Renewing expired Thailand Elite membership

[Jon1]

Anyone have a recent experience of renewing an expired Thailand Elite membership inside Thailand? I just called to Thailand Elite sales and staff who was speaking quite rudely told me that since my membership has expired I can't get the visa affixed to my passport inside Thailand because of some new regulations from the immigration. Is this really the case at the moment? Also the staff told me that for the expired membership the approval process would take 2-3 months now.

[ubonjoe]

There is no new immigration regulation that I am aware of.

I suggest you complete a application to see what the results are.

I understand they are busy due to a lot of applications being done in the past few months so that could be the reason for any delay. 

[Jon1]

Thanks for the reply Ubonjoe. This is indeed very weird. I called the sales office again, apparently the rude one was the sales manager. The other person I talked to was at least trying to be polite and helpful but of course he told me the same thing that can't get the visa affixed in Thailand if the membership is expired due to a new immigration regulation.

 

I think I will just try to do the application anyway but this isn't looking good now.

 

Also they said it was very strange that the immigration gave me a permission to stay stamp longer than the membership, even when I've read on this forum that this has been a standard procedure for everyone.

Edited September 18, 2020 by Jon1

[Jon1]

Also it is weird that they didn't want to reply about the new regulation in writing via email, they were only able to reply me through phone conversation.

[FlyingThai]

Is your permission of stay (entry stamp) still valid?

 

in that case you will not have any problem affixing a new visa from TE.

 

Not sure what suddenly got into them but in the past few months Thailand Elite transformed into a bunch of rude, arrogant Mofos who don't reply to emails and are extremely cocky on the phone. In the end I went to their office and ripped them a new one. Must be all the new free money, hope many of the poor sods haven't paid yet.

 

 

[Jon1]

2 hours ago, FlyingThai said:

Is your permission of stay (entry stamp) still valid?

 

in that case you will not have any problem affixing a new visa from TE.

 

Not sure what suddenly got into them but in the past few months Thailand Elite transformed into a bunch of rude, arrogant Mofos who don't reply to emails and are extremely cocky on the phone. In the end I went to their office and ripped them a new one. Must be all the new free money, hope many of the poor sods haven't paid yet.

 

 

My permission to stay is valid until the end of October.

 

I even went to the Elite office after I called them. At the office also they were saying that because the membership is expired even though I have the permit to stay stamp the visa can't be affixed at the immigration but I have to fly out of the country and come back to affix the visa. I still submitted my new application just in case but they were very firm on me not being able to get an Elite visa affixed to passport inside Thailand. A funny thing is that I asked them would I be able to get the Elite visa affixed in Thailand if I had a tourist visa, and they informed me that with a tourist visa they would have no problem doing that.

 

They also told me that because my membership is expired I'm on overstay even though I have the Elite permission to stay stamp until end of October. Although when I asked them would I get overstay on my record when leaving the airport, they told me that I wouldn't get a record of overstay. Seems like the staff at Elite is just making up the rules of their own.

 

Somehow I'm thinking the affixing of visa is not a problem with the immigration but this is some kind of punishment from the Thailand Elite to members who have used their visa after the membership expired. Hopefully there is still some way to fix this. I think there must be some other previous Elite members in this same situation currently.

[krey]

My Thai Elite Expired as well and they told me that I could renew it in country and they needed a month to get the paper work together, though that was about 2 months ago.  I am also on a permission of stay until October.  However, I did not want to commit to another 5 years right now, I tried to find other options such as ED, but all other options I was told you have to leave and come back except the Elite

 

so my choices were spend another 500 000 baht or leave the country, so I am doing option 2:) at the end of september, have to admit I feel sad haha, been here for 7 or 8 years now , sold my bike, sold some of my stuff, packing up, time to go back to the cold:)

Edited September 18, 2020 by krey

[Jon1]

Krey I read your previous post about your situation. Your membership expired on February and you have a permission to stay until October, it's exactly the same as my situation. My membership also expired on February and I have a permission to stay until October.

 

But today I was told first on the phone and then at their office also that because a change of immigration regulations I can't get the Thailand Elite visa affixed inside Thailand.

 

I submitted the application and I'm willing to pay them but they still won't allow me to get the visa inside Thailand.

 

This is very strange as I was under the impression that immigration would allow you to extend or apply to some non-resident visas easier, but for the Elite they want to make it more difficult?

[HampiK]

13 hours ago, Jon1 said:

This is very strange as I was under the impression that immigration would allow you to extend or apply to some non-resident visas easier, but for the Elite they want to make it more difficult?

I think the main problem is that the Elite Visa not count as a non-resident visa!
 

[4MyEgo]

13 hours ago, Jon1 said:

This is very strange as I was under the impression that immigration would allow you to extend or apply to some non-resident visas easier, but for the Elite they want to make it more difficult?

I don't know much about the Elite visa process in or out of the country, but it does sound very strange, only thing I can think of is if this mob is contracted by the government, i.e. they are not a government department, then maybe, just maybe the contract they have between the government and themselves might have something written in the contract like, we the government will pay you x amount of baht for each Elite visa they bring into the country, however their commission might drop or amount to a mere processing fee if the Elite is renewed in the country.

 

The above said, if they made 20% commission on the Elite, that means they would be making a drop of around 100,000 baht if you renewed in Thailand, now would someone be mean enough to bluff you to go back to your country for the sack of making 100,000 baht, I will let you answer that, but as Krey has mentioned, same circumstances, now why is his being accepted and yours not, and is he paying any fee for renewal or does the Elite team get a mere renewal fee for processing it and not the commission if done outside the country, just asking.

 

I would be walking into immigration and asking questions, because I am sure they would have provided the Elite team with what their policy is with regard to accepting Elite visas, it might be that the applicant must be outside the country when applying, but what about when renewing, which is what you want to know, and if you ask me, I smell a rat.

 

Like I said, I know nothing about the Elite process, but you want to get to the bottom of it, because you should be able to renew it in house as all of us can renew our respective extensions in house, as for it having expired, well, I would have thought it's the stamp allowing you to stay is what matters ?  

[rickthailand]

my elite visa ended july 2019 and i did a border run just before so i got the stamp to stay until july 2020. i used an agent to change it to retirement visa because they said it was not possible in country to change to retirement visa, the agent managed to arrange all in country and yes its legal i went to immigration for the photos etc.

[FlyingThai]

16 hours ago, Jon1 said:

They also told me that because my membership is expired I'm on overstay even though I have the Elite permission to stay stamp until end of October. Although when I asked them would I get overstay on my record when leaving the airport, they told me that I wouldn't get a record of overstay. Seems like the staff at Elite is just making up the rules of their own.

 

Somehow I'm thinking the affixing of visa is not a problem with the immigration but this is some kind of punishment from the Thailand Elite to members who have used their visa after the membership expired. Hopefully there is still some way to fix this. I think there must be some other previous Elite members in this same situation currently.

They have developed into a bunch of useless jerks and this overstay line is nonsense. It's well documented that TE holders regularly stretch their stay to six years and often times even obtain a re-entry permit for the sixth year stamp.

 

Under the current circumstances there's no way I'd ever pay them again.

[ThailandRyan]

I remember receiving an email from them back in May indicating that they were adding 6 months to the TE because of Covid.  If so then all of this makes no sense, and they have opened up a can of worms.  Fortunately for me I did not go the TE Visa route in June like I was going to do, decided to keep my money in a fixed deposit account and do the regular retirement extensions.

Edited September 19, 2020 by ThailandRyan

[rickthailand]

6 minutes ago, FlyingThai said:

They have developed into a bunch of useless jerks and this overstay line is nonsense. It's well documented that TE holders regularly stretch their stay to six years and often times even obtain a re-entry permit for the sixth year stamp.

 

Under the current circumstances there's no way I'd ever pay them again.

yes i had a renetry permit in my 6th year

[richard_smith237]

I have been a member of Thailand Elite for 14 years (Life Long Membership : 1 Million Baht in those days)

I have the 5 year S.E. visa attached in my passport (I have to apply for a 1900B extension every 90 days) and got unlimited privileges (Golf, Massage, Airport Transfers etc).

 

All has been fine providing I do not contact Thailand Elite for any Visa advice - their information has been incorrect too many times. 

 

------

 

1) I travelled a lot and actually carried out my first 90 day report and extension about 5 years ago. Thailand Elite took my passport and told me they’d take care of it all. Then called me up 2 days later and told me they couldn’t I had to do the extension of stay myself. They left it until the last day to tell me and wouldn’t return my passport until the following day because it was the end of their ‘office hours’ that day. I was furious, their failure to provide me with the correct information pushed me onto an ‘overstay’ for one day (I was 1 day late for the extension of stay). 

 

2) Applying to return to Thailand in June: I applied for the Certificate of Entry (based on Marriage, with marriage certificate and also submitted my Thai Elite Visa) to the Thai Embassy UK. I double checked with Thai Elite that I could enter Thailand on my Elite Visa - the response was a clear: If I have been Given the Certificate of Entry I can enter Thailand with my Elite Visa. 

This was wrong and I found out that I couldn’t re-enter Thailand at 11pm on a Saturday night (my repatriation flight to Thailand was on Sunday evening). 

Fortunately the Thai Embassy gave me a Non-Immigrant Type O Visa at very short notice on the Sunday (they had also made a mistake and were helpful rectifying it).

The flawed advice from Thai Elite very nearly compromised my re-entry to Thailand. They didn’t reply to two letters of complaint. 

 

3) I’m currently in Thailand on a Non-Immigrant Type O and will have to apply for an Extension of Stay (with >400k in the bank and all other paper work). Thai Elite tell me I am unable to make the switch from my Non-Immigrant Type O (single Entry) Visa to my Thai Elite Visa without leaving the country. 

 

This is moronic !!! Especially if as some people have mentioned they can switch from a Tourist Visa to Thai Elite Visa without having to leave. 

 

 

 

 

[FlyingThai]

33 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

I have been a member of Thailand Elite for 14 years (Life Long Membership : 1 Million Baht in those days)

I have the 5 year S.E. visa attached in my passport (I have to apply for a 1900B extension every 90 days) and got unlimited privileges (Golf, Massage, Airport Transfers etc).

 

All has been fine providing I do not contact Thailand Elite for any Visa advice - their information has been incorrect too many times. ...

 

This is moronic !!! Especially if as some people have mentioned they can switch from a Tourist Visa to Thai Elite Visa without having to leave.

They are idiots. The company is staffed with some HiSo Thais who are in way over their head. Arrogant to the max while simply filling some clerk and sales jobs, complaints are never answered.

 

The lifetime 1 Mio option was definitely one of the best deals around. Does your membership have the annual maintenance fee?

[richard_smith237]

2 minutes ago, FlyingThai said:

They are idiots. The company is staffed with some HiSo Thais who are in way over their head. Arrogant to the max while simply filling some clerk and sales jobs, complaints are never answered.

 

The lifetime 1 Mio option was definitely one of the best deals around. Does your membership have the annual maintenance fee?

No maintenance fees.... just the one off 1MB payment at the beginning.

And the 1900b extension every 90 days (which I have only ever needed to do twice). 

 

I will now have to apply for an Extension of my Non-Imm O and will have to pay either 1900b for a single or 3800b for a multiple re-entry permit when / if I leave the country. 

 

 

I definitely agree that the Thai Elite positions in Sathorn seemed to be filled with people who don’t quite know what they are doing and definitely fail from the perspective of customer service. Simply being polite but not knowing anything is not customer service !!! 

[Mike Teavee]

1 minute ago, richard_smith237 said:

No maintenance fees.... just the one off 1MB payment at the beginning.

And the 1900b extension every 90 days (which I have only ever needed to do twice). 

 

I will now have to apply for an Extension of my Non-Imm O and will have to pay either 1900b for a single or 3800b for a multiple re-entry permit when / if I leave the country. 

 

 

I definitely agree that the Thai Elite positions in Sathorn seemed to be filled with people who don’t quite know what they are doing and definitely fail from the perspective of customer service. Simply being polite but not knowing anything is not customer service !!! 

Are you able to switch back to that Visa when normality returns or are you stuck on Non-Os now?

 

If you are able to return to it, would it be a simple case of leaving the country & returning on the TE or would you have to switch Visas in/out of country.

[Big Joke]

Last year talked to a guy who had just got his 5 year elite. He told me that under his visa sticker is a hand written note in Thai, that was explained by the Elite agent says "Note to immigration. If less than 1 year remains on visa expiry date entry will be only granted until visa expiry date"

If I see him again will try to get copy of this note to translate . English is not his first language so maybe something lost in translation.

[richard_smith237]

36 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

Are you able to switch back to that Visa when normality returns or are you stuck on Non-Os now?

 

If you are able to return to it, would it be a simple case of leaving the country & returning on the TE or would you have to switch Visas in/out of country.

When Thailand opens up and whenever I leave the country I’ll just return on the ThaiElite visa.

 

However, it may be worth remaining on the Marriage Extensions, if Thailand were go to into another Lockdown while I’m outside of the country (at work etc) it would be easier to return while holding the Marriage Extension than the EliteVisa. I’m therefore giving this some early consideration. 

 

-----

 

For now, I’m curious. If someone on a Tourist Visa can purchase and switch to the EliteVisa without having to leave Thailand. Why can someone on a Non-Imm O visa not do the same?....  The answers from ThaiElite don’t quite stack up. 

 

 

Of course, there is also the irony that if I didn’t have >400k in my account I wouldn’t qualify for the yearly Extension of my Non-Immigrant Type O Visa based on Marriage - I’d therefor be stuck and have to leave the country while at the same time holding a perfectly good ThaiElite Visa which I am unable to use !!! - Now thats some good’n proper fvckwittery !!! 

 

 

Edited September 19, 2020 by richard_smith237

[richard_smith237]

13 minutes ago, Big Joke said:

Last year talked to a guy who had just got his 5 year elite. He told me that under his visa sticker is a hand written note in Thai, that was explained by the Elite agent says "Note to immigration. If less than 1 year remains on visa expiry date entry will be only granted until visa expiry date"

If I see him again will try to get copy of this note to translate . English is not his first language so maybe something lost in translation.

This seems like Thai Elite trying to control the limit of the Visa to 5 years and deliberately prevent Immigration from stamping any ‘extra time’ - a bit of an Arsey thing to do IMO. 

 

 

[FlyingThai]

3 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

This seems like Thai Elite trying to control the limit of the Visa to 5 years and deliberately prevent Immigration from stamping any ‘extra time’ - a bit of an Arsey thing to do IMO. 

 

 

Definitely not the norm. I've seen several new labels that don't have this addendum.

[Jon1]

6 hours ago, 4MyEgo said:

but as Krey has mentioned, same circumstances, now why is his being accepted and yours not, and is he paying any fee for renewal or does the Elite team get a mere renewal fee for processing it and not the commission if done outside the country, just asking.

 

I would be walking into immigration and asking questions, because I am sure they would have provided the Elite team with what their policy is with regard to accepting Elite visas, it might be that the applicant must be outside the country when applying, but what about when renewing, which is what you want to know, and if you ask me, I smell a rat.

 

Like I said, I know nothing about the Elite process, but you want to get to the bottom of it, because you should be able to renew it in house as all of us can renew our respective extensions in house, as for it having expired, well, I would have thought it's the stamp allowing you to stay is what matters ?  

The Elite staff told me that it is a recent change that those with expired membership can't renew the visa inside Thailand even when you have a valid permission to stay stamp. They said that this rule is from the immigration, but I have doubts about whether this is true. Pretty nice to make this change at this time when it's impossible to even come back to Thailand with a new elite membership. I was told that because of the expired membership I would be considered a new member and at the moment only old elite members can enter Thailand. And like I wrote before they were trying to claim that even with a valid stamp I'm on "overstay" because the membership is expired.

[Jon1]

4 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

For now, I’m curious. If someone on a Tourist Visa can purchase and switch to the EliteVisa without having to leave Thailand. Why can someone on a Non-Imm O visa not do the same?....  The answers from ThaiElite don’t quite stack up.

I actually did ask this at the Thailand Elite office. I was told that if I had a tourist visa I could get the Thailand Elite visa affixed to my passport without leaving the country. The whole situation is just laughable, with a tourist visa I could get the visa done inside country but because I was previously Thailand Elite member and the membership is expired I need to go out of country and come back to get the visa affixed to my passport.

[Bim Smith]

22 hours ago, Jon1 said:

My permission to stay is valid until the end of October.

 

I even went to the Elite office after I called them. At the office also they were saying that because the membership is expired even though I have the permit to stay stamp the visa can't be affixed at the immigration but I have to fly out of the country and come back to affix the visa. I still submitted my new application just in case but they were very firm on me not being able to get an Elite visa affixed to passport inside Thailand. A funny thing is that I asked them would I be able to get the Elite visa affixed in Thailand if I had a tourist visa, and they informed me that with a tourist visa they would have no problem doing that.

 

They also told me that because my membership is expired I'm on overstay even though I have the Elite permission to stay stamp until end of October. Although when I asked them would I get overstay on my record when leaving the airport, they told me that I wouldn't get a record of overstay. Seems like the staff at Elite is just making up the rules of their own.

 

Somehow I'm thinking the affixing of visa is not a problem with the immigration but this is some kind of punishment from the Thailand Elite to members who have used their visa after the membership expired. Hopefully there is still some way to fix this. I think there must be some other previous Elite members in this same situation currently.

I had the exact same with them last week and when they said I used the visa after the expiry of membership said I have to leave the country to clear the overstay even though I have never been on overstay and went into amnesty for a month and got an extension last week for 30 days until 26th October. The email implied they would cancel my last visa giving me a 5 year overstay. That's how I read it but had confirmed it's nonsense they can't do that. Will never use them again. PM you the reply I got. It sent me on a tailspin and so rude. Had no reply from them since even though they gave me the impression it's was OK for weeks. 

[4MyEgo]

1 hour ago, Jon1 said:

The Elite staff told me that it is a recent change that those with expired membership can't renew the visa inside Thailand even when you have a valid permission to stay stamp. They said that this rule is from the immigration, but I have doubts about whether this is true. Pretty nice to make this change at this time when it's impossible to even come back to Thailand with a new elite membership. I was told that because of the expired membership I would be considered a new member and at the moment only old elite members can enter Thailand. And like I wrote before they were trying to claim that even with a valid stamp I'm on "overstay" because the membership is expired.

You need to ask immigration about the facts, and if there has been a change, get a copy of it so that you can actually sight it for yourself.

 

No harm in confirming it, at least that way you will know if your being lied to or not and then you can let us know of the outcome.

 

If this is how immigration treats those on Elite Visa's then they aren't so elite afterall, and personally, I don't believe such a change would have been made as it goes against wanted people on the Elite who reside her to want to renew their visas unless they want to go to the extra expense as you mentioned, i.e. if it were me and I had to leave, then it would be the retirement extension when I returned, so they can have the crumbs, i.e. 1,900 baht per annum and I would make it my job to make sure I did the paperwork and enjoy the HUGE savings, Elite visa my a$$.

[krey]

6 hours ago, Big Joke said:

Last year talked to a guy who had just got his 5 year elite. He told me that under his visa sticker is a hand written note in Thai, that was explained by the Elite agent says "Note to immigration. If less than 1 year remains on visa expiry date entry will be only granted until visa expiry date"

If I see him again will try to get copy of this note to translate . English is not his first language so maybe something lost in translation.

yeah I went through all of this at the time.  I heard of the magic 6th year where you could leave and come back just before it expires and you are granted a 6th year.  I talked to my visa agent locally ]that dealt with Thai Elite and they said it cant be done, a=I talked to Thai Elite several times and they said it could not be done,  Funny enough I got a friend to call who was interested in getting the elite and asked him to see what they said about the 6th year and they said no problem, can do for sure, that was also told to me when I bought it , that 6th year no problem and you are on your permission of stay, the visa itself is cancelled and you do not get the elite privledges but you do get that extra time.

 

Anyway I left country and came back with the assumption if it failed I would just get a tourist visa.  In Chiang mai where I left I got a re entry permit and talked to the local immigration at the airport and they said you can do no problem.. So left and flew back into the country into Bangkok  Gave them my passport and right away got the puzzled look and the no you cannot do, I explained situation and they gave it to another immigration, no can do, then talked to the supervisor and he asked why not get another 5 year elite? explained I did not want to commit to 5 years right now, will be going home this year and might get the elite in the future, then he said okay and stamped it

 

As with anything it depends who you get at the time, if you can talk your way around it can help to I suppose, unfortunately now though that Thai Elite Visa has stopped me from getting a different type of visa inside the country.  Since the visa is kind of in a classification of its own the old rules still following, you got to leave and come back to reset if you want a different type of visa, like Thai Elite to ED for instance. 

 

As I mentioned before two months ago they said could stay on Thai Elite within country no problems give us the cash and it take about a month.  The original poster says that cannot be done now, so the question is it that the new rules? or is the OP just talking to someone that really does not know:)  You would think that the country would want those that had the ability to drop 500k to stay in the country, even if it is a temporary visa, knowing that they do have some spending power, your 20 year old backpacker probably does not have 500k to drop, but it seems Expiring Thai Elites are not on the radar. 

 

Good luck OP and hope you find some option, I spent a good 3 to 4 weeks trying to find one, but now in my acceptance phase of going home.

 

another amusing side note, I went to several schools seeing if they had an options. I first emailed them with my situation, they say no problem can do for sure, come see us with your passport, I would go there they say they talk to immigration then they come back and say ok we can do for you, but you need to leave country and come back, do you want to get started? and I was like ummm if I leave I can't come back the country is closed? then they all say ah yes that is a problem we cannot help you now then:)  think every school said something similar ????

Edited September 19, 2020 by krey

[thinktoomuch]

2 hours ago, krey said:

Anyway I left country and came back with the assumption if it failed I would just get a tourist visa.  In Chiang mai where I left I got a re entry permit and talked to the local immigration at the airport and they said you can do no problem.. So left and flew back into the country into Bangkok  Gave them my passport and right away got the puzzled look and the no you cannot do, I explained situation and they gave it to another immigration, no can do, then talked to the supervisor and he asked why not get another 5 year elite? explained I did not want to commit to 5 years right now, will be going home this year and might get the elite in the future, then he said okay and stamped it

 

Why did you buy the re-entry permit on the way out? Weren't you trying to return and get an extra one year stamp?

 

Perhaps the re-entry permit caused some confusion because that just stops the permission to stay that you already have from being automatically cancelled when you leave the country.

 

It's after you retuned and got your sixth year on the five year visa that you'd need the re-entry permit if you left again.

 

Is the sequence of events you posted correct or did I miss / misunderstand something?

 

Edited September 19, 2020 by thinktoomuch

[Mike Teavee]

40 minutes ago, thinktoomuch said:

 

Why did you buy the re-entry permit on the way out? Weren't you trying to return and get an extra one year stamp?

 

Perhaps the re-entry permit caused some confusion because that just stops the permission to stay that you already have from being automatically cancelled when you leave the country.

 

It's after you retuned and got your sixth year on the five year visa that you'd need the re-entry permit if you left again.

 

Is the sequence of events you posted correct or did I miss / misunderstand something?

 

I’m assuming because he’d already been out, got the final 1 year stamp before the Visa expired & then needed  to exit/re-enter after the visa itself had expired but before the final 1 year PTS expired.

 

To the original topic it’s not really surprising that TE won’t support you “Renewing” a Visa that has expired up to 1 year before & there are no other Visas that can be renewed in-country so why would the TE be any different? 
 

Visa can be extended in-country (but you’re past the end of available extensions for the 5 yr TE Visa) & sometimes they can be converted from a different Visa class but going from expired TE to a new TE is neither so it makes sense to me that you have to leave & come back anew.

 

Edited September 19, 2020 by Mike Teavee

[Jon1]

19 minutes ago, Mike Teavee said:

To the original topic it’s not really surprising that TE won’t support you “Renewing” a Visa that has expired up to 1 year before & there are no other Visas that can be renewed in-country so why would the TE be any different? 
 

Visa can be extended in-country (but you’re past the end of available extensions for the 5 yr TE Visa) & sometimes they can be converted from a different Visa class but going from expired TE to a new TE is neither so it makes sense to me that you have to leave & come back anew.

You don't extend the visa itself you extend the permission to stay. Even with 20-year Elite membership you just get 5-year visas affixed to your passport and you can get a new one attached at the immigration. They are just saying that they can't attach a new 5-year visa to your passport inside Thailand if your Elite membership has expired before even after you become a member again. For me this doesn't make sense. Also like written here before, they used to be able to do this just last month.

Edited September 19, 2020 by Jon1