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Friday, March 29, 2024

Thailand residency visa program hit as COVID spooks Chinese

BANGKOK — After achieving two years of record growth, Thailand’s long-term residency program, the “elite visa,” is now stalling.

The program faces myriad challenges: COVID-19 cases keep surging to record highs, anti-government protesters are again taking to the streets, and the visa initiative’s leader has resigned.

“Thailand daily [coronavirus] cases are in five figures [per] day, this has scared some Chinese who decided to flee back to the mainland,” said Zoey Chen, a consultant with Ithaihome, a Bangkok-based Chinese portal for Thai real estate transactions that also offers visa services.

The Thai government won praise for its pandemic containment efforts last year. That brought a windfall of new members to the Thailand Privilege Card, operator of the elite visas, as emigrants, especially Chinese, came to seek refuge from the virus.

These elite visas are Thailand’s version of…

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