khunjeff

I can't speak for others, but I delayed my trip to the US (I'm here now) for over a year not because of the media or a refusal to adapt to the virus, but because of the very real Thai quarantine requirements that I wanted to avoid if at all possible. Even under the original Sandbox rules, a three week stay in the country of departure was not required if you were flying from Thailand to an approved country (even for only a day or two) and then returning directly to Thailand. It's certainly worth getting the paper "passport" just in case, but most countries and airlines would accept (or even prefer) the "certificate" with QR code produced by the vaccinating hospital or Mor Prom. The only issue could be if the certificate was in Thai language only.

Yes, from the articles that have been published so far it's pretty much impossible to understand how the system would actually work in practice. They have presumably designed the whole thing already, so I'm not sure why they don't just explain it fully and clearly right now.

That would be far more expensive for the foreigners than you imagine. You may come from a country with universal free health care, in which case good for you. But that might also make you less cognizant of just how expensive care can be if you need to pay for it, especially for those in higher age groups. If you have a life threatening condition that requires intensive intervention or advanced surgical techniques, your treatment could end up costing over 30 million baht. Medical care is expensive. I don't doubt that at all, but that's for the entire population in all age cohorts. OA applicants are (by definition) all at least 50 years old, and the vast majority never paid a single baht into the Thai system prior to applying for their visas. The math for them is much different.

Retirement.

Don't worry, this is just another fever dream that will never be implemented.

How exactly are they abused? And Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Seoul all have transit systems made up of various components run by different companies - some public and some private - and they all have fully functioning universal transit cards.

I only knew him from seeing the fabulous musical revues he produced at the Tawan Daeng German Brewery in Bangkok, but Thai friends who went to Chula deeply respected him as a well-known professor and performer. He wasn't widely known internationally, but was quite famous in Thailand for decades.

Every year I bring a copy of my lease and my TM-30 to CW for my retirement extension, but keep them in my bag just to see if they will be requested. No officer has ever asked for them.

The Thailand Pass application will supposedly take care of this by producing a QR code that can be used domestically after you've uploaded your overseas vaccination records...but please note that I said "supposedly"...

That's true, but people are also looking at the difference between the big announcements ("Thailand is open! No quarantine! No more COE!) and the reality of what the new requirements seem likely to be. If the PR were more honest from the beginning, folks would be more likely to accept the changes for what they are rather than for what they would like them to be. Yes, I noticed that the pricing tools for the Thai Covid insurance providers don't even ask about vaccination status, even though that has a huge impact on the likelihood of large medical bills.

Her "Lalisa" video has over 270 million views and she's performed on The Tonight Show in the US, so I'd say she's fairly well known outside of Thailand.

Of course they can - it has nothing to do with jurisdiction in a foreign country. When Thai immigration receives passenger data through APIS, they can just send a message back through the airline's computer saying "do not board" a particular person. Since the carrier knows they'll be fined if they ignore that instruction, they will not board the passenger. In practice I've never heard of Thailand actually doing this, but other countries (like the US) do it all the time

So they aren't scheduled to attend, they will be invited. But they haven't been invited, the TAT is just aiming to invite them. But the plan to aim to invite them isn't set, it's still pending. And the plan isn't definite, it requires further consideration. So it's basically a sure thing.

"As of 3 June 2021, WHO has evaluated that the following vaccines against COVID-19 have met the necessary criteria for safety and efficacy: AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine Johnson and Johnson Moderna Pfizer/BionTech Sinopharm Sinovac" https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/covid-19-vaccines/advice

"The police chief explained that under current arrangements one of the first things police check is to see if the foreigner has a Thai wife or girlfriend in their efforts to track a suspect down or locate his current address." Wives who are connected with a marriage extension, ok. But immigration keeps a database of people's girlfriends? I don't think so. That's right. But the key point is that the list is checked against the destination country's blacklist; if a passenger has criminal intent but is not already known to Thailand, nothing will happen. Immigration has repeatedly claimed in the press that APIS would somehow check passenger info against criminal records from the traveler's country, but that just isn't true - that data is typically protected and would not be shared with other countries except under special arrangements (such as those which exist between the US and Canada).

Please, enough with the bubble fantasies - they've been yakking about bubbles for over a year now, and exactly zero of them have come to fruition.

"Passengers have to pay a Bt20 fee for calling cabs. The fare starts at Bt40-150 depending on the type of vehicle, up from the current minimum Bt35 for public taxis." How did the legalization of ride-hailing services somehow turn into a price increase?

Actually, they enforce immigration laws. But thanks for your input.

"Such charges" are not standard practice in other countries. You are confusing tourist fees/taxes (which are charged to foreigners and go to the government) with Passenger Service Charges (which are charged to all air travelers and are used for the upkeep and operation of the airport). Different things. The departure tax on Thai travelers was a real tax; the 500 baht (now 700) is an airport fee. Again, you are conflating two totally different types of levies.

Ok, so why is Immigration investigating narcotics crimes, when there are actual drug police in Thailand?

It's been possible to hail a taxi using an app for years now. Perhaps he would also like to grant his permission to the sun to rise in the east and set in the west? I suppose it's nice that this will all be "legal" now, but being "illegal" never seemed to make one bit of difference to Grab or Uber or Bolt or any of the other companies that openly provided the service with no repercussions.

Yes, I always look for Thai labeling as my guarantee of quality.

Correct, and the requirement for immigrants goes into effect on October 1. "[E]ffective Oct. 1, 2021, applicants subject to the immigration medical examination must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before the civil surgeon can complete an immigration medical examination" https://www.uscis.gov/newsroom/alerts/covid-19-vaccination-required-for-immigration-medical-examinations Regarding the OP's specific question: "If a COVID-19 vaccine listed for emergency use by the World Health Organization (WHO) or licensed or authorized for emergency use by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is available to the applicant in the country where the medical examination is conducted, the eligible applicant must complete the COVID-19 vaccine series in addition to all other necessary vaccines" All of the vaccines currently administered in Thailand are listed for emergency use by the WHO, so there shouldn't be any issue for the OP's wife if she's been double vaccinated. Mixed vaccines aren't specifically addressed, and I don't know whether there's any policy about them. https://www.cdc.gov/immigrantrefugeehealth/panel-physicians/covid-19-technical-instructions.html

That website also has this notice on each page: "Dear all valued customers, We are hibernate our service since May 1st"

They're talking specifically about the much-discussed and much-delayed "Pattaya Move On" sandbox scheme, not general entry of travelers. Different rules, assuming it ever comes to fruition.