Is the Thailand Elite Visa a scam for expatriates looking to retire in Thailand?

@Marty ********

That visa is solid but it requires, from memory, a fairly high annual passive income and/or reasonably chunky amounts of cash invested in Thailand right?

If you’ve got those levels of cash then buying a Thai Elite for 10 years seems almost lower friction no?

@Andrew ******

When you buy an Elite visa you pay a fair amount of cash and it is gone. The pensioner LTR requires a passive income of $80,000/yr which admittedly is a high hurdle for most people. The LTR visa is 50,000 baht which is much cheaper than all categories of Elite visa. The LTR doe not require any money in the bank except . . . The LTR does require insurance or can be satisfied by $100,000 in a bank anywhere. Tax benefits - money brought into Thailand is not taxed.

I meet the LTR financial requirement with my work pension. There are some passive investments that qualify as well and you can use Social Security as well.

Since I was using passive income to qualify for the LTR it was incredibly easy to apply myself online. If you are using passive investment income then the process may be more difficult.

There are other LTR categories that require investments.

In my opinion, the Elite only makes sense for people under 50 years old that have fewer options. The DTV satisfied the needs for many people under 50 years old.

@Marty ********

Cheers 👍

I’m tossing both up and I’m lazy, so leaning towards just punting the money on the Elite. But absolutely agree with your point

@Susan ********

agree the LTR