Fore Man

I am loathe to say it, ashamed of my own homeland, but you are too right!

…not unless you want to protect your lungs from air pollution. COVID notwithstanding, mask wearing outside is a fairly intelligent habit in many Thai cities. I lived in Chiang Mai for 16 years and on one occasion in March 2019 I played a golf game out at Highlands unmasked. The AQI was 220. Stupid me, because I contracted a hacking cough that took me three to years to finally overcome.

Agree, but there are many instances where the intended recipient, such as certain businesses, medical offices and so forth have not offered their email address. And both parties must be signed up with Line in order to exchange files. Line is popular in Thailand but hardly anybody recognizes it in the U.S.

Good, valid point. People seem to forget the real rationale for mask wearing and get all wrapped up thinking that their God-given rights have been violated.

Well put, RayC. It’s an excellent analogy. And with regard to Mac’s post, yes, he also makes a worthy point, as many COVID deaths were exacerbated by comorbidities. But those victims would have likely survived many more years had COVID not arrived on the scene.

I cannot believe that so many cruel minds out there still think COVID was just a joke, or worse yet, a sinister plot perpetuated by political interests. How can such people shrug off over ONE MILLION fatalities in the USA alone due to the pandemic? Such a cavalier attitude shows how ruthless and uncaring some folks are towards their fellow man. Shame on them! They’d best pray that one day when older and more susceptible that they won’t succumb to a future disease that could well dwarf this latest global pandemic. Mark my words: What comes around goes around.

This sums up my thoughts precisely and succinctly. Well said, OneMoreFarang and you’ve hit upon the tragic truth here. Tourists who are hugely ignorant (or hugely arrogant) can make terribly bad decisions to ride a bike or simply take a stroll in a country rampant with unsafe and unpoliced driving habits and customs. It’s blatantly obvious when pedestrians here are killed at supposedly safe zebra crossings! Anyone here longer than a few days quickly learns not to carry on as if they’d never left their homeland. RIP dear lady and my heart and prayers go out to her bereaved husband. I cannot even imagine the deep pain he must be suffering.

Now I’m getting confused on exactly what will be required after 1 May. From what I read, it appears we need to complete/upload: — ThaiPass — Vax card image or QR code — Image of insurance policy Will we also have to show hotel booking (but not SHA+) and/or pre-boarding PCR test? AFAIK, they will scrap any testing on arrival after 1 May….right? Thanks!

Methinks it can’t be from MH370 because this piece was found in the Gulf of Thailand and thus separated from the suspected crash site of MH370 in the far south of the Indian Ocean by the Malaysian peninsular landmass. That is, unless all the experts are wrong about the calculated track of the missing airliner. If this part-numbered piece can be traced to MH370, assuming that the Thai Government provides the data to Malaysian authorities, it would change everything conjectured about its final resting place.

I owe TallGuyJohninBangkok an apology. I somehow responded to his post when I intended my response for Blumpie. So sorry for maligning you, TallGuy, but it was an honest mistake. I still feel strongly that we shouldn’t take anything Covid is dishing out lightly or with sarcasm. Some folks skate by with nary a problem while others suffer greatly. My daughter has been thrice-vaccinated, including a Pfizer booster. But she has medical issues that make her more susceptible to the disease. Good luck to all of you as we try to get past this pandemic.

That’s a sad, selfish outlook to taunt others with. My daughter is struggling through her infection right now with terrible headaches. She’s slowly mending, but please bear in mind that not everyone out there is an übermensch. Have a little consideration for others.

Hello, Sqwakvfr, i am preparing to do likewise but intend to enter as a returning expat after several years in the USA, initially as a tourist and then visit Nan Immigration to apply and change my status to marriage-based, non-imm type O. We already own land and homes in that province. By doing so, I believe I can avoid the costly medical insurance requirement since I am fully covered by US Defense Tricare anyway, with reasonable annual deductibles and once our family out of pocket costs exceed $3,000, there’s no catastrophic annual cap. And we already know that Nan will not expect me to lock up such a much higher amount in the bank, only requiring me to maintain THB 400,000. At my age of 76, obtaining Thai insurance coverage will be either unlikely or unreasonably expensive. Did you consider this alternative method to enter Thailand? Can you share your motivations why you chose to go the more costly O-A route? For me, it’s not just a matter of economy, but I do not want to unnecessarily waste or see our funds held interminably in a Thai bank when my wife and I can make better use of them. Thank you.

I replaced that funny symbol with a thank you…didn’t realize the meaning of each rating icon. No need to be sore.

Gents, what would be best way to do this if I already have a bank account in my name (only) in Thailand? I moved to the U.S. in early 2020 and plan to move back in late 2023. Thanks.

I lived in Thailand for 16 years and on one of my frequent business trips back to the US, my son, who had visited us in Chiang Mai many times and who loves Thai cuisine, took me to a popular Thai restaurant in Baton Rouge. He raved over their ‘authentic’ dishes and wanted me to enjoy them too. But after being served my so-called Gaeng Massaman Gai, I called over the young Asian-looking waitress, who appeared not to be of Thai extraction (and spoke no Thai either, but that’s typical of most second generation Thais living in America) and asked her in Thai what was the nationality of the chef. She gave me a sheepish look and explained her family came from Taiwan and she could not understand any Thai. But in English, I repeated my question and she said the cook was from Vietnam. In fact, no employee there was of Thai extraction. My son was crestfallen, having absolutely fallen in love with the place…thinking he’d found his own little piece of Siam located smack in the Cajun country of Louisiana. I explained that this was a commonplace occurrence in ‘Thai’ restaurants, because Americans seem to equate tasty, exotic oriental food with Thailand and are more apt to patronize a ‘Thai’ themed eatery when they want to go out and enjoy something really different. Most will never know what real Thai cuisine looks or tastes like and only a rare minuscule will ever set foot in Thailand….especially right now!

Gents, wondering if a VE can be parlayed into an 0 for marriage or retirement reasons? If not, how can I enter Thailand after a long stay in the U.S. and obtain a long term visa based on either marriage or retirement? Thanks.

The personal medical information site, such as My Health, containing your vaccination QR code cannot be accessed by anyone else without satisfying the security protocols that have been put into place by the account holder (the patient). Once you provide an image of your QR code to Thai Immigration, it can probably be assumed to be no longer secure and available to others who may use it for unofficial or illicit purposes. This is an assumption on my part and if any reader can offer a better explanation, please do.

No PIN involved, but you’ll need to sign-in to your MyChart account to access any information placed there, including your QR code/s.

This is a VERY helpful distinction! Most if not all of our local labs and affiliated pharmacies take from 2 to as many as 7 days to get back RT-PCR results. Thank you kindly for your input.

Thanks for this tip!

Can anybody who has run this same ThaiPass gauntlet and who originated in the US, help me understand where a PCR test can be obtained fast enough to meet the 72-hour requirement? I’ve heard that many pharmacies and clinics cannot provide test results for several days. Secondly, in what exact form does this negative test need to be in order to meet ThaiPass requirements? Is it a QR code or a scanned document?

This is good to know and kudos to the OP. Yes, ‘My Health’ information, used by many US medical doctors and their medical groups now includes bar code information for COVID vaccinations, including boosters. In my case, I also had a PCR test done by the Mayo Clinic prior to electives surgery in April 2021 and a QR code was generated for that (negative) test. Mayo also uses the My Health framework as well, making for a convenient and seamless reporting system which is made available by my local family care doctor.

My (Thai) wife and I are planning a trip from the USA to BKK around Late Feb 2022. Does anybody know where the required PCR test can normally be administered and its results issued in time to comply with Thai Immigration stipulations and/or airline requirements? Also, does anyone know which airlines are flying into BKK from US departure points? Thank you!

There must be a good reason they denied her. Did she make it to the final interview at the Consulate? My Thai wife had zero issues obtaining her visa, but we used a reputable agent in our prior home town of Chiang Mai. They made everything easy. You might consider employing an agent to find out why your spouse was denied and then consider using them to start a new application.

My Thai wife and I lived in Chiang Mai for 16 years until 2019, at which point we placed our large golf course estate home on the market, planning to relocate to the US for several years before ultimately returning to Thailand. We expected a lengthy wait to make a sale, if at all and were shocked when a wealthy tycoon from Shanghai paid us full price for the property only a month later. He even bought the empty parcel adjacent to our land from another, Thai seller. Of course he was able to do so by arranging a Thai-majority limited partnership to take ownership. But as a poster commented previous this thread, many homes languish on the market for years and usually are just rented out interminably. The real fear that Thais have is that these deals will inflate land values far above the means of their people unless they already are extremely wealthy. We indeed had Thai neighbors there, but in every instance they were very well-to-do families: local business tycoons, long established doctors, two Thai ambassadors and even a former Thai prime minister. So I can well understand both sides of this argument. It’s not a cut and dried situation.