As my days of O-A visa is coming to an end, I am thinking about using an Agent or outright buying an elite for 20-years. I mostly stay 6-month in Thailand, 3-month in Benidorm and 3-month in Las Vegas. I have plenty of catastrophic health insurance from United Health and an HSA master cards with approximately 500K BHT. This covers me world wide so I refuse to buy any Thai health insurance. 

As of now, retirement extensions don't require any health insurance but it requires deposting 800K in bank, time it. go through the hassle of renewing it, doing 90-day, TM 30 all other nonsense. Also one has to leave 400K for perpetuity. So, 400K is basically a sunk cost unless one intends to leave Thailand forever and get the money back. There may be a possibility of all retrirement extensions requring health insurance coverage as most countries demand. 

I don't think Elite will ever require to buy a health insurance as it is treated like a Tourist visa. So one million for a 20-year elite that can be invested in the USA to get at least 3% or even more. One million at 3% is 30K. I can also pay an agent 30K (often less) to get my retirement and not buy the elite. However, retirement has the possibility of requring insurance in the future and elite has possibility of price going down or in terms of dollars the possibility of Baht becoming stronger thus elite becming more expensive. 

What's the best solution in the near future. Buy an elite and get it done with for 20-years and forget about TM30, 90-day reporting etc. Buying an elite will put a dent of 6% in my wealth or continue with agent assisted  retirmenet visa without putting any money in the bank. I am incling towards agent assisted retirement visa for next year. 

what if elite visa holders above 50 are told they need to buy health insurance? things are changing very quickly, the changes seem driven by money and xenophobia, maybe an element of racism, not by logic and evidence. the elite visa may be riskier than people think.

Sounds a no brainer for you. An METV every time you head back home

6% of your wealth says it all really!

Your calculation is faulty. The elite visa is costing you 80,000 a year. 50,000 from the 1 million and 30,000 loss of interest. Even more if you compound the interest. In fact at 3% your money will double in 24 years.

 

Who knows what could happen in 20 years to invalidate your Elite visa.

 

Really is a no brainer unless the cost of the elite visa is money you can easily afford to lose and at 6% of your wealth that is not really the case.

If your goal is to avoid the hassle of TM30 & 90 Day check-ins you should clarify with TE.

I bought mine 20 years ago.  Lifetime, 1M BHT.

I have to do TM30 & 90 day check-ins.

The upside is from entering Immigration to getting into my car is 35 minutes.  Very fast today, but usually no more than 40 minutes in/out.

Excempt  of 90 day reports? Check that !

With an elite visa you still have to do 90 day reports and your landlords still have to do TM30s

If you stay only half a year in Thailand the easiest way would probably be to get a METV. I don't see how any IO could assume that you work in Thailand with only 6 months per year in Thailand, so you should not have any problems being denied entry.

33 minutes ago, uncleeagle said:

what if elite visa holders above 50 are told they need to buy health insurance?

As the OP points out it's a (glorified) tourist visa. So to be treated like the millions coming in each year. Which means major insurance requirements are unlikely.

1 hour ago, onera1961 said:

doing 90-day, TM 30 all other nonsense

That never goes away no matter how you enter the country.

1 hour ago, onera1961 said:

I am incling towards agent assisted retirement visa for next year. 

Per your analysis, which I agree with, agent-assisted retirement visa is the way to go.

 

Another point to keep in mind is that if the retirement visa option somehow proves cumbersome you can always go the Elite. But not the other way around once your money is sunk in the Elite.

Why 90 day reports and TM30 are such a problem? 90 days can be done online and TM30 once a year or not at all if you don't sleep out of the province where you reside. 

a small sunk cost is better then a big sunk cost,

with changing conditions its better to be ready to leave.

also i think for driving license 5 years ev may be an issue,

someone made a thread about the downsides with ev

15 minutes ago, Lacrimas said:

Why 90 day reports and TM30 are such a problem? 90 days can be done online and TM30 once a year or not at all if you don't sleep out of the province where you reside. 

90 day reports cannot be done online for a lot of us.

OP, pretty self indulgent post IMO. You often give well informed advice and comment on thaivisa. Your well informed to weigh up the options. Only needing to spend 6 month a year in los even makes it easier. 

Couple members suggest METV which is good advice. Heck you could even at other end of spectrum ve entry extend and 2 border bounce repeat = 6 months.

Why the drama.

I’d investigate other countries that are more welcoming and with less hassle. Vietnam for instance.

 

 

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METV requires bounces, timing the bounce, it is like a routine which I have avoided since 2016 and don't want to get into it. Now I am unfettered, unchained and want to live like that. Even two bounces with extension requires immigration office visits and it comes with the hassle of TM30, 90-day report, etc. Also, I have to get METV every year that requires applying every year etc. It reduces freedom to just book the ticket and go a suits me. O-A was ok for me as I needed to apply every two years and getting a reentry permit at the airport is super easy - just hand over the passport and 1200 BHT. Done after 15 min at most. 

 

I have ruled out METV. THe choice is between EV and agent assisted retirment visa without  keeping any money in the bank. If I have to keep 800K in the bank and forget it, I can as well spend another 200K and get 20-year EV and forget all the non-sense of yearly renewal, TM-30, 90-day reporting etc. And I am more certain of EV not requiring any insurance than retirement in the future. 

With an EV, I can avoid TM30 becuase I don't have to go to visit immigration and Elite can file my 90-day (or I can hire an an agent) or simply ignore 90-day if they cant do woithout TM-30. Bottom line, I don't have to visit Immigration.

 

I am still inclined towards agent assisted retirement visa. Hopefully the agent can take care of everything including 90-day reporting. 



 

Edited October 10, 20196 yr by onera1961

1 minute ago, onera1961 said:

With an EV, I can avoid TM30 becuase I don't have to go to visit immigration and Elite can file my 90-day

We had reports here on Thaivisa where Thailand Elite asked for the TM30 receipt to be able to do the 90 day report.

I also don't see how dropping your passport off at the Thailand Elite office would be easier than an online 90 day report

8 minutes ago, jackdd said:

We had reports here on Thaivisa where Thailand Elite asked for the TM30 receipt to be able to do the 90 day report.

I also don't see how dropping your passport off at the Thailand Elite office would be easier than an online 90 day report

Let's not get into details of how one can avoid 90-day and TM-30 with an EV but retirement renewal will require all these unless an agent can smooth out the issues for a price. 

Edited October 10, 20196 yr by onera1961

Let's not get into details of how one can avoid 90-day and TM-30 with an EV but retirement renewal will require all these unless an agent can smooth out the issues for a price. 

Agents do the 90 day reports and financial reports seem unimportant.

You are right about the 20 year elite only being 200k more than the tied up 800k retirement. Do either of those depending on your circumstances

Just pay an agent 20k and get your Non imm. retirement visa.  It will give you 12 months and you can just use an agent again next time you arrive Thailand. It will be the cheapest option in the long run, if you only stay here 6 months.

BTW staying in Las Vegas 3 months every year sounds like a  dream. Would love it. Good luck.  

Edited October 10, 20196 yr by balo

20 minutes ago, balo said:

Just pay an agent 20k and get your Non imm. retirement visa.  It will give you 12 months and you can just use an agent again next time you arrive Thailand. It will be the cheapest option in the long run, if you only stay here 6 months.

Most sensible comment so far. I was inclining towards agent. 

1 minute ago, onera1961 said:

Most sensible comment so far. I was inclining towards agent. 

You can do better than 20,000 baht in the Pattaya area too although whether or not one includes Re-Entry permits should affect the price. 

13 minutes ago, jacko45k said:

You can do better than 20,000 baht in the Pattaya area too although whether or not one includes Re-Entry permits should affect the price. 

I have seen prices around 13K. 

There is no guarantee that the ‘agents’ will continue their ‘maybe illegal’ practices either.


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8 minutes ago, DILLIGAD said:

There is no guarantee that the ‘agents’ will continue their ‘maybe illegal’ practices either.


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I will give you very good odds if you want to wager against the agents still being here in 10 years time.

On 10/10/2019 at 6:24 PM, onera1961 said:

What's the best solution in the near future.

Cambodia, $300 for a multi entry 1 year VISA, no silly rules or regulations.

There is no guarantee that the ‘agents’ will continue their ‘maybe illegal’ practices either.


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Well, Big Joke crashed and burned trying to stop it

Cambodia, $300 for a multi entry 1 year VISA, no silly rules or regulations.

but who wants to live in Cambodia? have you seen the people who end up there in PP?

10 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

18 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Cambodia, $300 for a multi entry 1 year VISA, no silly rules or regulations.

but who wants to live in Cambodia? have you seen the people who end up there in PP?

Phnom Penh is OK, I've been there a bunch of times. If I left Thailand that's where  I would go.

 

On the subject of the other people living there, why should I care who they are, where they come from or what they do?