusing to give you the Visa sticker is if you got yourself on the Blacklist/"Watching List" or Overstayed between getting approval and visiting Immigration to have the visa put into your passport.

 

 

 

How far back do they go with checking for overstay?

 

I had loads when i 1st started coming here and no one was bothered about it but i've not had any for about 10 years now.

6 hours ago, Mike Teavee said:

Indeed, the FAQ states... 

Why Does Thailaing Elite Require a Copy of Your Passport.

The copy of the identification page of your passport will be sent to the Immigration office for a due diligence check.  This is to insure that you are not on the blacklist, watching-list or anything that would prevent you to obtain the Visa.
 

... Which means Immigration would do a due diligence check before you were approved.

 

The only time I could see Immigration refusing to give you the Visa sticker is if you got yourself on the Blacklist/"Watching List" or Overstayed between getting approval and visiting Immigration to have the visa put into your passport.

 

 

 

it takes 4 WEEKS for them to check that...

10 hours ago, Thaidream said:

This makes no sense to me-  when one makes application for Thai Elite- they have stated that part  of the processing is to see if the applicant qualifies-  they must check with Thai immigration to determine if there are any issues prior to approval such as overstay history that would cause any issues.

 

How can they approve an applicant and then state it is possible Thai Immigration will not issue the Visa- since part of their process is to get clearance before the application is approved.

 

Something is not clear about this whole process.

Nowadays in Thailand, each immigration official is a law unto himself/herself. The fact that one official approved the application is not binding on the next official you need to deal with.

 

What I do think is outrageous is that there is no mechanism for reimbursement of the membership fee should the visa ultimately be denied. By all means, deduct a reasonable administration fee, but keeping the whole payment for something that cannot be used makes me suspect an outright scam. Maybe now all membership applications are accepted, so they can grab the money from those who will ultimately be denied the visa.

5 hours ago, BritTim said:

Nowadays in Thailand, each immigration official is a law unto himself/herself. The fact that one official approved the application is not binding on the next official you need to deal with.

 

What I do think is outrageous is that there is no mechanism for reimbursement of the membership fee should the visa ultimately be denied. By all means, deduct a reasonable administration fee, but keeping the whole payment for something that cannot be used makes me suspect an outright scam. Maybe now all membership applications are accepted, so they can grab the money from those who will ultimately be denied the visa.

Where does it say that the payment will not be refunded? 

 

If you're really worried about that, pay by Credit Card and if you don't get what you paid for raise a merchant complaint with your bank, they'll get you your money back.

 

what makes even less sense... you pay 500.000 to 2.000.000 baht

 

but you still need to .... pay 1900 baht every year at immigration if you don't leave the country...

 

or go out/in the country to activate a new year or you will be on overstay

 

so if you are sick and cannot travel, in your old age, this is totally useless and a waste of money

 

but some people like me, with an bitch wife that wants to get rid of you by keeping the documents you need to renew ANY visa ...