Thailand Elite Card holders to be granted entry to Thailand as applications from Hong Kong surge

[Traubert]

12 hours ago, fakser said:

It has nothing to do with extradition. They are not accused for anything nor wanted by the authorities.

The just feel that the era of freedom and independence from Chine, is over, and seek another free land to spend their life

They want to buy property in the fire sale that is imminent in Thailand.

 

Thats it and all about it. Have you seen the price for 20sq m in Hong Kong?

[GinBoy2]

I sincerely doubt that this escape option is on the minds of most Hong Kongers looking to leave.

 

Pretty sure the majority will be looking at the UK, Australia, Canada, US, various European Country options.

 

An 'elite' visa in Thailand offers no protection from the China State

[Nobbie49]

I'd buy an elite visa in a flash if I was allowed to keep my work permit.  Unfortunately for reasons unknown you can't work with a EV. 

[kingofthemountain]

2 hours ago, Bob A Kneale said:

Should be?  They will be, the OP confirmed that...

"Elite Card holders will still be required to undergo the mandatory quarantine period".

What is your point ? You don't understand the meaning of ''should'' in the context of my post ?

Afiak nothing has been oficialy decided yet about all the details, all of this is still

a project supposed to go with the famous phase 6, but if you have

an official link with the ultimate conditions already writed, feel free to post it.

 

''Should''

 

used to indicate what is probable.

$348 million should be enough to buy him out

3

(expressing the conditional mood) referring to a possible event or situation.

should anyone arrive late, admission is likely to be refused 

Edited July 22, 2020 by kingofthemountain

[ukrules]

1 hour ago, Nobbie49 said:

I'd buy an elite visa in a flash if I was allowed to keep my work permit.  Unfortunately for reasons unknown you can't work with a EV. 

Well you can keep a work permit whilst being a TE member but you also need to maintain a separate visa type that allows you to have a work permit.

 

Someone on here said that he worked for a period during his lifetime TE membership and like it describes in the documents that they mail you - it does require a second visa.

 

I have a feeling that when ending a term of employment the TE visa will make things much simpler for you to just continue living here, whether that involves a trip out of the country or not I don't know.

 

I've read about people working in Thailand for years, leaving a job and then being denied a new tourist visa while they look for another job because 'spend too much time in Thailand'.....that's the direction things were moving in before COVID gave them all a giant kick in the nuts.

 

 

[Skeptic7]

Seriously considering doing this, but I do not trust Thailand in the least, about anything. Certainly not a trustworthy country. A land of schemes and scams and falsehoods and reneging from the top on down. I foresee so many of us getting "effed" over by them taking advantage of our desperate situations...then changing the rules or reconsidering their claims.

 

Still I'm willing to uphold my end of the deal, as I've done in every aspect for over 20 years there, but have little confidence that they can be trusted to uphold theirs. 

[thaiclan]

10 hours ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

imagine you paid 500.000 - 1.000.000 baht and only now after 4 months, would be allowed back in... overpriced worthless piece of paper

They have given all elite visa holders a free 6 month extension of the visa. I suspect they will increase that soon as this issue has continued on.

 

It's not worthless for all the under 50's who want to live in Thailand but not work here or marry.

It has been a blessing for my family!

[alyx]

1 hour ago, thaiclan said:

They have given all elite visa holders a free 6 month extension of the visa. I suspect they will increase that soon as this issue has continued on.

 

It's not worthless for all the under 50's who want to live in Thailand but not work here or marry.

It has been a blessing for my family!

I will second that adding that it is worth the expense for the over 50 as well. Peace of mind at an affordable cost. 

Now, opting for this solution while working and under contract for 2 years or more is kind of useless if you go for a 5 year visa I reckon but... as it has been mentioned... one can hold both visas in their passports (as long as, when one enters in Thailand on the tourist visa, one is not allowed to work )

[DrTuner]

4 hours ago, ukrules said:

I have a feeling that when ending a term of employment the TE visa will make things much simpler for you to just continue living here, whether that involves a trip out of the country or not I don't know.

Thailand elite folks recommend you fly out and they'll fix the PE visa on to your passport when you come back, I did that from non-imm O. I think there is an option to change the visa type while in the country, but IIRC it was somewhat more difficult.

Edited July 22, 2020 by DrTuner

[AndrewMciver]

Problem with this visa, is it could take up 2 a few months to get. Imagine paying such a huge sum, then a few weeks later they open up anyways ! 

[alyx]

1 hour ago, DrTuner said:

Thailand elite folks recommend you fly out and they'll fix the PE visa on to your passport when you come back, I did that from non-imm O. I think there is an option to change the visa type while in the country, but IIRC it was somewhat more difficult.

Yes. You may change the visa type while you are in Thailand. First your other visas and work permit must be cancelled which is kind of contradicting the fact that one can have the Elite and another visa in their passport. That is done the same day ( as in you spend the whole day at the immigration )  

[DrTuner]

14 hours ago, AndrewMciver said:

Problem with this visa, is it could take up 2 a few months to get. Imagine paying such a huge sum, then a few weeks later they open up anyways ! 

I think it took one week for my approval. Might be more if you're from a "suspicious" country.

[pantsonfire]

Elite or Medical Tourist be faster way back in?

[mjakob007]

1 hour ago, DrTuner said:

I think it took one week for my approval. Might be more if you're from a "suspicious" country.

Thats encouraging.

May i ask the year in which you obtained PE visa?

[Anna Rak]

Please lets keep this in prospective.

A surge of Hong kongers applying for Elite Visa's = 50+. What a surge  

[mjakob007]

On 7/21/2020 at 3:27 PM, Michael19641965 said:

If I do the math correctly, if they find 1million people worldwide in the next 6 months, who are willing to pay the 500000baht for the ELite business Visa for 5years, they will create an extra revenue of about 16billion US-Dollars!!!!!

First, they can manage 1million foreign arrivals within the next 6-8 months and keep Thailand practically almost free of Covid19.

Second, with the money created, they can subsidise and keep lots of hotels and tourist businesses afloat for the next 24months or until the situation finally normalized and they can allow mass tourism back to Thailand.

I think the Thai leaders think along these lines.

As of today, there are less than 10,000 TE visas issued in 2 decades.

highest they did was some 1600 in 2018 and 2000 in 2019.

 

a million applicants would be tall order

 

[DrTuner]

28 minutes ago, mjakob007 said:

Thats encouraging.

May i ask the year in which you obtained PE visa?

Early 2019, so fairly recent. I did it through their official website without any agents.

[AndrewMciver]

37 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Early 2019, so fairly recent. I did it through their official website without any agents.

 

2019 was a different time period. Furthermore those countries with 'situations' may take longer. 

 

No chance for a medical visa at all. It's only applicable if you can't have the surgery in question in your home country. 

[mjakob007]

14 hours ago, DrTuner said:

Early 2019, so fairly recent. I did it through their official website without any agents.

That’s right

for 2019 they had started to take longer and if you got it done ina week, that is good time frame

[alyx]

18 hours ago, DrTuner said:

I think it took one week for my approval. Might be more if you're from a "suspicious" country.

I do think that you are mistaken regarding the period of approval. It is definitely (and has always been) around two months, give or take. It was taking longer when they started in 2013 though ( even for the non-suspicious countries whichever they are ????

[Toadie]

On 7/21/2020 at 1:58 PM, BMW Overlander said:

Nice move by Thai government. Elite Visa holders now can leave and re-enter Thailand as they please.

Uhmm... subject to quarantine at both ends of trip which you pay for combined with expensive flights.

 

Then just add in few things like,

- any insurance isn't going to cover you if country of origin has it on a restricted or warning list.

- business risk, legal exposure? Inadvertently bring it back into an office environment? I'm still in touch with corporate people and international travel is not even being considered. Risk just too high.

 

2022 if lucky before travel is somewhat normal, uhmm less restricted. Though airlines are selling off planes for a reason.

[aussiexpat]

As far as I can tell the Elite Visa does not require health insurance or the 800k in bank. Looking at the latest application forms this remains the same. I'm guessing a Certificate of Entry is still required which requires the health insurance?

 

Sort of make the Elite benefits redundant other than gaining entry earlier than others? Can you get health insurance to enter then cancel as not required for EV?

[Jack Hna]

10000 is that all?

 

Sack the sales team and all associated actors. 

 

 

[DrTuner]

5 hours ago, alyx said:

I do think that you are mistaken regarding the period of approval. It is definitely (and has always been) around two months, give or take. It was taking longer when they started in 2013 though ( even for the non-suspicious countries whichever they are ????

I checked from my email, It was exactly 14 days from time of lodging until it was all done & dusted, including the payment, and that was over the 2019 New Year holidays. I had quite good bona fides to show, though.

 

It did take more than a year to get my leather bag tags and other "elite" stuff though ????

[alyx]

1 minute ago, DrTuner said:

I checked from my email, It was exactly 14 days from time of lodging until it was all done & dusted, including the payment, and that was over the 2019 New Year holidays. I had quite good bona fides to show, though.

 

It did take more than a year to get my leather bag tags and other "elite" stuff though ????

Noted ????

Maybe lucky 

They do not check your financial records 

They are interested in the “police” absence of records back in the respective countries ????

[DrTuner]

Just now, alyx said:

Noted ????

Maybe lucky 

They do not check your financial records 

They are interested in the “police” absence of records back in the respective countries ????

Ah. The police records from Finland are very fast to get, same day. Also I was already in Thailand at the time and had been vetted for a non-imm F visa previously, including police clearance. Could have helped. Thanks to the marriage extension paperwork pile I had every imaginable A4 known to man kind handy, too. 

 

They did check my money trail though, which again I was able to solidly prove. 

[alyx]

Great to hear 

Helsinki....fond memories 

[mjakob007]

19 hours ago, aussiexpat said:

As far as I can tell the Elite Visa does not require health insurance or the 800k in bank. Looking at the latest application forms this remains the same. I'm guessing a Certificate of Entry is still required which requires the health insurance?

 

Sort of make the Elite benefits redundant other than gaining entry earlier than others? Can you get health insurance to enter then cancel as not required for EV?

You can opt to pay insurance on a monthly basis?

[mjakob007]

19 hours ago, Jack Hna said:

10000 is that all?

 

Sack the sales team and all associated actors. 

 

 

Almost 40% of the 10k was in 2018-2019...

earlier years of the decade was scoring less than 200 a year

[DonniePeverley]

What is the official website for the Thai Elite visa?

 

A quick google search brings up 10-15 different companies all with a play on the Thai - elite - visa name.

 

How do you find an OFFICIAL vendor ?