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Thailand hikes price of 5-year visa as foreigners seek COVID haven


webfact

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59 minutes ago, KeeTua said:

I did not see any mention in the article of this being directed specifically at farangs.
If you read the article you should have noticed the following:
'Residency program aims for profit in 2 years on surge of Chinese applicants'

last time I checked over my 21 years here...foreigners; which is the thai word for farang, are anyone not Thai. So defend the statement as you may. Yet it was directed at foreigners, and yes those adorable Chinese fall unfortunately into that category as well.

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4 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

Its the same in reverse, if you are married to a Thai you can come to Thailand and start work/company the same day, visa/extension costs 2,000 baht. There is no difference

I know that.Anyway she can earn 150.000 bath a month here.So for us its a win win situation.I been living in bangkok for 6 years.Enough for us now.

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6 hours ago, Natai Beach said:


only 60 baht per day. Nothing that us elites will worry about.
A pack of peanuts.

Well said, my god these whining farang can afford airline tickets in the thousand and support their vices,  but complain about price increases should try staying in their country or find another place to stay for free.  Babies! 

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5 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

"Thailand Privilege Card had a cumulative loss of 555 million baht as of fiscal 2019. The price increase for the cash cow package comes as the company aims to reach a profit within two years."

 

????

 

Over half a billion Baht loss last year alone. Just let that sink in...

 

Yet they keep on trying to con people into buying it. 

following that logic, that raises the question what 2.155 billion Baht ( 555 loss + 1.600 revenue ) were spent on.
????????????????????

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Just now, KKr said:

following that logic, that raises the question what 2.155 billion Baht ( 555 loss + 1.600 revenue ) were spent on.
(only some 69.5 mln US$, when saying it fast, it sounds like a small amount)
????????????????????

 

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1 hour ago, MajorTom said:

Can you get the 20 year SE for 1 mill if you are a new member?

I have 2 friends thats currently on the 5 year elite visa for 500K, and they both have plans to renew it. 

I asked why didnt you get the SE 20 year one for 1 mil? They claim its not possible do get one from scratch, it can only be obtained after you have done a 5 year EA membership? I disagree. Which is it?

Not true, you can get the SE 20yrs, from your initial application.

Warmest

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    Oh, wow.  2,674 new members.  That's really going to be a game changer.  Pop the corks fellas and let the bubbly flow.  Happy days are here again.   Whoopee!

    Don't look now but just to let you know that some spoilsport in the back is wondering if maybe you might have attracted double or triple those numbers if you had halved the price instead of raising it, these being troubled covid times.  Just ignore him.  2,674!

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19 minutes ago, mike787 said:

Well said, my god these whining farang can afford airline tickets in the thousand and support their vices,  but complain about price increases should try staying in their country or find another place to stay for free.  Babies! 

That 100,000 baht increase is actually 274 baht per day for 365 days.  Yes it is a small amount, but then the program itself looks like it is under water and they are grasping at the regular Thai way of doing business "When fewer customers, just raise the prices".  As far as staying in my home country no thanks I will spend my multi million baht a year pension here in Thailand, and bank the remainder from my properties in the US to pay for <deleted> I want later on.  Where do you get that staying in Thailand is free BTW.  Time to look in the mirror.

Edited by ThailandRyan
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1 minute ago, thailand49 said:

Lies, greed, and just plain stupidity!  it continues and continues and they have no idea people think the way they do about them!????

Why should they care.  Thailand is the center of the Universe, and all will arrive sooner or later to the same conclusion.  How else can you explain the enlightenment obtained through the immigration offices different stances, the Governments corruption and the daily TAT posts.

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Seems like they could run a promotion with  600.000bht for 6 years and get a better response than from an outright increase . I was barely interested in the elite visa to begin with but now it seems better to spread that money everywhere instead of only in Thailand. They are not the only game in SouthEast Asia.

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6 hours ago, Mr Meeseeks said:

I wonder this too. I also wonder how a company that does nothing but issue visas can lose over half a billion Baht in a 12-month period! What overheads could possibly lead to those amounts of losses.

 

They put it out of its misery in 2008 due to complete and abject failure and then, completely out of the blue, they resurrected it, painted it a different colour and expected different results!

 

It is nothing more that a gravy train for a select few former civil servants to sit on the board, swan about, play golf and feel self-important, which is probably why it was resurrected. 

 

Another classic Thai boondoggle!

not sure if they are talking about one year, it did say cumulative so maybe from the inception of the program, but still a lot of money

 

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53 minutes ago, Tambs2020 said:

60THB per day 

OR

600THB per day 

 

It doesn’t matter..It’s pathetic and that’s that!

But it was enough for them to increase it. Its not applicable to me anyway but its a matter of last straws that break the. . .

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Buyers can renew or upgrade to longer-term visas when their five years are up, said Bobby He, a Bangkok-based agent selling elite visas to Chinese.

 

"It's no surprise that the authorities want to raise the price of Easy Access," said He, a Chinese native who holds a 20-year, 1 million baht elite visa.

 

I guess the good news is that you can get a WP on a 20 year Elite visa.  Bobby He apparently did...  Or maybe he'll regret giving the interview?

 

Edited by impulse
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10 hours ago, webfact said:

Thailand plans to raise the price of its bestselling five-year residency permit by 20% in January, after the program dubbed "elite" visas drew record new memberships this year as people sought to stay in the largely coronavirus-free country.

Really?

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9 hours ago, petermik said:

This pesky Government taking advantage of foreigners once more...who would have thought :unsure:

Killing the Goose that laid the GOLDEN EGG  .... 

then .... there will be NO Goose and NO Golden Egg , maybe

they can sell the " feathers "  .....

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1 hour ago, Peterw42 said:

Its the same in reverse, if you are married to a Thai you can come to Thailand and start work/company the same day, visa/extension costs 2,000 baht. There is no difference

Actually this is not true. You need to apply for a work permit if you want to start working in Thailand even if you are married to a Thai national. You need to hire four people if you want to be self employed and start your own business in order to get a work permit for yourself.

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7 hours ago, Somtamnication said:

Makes sense to me! Back during the tsunami recovery period of 2005, hotel prices went up in Phuket!

I had to go there a few weeks after the tsunami, found a hotel on-line and called to make a booking. The person I booked with sounded so disinterested I called the next day to check that my booking was there. It wasn't.

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Wow guys. 500 new members. Let's hike the price. Demand is huuuuuge. 

 

They keep droning on and on and on about wanting high income tourists. And expats apparently. So, why raise the hurdles? Why not make the process easier and simpler? Would not common sense and reason dictate that line of thinking? 

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