New Thailand Elite Visa packages from September 15th ?

[lamyai3]

6 hours ago, papersource said:

Anyone on retirement extension that wants more security and peace of mind should scramble now and get an application in for the Thailand Elite 20 year visa for 1 million baht before it is too late. 

I wonder how many will do so? Scramble is definitely appropriate, with the short time window they've given. 

[Tuvoc]

8 hours ago, papersource said:

Anyone on retirement extension that wants more security and peace of mind should scramble now and get an application in for the Thailand Elite 20 year visa for 1 million baht before it is too late. 

In my case, either the Elite visa or switch to marriage extension instead of retirement. I currently use retirement extensions because it is much easier. I could be completely wrong, but I think they will "protect" marriage extensions if that is the right word. Always extra scrutiny to avoid scams of course.

[Tuvoc]

On 8/1/2023 at 2:16 PM, JBChiangRai said:

I took my 20 year elite out at the age of 62, I figure I won't reach 82 and if I do, I'll buy a 5 year or whatever is on offer.

Yes I've been delaying buying it until I'm reasonably sure that I won't live more then 20 years more ! I had planned to buy two years from now at 65. 

 

I'll either buy it now ASAP or just save the money and continue to use retirement extensions - which have been really easy for me - or switch to marriage extensions instead, if for some reason they make retirement extensions more onerous than they are now, or change the eligibility criteria.

 

The 800k for retirement extensions is surely due for a big increase - it is years old and if they updated it for inflation since it was originally set, it would be a much bigger number now.

 

Edited August 2, 2023 by Tuvoc

[alyx]

On 7/30/2023 at 2:37 PM, wordchild said:

the price for the 20 year just looks wrong; why would anyone pay 5m for a 20yr when the 15 year costs half that price?

 

 

and two 10 year visa would cost 2 million less than a straight 20 year...

[mockingbird]

13 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

As you say it’s speculative. The million baht 20 year visa removes all the worry & stress of that speculation.

 

Stress is a killer, we should all be de—stressing our lives as much as possible.  I don’t care a fig what happens with retirement qualifications as I have my 20 year Elite. 

I used to find it incredibly stressful renewing my retirement extension every year. Not wearing the right shirt - rejected, come back. Get ATM slip showing balance on date of application -rejected.  You didn’t have form 3213A  in triplicate - rejected.  You didn’t bury form 3213A for 3 months & recycle them as firelighters - rejected.

 

Apologies to Douglas Adams

Fair enough. Everybody's different. I don't find any of that stressful.

 

If they up the 800 by 30/40%, it won't make any difference to me.

As living in Thailand isn't the be all and end all for me, being able to take the 800k (0r whatever they may up it to), if and when I leave is obviously the sane option.

 

[JBChiangRai]

10 minutes ago, mockingbird said:

Fair enough. Everybody's different. I don't find any of that stressful.

 

If they up the 800 by 30/40%, it won't make any difference to me.

As living in Thailand isn't the be all and end all for me, being able to take the 800k (0r whatever they may up it to), if and when I leave is obviously the sane option.

 

I am settled here and have put down roots in the form of 2 adopted children and a family business with moral obligations to employees. Leaving is not an option for me, I am British and would hate to return the way the country has gone.

 

Here’s some more speculation, what if new retirement requirements said one or more of these…

No single men

Fee: 250k thb per year

No British single men

Validating nett worth of X by new agency

Single men must buy condo costing over X million

etc etc.

Incidentally, I am a British single man and whilst I would pass any new financial requirements I wouldn’t want to get married to stay here - had that T-shirt in the UK, once was enough. 20 year Elite visa is eminently sensible on a risk/reward basis. Peace of mind is priceless.

[Celsius]

Ok, I read every reply here.

 

I think retirement deposits are going up 100%. Probably double. 

 

Now about this Elite visa. Still stupid 90 day reports and if you google hard enough, you will see that there was a guy on this forum who purchased this "Elite" visa thinking it was a 5 year "worry free" stay in Thailand, so he did not do annual renewal. They kicked him out of the country, LOL. Yes, dumb on him, but nothing "Elite" about it.

 

The new prices do not make any sense. The Russian and Chinese exodus will not last forever and certainly not only to Thailand. Things always change and at 36,000 CAD for a 5 year visa the so called "rich" Chinese and Russians will have other, much better options, one of them being Canada. This amount of money (36K) is enough to hire an agent who will find them a school in Canada to do University and Masters which will lead to Permanent Residency and eventual citizenship. No visa hassles ever with a benefit of free (and once world class) healthcare.

 

But who wants to live in Canada? It is so cold and miserable, you say. Yes it is, but to Russians and Chinese it makes no difference. They are used to cold and miserable. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[CrossBones]

If I am late for my 90 days report, does this affect my ability to upgrade my elite membership (currently on 5 year and need upgrade to 20 year).

I am few weeks late for my 90 day report. Thanks

[wordchild]

I wonder what the (transfer) value of the original Lifetime visa is now.

I have one but have NO intention of selling. The actual visa is of no use to me as i work in Thailand , but i make use of the meet and greet service, and i keep it as a back-up for the future.

 

But there maybe some of the original members who have fallen on hard times or returned to live in their own country. Could be a useful lump of cash for someone in that situation.

 

I have a feeling that TE changed the rules a few years ago so that if transferred an original "Lifetime" visa was changed to a 20 year for the new owner. Maybe someone ,who knows, can correct me on that.

Edited August 3, 2023 by wordchild

[ThomasThBKK]

I think the new lifetime visa owner gets 30 years.

 

So it's not that attractive compared. to the 20 year visa, as you don't have to do 3 month runs on those...

[redwood1]

11 minutes ago, wordchild said:

I wonder what the (transfer) value of the original Lifetime visa is now.

I have one but have NO intention of selling. The actual visa is of no use to me as i work in Thailand , but i make use of the meet and greet service, and i keep it as a back-up for the future.

 

But there maybe some of the original members who have fallen on hard times or returned to live in their own country. Could be a useful lump of cash for someone in that situation.

 

I have a feeling that TE changed the rules a few years ago so that if transferred an original "Lifetime" visa was changed to a 20 year for the new owner. Maybe someone ,who knows, can correct me on that.

The way I understand things (and I could be wrong) the very early elites were for life and could be re-sold and re-sold and it was always good for life...

 

Then I think there was a time after were the elite could be re-sold once for life..

 

Then after this I think the re-sell was reduced to 20 years....

 

So it would depend on when you bought the visa for how much time the buyer would get on a re-sell....

 

I am not 100% sure but this is my understanding...

[BritTim]

59 minutes ago, CrossBones said:

If I am late for my 90 days report, does this affect my ability to upgrade my elite membership (currently on 5 year and need upgrade to 20 year).

I am few weeks late for my 90 day report. Thanks

No.

[BritTim]

3 hours ago, wordchild said:

I wonder what the (transfer) value of the original Lifetime visa is now.

I have one but have NO intention of selling. The actual visa is of no use to me as i work in Thailand , but i make use of the meet and greet service, and i keep it as a back-up for the future.

 

But there maybe some of the original members who have fallen on hard times or returned to live in their own country. Could be a useful lump of cash for someone in that situation.

 

I have a feeling that TE changed the rules a few years ago so that if transferred an original "Lifetime" visa was changed to a 20 year for the new owner. Maybe someone ,who knows, can correct me on that.

The very early lifetime memberships allow a first time transfer to also be lifetime. That earliest version did not last long. As you say, most lifetime memberships can only transfer a 20-year membership to someone else.

 

Both kinds of lifetime memberships have subsequently often been voluntarily converted to 20-year memberships based on the advantage that they provide one-year on entry rather than only 90 days.

 

A handful of the original lifetime memberships still exist, and could arguably be extremely valuable to some (especially younger) folk. However, they are very rarely sold. The problem is that those thinking of buying seem to believe that a "second hand" lifetime membership should somehow be available on the cheap.

[wordchild]

29 minutes ago, ThomasThBKK said:

I think the new lifetime visa owner gets 30 years.

 

So it's not that attractive compared. to the 20 year visa, as you don't have to do 3 month runs on those...

With the original Elite you need to extend stay every 3 months but this can be done in-country, as i understand it.

 

I know another original Elite owner and he has hardly left Thailand in the last 15 years, he just extends in country,. I think TE may even do it for him. 

 

Or maybe , by now , he has taken advantage of the free switch TE offer from the Lifetime to the 20 yr. Certainly that is what i would do if i ever needed to make use of the visa.

Edited August 3, 2023 by wordchild

[iaminwa]

Hot off the press:

 

Greetings from Thailand Privilege,

 

Dear Valued Member,   Greetings from Thailand Privilege, 2023 marks the 20th year of our business and in accordance with the company’s rebranding plan, Thailand Privilege will be launching new membership packages on October 1st, 2023. We would like to take this opportunity to inform you of the discontinuation of the current membership upgrade from August 15th, 2023, onwards. Any upgrade application submitted after August 15th, 2023, 16.30 hrs., Bangkok Time, GMT+7, will be rejected. In case of dispute in this matter, the company’s decision is final. Meanwhile, members can still enjoy the current membership privileges and are able to upgrade to new packages and privileges from January 2024 onwards. The upgrade information will be provided to you in due course. Thank you for your kind support as always. Best regards, Thailand Privilege Card Co., Ltd.

[Caldera]

39 minutes ago, iaminwa said:

We would like to take this opportunity to inform you of the discontinuation of the current membership upgrade from August 15th, 2023, onwards. Any upgrade application submitted after August 15th, 2023, 16.30 hrs., Bangkok Time, GMT+7, will be rejected. In case of dispute in this matter, the company’s decision is final.

While they're probably within their rights to make this change, they could have given their valued members a bit more than two weeks advance notice.

[churchill]

I have recently purchased a 5 year visa with the aim to upgrade to 20 year at some stage .

 

The terms issued with the 5 year clearly state that I can upgrade my visa within the 5 year period .

 

Surely they would not change the terms and now insist on payment to upgrade within 2 weeks .

[K2938]

On 7/29/2023 at 11:35 PM, aldriglikvid said:

What official agents have been told is that the ESE is to be scrapped entirely, and replaced with a new 20Y visa costing +2m. We'll see

Will the new prices be announced before Sept 15, i.e. while one can still apply for the existing packages?

[K2938]

On 7/30/2023 at 2:01 AM, ukrules said:

That is not the official page of Thailand Elite - it's merely an agent at best.

 

The official URL is www.thailandelite.com - this one has a - character in the domain so it's a completely different company.

When applying for Elite is it better to use the official page or an agent?

[K2938]

On 7/30/2023 at 7:07 PM, Caldera said:

I think they'll have a hard time sustaining demand at the current level anyway, as it's mostly due to special circumstances like Covid and Russian warmongering. Marketing-wise they've done what they could, so the target group is long aware it exists amd either bought one already or wasn't interested. 

 

Also, a good number of 5-year packages came up for renewal in the last few years, which created demand and generated revenue without leading to any net gain in members.

 

Then there's new visa schemes like Smart and LTR. While flawed in their own way, for those who qualify they are usually more attractive than the Elite visa.

Well, I think we can all agree that prices are unlikely to go down!  And making a product too narrow by price rises does not seem to be a concern.  The LTR program is also much too narrow and nobody in power seems to care

[BritTim]

2 hours ago, churchill said:

I have recently purchased a 5 year visa with the aim to upgrade to 20 year at some stage .

 

The terms issued with the 5 year clearly state that I can upgrade my visa within the 5 year period .

 

Surely they would not change the terms and now insist on payment to upgrade within 2 weeks .

I believe you will be able to upgrade. However, the cost to do so is almost certainly going to drastically increase.

[ukrules]

2 hours ago, K2938 said:

When applying for Elite is it better to use the official page or an agent?

Why use a middle man when you can do it all over the phone with the official company.

 

I would never use an agent for this when it's so easy to apply directly.

[farangbuffalo]

16 hours ago, ukrules said:

Why use a middle man when you can do it all over the phone with the official company.

 

I would never use an agent for this when it's so easy to apply directly.

To be fair, the agents were the ones sharing info about the impending changes before Elite themselves. So there would have been some value having been on their mailing list 

[blorg]

18 hours ago, K2938 said:

Will the new prices be announced before Sept 15, i.e. while one can still apply for the existing packages?

Unlikely, they are launching the new packages October 1 and have informed existing members that if they don't upgrade by August 15, it will be January 2024 before they can upgrade to the new packages. So there does seem to be a deliberate effort to get in the upgrades/applications before they formally announce the new prices.

 

The prices floated (unofficial) are 900k for the cheapest 5 year to 5m for the most expensive 20 year. This is presumably with perks, there may be a cheaper 20 year (like now, there's a 2m+VAT 20 year with a 20k annual fee, and a 1m no perk 20 year). It looks pretty likely that they are going up substantially.

[blorg]

5 minutes ago, farangbuffalo said:

To be fair, the agents were the ones sharing info about the impending changes before Elite themselves. So there would have been some value having been on their mailing list 

Also, agents are still answering the phone, which Elite reportedly isn't at the moment ????

Edited August 4, 2023 by blorg

[farangbuffalo]

1 hour ago, blorg said:

Also, agents are still answering the phone, which Elite reportedly isn't at the moment ????

Yeah well can't spend a paltry 600k and expect people to answer the phone

[ukrules]

2 hours ago, blorg said:

Also, agents are still answering the phone, which Elite reportedly isn't at the moment ????

I wouldn't be surprised at all if they have already ceased processing new applications or renewals.

 

All they need to do is slow walk them through the next 11 days and that's the end of it until it relaunches.

 

 

 

[Willy333]

If you want to upgrade, you need to do it by mail. 
 

Just in case 11 days was too much time…

[Tuvoc]

They are potentially going to be very busy before Aug 15th and Sept 15th.

 

One could hope that it is more than just a price increase - that there could be other benefits. For example, maybe they could do away with the 90-day report. Maybe it will be a genuine 5 year VISA and not a 1-year visa that has to be renewed 5 times, for which if you fail to do so (assuming you haven't left the country in-between) then you are on overstay and could be deported. There is a small hope that the new packages could be attractive despite the price increase and you might actually want to wait and get one of the new ones.  Dreams are free though.... Actual legislative changes could be needed for more radical changes. 

[redwood1]

51 minutes ago, Tuvoc said:

They are potentially going to be very busy before Aug 15th and Sept 15th.

 

One could hope that it is more than just a price increase - that there could be other benefits. For example, maybe they could do away with the 90-day report. Maybe it will be a genuine 5 year VISA and not a 1-year visa that has to be renewed 5 times, for which if you fail to do so (assuming you haven't left the country in-between) then you are on overstay and could be deported. There is a small hope that the new packages could be attractive despite the price increase and you might actually want to wait and get one of the new ones.  Dreams are free though.... Actual legislative changes could be needed for more radical changes. 

If the new version was better.....They would be on the mountain tops telling the world about it already.....But Noooooo its all a big secret.........

 

I bet nothing changes but the price....

 

The current price is in no way cheap and is a big investment for people....

 

I hope they dont get too greedy with the new price...

 

Most people I bet dont care Jack about the silly benifits.....They are just buying visa time..