New Thailand Elite Visa packages from September 15th ?

[BE88]

8 minutes ago, JayClay said:

Never be too quick to attribute malice to that which could easily be explained by incompetence.

I assume management is under pressure from the government for not enough new Visa Elites these last period with few Chinese applying for Visa Elite and so commercially speaking it is a logical step to attract new customers.

 

[JayClay]

12 minutes ago, BE88 said:

I assume management is under pressure from the government for not enough new Visa Elites these last period with few Chinese applying for Visa Elite and so commercially speaking it is a logical step to attract new customers.

 

Good for you 

[BE88]

13 minutes ago, JayClay said:

Good for you 

There is no certainty that they want to increase the cost to obtain the Visa Elite it could only be to modify certain rules of the Visa, if instead they greatly increase the amount I agree with you that they are incompetent because they will take the opposite effect.

We'll see 

 

[Willy333]

6 hours ago, BE88 said:

There is no certainty that they want to increase the cost to obtain the Visa Elite it could only be to modify certain rules of the Visa, if instead they greatly increase the amount I agree with you that they are incompetent because they will take the opposite effect.

We'll see 

 

Thai elite(not an agent) told me that it was almost certain that the new packages would start at 900k for the 5 years.

 

There’s no reason to wait for the new packages if you’re thinking about applying since you can back out at the end before paying.

Edited August 21, 2023 by Willy333

[BE88]

57 minutes ago, Willy333 said:

Thai elite(not an agent) told me that it was almost certain that the new packages would start at 900k for the 5 years.

 

There’s no reason to wait for the new packages if you’re thinking about applying since you can back out at the end before paying.

In the period from September 15th to October 15th no agreement can be made for the Visa Elite, do you think they will accept that you will do it after October 15th when you will know the new requirements? I strongly doubt it, but then always try to ask.

[Tuvoc]

21 hours ago, BE88 said:

I decided not to take it because I think it's just a waste of money because it doesn't give me any security for various reasons, change of government

On this point, there is a clause in the agreement to say that if the program is cancelled, you will receive a refund of the "remaining membership fee".  I assume that is pro-rated.

Edited August 21, 2023 by Tuvoc

[Willy333]

26 minutes ago, BE88 said:

In the period from September 15th to October 15th no agreement can be made for the Visa Elite, do you think they will accept that you will do it after October 15th when you will know the new requirements? I strongly doubt it, but then always try to ask.

It takes about 2 months to get approved, if you apply now, you will be approved around mid October, then you can decide to go through with the payment within 30 days.

 

The details on the new packages should be announced on October 1st.

[BE88]

2 minutes ago, Willy333 said:

It takes about 2 months to get approved, if you apply now, you will be approved around mid October, then you can decide to go through with the payment within 30 days.

 

The details on the new packages should be announced on October 1st.

Your reasoning is correct and see at the moment come in October if you receive the amount to pay is always the one established before, only if you pay does it get Visa Elite, if you don't pay everything is cancelled.

Until it is officially decided, the Elite Visa company will not give you any answer in advance and I believe that many people are asking for the same answer now.

 

[Neeranam]

On 7/29/2023 at 7:11 PM, Jacques Clouseau said:

It's a strange move.

Usually when what's on offer doesn't sell, you lower your prices, right ?

Indeed, the prices are ridiculous for what they offer, total rip-off. 

Bear in mind, Thai citizenship costs 5,000 baht. 

[K2938]

4 hours ago, Tuvoc said:

On this point, there is a clause in the agreement to say that if the program is cancelled, you will receive a refund of the "remaining membership fee".  I assume that is pro-rated.

Not sure what your contract specifically says as things changed over time, but the current protection clause is very narrow and so would most likely not cover you against a huge variety of imaginable adverse changes and really virtually anything could be structured such that it would not be covered by the protection clause which only applies:

"In case there is any order, rule, regulation or law announced by any related government authority which has an impact on the business operation of the Company to the effect that the Company is unable to continue its business or perform its operation as usual, the Company shall be entitled to terminate the Membership for the Member by giving an advance written notice to the Member."

Edited August 21, 2023 by K2938

[freeman01]

why would the thai immigration suddenly decide to cancel a meager what ? 20k "wealthy" people who paid for an elite visa destined for the rich and wealthy ? seriously this is nonsense ... no government want to mess with rich people, the probabilities are extremely low at best.

 

what is certain to change within 20 years on the other hand, is all the temporary visas with more restrictions and requirements like insurance and all the bs bank statement and who knows what else they will invent ...

 

yes 90 days reporting and 1 year stamp is midly annoying but very manageable considering the benefit of being able to get in and out of the country at will for 20 years without any requirements ... personally i enjoy traveling around in south east asia at least once a year, who doesn't ?

 

Also its not like there is many other solutions like this around ... this is a really good deal you should take it while you can imho.

Edited August 21, 2023 by freeman01

[Tuvoc]

11 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Indeed, the prices are ridiculous for what they offer, total rip-off. 

Bear in mind, Thai citizenship costs 5,000 baht. 

Which is unattainable for 99.9% of foreigners,  and for which you would also have to spend large on legal fees to maximize chances of success.

[ukrules]

On 8/21/2023 at 3:57 PM, Willy333 said:

It takes about 2 months to get approved, if you apply now, you will be approved around mid October, then you can decide to go through with the payment within 30 days.

 

The details on the new packages should be announced on October 1st.

I contacted Thailand Elite about upgrading my 5 year membership to the 20 year membership for 500k Baht (I joined before the price increase) and this is a small snippet of the PDF that came back.

 

Note that according to this text which is on the upgrade application form payment must be made within 7 days or the upgrade approval is revoked :

 

 

It may be that the conditions are different for different members, the form I received also specifically mentioned the 500k upgrade fee so it might be a completely different set of terms and conditions for those more recent members who want to upgrade from their 600k memberships.

 

Maybe this information will be of use to someone.

 

Based on what I've heard it doesn't take 2 months for approval, people are reporting 1 month approval times, I renewed my 5 year membership once already and the approval time for that took about 2 or 3 days - that's right - it seemed almost immediate.

 

For this reason I will do the international bank transfer into my Thai account before submitting my application just to make sure I have enough cash on hand to make the transfer immediately on approval.

 

Edited August 22, 2023 by ukrules

[Willy333]

26 minutes ago, ukrules said:

I contacted Thailand Elite about upgrading my 5 year membership to the 20 year membership for 500k Baht (I joined before the price increase) and this is a small snippet of the PDF that came back.

 

Note that according to this text which is on the upgrade application form payment must be made within 7 days or the upgrade approval is revoked :

 

 

It may be that the conditions are different for different members, the form I received also specifically mentioned the 500k upgrade fee so it might be a completely different set of terms and conditions for those more recent members who want to upgrade from their 600k memberships.

 

Maybe this information will be of use to someone.

 

Based on what I've heard it doesn't take 2 months for approval, people are reporting 1 month approval times, I renewed my 5 year membership once already and the approval time for that took about 2 or 3 days - that's right - it seemed almost immediate.

 

For this reason I will do the international bank transfer into my Thai account before submitting my application just to make sure I have enough cash on hand to make the transfer immediately on approval.

 

I was referring to applying to a new elite visa not upgrading one.

I did it this year and I had 30 days to make the payment.

The processing time varies, they told me 1-2 months, mine took 2 months. They give me the same time estimate for upgrading.

 

Also, you can use a credit card(one with no foreign fees), you don’t need to do a bank transfer. That’s what I did, got some points in the process.

[ukrules]

30 minutes ago, Willy333 said:

I was referring to applying to a new elite visa not upgrading one.

I did it this year and I had 30 days to make the payment.

Yes, for me too it was 30 days when I applied for my last 2 memberships.

 

This 7 day thing seems to be very new which is why I mentioned it as it may be helpful to others.

 

[Tuvoc]

4 hours ago, ukrules said:

Yes, for me too it was 30 days when I applied for my last 2 memberships.

 

This 7 day thing seems to be very new which is why I mentioned it as it may be helpful to others.

 

Yes I'm not clear either. I'm pretty sure that the application form says payment is due in 7 days, but agents say 30 days. Anyway the funds are in my Bangkok Bank account already so there is no issue either way. 

 

I don't mind the 2 months or longer for it to get approved, I don't need it before then.

[brian2322]

I recently did the 500k baht upgrade for an additional 15 years.  Apparently now I have to pay for the "Elite Personal Liason" service (them handling stuff at immigration).  The first one is free, after which I have to pay.  The first one is apparently affixing the new visa.  I asked about doing a 1 year extension at the same time (to save a trip to immigration), and the cost is 2000 baht for the 1 year extension.  I'll just pay it cuz I'm "wealthy" (joking).  But that was a surprise.  I suppose anything (changing visa to a new passport, etc.) is now going to cost at least 2000 baht (in addition to the 1900 to immigration).  

 

I think most people also know that the car service is also cancelled once you do the upgrade.  So the upgrade is definitely a downgrade to "now you just get a visa, no more services". 

 

Just an FYI.

 

Edited August 22, 2023 by brian2322
clarify

[El Matador]

I guess there will be a rush till the 15th of September.

And after that, the program will be almost dead.

People who really want it will have it before the 15th of September.

Unless another COVID or war comes into play, they will have a hell of a time to market their new visa to new potential applicants.

[JayClay]

On 8/23/2023 at 4:53 AM, brian2322 said:

I asked about doing a 1 year extension at the same time (to save a trip to immigration), and the cost is 2000 baht for the 1 year extension

Is that in total, or on top of the standard 1,900 fee that applies to any extension?

 

If it's in total then you're only paying 100bt for them to take the task off your hands, which is pretty okay. If it's in addition then I'd probably still pay it because it beats going to immigration yourself. Mind you I'd probably leave the country at least once per year so it most likely wouldn't apply to me anyway.

[freeman01]

On 8/23/2023 at 7:51 PM, El Matador said:

And after that, the program will be almost dead.

People who really want it will have it before the 15th of September.

Unless another COVID or war comes into play, they will have a hell of a time to market their new visa to new potential applicants.

i highly doubt that, the demand for this visa is not going down any time soon, about 4-5k a year since 2020 ... huge amount of Chinese, Japanese and Europeans from tax hell countries will still be interested even if the price double, and still a lots of Russians applying now with the sanctions according to an agents.

lots of people out there for which that amount of money isn't much of a concern or is worth it for them. note that most people use debt to pay for it which then doesn't requires spitting out the whole amount from savings.

 

also I don't think the elite visa is intended to get that many applications as they have seen the past years, pretty sure the government is expecting a natural cap beyond what they could pause new applications for a while or make adjustment in the requirements like they are doing now.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by freeman01

[brian2322]

On 8/23/2023 at 6:46 PM, JayClay said:

Is that in total, or on top of the standard 1,900 fee that applies to any extension?

 

If it's in total then you're only paying 100bt for them to take the task off your hands, which is pretty okay. If it's in addition then I'd probably still pay it because it beats going to immigration yourself. Mind you I'd probably leave the country at least once per year so it most likely wouldn't apply to me anyway.

It's in addition to the 1900 normal fee.  Basically no more "free" immigration services, everything is 2000 baht.  Just an FYI, don't want to get into a value argument.

[Dghart001]

Just to add a datapoint on processing times... I applied for the ESE 20 year on August 8th...was just approved this morning. Seems they are pushing these through quickly. I have 30 days to pay.

[Tuvoc]

44 minutes ago, Dghart001 said:

Just to add a datapoint on processing times... I applied for the ESE 20 year on August 8th...was just approved this morning. Seems they are pushing these through quickly. I have 30 days to pay.

That is fast ! But I bet they've had a significant volume since then.

[martinafr]

1 hour ago, Tuvoc said:

That is fast ! But I bet they've had a significant volume since then.

Maybe they have a significant reason to approve the 20 Extensions first. We waiting since end July but only for the 5 Year visa...

[Tuvoc]

I'd have expected that they would process them in the order they receive them. Who knows. Maybe some applications take longer than others.

[ukrules]

4 hours ago, Dghart001 said:

Just to add a datapoint on processing times... I applied for the ESE 20 year on August 8th...was just approved this morning. Seems they are pushing these through quickly. I have 30 days to pay.

Was that an upgrade from a 5 year membership or a new application where they did not know you from before?

 

Edited August 25, 2023 by ukrules

[Dghart001]

2 hours ago, ukrules said:

Was that an upgrade from a 5 year membership or a new application where they did not know you from before?

 

New Application

[freeman01]

my ESE 20y application took about 6 weeks to be approved by immigration and 3 weeks after payment to be processed and get the welcome letter.

[El Matador]

On 8/25/2023 at 5:04 AM, freeman01 said:

i highly doubt that, the demand for this visa is not going down any time soon, about 4-5k a year since 2020 ... huge amount of Chinese, Japanese and Europeans from tax hell countries will still be interested even if the price double, and still a lots of Russians applying now with the sanctions according to an agents.

lots of people out there for which that amount of money isn't much of a concern or is worth it for them. note that most people use debt to pay for it which then doesn't requires spitting out the whole amount from savings.

 

also I don't think the elite visa is intended to get that many applications as they have seen the past years, pretty sure the government is expecting a natural cap beyond what they could pause new applications for a while or make adjustment in the requirements like they are doing now.

As I said, people who are really interested will apply before the 15th of September. People had time to think about things since the Ukranian war and Covid for months. This is why there has been a surge of Russians and Chinese people. Geopolitical events have been the best marketing for Thai elite, but this is not something recurrent and predictable.

With new prices, people will start thinking if not better going for an investment visa (10 millions of bahts but the investment is still yours) or going to another country such as Malaysia which is very tax friendly. 

It could make perfect sense to pay a fee of 600k/1M you won't recover and invest your money outside of the country. But with future prices, some people will think if it is not better buying a 10 millions condo, or simply buy a residency somewhere else if you are under 50. Unless they are billionaires, people with money still do the maths. The new Thai Elite visa will be really niche. 

Edited August 26, 2023 by El Matador

[Tuvoc]

3 hours ago, freeman01 said:

my ESE 20y application took about 6 weeks to be approved by immigration and 3 weeks after payment to be processed and get the welcome letter.

OK so 9 weeks in total then, plus however long you waited before making the payment. I must check my application form - I keep seeing 30 days for that, but from memory the application form said 7 days.