Kopitiam

xylo, you went through all the trouble over 500THB just to show the IO who was boss. Now you are prepared to cave in if asked to pay 22k? I would rather not want to encourage "using agent" culture in Phuket Immigration.

For CoE 40k/400k health insurance not necessary.

At present you are required to get COVID insurance that covers to the end of your extension expiry date.

No matter whether you qualify for VOA or not, you still have to deal with a Thai Embassy to get a COE (and all its conditions) in order to enter Thailand.

You should not have any problem. Only issue is whether to pay or not the 300bahts requested. Officially, it is FOC but some pay and some stand firm on principle which usually results in a delay in issuing of the certificate.

The TM30 form is only for you to register your address at Phuket Immigration. If you are not registered, you will not be able to get your "Residence Certificate".

It is not true that all Non-OA visa holders in Phuket applying for extension require medical insurance. The above is taken from Phuket Immigration Volunteers website. https://piv-phuket.com/long-stay-extensions/retirement/

Based on ubonjoe's input above, you may have to re-look at when you obtained your Non-Imm O-A Visa and the last date of entry. Follow his source link for more information. My O-A Visa was obtained much earlier and therefore no medical insurance needed for extension.

I have done my last 2 O-A retirement extension at Phuket Immigration without the need of medical insurance. Phuket Immigration is the ONLY office in Thailand that has the correct interpretation of the O-A Visa medical insurance requirement. It is required when you first apply for the Non-Imm O-A Visa (Retirement).

Phuket Immigration doesn't require medical insurance for O-A extension.

Don't worry, these will be pilotless flying taxis.

Must be a boring day. Its too early to dream.

I was correcting "oldcpu" that international travellers do bring in some virus as highlighted by you above. You mentioned that the 600 daily tests were targeting mainly those with symptoms (thus cheery picking and missing those who don't show symptoms). And I commented that the positive cases should be even higher (those with symptoms).

It's the new normal.

If the number/percentage of vaccinated people are low, whether you test 600 or 800,000 people, the number of positive cases will be high. And if you pick and chose people to be tested, then the job will never be done. People who are infected and don't show any symptoms (mostly those vaccinated) will continue to infect others. Just to be on the same page, by test we mean PCR test. The issue here is that we are told the percentage of vaccinated people in Phuket is high (70%?). Despite that, we are still getting alarmingly high number of positive cases (relative to population size). I get your point that they test mainly people displaying covid symptoms. If that is the case, the result should even be higher.

If 600 tests are conducted daily and we have more than 200 positive cases daily the past week. Don't you think its alarming? Or maybe not, the infected people (mostly unvaccinated?) will develop antibody when they recovered.

"Especially with the current vaccine roll-out, it looks like 80% can be hit by November if they keep vaccinating at this rate...I don't see any reason why the vaccine roll-out will slow down to be honest. Everyone is losing way to much money because of restrictions. It might even be earlier than that. " Many enlightened Thais I spoke to tell me "Don't believe what the politicians tell you. Believe it when it becomes reality". Yes, many people are suffering from the numerous lockdowns. But the authority has no "end game" in mind when they implement the lockdowns. Just look at what they are doing with the dark red zones now. Opening up again without achieving anything. The game of "whack a mole" comes to mind.

"Just as thousands die in car crashes and we still drive... we just try to limit our own risks by being sober, wearing a seatbelt, and not speeding." You are contradicting yourself. Covid has infected and killed millions around the world, that is why we wear a mask to protect ourselves and lower the risks. Whether you want to wear one is a matter of personal choice unless mandated by law just like wearing a seat belt in a car. Even that, some idiots still don't wear one (personal choice). The flu has been with us for decades. We have a lot more knowledge and treatment for it. We live with it. Covid is around for less than 2 years and still rampaging in many countries. Do you read 100,000 people infected with flu daily? Everyday, we are still learning something new about covid. Therefore it is prudent to have more "over the top" approach. Hopefully with more people vaccinated (I hear the anti-vax camp), less people get seriously ill and less people die, strict movement mandates will be loosen and life back to "normal".

Exactly, everything is a personal choice. Now, we are all on the same page. Lets put this to rest.

But majority of the government around the world advise using mask for protection but Bob12345 advises "Stop mask...." Ok, get it - he is from the "no mask" camp.

Got it, he is giving advice to 1% of the people.

"Stop masks and focus on regular health. Lower your bodyweight, eat healthy, get some exercise, get some sun." Based on what that you advise the above will prevent getting infected by COVID-19? You mean to say people who are infected with the virus are unhealthy and overweight?

Vaccinated Singapore eases into reopening as other nations watch for lessons https://sg.yahoo.com/news/vaccinated-singapore-eases-reopening-other-065933732.html

Thailand can forget about China. They are closed until 2022. Better chance of attracting more Europeans and N Americans with lesser hoops to jump through. Fully vaxxed and PCR testing would be enough. However, Thailand would have to keep their new cases numbers down to avoid being on the red list of countries that the tourists they want to attract from.

Of total population, the vaccination rate of Isreal is not that high (60%). Still a lot of people not vaccinated. "About 60% of Israel’s 9.3 million residents have received two shots of the vaccine, including 80% of adults." https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/31/israel-registers-record-daily-coronavirus-cases Would be interesting to see what is going to happen in Singapore (80% of total population).