Elite Visa

[zodiak]

Has the Elite Visa been suspended? I can’t seem to find any mention of it on the Thai Embassy site in London, and when I do a search it comes up “no information available” or some such twaddle...

[Thomaz73]

You don't do it through the embassy. First application is through the site or an agent...

Edit: Site 

https://www.thailandelite.com/

Edited November 29, 2021 by Thomaz73
More info

[zodiak]

👍🏻

[malone]

hi all,

 

 

i'm interested in a thai elite membership for 20 years for 1 mio baht. but i wonder, it says i have the option to renew the visa after 5 years for another 5 years (3 times = 20 years). but nowhere i can find any information about how much it cost to "renew" the visa. does any of you have any experience or can shed some light on this, please?

1 mio baht seems a lot of dough, but it might be worth it, if that grants me permission to stay for 20 years, w/o additional cost, except maybe some peanuts... but if there is additional cost i really need to know...

[LASportsNut]

9 hours ago, malone said:

hi all,

 

 

i'm interested in a thai elite membership for 20 years for 1 mio baht. but i wonder, it says i have the option to renew the visa after 5 years for another 5 years (3 times = 20 years). but nowhere i can find any information about how much it cost to "renew" the visa. does any of you have any experience or can shed some light on this, please?

1 mio baht seems a lot of dough, but it might be worth it, if that grants me permission to stay for 20 years, w/o additional cost, except maybe some peanuts... but if there is additional cost i really need to know...

I have the 20 year Thailand Elite Visa.

It works like this:

You pay Thailand Elite Visa the 1 million baht.

They send your application to the Thailand Embassy.

Then Thailand Elite Visa will send you an approval letter with instructions.

If you were unable to get your Elite Visa affixed to your passport before you travel to Thailand they will do it after you arrive at BKK (only here).

If for some reason they cannot (covid reasons) you will have to coordinate with Thailand Elite while in Bangkok prior to traveling around Thailand.

Once the Visa is affixed, it is only good for 5 years.  So every 5 years you have to contact Thailand Elite and they will coordinate with the Thai Embassy to get a new 5 year Visa affixed.

You do this 4 times.

However, if you passport happens to expire in the middle of one of the 5 year visa time frames, you will end up with an extra one, so it will be 5-6 times total over the 20 years.

[malone]

7 hours ago, LASportsNut said:

I have the 20 year Thailand Elite Visa.

It works like this:

You pay Thailand Elite Visa the 1 million baht.

They send your application to the Thailand Embassy.

Then Thailand Elite Visa will send you an approval letter with instructions.

If you were unable to get your Elite Visa affixed to your passport before you travel to Thailand they will do it after you arrive at BKK (only here).

If for some reason they cannot (covid reasons) you will have to coordinate with Thailand Elite while in Bangkok prior to traveling around Thailand.

Once the Visa is affixed, it is only good for 5 years.  So every 5 years you have to contact Thailand Elite and they will coordinate with the Thai Embassy to get a new 5 year Visa affixed.

You do this 4 times.

However, if you passport happens to expire in the middle of one of the 5 year visa time frames, you will end up with an extra one, so it will be 5-6 times total over the 20 years.

hi,

thanks for clearing that up.
are you happy with the decision to pay 1mio thb. for 20years?

what i heardafter 5 years changing the sticker is free of charge and hassle, right?

one more question regarding overstay:
in the last 10 years i had one for two days in 2014.
but between 2000 - 2010 i had several, including one where i had to pay 20k baht?
will that be a problem? i heard they only ask for the last three years...

cheers

[Thomaz73]

Sorry to say. But yes, as far as I know you can't get an elite visa with overstay on your record. But that would become apparent during the approval phase which doesn't cost anything. So you could try.

[malone]

19 minutes ago, Thomaz73 said:

Sorry to say. But yes, as far as I know you can't get an elite visa with overstay on your record. But that would become apparent during the approval phase which doesn't cost anything. So you could try.

yeah. that would suck. well i can try..

[LASportsNut]

22 minutes ago, malone said:

hi,

thanks for clearing that up.
are you happy with the decision to pay 1mio thb. for 20years?

what i heardafter 5 years changing the sticker is free of charge and hassle, right?

one more question regarding overstay:
in the last 10 years i had one for two days in 2014.
but between 2000 - 2010 i had several, including one where i had to pay 20k baht?
will that be a problem? i heard they only ask for the last three years...

cheers

I personally am unsure about the overstays.

I do know that was one of the first questions they asked me.

Others may know more than I about the overstays and application process.

Yes, I am relieved I did it because with all the uncertainty with Covid, it gives me a sense of relief that unless I do something wrong they cannot take my visa away (at least I would hope not).

Correct there are no extra fees for any of the 5 year Visa renewals.

I also get hassle free, no cost 90 day reporting.

Drop off my passport off at the designated location on a Monday and pick it up on the Friday that same week.

The retirement visa really is the way to go, if you are over 50 but I did not want to have money sitting in a Thai account and have to deal with it each year. 

When covid hit it caused me to look at alternatives and Thailand Elite was the answer for me.

Everyone will have different reasons and resources, so I am not saying one is better than the other.

 

 

[LASportsNut]

4 minutes ago, malone said:

yeah. that would suck. well i can try..

 Call them and ask.

LINK

 

[malone]

10 minutes ago, LASportsNut said:

 Call them and ask.

LINK

 

yes i will. not right now though... i don't plan to make a move before after summer '22, so i got time. bit afraid of unfavourable news right now. some say only the last three years count. but i had a look at the application form, and they ask "have you ever overstayed -ever", so...

but i will find out..

[simplebro]

Are any overstays counted or just severe ones?

I have a 10 day overstay from 7 years ago. I paid a 5,000 thb fee (IIRC) to a  BKK customs official who grumbled to show discontent. After that, never another issue. 

I think I was on tourist visas at the time. Since then I have been stringing a chain of EDs and Volunteers more recently.

[malone]

41 minutes ago, simplebro said:

Are any overstays counted or just severe ones?

I have a 10 day overstay from 7 years ago. I paid a 5,000 thb fee (IIRC) to a  BKK customs official who grumbled to show discontent. After that, never another issue. 

I think I was on tourist visas at the time. Since then I have been stringing a chain of EDs and Volunteers more recently.

they all count. maybe less than 24h is not considered overstay.

[freedom42]

This topic was just covered on the asean now forum

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/1244647-thai-elite-with-an-overstay/

[lolokalbo]

I have a fast question.  My wife is a filipina and I use to carry her on my retirement visa until we moved to the States. We are thinking of returning and the Elite visa might work out better. So the question is, can she be a rider on my elite visa??? Has anyone try this before??

kalbo

[Thomaz73]

34 minutes ago, lolokalbo said:

We are thinking of returning and the Elite visa might work out better. So the question is, can she be a rider on my elite visa??? Has anyone try this before??

Yes. I believe there's a family option in the super premium package. Check the website linked above.

[dickcheney]

Is their an official outlet for elite visa ? I'm ready to apply and it seems there are a few places "selling" it. 

 

 

[Thomaz73]

53 minutes ago, dickcheney said:

Is their an official outlet for elite visa ? I'm ready to apply and it seems there are a few places "selling" it

There is. Linked above

https://www.thailandelite.com/

When I applied, though, it turned out I was using an agent. But the whole thing was smooth and at no extra cost.

Edited January 6, 2022 by Thomaz73
Spelling

[STEVE17]

I came across a condo deal recently that may interest people thinking about the Elite Visa....

ONCE Condo project (on 3rd just up from Terminal 21), are advertising an Elite Visa comes with every condo purchased.

I have not looked in to it fully but on first look it seems like a hellava deal! I could be wrong but here are the main bullet points:

• 20 year Elite Ultimate Privilege included with every condo (2MB value)
• 100,000 deposit down on a condo and they will start application process for you
• If application is successful 40% condo purchase price is payable and you get the visa straight away
• Condo Project expected to be completed in around 18 months, then you pay balance
• No yearly visa maintenance fee to pay (20k baht I believe normally)
• Starting price of condos is around 3MB for a studio
• They also have an option for you to let them rent the condo out for you for first 3 years (6% return)

As I say I aint checked this out fully, so if anyone knows better feel free to correct me, but this sounds like an amazing deal to me for someone thinking about Elite Visa, Condo purchase or both!

[LoomService]

This thread has been valuable as I work on getting my 5 year Elite visa.  Some updated information:

- I submitted my application and was approved in about 13 days.   Crazy fast.
- As of January 7, 2022, Wise (Transferwise) will only allow sending amounts above 50,000 THB to Kasikorn Bank, Bangkok Bank, or Siam Commericial bank.  Elite visa doesn't use one of these banks, so it seems Wise is not an option anymore.  Sad, because they have the best rate.
- Paying via CC on www.thailandelite.com is still giving the really bad rate.  I was quoted 30.349 baht/ USD.  I do not recommend.
- My bank doesn't support sending Thai baht, so I'm going to try sending over USD, and then having Krungthai do the conversion from USD -> Baht.  I'll probably end up overpaying a little and then having the Elite people issue a refund (at a cost of 3000 baht to process the refund!)

[simplebro]

@LoomService I guess you are a tourist. Even still, Kasikorn and Bangkok bank are friendly to foreigners. Show them a 1 year visa and both will open an account. SCB denies all foreigners nowadays (tried at several branches).

I use wise to transfer from US to Thai bank accounts. After wise trusts you it takes only a few seconds to receive money, pretty amazing.

---

On AseanNow it was reported that some people with Elite Visas are being denied entry. Apparently if they have a Volunteer visa, some immigration officals hate that, because they know it was a scam during covid times. And they reject them even though they have a valid Elite.

Probably won't affect most of you guys but does affect me, I have that cursed volunteer visa. My plan is to swap passports this year, transfer my current (Covid) visa, then get the Elite. I've heard that immigration can't see prior passport's visas, only entry and exit dates.

Edited February 23, 2022 by simplebro

[LASportsNut]

Another TIT story.

I just returned to BKK and this is the first time I used the Elite Visa upon reentry. 

Just be warned if you have an Elite Visa and do so to be sure you have your Elite Visa ID Card.

I had it somewhere in one of my wallets (Thailand and USA Wallets) but was having trouble finding it.

The immigration officer indicted he needed to see it because the photo and the expiration date. 

The stupid thing is my Passport has my photo and the Elite Visa has my passport number and the issue date and expiration date on the visa.

Makes zero since.

The first time I arrived with it, they never asked to see the ID card.

I will be better prepared next time.

[Ohyesuare]

1 hour ago, LASportsNut said:

Another TIT story.

I just returned to BKK and this is the first time I used the Elite Visa upon reentry. 

Just be warned if you have an Elite Visa and do so to be sure you have your Elite Visa ID Card.

I had it somewhere in one of my wallets (Thailand and USA Wallets) but was having trouble finding it.

The immigration officer indicted he needed to see it because the photo and the expiration date. 

The stupid thing is my Passport has my photo and the Elite Visa has my passport number and the issue date and expiration date on the visa.

Makes zero since.

The first time I arrived with it, they never asked to see the ID card.

I will be better prepared next time.

This is good to know, thanks, I paid and got my visa affixed before my membership card was ready so I don't have one yet and am planning to leave to go see family soon. Did you book an EPL (Elite Personal Liason) in advance to meet you as you got off the plane? With an EPL and the visa sticker in your passport, I'm surprised they wanted to see the membership card too. They also said you can use the welcome letter until you get your card so I wonder if you could have showed that. But still makes no sense because everything is on the visa sticker.

Also, if you didn't know, you can now book a free taxi to Pattaya from BKK with Thai Elite, it just uses up more of your quota. Also for domestic flights now too at certain airports.

[LASportsNut]

8 minutes ago, Ohyesuare said:

This is good to know, thanks, I paid and got my visa affixed before my membership card was ready so I don't have one yet and am planning to leave to go see family soon. Did you book an EPL (Elite Personal Liason) in advance to meet you as you got off the plane? With an EPL and the visa sticker in your passport, I'm surprised they wanted to see the membership card too. They also said you can use the welcome letter until you get your card so I wonder if you could have showed that. But still makes no sense because everything is on the visa sticker.

Also, if you didn't know, you can now book a free taxi to Pattaya from BKK with Thai Elite, it just uses up more of your quota. Also for domestic flights now too at certain airports.

I kinda blew off trying to use the Thai Elite Visa staff because the Test and Go.  

That was a mistake as immigration did mention I should have used them. 

However, the last time I came through BKK it was not an option, so I did not even check.

I would recommend you contact Thailand Elite Visa after you book your flights.

I luckily did have copy of my "Welcome Letter" saved in a folder on my phone. Then when they were accepting that, I found my membership card in the wrong wallet.

I would also note, the immigration staff was very friendly and were working with me and not being typical cold shoulder.  They even told me they would contact Thailand Elite for me if they had too.

Edited April 29, 2022 by LASportsNut

[Thomaz73]

1 hour ago, LASportsNut said:

The immigration officer indicted he needed to see it because the photo and the expiration date. 

The stupid thing is my Passport has my photo and the Elite Visa has my passport number and the issue date and expiration date on the visa.

Makes zero since.

Looks like you understandably opted for a few drinks after that experience. Thanks for tip