Has anyone heard of the new Elite Bronze status?  It is for 5 years and the price is 650,000 Baht.  If this is true does this mean the brains at Thaialnd Elite made a mistake in raising the price fo the Gold Status (also for 5 years) to 900,000 Baht.  TIT. Of course no Thai business or agency makes mistakes.  I apologize for saying such an absurd thing.  If the price for the 5 year had not gone to 900,000 I probably would have bought it.  

I doubt they will sell many of either status now the DTV is available for 10,000 to 12,000 Baht (depending where you apply).

Their sales must be an absolute freefall. Either it will slowly die or they'll dramatically discount the rates. 

 

They made two errors. They projected forwards the unusual post-Covid demand, and they assumed the Chinese money vein could be tapped for ever. This government's new ultra -liberal visa policy was the final straw.

On 11/19/2024 at 10:19 PM, Gaccha said:

Their sales must be an absolute freefall. Either it will slowly die or they'll dramatically discount the rates. 

 

They made two errors. They projected forwards the unusual post-Covid demand, and they assumed the Chinese money vein could be tapped for ever. This government's new ultra -liberal visa policy was the final straw.

I would say, they didn't foresee the political re-alignment of the Thaksin faction with other parties, in response to FF - and that this would result in a compromises / policy-changes on visas (and other things).  Thaksin was in-power when the "elite" visa was created, and "crackdowns" on visa-exempt entries soon followed, which helped drive sales. 

As someone who doesn;t meet the ongoing income requirements for LTR and doesn;t want to invest $250k in Thailand currently, but has plenty of static/invested funds, I have been looking at the privilege visa but the pricing for gold was probably too high.  The new bronze category is back closer to a price point which may make it worthwhile for me due to the hassle it removes for an initial relocation in q2 next year,

 

I am not sure who would contemplate a gold membership now, all I wanted was 5 years guaranteed multi entry, priority lane and 90 day reporting support which are all in bronze.  The other benefits of gold don;t have much value.  I am quite pleased with this development.

1 minute ago, simplesimon said:

As someone who doesn;t meet the ongoing income requirements for LTR.......

Have you looked into DTV recently introduced visa option. 

Are you 50 yr + 

On 11/19/2024 at 1:25 PM, sqwakvfr said:

Has anyone heard of the new Elite Bronze status?  It is for 5 years and the price is 650,000 Baht.  If this is true does this mean the brains at Thaialnd Elite made a mistake in raising the price fo the Gold Status (also for 5 years) to 900,000 Baht.  TIT. Of course no Thai business or agency makes mistakes.  I apologize for saying such an absurd thing.  If the price for the 5 year had not gone to 900,000 I probably would have bought it.  

 

Yes, this is exactly what has happened.

 

5 year 'Formerly known as Elite now Privilege' back to 650K.

 

19 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

Have you looked into DTV recently introduced visa option. 

Are you 50 yr + 

Not working and not 50 plus

1 minute ago, simplesimon said:

Not working and not 50 plus

DTV age requirement is 20+

15 hours ago, anrcaccount said:

5 year 'Formerly known as Elite now Privilege' back to 650K.

 

The "easy access" old Elite visa valid for 5 years was 500,000. I suppose taking into account inflation, and the need to save face, I think you've hit the bullseye.

 

I always felt that even that old price was a rip off. The only vaguely reasonable was 20 years at 1 million. But obviously this all depends on our situations and feelings. 

 

I'm intrigued to see if a 20 year "new" visa makes an appearance in the next year.

3 minutes ago, Gaccha said:

 

The "easy access" old Elite visa valid for 5 years was 500,000. I suppose taking into account inflation, and the need to save face, I think you've hit the bullseye.

 

I always felt that even that old price was a rip off. The only vaguely reasonable was 20 years at 1 million. But obviously this all depends on our situations and feelings. 

 

I'm intrigued to see if a 20 year "new" visa makes an appearance in the next year.

At 500K I was considering it in the past.  But when I saw the new pricing meant an 80% increase I thought "what are these people thinking?".  It seems like they have come back to reality for now.  650K for 5 years seems reasonable to me.  

It's a pretty good deal, but I'm surprised that no one is really talking about it. 

 

I guess people don't care much about Thai Elite anymore, considering that the DTV visa exists. Maybe Thai Elite needs a "new" 10-year visa, at the old prices or close. Throw in there an annual health checkup and a couple of golf days a year and things could get interesting.