Thailand shakes up golden visa scheme, hikes prices by up to 500 per cent

[IgboChief]

7 hours ago, webfact said:

Additional options include the Diamond Card (15 years for 2.5 million baht)

15 years of marriage was more expensive although priceless when having kids.

[Liverpool Lou]

6 hours ago, aldriglikvid said:

 

I'm always surprised when boomers enters the thread and calls Thai Elite a failed programme. And, most often, ends with the comment "Thai economics, heu heu heu" - and the other Pattaya-boomers sends likes and emoji's. 

The fact (if that interests you) is that active users of the TE scheme is up +400% since 2019 and grew triple digits alone in 2023. They declare revenue and profits annually, and we just learned it's both record revenue and record profits. Demand isn't "low", to the contrary, it's through the roof; and that's why they're increasing prices. 

Well said.

[Liverpool Lou]

6 hours ago, bob smith said:

could you explain to me why anyone would pay 5 million baht for a visa that you can get legally for 1,900 baht at immigration? 

Someone needs to explain to you the no visa comparable to the TP Card visa is available for B1,900 at IB.

[Liverpool Lou]

5 hours ago, bob smith said:

 

you just like throwing your money into a bottomless pit, I guess.

That would be his privilege and no concern of yours or anyone else.

[Liverpool Lou]

4 hours ago, khunjeff said:

The program was an abject failure - literally losing money every year and considering closure - until Covid and then the war in Ukraine created sharp spikes in demand from people seeking a safe haven. Thai Elite was very lucky that world events created a sudden and unexpected demand for their product, but there's no particular reason to believe that the enhanced demand will continue forever.

So?

[Liverpool Lou]

4 hours ago, dinsdale said:

These hikes will not bother the Chinese criminals high class applicants.

...nor the UK, US, Australian, Canadian or European ones.

Edited September 2, 2023 by Liverpool Lou

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, hotchilli said:

Thailands policy is to keep fleecing until the last man standing.

If there's no compulsion, there's no fleecing.

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, khunPer said:

From the article...
"It hopes to boost its membership by 10,000 in the coming year under the new scheme.

Current Thailand Elite packages can be applied for until September 15. They will be discontinued and replaced with new packages on October 1, 2023."

Thank you for reading the article for us and reposting it.

[redwood1]

2 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

...nor the UK, US, Australian, Canadian or European ones.

Ok  Lou if this is just chump change to you.....You can buy us all elite visas...lol

 

For most people 30,000 to 150,000 dollars is a  considerable sum of money..

[Liverpool Lou]

3 hours ago, TimeMachine said:

Generally I see multi millionaires squabble over 20 baht price difference. Not all.  But too many that leave me in disbelieve.

How many multi-millionaires do you generally associate with, then?

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, aldriglikvid said:

 

This is another highly interesting take, besides the "Thai Economics"-zingers: "the numbers aren't impressive". 

 

According to what? Do you guys understand that Thai Elite doesn't scale as a Spotify or HBO Max subscription? Every new member with a PE-visa requires a shuttle on Suvarnabhumi, Phuket and Chang Mai. Every new PE-visa requires bypass att checkin, security and a special line at Immigration. The idea that TPC are seeking VOLUME, as you guys claim, is nauseating clueless. They try to find a traditional Supply and Demand BALANCE of what deep-pocket tourists are willing to pay. When users are growing +100% YoY, for 3 years in a row, clearly they are underpricing themselves. Not to mention all the staff (costs) they need to hire to meet and greet all these new clients on the airports. 

 

To the "not impressive" numbers: it was 6000 active PE-visa holders in 2019 and there were forty thousand (40 000) in July before they announced their new pricing. Considering everyone had approx. 40 days to subscribe to the old pricing before the new price is fixed, I'm confident that number is not less than 50 000 next month. That's almost 10x in 5 years. Yeah, hardly impressive. 

 

Personal take? I don't think they actually want anymore than 20 000 active users. Perhaps not even that. Why would they? It's better to increase price until you reach that point of users. The exact same revenue to a lower fixed and operational cost i.e. higher profits. 

 

 

"Thai Economics"

Well said, again!

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, mokwit said:

4 hours ago, freedomnow said:

Don't plan your life around this place.

 

Endless tweaks and u-turn shifting sands rules.

Everything is set up so that they can pull the rug out from under you.

Do you have one example of the rug being pulled from under legitimate concepts?

Edited September 2, 2023 by Liverpool Lou

[redwood1]

14 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

If there's no compulsion, there's no fleecing.

Wrong again..

 

[aldriglikvid]

46 minutes ago, BE88 said:

As I have already said, Elite Visa only wants to attract as many members as possible before the increase scheduled for October 1, knowing that then the numbers of members will drop to a peak close to zero. And I personally find that B. 1,000,000 for 20 years is money thrown into the state coffers of LOS.

 

1m thb for a 20 year hassle free visa equals 50k thb per year i.e. $1.4k per...year! Not even mentioning priority check-in, priority security and the same immigration queue pilots and flight-crew using. 

 

If $1.4k per year is "expensive" and "money in the water" I just can't help you. It's an incredible value proposition, IMHO. 

 

Finally, who cares if applications go to zero after the price increase? (Which, of course, it won't). 

 

Being a LTD they use IFRS accounting and thus the 35k applications paid and accepted the last 3 years, will contribute to revenue and profits for years to come. The cash is already in their coffers and thus can earn money "again", similar to an insurance company. 

 

Enough of clueless Euro-poors today. I'm out! 

 

 

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, BritScot said:

I do not understand anyone who would pay crazy money for basically nothing you can get for a fraction of the price.

Where are all the TPC facilities available from "at a fraction of their price"?

[Blumpie]

Like it or not fools pay for this kind of garbage - people who have more money than they know what to do with  People who have old money and are squandering it away.

It doesn't matter to me if they are just doing a high end pay off, Im not interested in retiring in Thailand anymore.  It's not home it will never be home.  They can boot you out anytime for any reason in the future.

No thanks

[ukrules]

5 hours ago, impulse said:

Edit:  My point being that the sudden jump in numbers may just be a transient thing.

It will be, especially once these price rises become active which isn't until October I believe.

 

Right now you can still apply for the old pricing model until September 15th.

 

After that I predict that what will happen to the new company will be a comedic failure and they will introduce a new selection of discount packages to make up for having achieved zero new sales between October and whenever they realise they messed it up completely - that might take a year or two but I'm reasonably sure it will happen.

 

They did it before which is why things such as the 5 year membership for 500k and 20 year memebrship for 1 million baht exists.

 

This whole thing started out with a 1 million Baht lifetime visa, then they doubled it to 2 million baht and failed miserably for years - the solution - introduce the 5 year option for 500k. I guess that did ok for a while.

 

Then they bought the 20 year membership for 1 million Baht which may have been reasonably successful.

 

After that they introduced upgrades from the 5 year membership to the 20 year membership for the same price (500k Baht) as the 5 year membership - I suspect this is when they started to get too busy over the last few years.

 

Now they've hit the reset button and it all starts again. It's just a matter of time before they introduce new discount memberships with less 'perks and benefits' in order to bolster non existant sales.

[BE88]

3 minutes ago, aldriglikvid said:

1m thb for a 20 year hassle free visa equals 50k thb per year i.e. $1.4k per...year! Not even mentioning priority check-in, priority security and the same immigration queue pilots and flight-crew using. 

 

If $1.4k per year is "expensive" and "money in the water" I just can't help you. It's an incredible value proposition, IMHO. 

 

Finally, who cares if applications go to zero after the price increase? (Which, of course, it won't). 

 

Being a LTD they use IFRS accounting and thus the 35k applications paid and accepted the last 3 years, will contribute to revenue and profits for years to come. The cash is already in their coffers and thus can earn money "again", similar to an insurance company. 

 

Enough of clueless Euro-poors today. I'm out! 

 

 

Thanks but I know how to do accounting, but I'm not interested in your comment.

 

[Liverpool Lou]

2 hours ago, zzaa09 said:

This elite visa never scam

Can you explain, rationally, how it is "a scam"?

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, MrMojoRisin said:

5 million baht to effectively buy citizenship (the right to live in Thailand) is a bargain.

Those buying it do not get the right to live in Thailand.

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, Hunz Kittisak said:

Recent worldwide arrests of China linked scamming and money laundering syndicates. Many of the members hold Thai Elite memberships 

And?

[mokwit]

1 minute ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Those buying it do not get the right to live in Thailand.

We're so lucky to have Lou come on threads and set us all right.

[Liverpool Lou]

9 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

24 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

If there's no compulsion, there's no fleecing.

Wrong again..

Really?  What I posted was wrong?  So you're saying that TPC membership is compulsory?   Jesus...

[Liverpool Lou]

Just now, mokwit said:

3 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Those buying it do not get the right to live in Thailand.

We're so lucky to have Lou come on threads and set us all right.

It's good to be appreciated.

[MrMojoRisin]

18 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Those buying it do not get the right to live in Thailand.

What does the purchaser of a Thai Elite Visa get?

 

20 years of…..

Edited September 2, 2023 by MrMojoRisin

[herfiehandbag]

I'm perhaps taking a punt here, but most of us active ( or reading) Thai Visa/ASEAN Now are expatriates from Western countries, probably retired on various permutations of private and state pensions, married ( or have been) to Thai nationals. Add in a number who are still working (teachers and others) who will almost certainly be in the last quartile of their working lives. Financially reasonably secure perhaps, but light years away from the sort of wealth which these schemes and cards are aimed at. We are not in the frame, never have been, and never will be for the company/companies/agencies operating these schemes. They are not in the slightest bit interested in us, nor really most of us in them.

[impulse]

3 hours ago, aldriglikvid said:

 

Personal take? I don't think they actually want anymore than 20 000 active users. Perhaps not even that. Why would they? It's better to increase price until you reach that point of users. The exact same revenue to a lower fixed and operational cost i.e. higher profits. 

 

"Thai Economics"

Just out of curiosity, under that business model how would they continue providing services once they hit their 20,000 (for example, or even 60,000) target and no longer have new money rolling in?  I'd like to think they reserve enough money from each member's one time fees to fund the services they reasonably anticipate.  But I suspect those reserve accounts become pretty tempting.  As I've often heard from our accountants, "revenue growth hides a ton of sins"  What happens when there's no revenue, let alone growth?

I perfectly understand trying to dial in the pricing to maximize profits.  But not the idea that they want to reach a membership goal and have no interest in getting bigger.  Unless, of course, they move to a subscription model that has regular fees.  They are always going to need fresh money rolling in.

 

[aldriglikvid]

13 minutes ago, impulse said:

Just out of curiosity, under that business model how would they continue providing services once they hit their 20,000 (for example, or even 60,000) target and no longer have new money rolling in?  I'd like to think they reserve enough money from each member's one time fees to fund the services they reasonably anticipate.  But I suspect those reserve accounts become pretty tempting.  As I've often heard from our accountants, "revenue growth hides a ton of sins"  What happens when there's no revenue, let alone growth?

I perfectly understand trying to dial in the pricing to maximize profits.  But not the idea that they want to reach a membership goal and have no interest in getting bigger.  Unless, of course, they move to a subscription model that has regular fees.  They are always going to need fresh money rolling in.

 

The last five years, and the last 10 years, the most common card has been the 5-year card. Looking forward, I have confidence that will stay the same. Thus, you have a substantial amount of people rolling of every 5 years. As we're now 20 years into to the programme, there's cash-flow each and every year now. 

 

There has been a huge uptick in new members 2020-2023. Almost 35k new cards in total. Billions of THB. Although they get money up front, according to accounting standards the revenue will be divided into 5/10/15 years. When they get money upfront, but deliver a 20 year service - they are in the same position as a insurance company. A very beneficial one, as they can get a return on the money throughout the years (bonds, interest, stocks etc.). 

 

Although your question is fair and balanced, compared to much other absolute lunacy here, there's absolutely nothing that indicates that applications will go down to zero next year. 

[In the jungle]

It's a visa for dimwits.

[Celsius]

7 hours ago, aldriglikvid said:

Don't change the subject now, Boomer. Your first post was that TE was a failed programme and no members. ???? Clearly wrong.

 

No, your numbers are wrong. Are you a millenial who can't do basic math? Your numbers are all over the place and wrong.