New Thailand Elite Visa packages from September 15th ?

[Alldar]

8 minutes ago, Pib said:

Just to add some more info regarding a SWIFT payment to ensure an exact amount arrives below is how Wise describes how you should pay Wise/fund the Wise transfer "if using  SWIFT to send money to Wise to fund a transfer"....Wise says to be sure to use the OUR option.  Basically Wise is giving instructions from a "receiver's" standpoint.

 

I have it confirmed by Wise support team that it is not possible to send exact amount via SWIFT transfer. Even your article is mentioning that. There may be intermediary banks charging fees and the biggest issue is that the conversion is done by the receiving bank.

[Pib]

33 minutes ago, Alldar said:

I have it confirmed by Wise support team that it is not possible to send exact amount via SWIFT transfer. Even your article is mentioning that. There may be intermediary banks charging fees and the biggest issue is that the conversion is done by the receiving bank.

When Wise sends via SWIFT I expect they do not use the "OUR" fee option as they don't want get involved in a possible follow-up charge coming back to pay an intermediary/receiving bank fee.   But when sending within Wise's peer-to-peer transfer system Wise has close to total control over fees along the whole trek like the receiving Wise partner bank ensuring funds they may need to relay to another bank in Thailand does not charge a domestic transfer/relay fee....like say Bangkok Bank (a Wise partner) ensuring their relay from Bangkok Bank to say KrungThai Bank does not incur any fee during that final mile of the transfer.

 

But sending banks will use the OUR option when requested as it geared to help ensure an exact amount arrives like to pay a big bill.   And if the sender agrees to send using the sending bank exchange rate (which is probably going to suck) to help ensure a specific THB amount arrives in that OUR transfer option then an exact amount of THB should arrive "although" a few days/weeks later an additional fee may hit the sender's acct....a fee from an intermediary/receiving bank. 

 

Or, any intermediary/receiving fee being reflected to the sending bank may never hit the senders acct because the sending bank absorbs the fee as part of their initial fee(s) they charged due to sending by the OUR option.  Basically the sending bank knows an intermediary/receiving fee may be reflected back to them and they have already calculated that in their pricing for such transfers to cover any reflected fee.  

 

But hey, hopefully some folks who have made the Elite payment from their home country bank will chime in and say how they got the exact amount to the Elite folks....or maybe they ended up overpaying a little on the first...or maybe enough didn't arrive on the first try and they had to do a small follow-up transfer to pay the Elite bill.

Edited October 6, 2023 by Pib

[K2938]

6 hours ago, Alldar said:

I have a question about payment for the Elite visa. How did you pay for the visa? I have both Wise account and Bangkok bank account but I am currently outside Thailand.

 

Option 1

Paying with Wise - how? I was checking that it is not possible to pay by debit card, because the maximum payment limit is not high enough. If I would transfer from Wise directly to their Thai bank account, there is no option to add any payment identifier (the reference is only visible in an e-mail, it is not visible in their bank).

Regarding Wise:  The maximum card payment limit depends on your country of residence.  So while many people have reported paying by the Wise card without any problem, this might well not apply to you. 

 

However, you can always pay by Wise directly, i.e. without using the Wise card.  To apparently make life as difficult as possible for most applicants, the bank chosen by Thai Elite does only allow a maximum transfer of 49999 THB per transaction.  What many people have therefore reported successfully doing is splitting up the total payment into the necessary amount of smaller payments below 50k and then sending a pdf of all the payment receipts to Thai Elite. 

They all say that Wise is cheaper than SWIFT, but it really depends on the conditions of your commercial bank.

 

The cheapest way - even cheaper than Wise - is probably paying via a Visa or Mastercard from a commercial bank which does not add any foreign exchange fees on top of the Visa/Mastercard rates and where you have a sufficient credit limit to make this transaction.  Not many people however have this and if this is really cheaper than Wise will also depend on your home country currency.

Edited October 6, 2023 by K2938

[Alldar]

39 minutes ago, K2938 said:

Regarding Wise:  The maximum card payment limit depends on your country of residence.  So while many people have reported paying by the Wise card without any problem, this might well not apply to you. 

 

However, you can always pay by Wise directly, i.e. without using the Wise card.  To apparently make life as difficult as possible for most applicants, the bank chosen by Thai Elite does only allow a maximum transfer of 49999 THB per transaction.  What many people have therefore reported successfully doing is splitting up the total payment into the necessary amount of smaller payments below 50k and then sending a pdf of all the payment receipts to Thai Elite. 

I have checked and the maximum daily limit for Wise card is 10,000GBP which is not enough for the Elite visa payment.

 

But if it is possible to split the payment into multiple bank transfers, then I just might transfer the amount to my Bangkok bank account first and then do multiple transfers from there which are under 50k and which shouldn't require facial recognition. Sounds like an option but I will have to check this with the elite team.

[K2938]

23 minutes ago, Alldar said:

I have checked and the maximum daily limit for Wise card is 10,000GBP which is not enough for the Elite visa payment.

 

But if it is possible to split the payment into multiple bank transfers, then I just might transfer the amount to my Bangkok bank account first and then do multiple transfers from there which are under 50k and which shouldn't require facial recognition. Sounds like an option but I will have to check this with the elite team.

If you are a UK resident, I think the limit is 30k GBP (https://wise.com/help/articles/2899986/what-are-my-spending-limits), but I might be wrong.  And regarding the Wise transfers broken down into less than 50k THB, I would directly transfer this to Thai Elite, omitting the step via your Thai bank account, but maybe you have other reasons for this.  Good luck!

[Alldar]

1 hour ago, K2938 said:

If you are a UK resident, I think the limit is 30k GBP (https://wise.com/help/articles/2899986/what-are-my-spending-limits), but I might be wrong.  And regarding the Wise transfers broken down into less than 50k THB, I would directly transfer this to Thai Elite, omitting the step via your Thai bank account, but maybe you have other reasons for this.  Good luck!

30k is monthly limit, daily limit is just 10k. They don't have it specified on that link, but I can see the limit in my app.

 

I was thinking it would be better through Thai bank account, since I can provide payment reference number during the transfer and I get nice confirmation from the BKK bank along with QR code. Reference number with Wise is not transferred to the receiving bank, it is just on the confirmation PDF. Also transfer through Thai bank account is free, there is a fixed fee for each transfer through Wise. I will however check this with Thai Elite team first.

Edited October 6, 2023 by Alldar
typo

[K2938]

According to a fb post, the Thai Elite visas now also have an application fee of 50 000 THB.  If your application is not approved, you will lose this money.  Only in case of approval will it be credited towards the total visa fee.

[ukrules]

25 minutes ago, K2938 said:

According to a fb post, the Thai Elite visas now also have an application fee of 50 000 THB.  If your application is not approved, you will lose this money.  Only in case of approval will it be credited towards the total visa fee.

How long until they begin offering discounted packages again?

 

6 Months? 1 Year? I doubt it will make it to 1 year without introducing new cut price packages due to them selling none.

[Tuvoc]

10 hours ago, K2938 said:

According to a fb post, the Thai Elite visas now also have an application fee of 50 000 THB.  If your application is not approved, you will lose this money.  Only in case of approval will it be credited towards the total visa fee.

That makes sense. Presumably also if they do approve you and you don't proceed, you also forfeit it. I guess they get quite a bit of that too. 

[Pib]

11 hours ago, K2938 said:

According to a fb post, the Thai Elite visas now also have an application fee of 50 000 THB.  If your application is not approved, you will lose this money.  Only in case of approval will it be credited towards the total visa fee.

Did the FB poster provide a reference as I wonder if the poster might just be talking a  B50K visa agent fee if he's not applying directly with govt Thai Elite company. Thai Elite pays a 10 to 15% commission to its approved GSSA agents for each approved Elite visa, but that don't prevent any agent from also charging a fee to handwalk the applicant thru the application process.   

 

Maybe some agents don't want to take the chance now of hand walking the applicant only to end up with no money made if the applicant is not approved/doesn't follow thru in paying the govt the when approved which prevents the agent from recieving the 10 to 15% commission.

 

Or maybe the "govt" has indeed decided to now charge a refundable-if-approved application fee....kinda like a deposit that is only credited back to the applicant/towards the main Elite visa if approved "and" when the applicant follows thru in payment for actual issue of the visa

 

[K2938]

15 minutes ago, Pib said:

Did the FB poster provide a reference as I wonder if the poster might just be talking a  B50K visa agent fee if he's not applying directly with govt Thai Elite company. Thai Elite pays a 10 to 15% commission to its approved GSSA agents for each approved Elite visa, but that don't prevent any agent from also charging a fee to handwalk the applicant thru the application process.   

 

Maybe some agents don't want to take the chance now of hand walking the applicant only to end up with no money made if the applicant is not approved/doesn't follow thru in paying the govt the when approved which prevents the agent from recieving the 10 to 15% commission.

 

Or maybe the "govt" has indeed decided to now charge a refundable-if-approved application fee....kinda like a deposit that is only credited back to the applicant/towards the main Elite visa if approved "and" when the applicant follows thru in payment for actual issue of the visa

It is actually in the text of the new Thai Elite application agreement which was posted there as well as follows:

[Pib]

Thanks.  The new Elite visas sure have got expensive...not only the new and improved prices but now even a healthy application fee.

 

I expect they hope this new $50K application fee will stop people from applying who really just want to see if they can get approved...not really sure they can come up with the full visa cost...just not sure they can follow thru for some reason as it is a big sum of money.  

 

Heck, Bt50K is the entire fee/cost for an 10 year LTR Visa and that fee is not paid upfront.  Fee only paid if the person's application is endorsed (BOI's terminology for a preapproval after application review)  and then the applicant follows thru with the very final step of paying the $50K fee for actual issue of the visa...that is, having the visa actually issued/inked into your passport.  Preaching to the choir I know...LTR fee info just for others listening in.

[HampiK]

1 hour ago, K2938 said:

It is actually in the text of the new Thai Elite application agreement which was posted there as well as follows:

it's 50'000 or 500'000 (five hundred thousand Baht only)  as they wrote?

[stoicccc]

I keep hearing about Elite visa applications getting rejected because of the applicant holding an ED visa currently.

[Pib]

1 hour ago, Pib said:

Thanks.  The new Elite visas sure have got expensive...not only the new and improved prices but now even a healthy application fee.

 

I expect they hope this new $50K application fee will stop people from applying who really just want to see if they can get approved...not really sure they can come up with the full visa cost...just not sure they can follow thru for some reason as it is a big sum of money.  

 

Heck, Bt50K is the entire fee/cost for an 10 year LTR Visa and that fee is not paid upfront.  Fee only paid if the person's application is endorsed (BOI's terminology for a preapproval after application review)  and then the applicant follows thru with the very final step of paying the $50K fee for actual issue of the visa...that is, having the visa actually issued/inked into your passport.  Preaching to the choir I know...LTR fee info just for others listening in.

Whoops...some typos above....anywhere I put a $ sign I meant to put Bt....not $.

[Tuvoc]

6 hours ago, stoicccc said:

I keep hearing about Elite visa applications getting rejected because of the applicant holding an ED visa currently.

I think that is right but perhaps worse - if you have ever had such a visa at any time past or present. Someone will correct me if wrong.

[El Matador]

50k baths to get a no is a fantastic rip off. And if you get a yes you may have to pay taxes on top of the fee. They win in every case.

Maybe they don't want to have any application which doesn't get paid at the end of the process. I suspect many applications were confirmed just in time for the deadline but will never get paid (because people are undecided due to the deadline and the new tax system has changed many things for some people). 50k is still a ridiculous fee.

 

I don't see anyone sane buying that new Thai Elite visa before at least next year as those tax problems haven't been explained in detail. 

They are really doing their best to make the product as unattractive as possible.

[K2938]

5 hours ago, El Matador said:

50k baths to get a no is a fantastic rip off. And if you get a yes you may have to pay taxes on top of the fee. They win in every case.

Maybe they don't want to have any application which doesn't get paid at the end of the process. I suspect many applications were confirmed just in time for the deadline but will never get paid (because people are undecided due to the deadline and the new tax system has changed many things for some people). 50k is still a ridiculous fee.

 

I don't see anyone sane buying that new Thai Elite visa before at least next year as those tax problems haven't been explained in detail. 

They are really doing their best to make the product as unattractive as possible.

Indeed.  They are deluded about the future demand for their visa and act with more and more arrogance and disregard to their customers.  This never ends well.

Edited October 12, 2023 by K2938

[redwood1]

5 hours ago, El Matador said:

50k baths to get a no is a fantastic rip off. And if you get a yes you may have to pay taxes on top of the fee. They win in every case.

Maybe they don't want to have any application which doesn't get paid at the end of the process. I suspect many applications were confirmed just in time for the deadline but will never get paid (because people are undecided due to the deadline and the new tax system has changed many things for some people). 50k is still a ridiculous fee.

 

I don't see anyone sane buying that new Thai Elite visa before at least next year as those tax problems haven't been explained in detail. 

They are really doing their best to make the product as unattractive as possible.

Hey guys send me 25,000 and I will tell you NO..

A 50% discount for you.....lol

[Pib]

But it's very, very unlikely for the govt to give a No unless the background check identifies the applicant as an International criminal OR, much worse, a past holder of  an ED visa a person got in good faith...was stamped into their passport by a govt official. 

 

Yea...I know some (probably many) ED visas were issued to unqualified applicants or visa agents slipped a brown envelope to immigration officials but the ED visas were never the less still insured by immigration officials.  Now if that ED stamp was a fake stamp entered by a corrupt visa agent then that changes the picture.

 

The follow-on possible impacts of having an ED visa in the past (which I've never had...currently have a LTR visa) like being the reason behind a Elite visa application disapproval just seem over the top by the govt.  But maybe I'm just missing the govt's reasoning behind their stance....reasoning I'm sure none of us will ever be made privy to. 

 

And hopefully just having a past ED Visa does not result in a "high" chance of or automatic/100% disapproval when the ED visa appears legally issued by govt officials.  I guess a lot depends on examination of each ED visa issued....issued legally or illegally.

 

[Alldar]

It seems the approval might be taking long time, I am waiting so far 1.5 months for mine and I am not sure how much longer it will take. I was planning to travel to Thailand next month, but I am not sure if I can travel with tourist visa or visa exempt now when I am waiting for the Elite visa. In the Elite visa application I specified that I am outside Thailand and I am not in possession of any visa. Does anyone know if it is OK to travel to Thailand now or do I need to wait for the Elite visa?

[K2938]

30 minutes ago, Alldar said:

It seems the approval might be taking long time, I am waiting so far 1.5 months for mine and I am not sure how much longer it will take. I was planning to travel to Thailand next month, but I am not sure if I can travel with tourist visa or visa exempt now when I am waiting for the Elite visa. In the Elite visa application I specified that I am outside Thailand and I am not in possession of any visa. Does anyone know if it is OK to travel to Thailand now or do I need to wait for the Elite visa?

No problem, as long as you legally enter Thailand.  But only members holding a Tourist Visa, Visa on Arrival, or a 30-Day Exempted Tourist Visa are eligible to validate their Elite Visa within Thailand.  So depending on how you enter, you might have to exit again before actually getting the Elite Visa into your passport.

Edited October 15, 2023 by K2938

[Ohyesuare]

26 minutes ago, Alldar said:

It seems the approval might be taking long time, I am waiting so far 1.5 months for mine and I am not sure how much longer it will take. I was planning to travel to Thailand next month, but I am not sure if I can travel with tourist visa or visa exempt now when I am waiting for the Elite visa. In the Elite visa application I specified that I am outside Thailand and I am not in possession of any visa. Does anyone know if it is OK to travel to Thailand now or do I need to wait for the Elite visa?

You don't need to wait but you will have to go to Chaeng Wattana Immigration in Bankok once your Elite Visa is approved to get your visa sticker and one year stamp. Much easier to have it done at the airport upon arrival if you have the option of waiting for approval.

[Tuvoc]

9 hours ago, Alldar said:

It seems the approval might be taking long time, I am waiting so far 1.5 months for mine and I am not sure how much longer it will take. 

It will be 8 weeks tomorrow since I submitted mine. I guess they got a flood of applications for the old deals.

[El Matador]

On 10/16/2023 at 2:39 AM, Tuvoc said:

It will be 8 weeks tomorrow since I submitted mine. I guess they got a flood of applications for the old deals.

It was predictable.

The short notice and the insane price increase created lots of FOMO.

The level of unpaid applications might be high too due to tax uncertainity.

[Tuvoc]

Well, got home tonight and the approval email has arrived. So exactly 8 weeks.

[noobexpat]

On 10/16/2023 at 1:39 AM, Tuvoc said:

It will be 8 weeks tomorrow since I submitted mine. I guess they got a flood of applications for the old deals.

I applied for the 5 yr to 20yr upgrade in early September...nothing back yet. I guess no real rush to get through these though.