BritTim

It depends on the bank's app whether downloading (or printing) a statement as PDF is supported.

Note that, if there is a trip where you are intending to be out of Thailand for only 3-4 weeks, it might be feasible to apply for a one-year extension of a Non O. You can get a re-entry permit to keep your permission to stay during the under consideration period intact, receiving your actual one-year extension on your return. The dates would need to line up cleanly, and some flexibility with your schedule probably necessary, but I would be nervous about relying on visa exempt entries continuously through the Bangkok airports (based on experiences in 2018-2019). I appreciate your point about the larger Thai establishment being keen to have more foreigners in the country, but I do not get the impression that this is a priority for the Bangkok airports immigration officials.

I sympathise, but the reality is that Thai embassies will typically only be familiar with the vaccine certificates issued within the country where they are operating. They are only used to verifying UK NHS certificates which use a different format. Do not expect high intelligence from Thai consular officials.

You do not mention the basis of your permission to stay. If it is for retirement, there should be no insuperable difficulty. However, an extension of your permission to stay based on marriage to a Thai is taken under consideration with a report back date. If that is your situation, plan instead on applying for a fresh single entry Non O visa prior to your return.

Requirements for a Non O based on retirement vary greatly between embassies/consulates. What you report is at the upper end of what is typically requested, but not extraordinary.

That logic is fine as long as the authorities appreciate that someone with a temperature of 37.5 has probably been infectious and spreading Covid for two days before the fever is recognised. Apart from that, there have been Covid superspreaders who never had a high fever. Having to check in once a day at an agreed testing centre for lateral flow tests (should cost less than $10 each) would catch infections sooner, and obviate the need to mandate which bed you occupy at night.

That is a truly ridiculous requirement. Do they demand a five-year hotel reservation if you apply for an O-X visa? The fact that you can stay up to a year when entering with a Non O-A visa does not in any way imply that you would intend to do so, or that such a long stay is a mandatory condition of receiving the visa. Is there any good reason for not, instead, entering as a tourist and converting to a Non O after arrival in Thailand?

What is the intended basis of your Non O application? Usually, for a single entry Non O visa to visit Thai family, proof of a modest current bank balance is sufficient. It is more complicated, and variable, what a consulate will demand if applying for a Non O visa based on your age (retirement).

IMHO the Non O family visa will work out best in the long run, especially as you already have funds in a Thai bank for a potential long term extension of stay. It should be easy to get a Non O visa through the eVisa system. You just need to show a modest amount in your UK bank. Another option for you to consider is just entering with a regular tourist visa (or even visa exempt) with the options of applying for a Non O visa in Thailand and/or one-time getting a 60-day extension of stay to visit for Thai wife. The STV visa has restrictions that can become onerous, depending on how matters develop in the future. In your case, it is probably a worse option than a single entry tourist visa.

If you are determined not to be vaccinated, your options going forward are going to be very limited. If fully vaccinated, travel to Singapore or Cambodia is likely to be possible before year end. As noted above, there is no standard extension possible when using an STV. If the Covid extensions are no longer available, the only possible option would be a very dubious medical extension arranged through an agent.

As mentioned above, Sinovac as the first jab, followed only 3-4 weeks later by AstraZeneca as the second, is available. That is what my daughter received. While Sinovac alone is a poor vaccine, the combination is actually as good as AstraZeneca alone. The only question mark is over the durability of the immunity, but using the Moderna as a booster next year would address such concerns.

I think your interpretation of the rules is correct. However, I would not guarantee that every official would agree with us.

At the current time, Covid extensions are pretty much automatic as long as you do not qualify for a standard extension of another type.

I am also pessimistic about the prospects of an early end to the COE. On the other hand, for the fully vaccinated, I can envisage much more freedom after arrival in Thailand by the end of this year. That is something to look forward to. Whatever the Thai authorities decide about COE, Covid insurance, testing and the rest, I cannot see mass tourism returning to Thailand anytime soon. The hoards of Chinese tourists on group tours are not going to be permitted by the Chinese authorities. Independent Chinese travellers will be able to come, but only if prepared for a 21-day mandatory quarantine on return to China. Meanwhile, why would Western tourists come to a country with continuing high levels of infection, and where much of the tourism infrastructure that made Thailand desirable in the past has collapsed.

1) This is only required if you are not applying from a country in which you are a citizen. 2) I believe you only need to show where you are staying for the first 90 days. There is no assumption that you will use the extensions. It is not difficult to find refundable hotel bookings.

Like many things, this is a fast moving target. At the current time, in selected provinces (including Bangkok) and if over age 40, your friend is very likely to be successful if signing up through the hospitals identified by https://www.thailandintervac.com/. It does not seem visa status is a factor. If under age 40, contacting hospitals directly may yield a successful outcome, but this is less certain.

I am not going to try to respond to your specific questions in detail because I am not 100% sure that I would get everything correct. What I am going to do is try to clarify your current situation which can help you when trying to move forward. First, the fact that at one time you had a Non B visa is now irrelevant. Your current permission to stay is based on working for a specific employer and meeting various other conditions. What you wish to do is terminate your permission to stay based on your old employer, and apply for a new extension based on working for your new employer. Whether this is possible will depend on whether (with the help of your new employer) you can meet all the conditions for an extension based on working. One of these that could be troublesome if intending an internship is meeting the minimum salary requirement.

Indeed! And that is the main reason why I really want to hear from someone who have entered Thailand visa exempt over the last five days to know whether they are still getting 45 days on entry, or whether the anticipated reduction back to 30 days has actually happened. Right now, we seem to be relying on embassy websites to assume that it is only 30 days. Previous experience suggests that the embassies have no idea what is actually happening when people arrive in Thailand.

They may or may not check. It may depend partly on how busy they are (which right now is probably not very). EDIT: Note that using Skyscanner you can probably find a ticket from Bangkok to Singapore for about $40 which (in the larger scheme of things) might be worth it for peace of mind.

Send the additional documentation to [email protected] as they requested. Make sure you use the same email address to send from as the one where you received their message. Presumably, they collate the additional document with your original application using your email address.

I really wish that someone who has entered visa exempt in the last four days would post their experiences, telling us how many days they were stamped in for on arrival.

For many months, the only good reason for the Thai authorities to keep the automatic Covid extensions was that they do not want to force foreigners who are currently here to leave. The hospitality industry is already in a parlous state, and forcing many of its current limited clientele to leave Thailand would be ridiculously stupid. The fact that it would be incredibly stupid does not necessarily mean Thailand will not do it, however.

I have seen no actual confirmation that the initial permission to stay has reverted to 30 days (though I saw the same news of a prospective change that you did). Regardless of whether this change has been/will be implemented, the standard 30-day extension of a visa exempt entry will definitely remain.`

You are allowed only one of the very easy 60-day extensions to visit your wife for each fresh entry into Thailand. However, the number of one-year extensions you can get, assuming you meet the requirements, is unlimited. Some stay for decades on serial one-year extensions without ever setting foot outside Thailand.

Just to be clear what many people misunderstand. The Covid extension is intended as an emergency extension for those who do not qualify for any standard extension to be able to stay because it is impossible/impracticable to leave because of the current Covid situation. The decision of the official at Chaengwattana in the OP's case was entirely correct. There was no need for the emergency Covid extension.