9 hours ago, theonetrueaussie said:

Of course, why not. Many people have already made the move and many more of us are going to go once our visas finish and for 1 months cost of an elite visa you get an entire year! Truth is you get far better buying power in nearby countries as well as a much higher quality of life these days compared with thailand!

Well personally I would not want to live in Cambodia, Snooky has been ruined and PP is a litter strewn dump. Laos and Burma offer no attraction either....

Quality of life I would be leaving behind, I have a home, good partner, creature comforts and half speak the language. Getting too old to start all over again. 

10 hours ago, theonetrueaussie said:

Of course, why not. Many people have already made the move and many more of us are going to go once our visas finish and for 1 months cost of an elite visa you get an entire year! Truth is you get far better buying power in nearby countries as well as a much higher quality of life these days compared with thailand!

My Elite visa in Thailand cost me 100,000 baht.

 

My one year, multi-entry business visa with work permit in Laos cost me 18,000 baht....

simon, I am curious what exactly happened when you said you were kind of questioned about what you do here on your Elite visa. I was under the impression that you do not even talk to the IO and the Elite staff handles everything for you, or did you enter at a smaller airport etc. with no "Elite staff service"?

 

 

10 hours ago, simon43 said:

My Elite visa in Thailand cost me 100,000 baht.

 

My one year, multi-entry business visa with work permit in Laos cost me 18,000 baht....

I'm not talking about Laos I am talking about vietnam and Phillipines. Vietnam a 1 year multi entry Business visa is around 12,000 THB, Quality of life in vietnam easily trumps thailand. See tons of friends and their friends moving from thailand to vietnam but no one moving from vietnam to thailand lol.

6 hours ago, theonetrueaussie said:

I'm not talking about Laos I am talking about vietnam and Phillipines. Vietnam a 1 year multi entry Business visa is around 12,000 THB, Quality of life in vietnam easily trumps thailand. See tons of friends and their friends moving from thailand to vietnam but no one moving from vietnam to thailand lol.

And they get cancled all the time, the owner blacklisted from entering vietnam as they are all done by rough agents, that's why right now they are no longer available except for US citizens: https://www.vietnamimmigration.com/vietnamimmigration/notice-vietnam-1-year-visa-is-available-for-usa-citizens-only-in-2019/

 

Blacklisting stories can be found all over the vietnam expat forums like here: https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=827419

Oh and then if they suspect you of not paying taxes (who doesn't need to pay taxes on a business visa) they blacklist you from leaving and you can not use an airport.

 

Quote

The previous visa agent who helped you to apply for 12-month business visa used a fake profile to apply for you. That means they created a company, and put all their visa Clients as employees of that company, so they can legalise the business visa application.
But those Clients don't actually work for the company, and that company doesn't actually do any business, beside the function of being a company to apply for business visa.

As I've heard, it happens more and more that those business visas are denied and the foreigners who apply for business visa that way (without an actual employer) is denied to enter the country.

I am not aware of any elite visa ever beeing canceled except for criminals that got caught doing something. There's imho absolutely no reason to believe that happens, even that short time when elite was near bankrupt the visas were unaffected and are still useable to this day (lifetime visas). 

17 hours ago, simon43 said:

My Elite visa in Thailand cost me 100,000 baht.

 

My one year, multi-entry business visa with work permit in Laos cost me 18,000 baht....

Why was your elite visa so cheap?

7 hours ago, randymarsh said:

Why was your elite visa so cheap?

it's not cheap. He mean costs of a Elite Visa (500K) per year!

14 hours ago, theonetrueaussie said:

See tons of friends and their friends moving from thailand to vietnam but no one moving from vietnam to thailand lol.

Nobody come straight back yet?

14 hours ago, theonetrueaussie said:

I'm not talking about Laos I am talking about vietnam and Phillipines. Vietnam a 1 year multi entry Business visa is around 12,000 THB, Quality of life in vietnam easily trumps thailand. See tons of friends and their friends moving from thailand to vietnam but no one moving from vietnam to thailand lol.

I think Vietnam is OK for holidays. But would not be OK for me living there permanent!
Yes there are persons who love probably Vietnam more than Thailand but for myself Vietnam would be no option, at least not at the moment.

 

About your statement that you see many moving to Vietnam and not the opposite! You have friends in Vietnam? or you only talk about friends who you know from Thailand.. and now not coming back? You  need to have friends from Vietnam first to compare

Why I see Vietnamese people enjoy to live in Thailand more than in Vietnam? I have 2 in a Thai class and when I talk to them, they prefer Thailand.

 

Some tell you they like a country, because it's cheaper.. so for them the only factor if a country is good or not is if it's cheaper or easier to obtain the visa. In my opinion not the real factor for which country is better!

10 hours ago, randymarsh said:

Why was your elite visa so cheap?

The 20 year one is 50k THB / year. Sure it's upfront but if you really plan to live here longterm that makes it an option, you can prolly set it off easily against tax savings compared to your homecountry and/or cheaper housing.

Anyone know how long it takes to get elite....and do you get extension whilst waiting ?...ie if you are on 30 day exempt and visa is not approved within allotted time ?

get the elite but wait till 50 then jump to retirement

On 11/15/2019 at 7:41 AM, HampiK said:

it's not cheap. He mean costs of a Elite Visa (500K) per year!

5 years

48 minutes ago, William Osborne said:

Anyone know how long it takes to get elite....and do you get extension whilst waiting ?...ie if you are on 30 day exempt and visa is not approved within allotted time ?

How long varieds by nationality. For most western countries a month or less is normal. For up 2 or 3 months.

There is no special extension available while you are waiting.

You could apply for a 30 day extension of your visa exempt entry.

On 11/8/2019 at 12:01 PM, James105 said:

So before I do bite the bullet and hand over 500,000 baht for a visa I am wondering if I have exhausted all possible options?

In your case i would consider the 20 Year TE option, 1.000.000 Thb 

That's a little more then 4k per month for pain free stay...

4 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

How long varies by nationality. For most western countries a month or less is normal. For up 2 or 3 months.

There is no special extension available while you are waiting.

You could apply for a 30 day extension of your visa exempt entry.

I was wondering about this too. Specifically I wonder if I had applied for the TE visa but my current visa expired and required leaving and reentering Thailand; I wonder if upon reentry the IO would not drill me about why I'm spending so much time in Thailand etc.. if I made them aware a TE visa is pending.

 

After you've applied and paid, but are waiting for the visa is it possible to get a letter stating your visa is pending? I guess you could call it a visa window period where you are not covered but ideally can wait it out in Thailand til you are.