Holy cow. Renting isnāt much of a difference but buy is about 1/3 as expensive.
And depending what you want on that chart, sometimes Bangkok is more expensive than Taipei to rent!
Guy
https://www.siam-legal.com/realestate/thailand-property-financing.php
Hope you have cash. Because at least itās possible here.
Mortgages for foreigners are basically unheard of in Thailand.
Your case in Taiwan did not look simple to me. 
Guy
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Yeah, but I would say there is a difference between hard and impossible.
Maybe somebody should start a real-estate broker service catering to foreigners and guide them through the entire process.
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Iād be very careful dealing with any such broker. Itās a famous scam perpetrated by westerners in Thailand.
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I meant in Taiwan, but yes good point, there would be the risk of going into business with shady foreigners 
Anyone have experience with the Thai Elite Visa?
Basically, for a large upfront fee, you get a long-term visa that gets around some of the bureaucracy. Of course, some will consider it worth it, and some wonāt.
What Iām wondering is if there are any gotchas or caveats that might not be apparent at application time.
Iād ask in a Thailand forum, but donāt know of any where people share their experiences in detail (like on Forumosa) and is reasonably activeā¦ if anyone knows, please share.
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Honestly speaking, I think most would consider it ānotā worth itā¦ itās a strange offering, considering the financial status of most foreigners wishing to reside long-term in Thailand. Of course people can argue that IS the purpose of this Visaā¦ but those packing a very healthy wallet have many more desirable options globally if money is no object, and a lavish lifestyle is your thing.
Iām on huahinforum.com, as I have a house in that neck of the woods. A lot of long-term residents on that forumā¦ of course most talk is not Bangkok-focused, but some is, and many real-world knowledgeable foreigners there.
I also have no doubt that Richard Barrow has posted much about Thai Elite too, but havenāt looked at him for a considerable time
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I donāt know anyone who thinks āmoney is no objectā (at least not here in the U.S.), so Iām unfamiliar with the kinds of people youāre referring to.
What I do know is that there are plenty of retirees who (a) donāt want to āun-retireā (i.e., go back to working as an employee, or running a business, etc.), and (b) support themselves based on assets, not so much on income (i.e., they donāt have a fat pensionā¦ in fact, most Americans have no pensionā¦ and their U.S. Social Security might not satisfy some countriesā income requirements for retirement visasā¦ and some U.S.-based retirees arenāt even collecting Social Security yet), and (c) donāt want to make a hefty investment, such as the amount needed to buy a house, nor put a similar amount into a business investment.
While such retirees may, in fact, be āpacking a very healthy walletā, they donāt have āmany more desirable options globallyāā¦ at least not in terms of number of countries that would work.
Hi @usrabbit
Looks like we might, in fact be in total agreementā¦ I too do not know those people, and consequently do not know anyone with Thai Elite Visa (especially the full-blown one)
My point is, there are other very legitimate ways to retire in Thailand without the need for Thai Elite Visa. The most obvious being the regular Non-Imm O Visa, which costs very little (but does require you to tie-up approx US$25k for 5 months every year). Also there is a new Non-Imm O-X Visa which I havenāt studied yet, so I do not know its a better choice or not.
Thailand is a great place to retire, and not so costly (but at the same time not a cheap as many imagine)ā¦ its easy to enjoy a good life, if you plan well.
No need for Thai Elite in my mind, and I think that is reflected with its very low uptake since it was introduced more than 15 years ago
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Facebook is usually good for this sort of thing. You can get a feel for the members and usually tell who is a real, genuine, person. I found this group thatās fairly active (1-2 posts per day) Redirecting...
My take is that because this is only a five year visa, this does feel a bit rich. There are many ways to earn temporary residence in countries without ādonatingā so much capital or having a pension. The difficulties you describe to in fact occur for a number of long-term pathways for retirement, but the Thai Elite Visa is also not a solution to this, afaik.
Ahh yes, this is my point as well. Soā¦seconded!
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If I wind up doing the Elite Visa, then Iāll be someone you know of with such a visa, while at the same time not being in the category you mentioned earlier (i.e., those who consider that āmoney is no objectā).
Regarding Thailandās other options, an O visa would require me to maintain a similar amount in a Thai bank. My idea of retiring in a given country means thatās where I plan to live out my life. So Iād never get back that deposit anyway.
A million baht for 20 years works out to 3.75 USD/day, about as much as a Starbucks habit. In either case, the value is subjective, i.e., whether a person wants to pay that much for what they get. Some do, some donāt.
Iām still interested to know, what other countries are options for the kinds of retirees I described in my previous post? As far as I know, there may be a few, certainly not āmanyā.
For sure I will be interested to learn how this goes for You - Good luck with whatever plan you decide
For other Countries, for sure Iād check out Turkey. Awesome country, really low cost of living (lower than Thailand!) and easy to get Resident Permit, plus a real path to Citizenship if that takes your fancy
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My point (and I was simply trying to reason out what others might have been saying, not necessarily my own viewpoint) was that the Elite Visa doesnāt offer longterm benefits. It turns out my memory deceived me, and at 20 years the TEV certainly does qualify as long term imo!
So I can indeed see where youāre coming from, especially if a fixed deposit not being passed to any heirs is of no consequence to you, then it is the same as a donation!
Here is a decent website for filtering what visa options are available. The functionality isnāt as great as I would like, but it does give you an idea of the breadth of programs out there.
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Thai Visa used to be alright, but I havenāt checked it in a few years. It seems itās now called āASEAN Nowā, and it seems to be pretty active.
Thatās what I always thought too, and I remember it seemed pretty pricey. Donāt know what the current visa situation is, and how it still works with border runs to Laos, Myanmar, etcā¦
So this is essentially off the top of my head and Iād imagine there are at least twice as many that Iām not thinking of or donāt know about:
- Philippines SRRV: the savings route is pretty modest at 20k USD if it hasnāt changed
- Ecuador Investor Visa: I think itās roughly 45k?
- Greece FIP: Only two years as far as I understand and you need to show savings enough to cover your living costs at 2k Euro/month.
- France (similar to Greece)
- Mexico temporary residence: the amount is inconsistent depending on where you apply but it seems to follow the same reasonable requirementsā¦that you have savings that cover a decent cost of living per month.
Panama used to be a really good one if you were from a friendly nation, but I know theyāve phased that out now so probably not doable, at least not in the way it used to be. (~$5k in the bank)
Malaysiaās Sarawak MM2H also was super reasonable but they recently followed suit and now require both pension and FD like the federal mm2h. All eyes are now on Sabah, if and when they decide to step forward with their own unique program.
Thatās not surprising, given how incongruent Taipei rental prices and purchase prices are. I pay roughly $1,000/mo. USD to rent a place that would probably cost close to a million to buy. Thatāsā¦.insane. In most places itās cheaper to buy than rent, or maybe slightly more expensive, but not several times more.
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Thanks for the pointers. Sounds like youāve researched this quite a bit.
Iām not a fan of Malaysiaās MM2H program. Theyāve gotten a lot of bad press, resulting in articles such as the following (I posted this on your thread in another forum):
āAfter Rejecting Up to 90% of Applications, Malaysia Freezes MM2H, Againā
āAfter 21 Months, No End in Sight for MM2H Suspensionā
āāItās our only homeā: Malaysiaās changes to MM2H visa scheme throw expatsā plans into chaosā
From the above, I see that itās a good idea to research the long-term visa options one is considering, in order to find out whether or not theyāre as rosy in actual practice as theyāre advertised to be.