TAT latest: Elite card holders who buy a condo can stay "long term" and get work permit - but there's a catch

[raccos21]

It is worth to spend your $1 million dollars here.

[Ketyo]

I cant imagine any westerners being interested in parting with million to live in a military dictatorship. 

 

The only people likely to be interested are Chinese. They have got used to having no political or civil rights after 70 years of the CCP.

 

To them, Thailand is a free and open place. Little do they know its going to have the same laws as China in 5 years time. Thailand is not the bolt hole they think it is.

[kuzmabruk]

9 hours ago, Misterwhisper said:

And Bill never came, let alone settled and invested here. Nor did Tiger Woods, another "Elite Card" laureate courtesy of the "Square Faced One". Bummer.

Why are so many people on ThaiVisa ignorant?  Search Google/Reuters for this “

Bill Gates yacht inspires new man-made Thai island

By Dominic Whiting, Reuters Life!

4 MIN READ

HONG KONG (Reuters Life!) - A visit to Thailand by Bill Gates has inspired the construction of a man-made island off the resort of Phuket, so the world’s richest man and other billionaires can moor their huge yachts.

[Yme]

I want to know the name of his dealer

 

[Fairynuff]

Do they actually get paid to come up with these ideas?

[Morty T]

9 hours ago, JonnyF said:

A million dollar work permit? Sounds great.

 

There must be loads of multi-millionaires out there who dream of getting a job in Thailand.????

A million dollar work permit? So you can be treated like a 2nd class 3rd world share cropper. My condo in Chiang Mai (which I haven't seen in 8 months) has already plummeted in value by 30%. 

[FarangULong]

10 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Doubt anyone with $1M to play with would want to live in Thailand, or even holiday here more than once.

I certainly wouldn't.

 

I'd like to ask TAT ...... why do you think rich foreigners would want to live in Thailand? (or even holiday here?)

This. I was about to say the same. THere are so many money for residency schemes even with WESTERN countries (Canada has one, probably US also, Portugal does, etc...) aka "investor visas", that no one in their right mind would put the money into Thailand. Especially given the tendency for instability (aren't there red shirt-esque protests resurging?) & lack of interesting investment opportunities.

 

Not that I have a spare Million USD, but I wouldn't want to invest in any business, where I have to rely on my 51+ % Thai partner's honesty and integrity (not a judgement on Thais, I just don't know anyone there that well, and I wouldn't even trust most people in my own country with a majority sharehold), I can't own land, and I certainly am not interested in having to view 932480239480293842093 Condos, until I find one that's not only in a good area and thus will generate enough revenue, but that won't be demolished or be a total sh**hole within the next 10 years... Let alone enough Condos, to spend 1+ million...

[kuzmabruk]

9 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Doubt anyone with $1M to play with would want to live in Thailand, or even holiday here more than once.

I certainly wouldn't.

 

I'd like to ask TAT ...... why do you think rich foreigners would want to live in Thailand? (or even holiday here?)

From reading your post, YOU ain’t got or ever will see $1m ... so how can you postulate what someone with millions would do.   Many foreigners living here do have many, many millions.  The climate here is fantastic, the food is amazing, the people are nice and sometimes fantastic.   Everything you can want is here.   But you my dear fellow won’t meet any of them on your little Baht bus run from the dark side to some cheesy beer bar for the poor.  I say this after spending 23 years here and choosing Thailand over the US, Canada, Croatia (all three I am citizens of) and many other countries that are available to a retired gentleman of means.

[Artisi]

3 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Total delusion. Invest alot of money in a collapsing condo market. Smart. 

 

Thailand needs courageous leadership. They don't have it. The army are major cowards. ANY person from ANY nation should be welcome starting tomorrow, if they are willing to subject themselves to a 14 day quarantine and pay excessive fees for that two week sentence. There is no downside or risk, and only upside for the nation. No groveling from a local consulate should be required. That is utter nonsense. A covid free letter and a booking at an approved hotel. Done. 

 

And for those investing big money here, free long term visas. Free elite membership. Home Immigration visits for visas and renewal. Tax holidays. If you want wealthy expats make some sacrifices. Lower the luxury taxes. Do something. Do anything. Just don't continue doing nothing. Timidity is so unappealing.

You could bet the family jewels they will continue doing nothing other than announce wacko brainless schemes.

[nickmondo]

oh dear

[LivinLOS]

10 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Doubt anyone with $1M to play with would want to live in Thailand, or even holiday here more than once.

I certainly wouldn't.

Nonsense.. 

 

1 mil usd isnt even that much anymore.. 

[Artisi]

23 minutes ago, Fairynuff said:

Do they actually get paid to come up with these ideas?

Yep, the more they can think up each day and put to the vote for the days best effort the greater the chance for the daily bonus. 

[ThailandRyan]

3 minutes ago, kuzmabruk said:

From reading your post, YOU ain’t got or ever will see $1m ... so how can you postulate what someone with millions would do.   Many foreigners living here do have many, many millions.  The climate here is fantastic, the food is amazing, the people are nice and sometimes fantastic.   Everything you can want is here.   But you my dear fellow won’t meet any of them on your little Baht bus run from the dark side to some cheesy beer bar for the poor.  I say this after spending 23 years here and choosing Thailand over the US, Canada, Croatia (all three I am citizens of) and many other countries that are available to a retired gentleman of means.

Good on you sir to have many millions of whatever currency you have.  However, I think in your view of someone else on the forum, your just a little far away from the world of Thailand. If you think that BritManToo rides a Baht bus from the dark side to some cheesy beer bar as you put it, your off the mark, and I am sure he couldn't care what you might think. To correct your view, not everything you can want is here, but instead everything you, and that is you personally and not myself or whomever, wish to have is.  Please tell us why you believe that anyone who really does have millions of USD, and not Baht, really would call Thailand home when they can not even remotely have what they could elsewhere without hoop jumping. 

[Call]

Just wait and see, you might be paid to come here ????

[renz]

1 million usd ? i rather open a real company or rather half a dozen company 

[BritManToo]

34 minutes ago, kuzmabruk said:

From reading your post, YOU ain’t got or ever will see $1m ... so how can you postulate what someone with millions would do. 

Had assets over $1GBP just before my divorce in the UK.

After the divorce, I only had 1/3 of that left, which wasn't enough for my retirement plans in the west.

But was plenty for living in a 3rd world country like Thailand.

 

I'd have never considered coming here before that.

[impulse]

11 hours ago, JonnyF said:

A million dollar work permit? Sounds great.

 

There must be loads of multi-millionaires out there who dream of getting a job in Thailand.????

 

Maybe not, but there are tons of millionaire living in Thailand that would love to be able to legally do something that could be construed as work, without the risk of being ratted out by a local or shaken down by the RTP, with all the inherent headaches.  Here's a program that could free them up.  And open the door for a lot more folks who may want to move to Thailand and open a small business instead of polishing a barstool in their spare time.

The program may not be for everyone.  It's not for me.  But neither is a $50,000 a night penthouse suite.  That doesn't mean they never rent out those suites, or that it's a bad idea.

 

[vermin on arrival]

Delusional...the US gives green cards for 1 million dollars in investment. Do they think Thailand is as desirable? Granted I prefer it here, but certainly not if I had 1 million in spare cash. At least, in the US they don't reserve the right to revoke it. Absolutely farcical.

[Robin]

"why do you think rich foreigners would want to live in Thailand?"

Because the country offers plenty of scope for shady dealings and Internet scams.  Police and others are easy to bribe.

Wasn't that the idea of the Elite visa in the first place?

[Pancho]

I’m in!!!

 

[impulse]

14 minutes ago, vermin on arrival said:

Delusional...the US gives green cards for 1 million dollars in investment. Do they think Thailand is as desirable? Granted I prefer it here, but certainly not if I had 1 million in spare cash. At least, in the US they don't reserve the right to revoke it. Absolutely farcical.

 

Take a look at the income tax implications of having a US Green Card.  Not to mention the health care (among other) costs of living in the USA.  Thailand's program looks pretty good in comparison.

[wordchild]

10 hours ago, donnacha said:

There was some discussion of this news when I posted it yesterday in a related thread. I was not able to create a new thread here in the News section, seems to be restricted.

My own take is that this move actually indicates a direction that would be a lot smarter for Thailand than it at first appears.

https://forum.thaivisa.com/topic/1184176-tat-turning-to-the-super-wealthy-to-boost-domestic-tourism/?do=findComment&comment=15848334

In short, some bright spark has figured that taxes in most of the world are going to rocket post-Covid and that, along with the swing towards remote working, there will be a big increase in the number of individuals and families attracted by the loophole of Thailand not taxing income generated abroad.

Thailand's tax system is designed to benefit rich Thais but, at this crunch-time for the Thai economy, they can leverage that to attract a significant number of well-heeled expats. Not quite the actual super wealthy who can afford the Bahamas, but a wider target that, in particular, takes in the European middle classes, the same audience that Mohammad Bin Salman is targeting with Neom.

They will just keep referring to the "super wealthy" it order to make it easier for the ultra-nationalists to swallow these concessions.

 

 

Brilliant comment, this is exactly the point!  
Thailand has the potential to become one of the best residence locations for the rich. 
Thailand v Monaco! 
I know which I would choose.

[wordchild]

10 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Not sure why you doubt this. I know many rich people who live here.

Why do you live here? 

There are already many wealthy expats who live in Thailand, though if your life revolved around Thai VISA, that may not be apparent.

[vermin on arrival]

17 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Take a look at the income tax implications of having a US Green Card.  Not to mention the health care (among other) costs of living in the USA.  Thailand's program looks pretty good in comparison.

Fair points, but if you have 1 million dollars lying around spare those may not matter.

[wordchild]

10 hours ago, Nout said:

Income generated abroad is taxable

not really true. 
it is only taxable (in Thailand) if the income is brought into Thailand in the year (ie Jan-Dec) in which it was earned.

This is an easy hurdle for the average wealthy person to get over

[impulse]

3 hours ago, PingRoundTheWorld said:

I don't get it - why would a millionaire care about having a work permit? No one with such net worth is seeking employment in Thailand, lol!

 

If they said "invest X in Thailand and get a complimentary Elite visa" that's understandable and makes a lot of sense - but if you have to pay for the visa AND invest $1mil to get the work permit, why would anyone bother?

 

I knew a lot of expat millionaires whose wives and Thai kids had businesses.  Coffee shops, bars, restaurants, fashions, agriculture, in addition to some pretty substantial BtoB service companies.  Without a work permit, they couldn't lift a finger to help their wives and kids, without the risk of a knock at the door. 

 

I also knew a lot of FIFO guys who would gladly invest a million $$$ to get a WP so they'd have something to do other than polishing a barstool during their 28 days off in LOS.  The same guys looking forward to retiring on a fat expat pension, but much too young to sit around and do nothing because they weren't allowed to work for lack of a WP program.  Many of them would jump on a plan that would allow them to build a business that would be there when their expat contracts ended.

 

[impulse]

4 minutes ago, wordchild said:

10 hours ago, Nout said:

Income generated abroad is taxable

not really true. 
it is only taxable (in Thailand) if the income is brought into Thailand in the year (ie Jan-Dec) in which it was earned.

This is an easy hurdle for the average wealthy person to get over

 

Although that's true today, I foresee a day when the Thai tax authorities decree that you cannot differentiate between money you made last year, and money you're making this year.  And I suspect a lot of expats commingle their money, making it impossible to prove that their incoming funds are last year's money and not this year's earnings.

 

Of course, a lot of Thai tax law is crafted specifically to cater to the elite, so that little idiosyncrasy in Thai tax rules may go on forever.  But I wouldn't stake my future on it.  They could simply exclude that favorable treatment for foreigners, like they seem to be doing on so many fronts.

 

[wordchild]

8 hours ago, Sundown said:

Why the 1 million investor would be interested in working in thailand? 

 

And even if he wanted, he could just buy the work permit or set up a business for 0,1 % of his investment ????

555! I think you missed the point.

the whole point of this is NOT to attract expats who would need to “work “

[CLUBBER]

11 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Doubt anyone with $1M to play with would want to live in Thailand, or even holiday here more than once.

I certainly wouldn't.

 

I'd like to ask TAT ...... why do you think rich foreigners would want to live in Thailand? (or even holiday here?)

I am certainly not rich but if I sold my property here in New York City I could easily invest a million US dollars in a Thai condo but I wouldn't as there are much better actually infinitely better real estate Investments I would put my money into . I love Thailand but I am not comfortable keeping my money or assets in this country no more than I need to live on from month to month .

[wordchild]

4 hours ago, Eibot said:

If you home domicile is Thailand, than you are taxable under the Thai law. You can transfer the money legally, but you are obligate to pay tax. You probably could get away with not paying it if it's a small amount but this is not quite legal. That would be tax evasion. 

 

It would be nice though if we could just sent all our un-taxed money to our Thai account, and never pay a penny over it. This is especially true if the country where you have your business has a mutual tax agreement (for example the UK). 

I choose to pay tax in Thailand, because the rates are a lot lower than where I operate my business. Nobody ever asked me for my WP in regards to tax. 

The whole point of this scheme is exactly NOT to attract people who need to work. As someone suggested above this is attractive to wealthy individuals who already have significant assets and income OUTSIDE Thailand who might find the ultimate lure of PR in a Tax Friendly jurisdiction worth investigating .