Thailand Elite Card

[jayhech]

Hi, this is not for me but for my other half. We're not married (yet) and he's far from getting that retirement visa. Trying to get a business visa but that has to be done every year so we've been thinking of this Thailand Elite Card which we heard offers 5-year visa when you pay to become its "elite" member (sorry can't help being sarcastic a bit there..don't hate me hehehe). I'm wondering if anyone has any direct or indirect of having this card, applying for this card, being a member, etc. Do you get another 5-year visa automatically after the first 5 years? If so, is it free of charge? During the 5 years do you have to get out of the country each year or if any period of time at all to get a new stamp? Is the fee 1.5 million recent or have they increased recently? What do you get from being a member, besides the 5-year visa offer? I've read from the website that you can enjoy limousine rides from airports, spa treatments, dine in their certified member restaurants, are they free or are they with charge? If so, 1.5 million baht is just to become the member???? The website doesn't help much, in my opinion. There's no list of the distributors you can contact for information if you really want to become a member. Please provide experience, ideas, or suggestions. Thanks so much, indeed.

[lardy]

Hi, this is not for me but for my other half. We're not married (yet) and he's far from getting that retirement visa. Trying to get a business visa but that has to be done every year so we've been thinking of this Thailand Elite Card which we heard offers 5-year visa when you pay to become its "elite" member (sorry can't help being sarcastic a bit there..don't hate me hehehe). I'm wondering if anyone has any direct or indirect of having this card, applying for this card, being a member, etc. Do you get another 5-year visa automatically after the first 5 years? If so, is it free of charge? During the 5 years do you have to get out of the country each year or if any period of time at all to get a new stamp? Is the fee 1.5 million recent or have they increased recently? What do you get from being a member, besides the 5-year visa offer? I've read from the website that you can enjoy limousine rides from airports, spa treatments, dine in their certified member restaurants, are they free or are they with charge? If so, 1.5 million baht is just to become the member???? The website doesn't help much, in my opinion. There's no list of the distributors you can contact for information if you really want to become a member. Please provide experience, ideas, or suggestions. Thanks so much, indeed.

I found their website awful in fact so bad I thought they had stopped the 5 year visa because I could find little on there about it ,however it is still there the only down side is if the company fails and the price has just gone up for less benefits.

If it survives indefinately I can see the reason but with Thailand everything is just way way to uncertain.

[William Osborne]

Go back a few pages and you will find a thread about !!

(just try and ignore the guys who jump at the opportunity to tell everyone that they always travel business or first class so they don't need the card)

[jayhech]

Yes, thanks Lardy and William, I was reading that thread earlier and found some things interesting. To come to think about it we won't be using those benefits offered with the card but surely we think that the 5-year visa option is quite practical. I do agree with you in ten years time it is a very good option and totally agree with you that the company has that chance to be folded completely (wish I really hope it won't if we're going to buy one). What do you think though, now that the ex-prime minister's back and his "nominee" cabinets are there, do you think this programme (initially grand-opened by the ex-prime minister himself) will have that chance to last longer or for ever?

How about the APEC card? Anyone knows of this? From that thread I found that Bendix owns one. What is it and what does it offer?

[A_Traveller]

To try to answer sensibly. The Elite card is an option for those under 50 who want to have a more convenient way of managing their visa requirements and are not 'employed' here. However, for many, it has problems in shaking off the bad publicity caused by the initial launch which suggested that freehold land purchase for holders would be possible. This raised a lot of expectations and when the dust settled it became clear that this has become virtually impossible so to do in any meaningful way.

This impression of bad faith has carried on. The original fee was 1,000,000 THB and a wide range of services, recently the fee has increased to 1,500,0090 and services have been scaled back. the original visa was 10 years or length of validity of passport, now it is 5, and no, there's no guarantee {to be fair that would not be possible anyway} of renewal. The visa requires 90 day reporting, which is not onerous. I can see a case for it if you looking at 'retirement' here and are in, say, your mid-30's.

The ABTC card is only available to citizens of the APEC countries, LINK. US citizens, despite being part of APEC may not apply for the card.

Regards