News Forum - Is the 10-year visa attracting Europeans and others to Thailand?

[Thaiger]

Officials in Thailand have been heavily pushing the new 10-year golden visa options for digital nomads and rich expats, with Europeans as a primary demographic, but is it really a big draw? The government has predicted that 1 million wealthy tourists will jump at the chance to live long-term in Thailand over the next 5 years, but the programme that preceded this new visa, the Smart Visa, has only attracted 1,200 travellers since it was launched in February of 2018. Officials projected that the 10-year visa will generate about 1 trillion baht, or about US $27.6 billion., which would depend […]

The story Is the 10-year visa attracting Europeans and others to Thailand? as seen on Thaiger News.

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[Janneman]

No.

[palooka]

Trying for the "funny of the day" with this one.

[Pi_Tim]

People with such a wealth, IF they were interested to stay in Thailand, have already done it with the Elite Visa.

What s the point for a multi millionaire to go for the well known immigration hassle to declare and certify every year ??

Just pay 1MB and you have you 10 years Elite Visa !

Furthermore, these kind of people already have several passports / residences in hand.

Just walked through Nana and Pratunam. Got insulted by a Tuk Tuk because my friend wanted to get a taxi instead, and the few taxis who stopped requested 4 times the meter prices !!! In front of a 5 stars hotel ...

Seriously, tackle the basic problems first, and tourists will come back spending. Which they are not at the moment.

 

[BBY]

“when you wish upon a star” somebody has been watching to many Disney movies.

As I previously mentioned in another article about the improvement to the 30 day visa moving it up to 45 days.

The government now needs to review all the other visas and make it much easier for expats to retire there. The Kingdom needs to start attracting large numbers of retirees. This can be done by for example, by allowing them to own a house/bungalow/villa and the plot it stands on, in their name, yes with a limit on land size, even if it’s just half a Rai.

Trying to attract only the very rich, just is not going to happen, nor is it going to contribute significant financial growth for the Kingdom. IMO Significant funds will only come from quantity. 

Qualification should for example, only depend on: 

Having a sensible income. (Enough to live on)

Having medical insurance.

Being of good character. (No criminal record) 

just my opinion. 

 

Edited August 22, 2022 by BBY

[KhakiShorts]

 Quote from the full article. "But, as the Smart Visa program attracted about 50% European travellers, the new visa expects half the tourists using it to be European."

Uh, isn't 50% the same as half? 

At least Thailand has other options for visas. Look at the mess Malaysia created with their retirement visa only wanting the richest of the rich. They've only had about 250 applicants and a lot of retirees there now will be leaving because they won't meet the new requirements. 

Thailand (and all their hotels, condos and lower cost restaurants) need travelers and expats from every financial group. 

Edited August 23, 2022 by KhakiShorts
Not finished, hit enter by accident

[HiuMak]

14 hours ago, Thaiger said:

 Officials projected that the 10-year visa will generate about 1 trillion baht, or about US $27.6 billion.

Hosta la Visa Baby

[Janneman]

50 minutes ago, HiuMak said:

Hosta la Visa Baby

Yea well if they attract 1 million retirees with a pension of say 2.000 euros they will generate the 27.6 billion in 14 months, not  in 10 years..

Unfortunately those retirees do not qualify for the visa options mentioned in the article.

[francoa]

Well, the idea was good. Only, the outcome did not work out. I doubt they will achieve even 10% of the prediction, hardly 5%

I dont know why they are so greedy, doesnt help anything. Average yearly income in thailand is how much, 12k usd? Why not just make it 40-50k a year for a smart visa for dig nomads.

That is still plenty more than an average thai does, and those nomads usually grow and so does the income etc. Not mentioning that the money are USD/EUR coming from outside, to be spent inside.

 

Many people have money in other illiquid assets, or crypto or whatever on top of that, so their actual worth is much better than what the yearly bank account turnover says.

 

Europe and USA has an influx of unskilled workers who will need huge investments to settle in and accommodate over decades. Thailand can have the luxury of an influx of people who bring money, multiple times more than locals and wont need any support at all.

The conditions now has basically not changed anything. People with 100k + income dont need this program at all, they just buy a house worth 4-5 their salaries and get visa anyway.

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2022 by francoa

[Leeshard]

5 hours ago, Janneman said:

Yea well if they attract 1 million retirees with a pension of say 2.000 euros they will generate the 27.6 billion in 14 months, not  in 10 years..

Unfortunately those retirees do not qualify for the visa options mentioned in the article.

Precisely. These ludicrous schemes attract no significant income. What DOES attract the income is your average Joe retiring to Thailand on an income of perhaps 100-200k baht per month, maybe buying a property in a Thai company name and probably ending up supporting a Thai girl and her Isaan family. The annual retirement visa and 90 day reporting is simply endured and even if you don’t have the minimum lump sum in your Thai bank there are cheap and easy ways around that too. 

[palooka]

6 hours ago, Leeshard said:

your average Joe retiring to Thailand on an income of perhaps 100-200k baht per month,

My wife wants your phone number. She has a hundred who "will try out", well educated, all have Uni Degrees and speak basic english. (not barglish)

100-200k that's not a good life that's a rich life, 

Jeez monthly commission from that score keeps me in top shelf whiskey.

[Havana]

1 minute ago, palooka said:

My wife wants your phone number. She has a hundred who "will try out", well educated, all have Uni Degrees and speak basic english. (not barglish)

100-200k that's not a good life that's a rich life, 

Jeez monthly commission from that score keeps me in top shelf whiskey.

Palooka, what is 'barglish'? 

[palooka]

5 minutes ago, Havana said:

Palooka, what is 'barglish'? 

Bar girl English.

[Havana]

1 minute ago, palooka said:

Bar girl English.

Got it, thanks. Very appropriate 

[TSS]

Oh yeah, thousands of wealthy foreigners are falling all over themselves to get the fabulous ten yr. thai visa. Chance of a lifetime! A trillion baht in the first six months for sure!

[Venusianhart]

As Jett Gunther, Thaigers Thai news anchor said with a grin after reading the story "This is Thailand"

[Fluke]

"The Thailand Board of Investment believes the kingdom is so popular with European travellers, "

 

     Thailand WAS popular with Europeans about ten years ago , that was because it was a cheap destination and pretty much a free for all , in regards to rules and regulations , visas , licensing laws etc  .

  Thailand's appeal was for non rich people to go abroad and be rich for a while . Or for pensioners to get better value for their pension money .

   Thailand was never a Country where rich people wanted to live full time and now that Thailand isn't cheap anymore , its not so appealing for the non rich Europeans as a holiday destination  

[TSS]

and the non refundable application fee for this highly sought after visa should be in the 2k baht range- make it even more appealing 

[Freddie]

A new Ten Year Investment Visa? How ‘Out of Touch’ Thailand is to global trends? Globally foreign investors set up in Tax Free Zones also known as Free Zones or Special Economic Zones. The Financial Times FDI Magazine claims there could be as many as 5,000 or 7,000 of even 10,000 Globally bearing in mind we only have 196 Countries on planet Earth?

The incentives being offered under this scheme are ‘Laughable’ and clearly shows signs of desperation. How many expats residing in Thailand work offshore of have offshore ‘Tax Free’ companies - many I suspect.

This year I have again been invited to judge the 2022 FT/FDI Free Zone of the Year Awards and I have access to the hundreds of submissions hoping to be nominated. Thailand isn’t even in the running nor the UK with their pathetic attempt at Free Ports. Is there hope in the horizon for Thailand ? I can’t honestly say as I have been pushing various Thai administrations since the 2004 Tsunami. And then the 27 months of Covid 19 lockdown.