Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the Thailand Elite Visa, we are discussing it in the context of the soon to be created Long-Term Residence Visa, so-called. As we have discussed in many other videos, it's called a Long-Term Residence Visa, it is not a Resident Visa; it does not provide Permanent Residence in Thailand. As we have discussed in a number of other videos, there is Permanent Residence in Thailand; there is a track for Permanent Residence in Thailand; there is a pathway if you will and once it is issued it is truly Permanent Residence; you are a resident of Thailand you don't have to have an ongoing Visa, there is no 90-day reporting, all of that is cast aside. 

The reason for the video is we are kind of trying to compare this new LTR system to the Thailand Elite. I have been doing a number of these videos but I thought of doing another one after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, that is pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Thailand's 10 year visa and property proposals "won't entice many". And quoting directly: "Prospective property buyers will need to be part of the Long Term Visa program, whose other perks are limited to temporary tax incentives, freedom from reporting to Immigration every 90 days," (just as an aside, I have seen them talk about this over and over again. I haven't seen anything that leads me to believe that there's actually going to be an abatement from 90-day reporting. I don't know how it can be done because anything that is a Non-Immigrant Visa falls under that specific section of the Immigration Act of '79. People can say what they want but I think 90 day reporting is just something you have got to deal with if you are not a resident of Thailand.) Quoting further: "And a semi-automatic Work Permit if needed." (We have discussed this in other videos; I am not going to get into that here.) Quoting further: "But Business Insider on its website points out that the Elite Card already offers a multiple entry Visa for up to 20 years for a one-off lump sum which requires no ongoing investment at all. Moreover, Elite unlike LTR, does not require any medical insurance." Yeah, we have discussed that in other videos. This new LTR Visa does require a level of insurance; it also requires some ongoing scrutiny about finances and if one's using it as a high net worth retiree, there is a substantial investment possibly required. Again, there is a lot going on here. We have yet to see how all this is going to shake out but we can kind of surmise from what we have seen from the rules that have been at least initially promulgated on this, we can kind of surmise about how this is going to look. 

I am going to be able to provide a lot more clarity after September when we start actually seeing the rubber hit the road with respect to these. "Moreover, Elite unlike LTR does not require medical insurance; Elite does not carry an automatic Work Permit but recent changes in Immigration protocol mean that attending business meetings, working for short periods in Thailand, even some digital nomads appear to be exempt or ignored categories." Yeah that's not true; that just isn't true. I know what they are talking about in here when they are talking about recent changes in Immigration protocol." Yeah, they are not that recent, they are years old where they change some of the rules regarding specifically Thai Labour authorization associated with business meetings. That was for one specific subset of folks most notably International Executives who have to fly in to deal with a statutorily prescribed shareholder meeting for example. Those folks in the past, the presumption was they needed a Work Permit. There was some easing of that. That does not necessarily apply to Elite or the LTR, in fact not at all. That's more in the context of Thai Corporate Law. The other thing is there's no ignoring the Thai Labour code. It is what it is and yeah I have seen Thai Police enforce it at the drop of a hat quite honestly.

Setting all of that aside, just comparing and contrasting yeah there is a comparison and contrast. Again Elite doesn't require Insurance, LTR does but Elite does require a pay in. It's a payment to join that program whereas LTR is just proving up that you have certain finances. Now it may require a periodic proving up as opposed to Elite where you just pay a one-off, get into the program and as long as you maintain Immigration compliance you are going to be okay. With LTR, it does look like there may be some ongoing requirements. Again, we have yet to actually see how this is going to shake out and we will certainly keep folks updated on this channel as the situation evolves.