So, if it should turn out (and, yes, I know it's not sure yet) that health insurance will be needed to extend permission to stay based on NonImm OA, it looks like it will cost me almost 100K baht per year for essentially useless insurance.  I thought... "why not just do elite visa instead?"  Pretty much the same out-of-pocket cost, without the bank-deposit or proof-of-income requirement.  Which raises two questions:

 

1.  Is it possible to apply for Elite visa while in Thailand, still on an extension of permission to stay?

2.  What, if anything, is to prevent the Thai government from deciding next month or next year to require health insurance of elite visa holders?

25 minutes ago, JTXR said:

1.  Is it possible to apply for Elite visa while in Thailand, still on an extension of permission to stay?

Yes, but it does depend on the visa type so you might want to email them directly (not an agent) - the email is [email protected]

 

25 minutes ago, JTXR said:

2.  What, if anything, is to prevent the Thai government from deciding next month or next year to require health insurance of elite visa holders?

I doubt that's going to happen but to answer your question : Nothing will prevent them from doing whatever they want.

 

It's certainly starting to look like a good deal especially 1 mil 20 year visa which is 50k baht  month.

 

If the air was cleaner in Bangkok I would certainly buy it. I can live with all the <deleted> in Thailand, but not pollution. 

6 hours ago, JTXR said:

1.  Is it possible to apply for Elite visa while in Thailand, still on an extension of permission to stay?

Yes.

 

6 hours ago, JTXR said:

2.  What, if anything, is to prevent the Thai government from deciding next month or next year to require health insurance of elite visa holders?

Nothing. But it’s highly unlikely.

You can apply for Thai Elite without a problem while here but you will have to leave the country without a valid re-entry permit to end your extension of stay. The PE visa cannot be issued if you have valid extension of stay.

If you enter the country at Suvarnabhumi you can have the PE visa issued when you arrive.

Thanks, Joe.  That's the information I was looking for.  My current extension of stay and multiple reentry permit both expire the same date, so I guess I'd apply for the elite visa before that date, then exit the county before they expire and reenter at Suvarnabhumi after they have expired.  If I decide to go ahead with it, I'll work details out with the elite visa people in BKK. 

What amazes me is that people seem to think, that what is happening now to Non OA, with Insurance becoming a requirement when entering, or extending stay, with visas issued years ago, will not happen to TE.

2 hours ago, Momofarang said:

What amazes me is that people seem to think, that what is happening now to Non OA, with Insurance becoming a requirement when entering, or extending stay, with visas issued years ago, will not happen to TE.

I really doubt they will force us to buy a worthless Thai insurance policy with the TE visa. It would make little sense, how many TE visa holders do a runner on their bill with the prospect of facing legal action for recovery? Such legal action would result in the loss of your TE visa should you default and be ruled bankrupt by a court. This is spelled out clearly in the terms and conditions.

 

It looks like they're coming after the OA visa holders because they're the group who don't have to bring any money for the first 2 years and they can keep it going by popping back to the home country every 2 years.

 

In the end it will all come down to how many people are skipping out without paying their bills and I suspect that's going to be a low amount for TE visa holders at the moment mainly because there's going to be a relatively low number of people with the TE visas.

20 hours ago, Momofarang said:

What amazes me is that people seem to think, that what is happening now to Non OA, with Insurance becoming a requirement when entering, or extending stay, with visas issued years ago, will not happen to TE.

Its one thing to implement health insurance requirements on a class of NON O visas, It would be a hard sell to start imposing it on any tourist visa subclass (which is what PE visas are)

 

Thats not to say it would never happen, but I think it's important to understand there is a hell of a difference between these 2 visa classifications to minimize the fearmongering and panic.

 

17 hours ago, ukrules said:

I really doubt they will force us to buy a worthless Thai insurance policy with the TE visa. It would make little sense, how many TE visa holders do a runner on their bill with the prospect of facing legal action for recovery? Such legal action would result in the loss of your TE visa should you default and be ruled bankrupt by a court. This is spelled out clearly in the terms and conditions.

 

It looks like they're coming after the OA visa holders because they're the group who don't have to bring any money for the first 2 years and they can keep it going by popping back to the home country every 2 years.

 

In the end it will all come down to how many people are skipping out without paying their bills and I suspect that's going to be a low amount for TE visa holders at the moment mainly because there's going to be a relatively low number of people with the TE visas.

I agree with most of what you've said except I dont think you can use "no money in a Thai bank" as the main reason for requiring health insurance on the OA, since the OX requires money in Thai bank AND health insurance.

On 11/2/2019 at 9:36 PM, Pravda said:

It's certainly starting to look like a good deal especially 1 mil 20 year visa which is 50k baht  month.

 

If the air was cleaner in Bangkok I would certainly buy it. I can live with all the <deleted> in Thailand, but not pollution. 

50K Baht per Year. Per Month would be expensive

Edited November 4, 20196 yr by HampiK