Thanks to all for your input. I should have clarified that I am over age 50 and married to a citizen of Thailand, but I don't think I qualify for "elite." Sounds like there's no way to avoid recurring renewal fees and immigration check-ins.
As I recall, there were fields to upload scans of both in the online COE application. The "denial" is standard, I think; it just prompts you to take that next step.