Who's this elite card for?

[Potter]

10 mil for an investment visa. It is clearly the best hassle free visa to get

This is not true. Do some searches in here. The investment visa is not with out "zigzag". Renewing the visa the 1st time is the tricky part. By that time you likely already have invested your money for many years.

[LivinLOS]

a cunning plan with one minor drawback, Thai banks will not give you interest as you are a foreigner. Unless you have a work permit then they might consider it....

Check again.. They will..

This needs to be in a term deposit to qualify

[stgrhe]

The Thai elite card is primarely meant for foreign businessmen who visit Thailand frequently and for that group the card is a good idea. Selling the card to those who just want to live in Thailand was never the intention.

Edited July 31, 2014 by stgrhe

[phirho]

The Thai elite card is primarely meant for foreign businessmen who visit Thailand frequently and for that group the card is a good idea. Selling the card to those who just want to live in Thailand was never the intention.

This was true for the original incarnation of the card. After the relaunch in 2013 it is now clearly aimed at long stayers:

• Introduction of a cheaper visa-only card (the 500k version)
• You now get 1 year stamp on entry instead of 90 days
• The ability to "stay in Thailand as long as you want" is now prominently featured in all advertising materials

[LivinLOS]

The Thai elite card is primarely meant for foreign businessmen who visit Thailand frequently and for that group the card is a good idea. Selling the card to those who just want to live in Thailand was never the intention.

Foreign businessmen who never answer an email or phone call relating to their business while in the kingdom ??

[larsjohnsson]

Who's this elite card for? To me, it seems rather obvious.

1. Those with more money than brain cells.

2. Those who like to show off.

There may be some practical use for the card, but after cursory review of the "benefits", I don't see any.

What other and better option for someone younger than 50 do you suggest then? To stay in Thailand 5-6 years.

[hawker9000]

The elite card is almost beginning to look like a form of extortion. Officialdom seems to be finding more & more ways of hassling & criminalizing perfectly legitimate foreign visitors. But I'm supposing you get a little more respect if you're able to produce one of these...

[LivinLOS]

The elite card is almost beginning to look like a form of extortion. Officialdom seems to be finding more & more ways of hassling & criminalizing perfectly legitimate foreign visitors. But I'm supposing you get a little more respect if you're able to produce one of these...

And the epitaph drear: 'A fool lies here, who tried to hustle the East'.

Edited July 31, 2014 by LivinLOS

[aspenninja]

I don't know, for me, and the short time I've been in Thailand, (2 years pretty soon) I've noticed one thing. Nothing is set in stone here. I would not invest in a 5 year visa, because what is stopping the next incarnation of "democracy" from just saying that the elite cards will no longer be honored. They have zero obligations to honor any agreements from previous governing bodies, and from the way farang are generally treated here, it wouldn't surprise me in the least to see them cancel the elite card after a year.

Thailand is really doing their best to drive foreigners away from their country. All this xenophobic nationalism will bite them in the ass soon enough, when they realize people come here to enjoy themselves, and the relaxed atmosphere, and not be hassled like many other countries do.

I guess time will tell.

[KhnomKhnom]

Money value is in the eyes of the purse holder. My Porsche took me to exactly the same place my beat van took me only with a cost difference.

The Elite Cards are for people who can afford them and may spend more than that on cigars yearly. Thailand is very clearly aiming at high end foreigners and wants the bottom feeders out and is making it gradually from uncomfortable to illegal for them to stay here. It causes resentment from people who think that somehow Thailand OWES them a cheap long stay here; not true. Suck it up and leave or pony up into the economic class Thailand wants, simple to see that.

In this comparison 10 investment visa is a Porsche while 500k elite visa is your beat up van.

I hope you understand the difference, but yet again I doubt you even own a car.

Nope, the Porsche is ANY Elite Card and the van is going the route of more temporary visa categories.

I just do not understand the resentment of moneyed people buying a nice Thai visa. I do not like moneyed people, generally, either but resenting them is like resenting the weather. I hope you understand that.

signed former owner, at same time, Porsche SC, BMW M3, Ford Escape, and Ford F150 van. Sold all in USA and bought Toyota pickup here.

[Franky Bear]

The only people that are foolish to buy this are those that can't afford it. "If" i bought one, and it becomes obsolete after a year for what ever reason, i'd shrug my shoulders and move on. It's money i can afford to lose. That doesn't mean i am going to put (or afford to) 10TB into a Thai bank account.

[Nemesis7]

If I'm not mistaken the going price for a Thai Elite card is 2 million bhat now...

And horstky speaking it's people's own choice what and how they want to spend money ( that's my believe ...)

[aspenninja]

The only people that are foolish to buy this are those that can't afford it. "If" i bought one, and it becomes obsolete after a year for what ever reason, i'd shrug my shoulders and move on. It's money i can afford to lose. That doesn't mean i am going to put (or afford to) 10TB into a Thai bank account.

I don't know anyone, rich or not, who would just shrug their shoulders at getting scammed for 15,000+ usd. to me the TE seems like a terrible way to go about staying here.

[phirho]

because what is stopping the next incarnation of "democracy" from just saying that the elite cards will no longer be honored.

You mean they will go through the trouble of specifically revoking already issued visas (which will require special police orders etc.) just to prevent 2000-odd elite card holders (who are likely bigger spenders than your average tourist and much less likely to be working here illegally) from entering the country?

I'm not saying this is impossible, but before this happens they will purge every other foreigner from the country first.

For what it's worth, the program has been around for 11 years, and survived 5 different prime ministers and 2 military coups.

[phirho]

to me the TE seems like a terrible way to go about staying here.

To each his own but personally I'm beating myself for not buying the 1 million baht lifetime edition of Elite Card in 2003. The guys who did this have been now happily living here for 11 years without any visa worries.

[LivinLOS]

The only people that are foolish to buy this are those that can't afford it. "If" i bought one, and it becomes obsolete after a year for what ever reason, i'd shrug my shoulders and move on. It's money i can afford to lose. That doesn't mean i am going to put (or afford to) 10TB into a Thai bank account.

I don't know anyone, rich or not, who would just shrug their shoulders at getting scammed for 15,000+ usd. to me the TE seems like a terrible way to go about staying here.

What are you gonna do ?? hold your breath.. Scweam and scweam until your sick.. Just write it off and continue..

Its 10k GBP.. I have done that in a bad weekend.. If I count trades where I lost that, or even multiples of that its quite common.. I dont lose sleep over them.

[Franky Bear]

The only people that are foolish to buy this are those that can't afford it. "If" i bought one, and it becomes obsolete after a year for what ever reason, i'd shrug my shoulders and move on. It's money i can afford to lose. That doesn't mean i am going to put (or afford to) 10TB into a Thai bank account.

I don't know anyone, rich or not, who would just shrug their shoulders at getting scammed for 15,000+ usd. to me the TE seems like a terrible way to go about staying here.

It's not money i would miss, and i wouldn't let it bother me. Sorry if that offends you

[Franky Bear]

The only people that are foolish to buy this are those that can't afford it. "If" i bought one, and it becomes obsolete after a year for what ever reason, i'd shrug my shoulders and move on. It's money i can afford to lose. That doesn't mean i am going to put (or afford to) 10TB into a Thai bank account.

I don't know anyone, rich or not, who would just shrug their shoulders at getting scammed for 15,000+ usd. to me the TE seems like a terrible way to go about staying here.

What are you gonna do ?? hold your breath.. Scweam and scweam until your sick.. Just write it off and continue..

Its 10k GBP.. I have done that in a bad weekend.. If I count trades where I lost that, or even multiples of that its quite common.. I dont lose sleep over them.

Exactly. I would utter a few expletives under my breath for 34 second then move on.

[theguyfromanotherforum]

Love these hi-so replies. I lost that much on the weekend. I wouldn't think about it too much. Lol. Rich people unlike some of the fake posters here do not like losing money. That's why they don't buy elite card.....

Anyway my question has been answered. Who is the Elite card for? Obviously it is for people who have 500k but don't have 10 million as shown several times on this thread. The kind of "Elite" members Thailand hopes to attract. Lolololol

I wss right. No wealthy person would ever buy this card.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Edited July 31, 2014 by theguyfromanotherforum

[Franky Bear]

Love these hi-so replies. I lost that much on the weekend. I wouldn't think about it too much. Lol. Rich people unlike some of the fake posters here do not like losing money. That's why they don't buy elite card.....

Anyway my question has been answered. Who is the Elite card for? Obviously it is for people who have 500k but don't have 10 million as shown several times on this thread. The kind of "Elite" members Thailand hopes to attract. Lolololol

I wss right. No wealthy person would ever buy this card.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Having 500K available doesn't mean you are rich by any means you gibbon

[theguyfromanotherforum]

Love these hi-so replies. I lost that much on the weekend. I wouldn't think about it too much. Lol. Rich people unlike some of the fake posters here do not like losing money. That's why they don't buy elite card.....

Anyway my question has been answered. Who is the Elite card for? Obviously it is for people who have 500k but don't have 10 million as shown several times on this thread. The kind of "Elite" members Thailand hopes to attract. Lolololol

I wss right. No wealthy person would ever buy this card.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Having 500K available doesn't mean you are rich by any means you gibbon

U don't understand anything. ... do you?

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Franky Bear]

Love these hi-so replies. I lost that much on the weekend. I wouldn't think about it too much. Lol. Rich people unlike some of the fake posters here do not like losing money. That's why they don't buy elite card.....

Anyway my question has been answered. Who is the Elite card for? Obviously it is for people who have 500k but don't have 10 million as shown several times on this thread. The kind of "Elite" members Thailand hopes to attract. Lolololol

I wss right. No wealthy person would ever buy this card.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Having 500K available doesn't mean you are rich by any means you gibbon

U don't understand anything. ... do you?

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Go on then, educate me and how i should spend my money xx

[theguyfromanotherforum]

On hoz

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[georgeubon]

10 millions bahts plus two condos is not guaranteed an investment visa. I had [3]flights to krungthep. First time,before the yellow mob, the male officer at chanwattana said the money must be in government saving or fixed account and not in thai stocks or mutual fund. Ok. second time around. The money now is in a government fixed saving account but the window lady officer this time at big C imperial plaza said no only and the lady officer behind her even said "impolite" about 10 times at me while i was explaining my case to the front window lady officer. Now, I make sure to not loose money for plane tickets to go to krunthep and called them first. Guess what, the answer is: At this time, the 10 millions bahts investment visa is closed but in the future, may be next year 2015 will open again. SO ANYONE GOT THE VISA LATEly , PLEASE reply below, i will be checking often. If not, have no choice but the 500K easy access elite visa.

[slipperylobster]

In any case....I am still hoping for something positive to come out for legitimate long stayers, who are not working illegally and obey all the rules. Perhaps a specific booth at the airport where the systems just kind of smiles at you. A quick look at your fingerprints, a green light flashes, and in you go. Perhaps one day no reporting in every 90 days...or perhaps a 3 year deal, if you have a permanent residence here. Retirees would sure benefit...as they should. Once you get to that age, it is nice to have some carrot at the end of the stick that you can one day nibble at.

[LivinLOS]

Love these hi-so replies. I lost that much on the weekend. I wouldn't think about it too much. Lol. Rich people unlike some of the fake posters here do not like losing money.

I didnt say it was a good weekend.. I had a brutal hangover and had banged up my mates 993..

But the shit you do in your young 20s isnt always wise..

Rich people dont mind losing money, as long as what they are doing when they are sometimes losing money is making much much more money..

[belg]

buy, sorry, marry a farmgirl, and you will lose more than your 500.000 - 1.500.000 baht

now that is a way to stay in thailand

[Grindting]

It's the same people here who slag off the people who bought an elite card who also back home slate people who can afford luxery cars and wrist watches etc. Jealousy simple as that. They just cannot comprehend someone spending more money than they have, anything above this threshold is 'a waste' and pointless and STUPID, right?

Got it all the time in Indonesia over apartments, people saying "how can you spend $1800 on a serviced apartment? My apartment is only $300 and I live just fine, roofs over my head is all I need, you must be stupid?"

W4ankers (all of then happen to be teachers funnily enough)

[Grindting]

last 2 visas (tourist visas) cost me £100 each. Tourist visa to India £100 plus £5 on photos and 2x £10 on Oyster card to go to the visa drop off / pickup centre. China was the exact same deal less the photos. Elite card works out at about £170 a month.

plus it includes other benefits like discounts and free transfers, it's hassle free and a SMALL cost to pay for the convenience of getting in and out of the country in the smoothest possible way, no trouble in country either. For those LOS fans with be ample funds it's a nice gesture of Thailand to allow such a system where foreigners can buy into.

I have no interest in long stay in Thailand anymore but the elite card is not a bad deal for those who do and want to pay. Those who can't afford it, mind your own business maybe?

Edited July 31, 2014 by Grindting

[chrisinth]

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Love these hi-so replies. I lost that much on the weekend. I wouldn't think about it too much. Lol. Rich people unlike some of the fake posters here do not like losing money. That's why they don't buy elite card.....

Anyway my question has been answered. Who is the Elite card for? Obviously it is for people who have 500k but don't have 10 million as shown several times on this thread. The kind of "Elite" members Thailand hopes to attract. Lolololol

I wss right. No wealthy person would ever buy this card.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

The elite card has nothing to do with investment. If you feel so strongly about investing, put up your 10 million and get on with it.

I don't understand your fascination and trying to link the two??