blacklisted for 12 months while on elite visa.

[brianthainess]

19 hours ago, poohy said:

it really beggar's belief that this has happened even after 2 businesses and 23 years living here

Yes it beggar's belief, one would have thought he knew rules by now.

[ArcticFox]

20 hours ago, 3421abc said:

a good friend of mine went back to the UK last night for the holidays and as he passed immigration he was stunned the immigration informed him he overstayed his visa. He has an elite visa and didn't know he had to exit the country once every 12 months, he was staying in Thailand for the past 15 months.

You have to leave the country every 12 months on an "Elite" visa.  That doesn't sound too elite.  And given the fear-mongering around Covid, the borders could simply be shut at any time if enough paranoia builds up in government circles. To pay all that money for an 'elite' visa that forces you to jump through significance hoops annually.
I thought the whole concept of the Elite Visa was to pay significant sums of money in order to bypass some of Immigration's bureaucratic stupidity.  I guess not.

[ArcticFox]

20 hours ago, GrandPapillon said:

why do people bother staying in Thailand with all the immigration non-sense, this country has no future, it doesn't change or improve, it's only great for coming 3 to 4 months a year

About the only folks who I can see having a need to stay are those who are working and those who have Thai families.  Many Thai wives of foreigners do not wish to leave Thailand.  It takes about one good, cold winter to make a Thai immigrant to the Northern latitudes urge hubby to move back to topical Thailand.

[ChrisKC]

Hands up for anybody on this forum who never made a mistake, made an error of judgment, misunderstood or simply forgot something that impacted their life or created a serious inconvenience to themselves and/or others.

 

It isn't very nice for the person involved to be told they are stupid, should or should not have done something, when they almost certainly know that already!

 

However an incident/accident has occurred, they need a little compassion, understanding and offer of some kind of help or even some moral support in their hour of practical and emotional need.

 

How many people end up in a hospital bed due to something that "is their own fault" and somehow deserved, are turned away by Doctors and Nurses? I apply the same principle in my everyday life.

 

No, I do not subscribe to those who wish to give the impression that self-inflicted problems couldn't happen to them.

[robertson468]

20 hours ago, GrandPapillon said:

why do people bother staying in Thailand with all the immigration non-sense, this country has no future, it doesn't change or improve, it's only great for coming 3 to 4 months a year

I have been in Thailand for 17 years and frequently update myself on the Visa requirements so that I don't fall foul of the Laws.  Whilst I sympathize with the Gentleman, it basically boils downs to the fact that he did not check the Law and having failed to do so sadly ended up breaking the law and reaps the reward for that, like anyone else breaking Thai Law.

[Captain Monday]

2 hours ago, toolpush said:

You are absolutely right. I had an Elite visa. Benefits other than the visa itself? None

The best benefit of the Thailand Elite program for me was not the PE visa

It was using the VIP security entrance at BKK airport without purchasing a business class ticket.

[userabcd]

47 minutes ago, ArcticFox said:

You have to leave the country every 12 months on an "Elite" visa.  That doesn't sound too elite.  And given the fear-mongering around Covid, the borders could simply be shut at any time if enough paranoia builds up in government circles. To pay all that money for an 'elite' visa that forces you to jump through significance hoops annually.
I thought the whole concept of the Elite Visa was to pay significant sums of money in order to bypass some of Immigration's bureaucratic stupidity.  I guess not.

Well the rules are described and available before one signs up and pays for the elite visa according to Thailand's rules so the onus is on the subscriber to that visa to follow the rules.

[Liverpool Lou]

5 hours ago, Andre0720 said:

13 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Immigration Bureau has nothing to do with, nor any responsibility for, keeping the wealthy here! 

And Mastercard has nothing to do with, nor any responsibility for, making keeping their clients aware of the status of their accounts

Yes, they do, Mastercard has a direct link and a direct interest in keeping their clients happy.    IB has no connection to, nor any responsibility for, "keeping the wealthy in Thailand", their only obligation, being police officers, is the enforcement of the law.

[Liverpool Lou]

13 hours ago, BritTim said:

The difference is that it is quite obvious that the overstay (when all he needs for an extension is to open his passport and show the visa) was an accidental oversight. When others overstay, they can claim they forgot, but officials will always suspect that the real reason is that they could not meet the requirements for an extension. When officials can be sure the overstay was an accident, I think there is a strong case for leniency, certainly for a first offence.

So you'd allow some overstayers to claim "accidental oversight" but others whose overstay was also "accidental oversight" would not be allowed that privilege.   Brilliant logic.

[NoshowJones]

21 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Think you will find that he did not need to exit Thailand, however if staying more than one year he needs to attend immigration.

It's unfortunate he was not aware of that.

If a person is of a mind to just throw away 500.000 Baht or whatever it is on an Elite, he deserves all he gets.

[richard_smith237]

4 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

13 hours ago, BritTim said:

The difference is that it is quite obvious that the overstay (when all he needs for an extension is to open his passport and show the visa) was an accidental oversight. When others overstay, they can claim they forgot, but officials will always suspect that the real reason is that they could not meet the requirements for an extension. When officials can be sure the overstay was an accident, I think there is a strong case for leniency, certainly for a first offence.

So you'd allow some overstayers to claim "accidental oversight" but others whose overstay was also "accidental oversight" would not be allowed that privilege.   Brilliant logic.

I agree with BritTim - there is a strong case for leniency as he was holding a valid visa.

 

This isn’t an example where someone simply overstayed their 60 day tourist visa etc

 

This guy was holding a current 5 year visa, he was foolish not to understand his permitted duration of stay.

He screwed up, but a black-listing is extremely harsh considering he has a paid up visa with 2 years remaining.

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

1 minute ago, possum1931 said:

If a person is of a mind to just throw away 500.000 Baht or whatever it is on an Elite, he deserves all he gets.

This reply...    its just out there on the fringes with other dim responses... 

 

“Throw away 500,000 Baht”.... “Deserves all he gets”....   where is your head at ?.... 

[oznomad]

21 hours ago, GrandPapillon said:

why do people bother staying in Thailand with all the immigration non-sense, this country has no future, it doesn't change or improve, it's only great for coming 3 to 4 months a year

I think that will be my future plan. 

[John Drake]

17 hours ago, HashBrownHarry said:

People are jealous that other people can afford elite visa.

I don't see anything in this story that makes me jealous of people with a Thai elite visa. 

[antony77]

21 hours ago, TheScience said:

I have to laugh but it's no laughing matter. This is so Thailand amirite???

 

Attracting millionaires daily!

 

Funny though...he'll be back and probably buy another hiso visa. That's why they do it. They just don't care bc they don't have to.

 

See his story hits British press and Reuters.

 

Edit: I absolutely love the fact they fined him the full 25k too.

Hiso in Thailand means a person who pretends to be upper-class when they are obviously not. People who are newly -rich often behave like this. It is a huge insult to anyone. I guess that you do not realise this and don't know the meaning of the word . But I'm sure people with Elite visas would be highly offended.

[richard_smith237]

26 minutes ago, userabcd said:

Well the rules are described and available before one signs up and pays for the elite visa according to Thailand's rules so the onus is on the subscriber to that visa to follow the rules.

I think the issue is that the visa duration, permission of stay, 90 day reports, TM28 / TM30 (I’m not sure which is required any more), extensions of stay etc.... all muddy the waters.

 

Thai Elite will have explained the ‘extensions process’ to him. He may well have misunderstood.

I guess he thought he’d purchased a visa for 5 years and thought he was good. 

 

 

A lot of people get caught out by the intricate idiosyncrasies of Thai Immigration permissions - it's the underlying reason this forum was created [ThaiVisa.com].

 

 

And... just to be clear - the rules are not always clear to the Immigration Officers themselves !!!!

 

In the past I have travelled exited Thailand while still holding an extensions of stay based on work (Non-Imm B extension and work permit) - While overseas my contract ended, I took work elsewhere. When I returned to Thailand my extensions of stay had 1 day remaining. The immigration officer insisted to ’stamp me in’ for 1 days on my Non-Imm B extension of stay meaning I’d have to exit Thailand the following day !!!...  

I argued that he can stamp me in on my Thai Elite Visa for 90 days, or even stamp me in for Visa Exempt for 30 days - No... The Immigration officer insisted it was the rules that I was stamped in on my extension of stay. 

I continued to object and requested a senior officer who quickly resolved the issue and stamped me in for 90 days with my Thai Elite P.E. Visa. 

 

The junior officer had made up his own rules - if I didn’t check his stamp and identify his mistake, I would have assumed that he’d stamped me in for 90 days, when leaving the country or going to Chaeng Wattana for an extension of stay I would have found myself on a large 89 day overstay !!!!....  

 

 

 

 

 

[antony77]

I can't understand anyone buying an Elite visa. If you do not qualify for a marriage or retirement extension. You can use an agent to extend your stay here almost indefinitely for a tiny fraction of the cost of an elite visa.

[Liverpool Lou]

15 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

I agree with BritTim - there is a strong case for leniency as he was holding a valid visa.

He had a valid visa, really?  I thought he had exceeded his permission to stay by three months and I'm pretty sure that invalidates the visa.

[NoshowJones]

9 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

This reply...    its just out there on the fringes with other dim responses... 

 

“Throw away 500,000 Baht”.... “Deserves all he gets”....   where is your head at ?.... 

I would not give them 500,000Bt even if I had a personal fortune of 5 millionBt, there are other ways to stay for years in the country with not too much hassle than a vastly overpriced Elite visa.

[CH1961]

22 hours ago, 3421abc said:

He has an elite visa and didn't know he had to exit the country once every 12 months

To have Money does not imply to be intelligent.

[ThomasThBKK]

13 minutes ago, antony77 said:

I can't understand anyone buying an Elite visa. If you do not qualify for a marriage or retirement extension. You can use an agent to extend your stay here almost indefinitely for a tiny fraction of the cost of an elite visa.

 

Yeah dude because people under 50 years old do not exist...

 

 

[richard_smith237]

1 minute ago, possum1931 said:

16 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

This reply...    its just out there on the fringes with other dim responses... 

 

“Throw away 500,000 Baht”.... “Deserves all he gets”....   where is your head at ?.... 

I would not give them 500,000Bt even if I had a personal fortune of 5 millionBt, there are other ways to stay for years in the country with not too much hassle than a vastly overpriced Elite visa.

Not for everyone...  When you project your situation on everyone else you make an error in judgement. 

 

 

I was early 30’s... Not married, living here, working overseas on rotation. 

The life time visa was a perfect solution to the issue of ‘getting questioned more firmly’ every time I entered visa exempt and running the risk of rejected entry.

I was nowhere near retirement age, There was no other option other than ‘get married’ I was single and had no intention of getting married at the time. 

 

1 Million Baht for a lifetime membership was a great deal (US$27,000 at the time)

Free Golf / Airport Transfers / Fast track Immigration / Lounge Access / Massage / Free yearly medial check-up.

 

In the 15 years I’ve had the membership its already paid for itself.

 

 

Even without using the services it would have cost approximately 5500 per month (thats a golf game every couple of weeks). 

 

 

For those who ’need the 5 year Visa’ it works out at 330 baht per day....  (membership is now 600k baht) - thats hardly breaking the bank. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ChaiyaTH]

Let's spend 1M baht on a Elite visa and not read the basic terms and conditions of the visa itself at all. If he wanted to fix the situation, it had to be before he left, now it is done already. --- The next problem he has, is that it seems one can't obtain a new elite visa if ever blacklisted before.

[billd766]

22 hours ago, GrandPapillon said:

why do people bother staying in Thailand with all the immigration non-sense, this country has no future, it doesn't change or improve, it's only great for coming 3 to 4 months a year

Well I stay in Thailand because I am married with a teenage son and I have settled here. Sure visa extensions are a PITA, but for the time it takes getting the paperwork done it is no big problem and I can live quite happily for the rest of the year.

 

YMMV

[Iwik Detsiwt]

 

People need to take responsibility  for their own life. Perhaps use "Google Calender" notifications for instance to remind them of important things like visas 90 day reports etc?

[NoshowJones]

1 minute ago, richard_smith237 said:

Not for everyone...  When you project your situation on everyone else you make an error in judgement. 

 

 

I was early 30’s... Not married, living here, working overseas on rotation. 

The life time visa was a perfect solution to the issue of ‘getting questioned more firmly’ every time I entered visa exempt and running the risk of rejected entry.

I was nowhere near retirement age, There was no other option other than ‘get married’ I was single and had no intention of getting married at the time. 

 

1 Million Baht for a lifetime membership was a great deal (US$27,000 at the time)

Free Golf / Airport Transfers / Fast track Immigration / Lounge Access / Massage / Free yearly medial check-up.

 

In the 15 years I’ve had the membership its already paid for itself.

 

 

Even without using the services it would have cost approximately 5500 per month (thats a golf game every couple of weeks). 

 

 

For those who ’need the 5 year Visa’ it works out at 330 baht per day....  (membership is now 600k baht) - thats hardly breaking the bank. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your post certainly makes a lot of sense, but I think there are very few westerners here in your circumstances, and maybe I would do the same as you did.

There are so many people who get the Elite Visa, when all they need to do is pay an agent to avoid all the hassle, but many of them think wrongly that using an agent to avoid dealing with banks etc, and don't even need to bother with immigration at all, think that doing things in that way is illegal.

Besides Thailand today being run by this particular military government is very unstable, and no one knows what is going to happen next. The 800,000Bt in the bank and the money paid for an Elite Visa could easily be lost in the future.

 

[richard_smith237]

5 minutes ago, Iwik Detsiwt said:

People need to take responsibility  for their own life. Perhaps use "Google Calender" notifications for instance to remind them of important things like visas 90 day reports etc?

You never made a mistake or an incorrect assumption ??

 

There are so many comments here from people who would like to present the image they are flawless, never make mistakes then throw down judgement with 20:20 hindsight !!!... 

 

 

As another poster mentioned - put your hands up if you have never made a mistake in your life. 

 

 

----

 

Posted earlier: I ended up on a 1 day overstay - A misunderstanding with the Thai Elite requirements (I’d been a member for 9 years at the time).

 

Another time I’ve forgotten to renew the Tax on my car and was driving it around for 3 months. 

 

I forgot to renew the tax on my Motorcycle for nearly 12 months - it wasn’t really high on my priorities during Covid-19.

 

Wife forgot to renew her passport before a trip to Japan (only 2 months remaining when we tried to check in for a flight !!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ChaiyaTH]

9 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Posted earlier: I ended up on a 1 day overstay - A misunderstanding with the Thai Elite requirements (I’d been a member for 9 years at the time).

Another time I’ve forgotten to renew the Tax on my car and was driving it around for 3 months. 

I forgot to renew the tax on my Motorcycle for nearly 12 months - it wasn’t really high on my priorities during Covid-19.

Wife forgot to renew her passport before a trip to Japan (only 2 months remaining when we tried to check in for a flight !!).

Talking about a travel passport issue while she is native and domestic, 2 months remaining for a 1 day job / 1 week wait. Talking about taxes, you should be paying them late! Then overstaying 1 day VS 12 months straight and being blacklisted. 

 

You do not overstay a visa, by accident, with over 90 days without just being sloppy. Then you just own the situation, I have been out for 12 months myself too some years ago.

Edited December 8, 2021 by ChaiyaTH

[richard_smith237]

3 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

Your post certainly makes a lot of sense, but I think there are very few westerners here in your circumstances, and maybe I would do the same as you did.

There are so many people who get the Elite Visa, when all they need to do is pay an agent to avoid all the hassle, but many of them think wrongly that using an agent to avoid dealing with banks etc, and don't even need to bother with immigration at all, think that doing things in that way is illegal.

Besides Thailand today being run by this particular military government is very unstable, and no one knows what is going to happen next. The 800,000Bt in the bank and the money paid for an Elite Visa could easily be lost in the future.

 

I'd agree that there is a certain element of risk with paying up front for the Thai Elite membership.

 

The program was in fact in turmoil some time ago when it was discovered that funds had been squandered (as if anything else was going to happen in Thailand !) - I think it was Abhisit’s government which attempted to terminate the program and actually put it on hold for 8 months while Thai Elites assets were investigated. 

Ultimately, the government could not close Thailand Elite, that would have been illegal and class action lawsuits were threatened (by the members who got together).

 

So far the program has stood the test of time (over 15 years), I believe it has entered a level of general acceptance and reliability where the risk of closure or loss of money is sufficiently diminished for it not to be a concern. 

 

 

Regarding your comment on ‘using an agent’....   Perhaps someone below 50 can rely on an agent can get a Ed Visa or a Visa based on charity work although that is still somewhat ’sketchy’ - how much do the agents charge for this ??... 

 

 

 

 

[richard_smith237]

3 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Talking about a travel passport issue while she is native and domestic, 2 months remaining for a 1 day job / 1 week wait. Talking about taxes, you should be paying them late! Then overstaying 1 day VS 12 months straight and being blacklisted. 

Comments were to highlight that mistakes are easily made.

 

FYI - the subject of the OP overstayed his permission of stay by 3 months while holding valid Visa - it's hardly a major crime - a 12 month black list is extremely excessive in this case. 

 

Quote

He has an elite visa and didn't know he had to exit the country once every 12 months, he was staying in Thailand for the past 15 months.

Note; no need to exit Thailand, just apply for a extension of stay for another 12 months.