BritTim

I sympathise with your situation, but you are simply out of luck. If anything, Thailand has been over lenient in allowing existing Test & Go entry when they know many who test negative on arrival are in the early stages of Omicron infection that has not yet progressed to the point of a positive test. Frankly, retaining the Phuket sandbox is dubious. If I was on Phuket, I would not be too happy knowing there are many recent arrivals walking around spreading a highly infectious virus. Most likely, within the next two weeks, there will be greater clarity on how bad the Omicron outbreak is going to be in Thailand. If the worst fears are not met (in particular, if hospital admissions remain low) Test & Go might be reintroduced as early as February. My advice would be to stay where you are for the moment, hoping for a better opportunity at a later time.

Anyone who thinks racism is an exclusively Thai problem is wearing blinkers. Distrust of "the other" is a universal human condition. Racism is worse, on average, in China. It is also worse, on average in the US, and the situation there has actually deteriorated further in recent years.

The official minimum for international to international at Suvarnabhumi is 55 minutes, but two hours is still awfully short given the consequences of missing the connecting flight. Ideal, would be about six hours, I think. If you cannot find anything better, you have a tough decision to make. My gut tells me that the Omicron panic may have dissipated within a month or so, and the challenge may lessen, but obviously you cannot rely on this.

A Covid "visa" is a misnomer. There is no such visa. What the authorities have introduced for a limited period is a special reason for an extension of your permission to stay. This is based on the premise that the Covid situation prevents you from leaving the country as you normally would on expiry of your permission to stay. For many people, every stamp in their passport is a "visa". Even Immigration is guilty of perpetuating the confusion, probably because they find "weezah" easier to say than using correct English terms.