I'm no stranger to the rules and red tape of this part of the world. Going back 10 years I've performed 90 day border runs to Ranong and other areas, I've created education visas in Laos several times (and yes I can speak Thai and read fairly well after my education, and haven't abused the system) I've done a fair but of travelling around Asia in general too. This week however I encountered a hellish situation. 
To put a long story short, a simple border run to get a 30day tourist visa turned into a 4 day slog through 3 countries, and hardly any sleep, something that tested me in nearly every way imaginable. 
Can some people who either have the elite visa (the 500k version) or people who understand the process please shed some light on it, thanks!? 
 

It is easy to apply for online. Link to official site. https://www.thailandelite.com/join-thailand-elite?locate=en

The 5 year membership for 500k baht is the "Elite Easy Access".

After submitting the application, getting approval and paying the fee you can get the visa on entry to the country or at Chaeng Wattana immigration in Bangkok,

 

9 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

It is to easty apply for online. Link to official site. https://www.thailandelite.com/join-thailand-elite?locate=en

The 5 year membership for 500k baht is the "Elite Easy Access".

After submitting the application, getting approval and paying the fee you can get the visa on entry to the country or at Chaeng Wattana immigration in Bangkok,

 

Thanks a bunch Joe. What is the 'approval' based on though? 

7 minutes ago, Globe Trotter said:

What is the 'approval' based on though? 

The approval is done by immigration after the they check your records.

A overstay can cause problems dependent upon the length and how long ago it was.

Good service
Now running at about 7000 members so they say, they want more but need to expand their staff to keep up with daily service demands

No complaints from me so far.....



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1 hour ago, ubonjoe said:

It is easy to apply for online.

??????

 

It is easy to apply for it online.

17 minutes ago, wgdanson said:

??????

Obvious typo corrected.

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

The approval is done by immigration after the they check your records.

A overstay can cause problems dependent upon the length and how long ago it was.

I've not had a single day of overstay ????  
so I do hope that I qualify for it. I did look into actually becoming a dual citizen as I can speak Thai fairly well and to a lesser extent read and write, however I that process seems gruelling and uncertain, not to mention you'd lose a fair bit of money if it fails 

1 hour ago, Anythingleft? said:

Good service
Now running at about 7000 members so they say, they want more but need to expand their staff to keep up with daily service demands

No complaints from me so far.....



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Thanks for the input, how long did it take in your instance, from application to the actual visa in your passport? 

Thanks for the input, how long did it take in your instance, from application to the actual visa in your passport? 

Application to acceptance was 5 weeks if I remember correctly, possibly 6 (British passport)

 

Got the visa on re-entry back from abroad which took less than 15 minutes

 

On the whole very happy so far. If I was eligible for retirement then possibly a different option but I'm not so this covers my needs

Had two marriage visas and with the timing, headaches and paperwork just knocked them on the head

 

To be fair when this expires I may consider the 1M 20 year but thats a ways away yet.....

 

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3 hours ago, Anythingleft? said:

Good service
Now running at about 7000 members so they say, they want more but need to expand their staff to keep up with daily service demands

No complaints from me so far.....



Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
 

+1

The 'service is consistently excellent.

 

And NOW over 8300 members a TE rep told me at BKK last week.

 

 

If you have no overstays and enough money, you shouldn’t have any problems. Immigration took 1 month to approve mine, after that the Thai Elite people finalised everything very quickly. You have the choice between 5 years for 0.5 million baht, 20 years with no limo transfers or golfing for 1 million baht, or 20 years with limos, golfing etc for 2 million baht - I think almost nobody applies for the latter. The 20 year visas are actually 4 lots of 5 year visas, don’t know yet what happens when renewal of the the first 5 year one is due.

1 minute ago, CygnusX1 said:

If you have no overstays and enough money, you shouldn’t have any problems. Immigration took 1 month to approve mine, after that the Thai Elite people finalised everything very quickly. You have the choice between 5 years for 0.5 million baht, 20 years with no limo transfers or golfing for 1 million baht, or 20 years with limos, golfing etc for 2 million baht - I think almost nobody applies for the latter. The 20 year visas are actually 4 lots of 5 year visas, don’t know yet what happens when renewal of the the first 5 year one is due.

There is another often overlooked choice of 800k baht for 10 years.

7 hours ago, CygnusX1 said:

If you have no overstays and enough money, you shouldn’t have any problems. Immigration took 1 month to approve mine, after that the Thai Elite people finalised everything very quickly. You have the choice between 5 years for 0.5 million baht, 20 years with no limo transfers or golfing for 1 million baht, or 20 years with limos, golfing etc for 2 million baht - I think almost nobody applies for the latter. The 20 year visas are actually 4 lots of 5 year visas, don’t know yet what happens when renewal of the the first 5 year one is due.

By 'enough money' do you mean the lump sum of 500k Thai Baht for the 5year Elite visa? 

15 hours ago, Globe Trotter said:

I'm no stranger to the rules

 

15 hours ago, Globe Trotter said:

I've created education visas in Laos several times

 

15 hours ago, Globe Trotter said:

haven't abused the system

Yet you still believe you are a tourist? 

4 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

 

 

Yet you still believe you are a tourist? 

tour·ist

/ˈto͝orəst/

noun

 

1. 1. 

   a person who is traveling or visiting a place for pleasure.
   
   
   yes I do 

1 minute ago, Globe Trotter said:

tour·ist

/ˈto͝orəst/

noun

 

1. 1. 

   a person who is traveling or visiting a place for pleasure.
   
   
   yes I do 

But you are not traveling nor visiting, you are living in Thailand. Anyhow, it is immigration's definition that we have to watch out for. I hope the Elite works out for you. 

2 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

But you are not traveling nor visiting, you are living in Thailand. Anyhow, it is immigration's definition that we have to watch out for. I hope the Elite works out for you. 

ok thanks for that. I have not been living solely in Thailand for the entirety of the last 5 years, but the majority of my time has been travelling and remaining around Thailand yes. 

By 'enough money' do you mean the lump sum of 500k Thai Baht for the 5year Elite visa? 

Yes enough money for the visa, they do not ask for any other financial records

As another member quoted you can't really expect immigration to let somebody that spends so much time in place to be repetitively admitted as a tourist

Paperwork is being scrutinised more now, all immigration is requesting is that you get the correct application of visa for your stay
Or the closest to it.......

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my wife and i both took the Thai Elite Visa, for one reason or another we had a similar issue with my wife retirement visa and they wanted her to leave the country reapply and then return when it was no fault of hers.

 

so stuff this i called Thai Elite, they sent us the form in 5 minutes and we filled and completed and returned whatever documentation they required which was basic and minimal they gave approval in 60 mins and said she would become a member once funds were paid, we did this in the next hour thb 500k to and a reply email an hour later confirming all inorder here membership number and when she comes to Bangkok they will issue to her which my wife did the next day as we live in Phuket. solved a lot of heart ache and stress, after seeing how easy it was for her and certain benefits when my retirement came up for renewal and hearing about all the stuffing around by immigration and changes and moving the goal posts when you get their i did the same and the process took the same amount of time a few hours, this was about 2 years ago. but i have read somewhere it can take sometime now to process my recommendation to you is go to their office in Bangkok its easy to find on the main road of Sukhumvit they very friendly nice and easy to work with... 

 

good luck.

i should also have mentioned alot of my mates who are offshore workers now have Thai Elite and also some other mates of mine who don't live here but have villas and travel here regularly to play golf or relax from HKG or Singapore have been having problems coming regularly now and were red flagged so they just took the Thai Elite and solved all their issues no more questions asked.

I think, it took me under a week to be approved. Was really easy. Just apply, get approved and pay.

 

For me, it has been the best thing I ever did, in relation to visas. The fact that I do not need to worry about yearly renewals, is in my view worth it all. Besides that, it is damn nice to get picked up by a "Gold-girl" at the airport ???? and rushed through immigration.

 

Edited September 11, 20196 yr by khunpa

On 9/10/2019 at 9:02 PM, Globe Trotter said:

I've not had a single day of overstay ????  
so I do hope that I qualify for it. I did look into actually becoming a dual citizen as I can speak Thai fairly well and to a lesser extent read and write, however I that process seems gruelling and uncertain, not to mention you'd lose a fair bit of money if it fails 

hahaha

 

dual ...

 

thailand does not recognize that

 

and hardly any farang gets that anyway ... have to work and pay taxes for many years

 

just spending millions is not enough

 

 

23 minutes ago, justin case said:

dual ...

thailand does not recognize that

Not correct info.

There is nothing in the nationality act that prohibits a Thai from having more than one nationality.

Random question about Thai Elite....

Say I was denied entry at Suvarnabhumi Airport based on Section 12 (2). Does this disqualify me from getting a Thai Elite visa now? Even if I get a new passport and apply, they already have my name in the system as being denied entry at Suvarnabhumi Airport even though I re-entered at Nong Khai using my Tourist visa without any issues?

Edited September 12, 20196 yr by acenase

5 minutes ago, acenase said:

Say I was denied entry at Suvarnabhumi Airport based on Section 12 (2). Does this disqualify me from getting a Thai Elite visa now?

No it would not. 

I think the officers that do the application approval are aware that could be a bogus denial of entry.

On 9/10/2019 at 3:11 PM, Anythingleft? said:

 

To be fair when this expires I may consider the 1M 20 year but thats a ways away yet.....

 

 

Assuming that it still exists in 5 years time. I expect it will but is something to think about. 

On 9/11/2019 at 1:23 AM, aussieinphuket said:

my wife and i both took the Thai Elite Visa, for one reason or another we had a similar issue with my wife retirement visa and they wanted her to leave the country reapply and then return when it was no fault of hers.

 

so stuff this i called Thai Elite, they sent us the form in 5 minutes and we filled and completed and returned whatever documentation they required which was basic and minimal they gave approval in 60 mins and said she would become a member once funds were paid, we did this in the next hour thb 500k to and a reply email an hour later confirming all inorder here membership number and when she comes to Bangkok they will issue to her which my wife did the next day as we live in Phuket. solved a lot of heart ache and stress, after seeing how easy it was for her and certain benefits when my retirement came up for renewal and hearing about all the stuffing around by immigration and changes and moving the goal posts when you get their i did the same and the process took the same amount of time a few hours, this was about 2 years ago. but i have read somewhere it can take sometime now to process my recommendation to you is go to their office in Bangkok its easy to find on the main road of Sukhumvit they very friendly nice and easy to work with... 

 

good luck.

Please confirm that they approve the application, and then only then do you have to send the funds?  Do you get some sort of record of the approval?  I just hate the idea of sending in funds with an application and then for whatever reason they reject the application and keep the funds