Peter Denis

28 minutes ago, ozfarang said:

This is a Thai company providing COVID only insurance. Country of origin USA, cost ฿6400 for 90 days coverage.

 

https://covid19.tgia.org

If you need that 100.000 US $ covid-19 insurance treatment insurance for 90 days, and you do not have foreign/international coverage for accidents/illnesses, you would be much better of with AXA Sawasdee travel-insurance.  Three-month premium would be approx same (or slightly higher), but that travel-insurance not only covers the 100.000 US $ covid-19 treatment but covers ANY accident/illness you might encounter in Thailand during those 3 months.

On top of that - if you would be returning on a Non Imm O-A Visa or Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement or a re-entry permit from those - that AXA Sawasdee policy ALSO covers the 400K/40K health-insurance requirement mandatory for such returns.

Attached a sample certificate as issued by AXA Sawasdee, and accepted by all Thai Embassies as meeting the requirements.

AXA_Sawasdee-Document-SampleCertificateofInsurance.pdf

9 hours ago, placeholder said:

Given that the number of studies that would have to be done would mean an exponential increase, it's unlikely that we'll ever know anything approaching a complete answer to that question.

Are health-authorities using different vaccine-brands for first and second shot?  Nothing surprises me anymore, but that would be pushing the experimental nature of these emergency-approved vaccines to the limit.  

9 hours ago, MichaelLams said:

... I am wondering if there is a cheaper alternative.

...

When entering Thailand on an Emirates-flight the 100.000 US $ covid-19 treatment insurance is provided FREE and is included in the flight-ticket price.   You can't get much cheaper than that.  However, as the coverage is only 30 days for a one-way flight, you would need to book a return-flight with return date AFTER the permission to stay date you would receive on entry, as in that case Emirates covers your full trip with that free 100.000 US $ covid-19 treatment insurance.  When booking a flexible ticket you could of course use that return-leg at a date of your convenience.

9 hours ago, MichaelLams said:

I arrive back to Thailand on the 5th May 21 and my Non-B visa finishes on the 15 March 22 so I would need 10+ months of cover right?

Only if that Non-B Visa will provide you with a 10+ month permission to stay on entry.

Visa validity expiry date and permission to stay you receive on entering Thailand are not necessarily same.  E.g. when entering on an METV which is valid for 6 months from date of issue, you would only receive 60 days permission to stay on entry (and it is the latter which needs to be fully covered by the 100.000 US $ covid-19 insurance).

8 hours ago, treetops said:

Emirates' insurance covers outpatient costs also.  Would that be allowed to cover both insurance requirements?

No, it would not as Emirates will not be inclined to fill and sign the Foreign Insurance Certificate when making use of a Non Thai 400K/40K health-insurance policy to meet that requirement.

10 minutes ago, fgmr said:

Hello Tanoshi,

I was planning to use TV, but i have just seen something I have not been aware of. I inderstand that a UK citizen can get a OX Visa for long stay. Don't know what that is? It would help if there were a published list of ALL the various visa acronyms and details.

 

Below I have outlined the main differences between a Non Imm O-A Visa and a Non Imm O-X Visa.

When applying for a 1-year Non Imm O-A Visa at a Thai Embassy/Consulate in your home-country you need to meet the financial requirements, but there is NO need to have money on a Thai Bank-Account.  In most countries you just need to show that in the 3 months preceding your application you had a minimum of the equivalent of 800.000 THB on a bank-account in your home-country (also 800K THB on a Thai bank-account is accepted).  Note that in US  there is NO seasoning requirement for the funds, and you only need to show that you have those funds on your bank-account at moment of application.

When entering Thailand on a Non Imm O-A Visa you will be stamped in for a 1-year permission to stay during the Visa validity period (1-year).  So when exiting and re-entering Thailand just before the 1-year Visa validity expires, you will have effectively 2 years of IO-hassle free long-stay in Thailand.

With NO need to visit an IO to apply twice for a 1-year extension during that period, and NO need to park/transfer money to a personal Thai bank-account.

When occasionally visiting your home-country every 2 years and then applying for a NEW Non Imm O-A Visa, you will effectively NEVER have to visit an IO for an extension application.

When applying for the 5+5 year Non Imm O-X Visa at a Thai Embassy/Consulate in your home-country you need to meet the financial requirements for such application.

Contrary to the Non Imm O-A Visa, applicants for the Non Imm O-X Visa MUST have money deposited in Thai bank located in Thailand with the amount of not less than 1.8 million Baht and have income with the amount of not less than 1.2 million Baht per year. Once the applicants enter Thailand, they must have accumulated money deposited in Thai bank located in Thailand not less than 3 million Baht within 1 year.

The money in (a) and (b) must be kept in bank account at least 1 year before withdrawing and, within another next year, the money must be left in the account with the amount of not less than 1.5 million Baht and can only be spent in Thailand.

When entering Thailand on a Non Imm O-X Visa you will be stamped in for a 5-year permission to stay during the Visa validity period (5-year).  But contrary to the Non Imm O-A Visa you will not enjoy 2 or 5 years of IO-hassle free long-stay in Thailand.

Because you must report, in person, to the immigration officer every year for the examination of the qualifications and supporting documents.

The requirements for 90-day reporting and the mandatory Thai IO-approved health-insurance are exactly the same for the Non Imm O-A and the Non Imm O-X Visa.

So the main 'benefit' from the Non Imm O-X Visa is that it provides you with a 5-year permission to stay stamped in your passport, but for that privilege you need to park between 1.2 and 3 million THB in a Thai bank-account and you need to visit your local IO every year to provide evidence that you still meet the requirements.

The additional benefits from the Non Imm O-X Visa are rather limited:

 -   Can work as a volunteer (in accordance with the list of volunteer work as stipulated by the Department of Employment).
  -  Can purchase vehicles (under the provision of laws on motor vehicles).
 -   Can purchase condominiums (proceed in accordance with the Condominium Act).

The Non Imm O-A Visa on the other hand provides you with almost 2-years of permission to stay in Thailand WITHOUT having to park/transfer money to a personal Thai bank-account and no need to apply at your local IO for any extensions during those 2 years.

And when applying for back-to-back NEW Non Imm O-A Visa in your home-country you will NEVER have to visit a local Immigration Office for extension applications or providing evidence of meeting the requirements of for your stay in Thailand.

Needless to say that the Non Imm O-X Visa is not very popular (to use an understatement), and most long-stay retirees prefer staying on a Non Imm O or O-A Visa or extensions of these Visa..

BritTim provided you with clear and good advice.

You wrote > I do earn more than ฿40000 a month from abroad and could prove this with PDF payslips. 

For sake of clarity the 2 months seasoning is only applicable when making use of the +400K Funds-in-Bank method.

When you have evidence that your received +40.000 THB each and every month from abroad for the 12 months preceding your application, you could also make use of that Monthly Income transfer-method.  However, pay-slips would not be sufficient but you would need evidence from your personal Thai bank-account that the funds transferred originated from abroad, which might be somewhat of a headache to get such bank-evidence.

You only need the 100.000 US $ covid-19 treatment insurance for the period of stay of the permission to stay you would receive by border Immigration when entering Thailand.

So when you enter VisaExempt you only need it for 45 days, on a 60-day Tourist Visa you would need it for 60 days, on a 90-day Non Imm O Visa or STV you would need it for 90 days and when entering on a Non Imm O-A Visa you would need it for a full year.  When entering on a valid Re-Entry Permit from the 1-year extension of stay based on your original Non Imm O or O-A Visa you would only need it for the remainder of the period for which you would be stamped in on arrival.

There are several ways to meet hat 100.000 US $ covid-19 treatment insurance requirement, and both Thai as well as foreign/international insurance or travel-insurance are accepted as long as they meet the 100.000 US $ covid-19 treatment criterion.

When under 69 years of age SafetyWing travel-insurance can provide you with decent travel-insurance (covering any accident/illness you might encounter in Thailand) that meets the 100.000 US $ covid-treatment coverage.

Alternatively you could also make use of AXA Sawasdee travel-insurance, but that insurance has to be taken in chunks of 3 months (for an approx premium of 7.000 THB).  The advantage of that insurance is that it ALSO meets the mandatory 400K/40K health-insurance requirement mandatory for a Non Imm O-A Visa application or when returning on a Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement.

Finally it is is worth mentioning that when you enter Thailand on an Emirates flight that the 100K covid-19 insurance is provided FREE and included in the ticket-price.  The period of coverage for a one-way flight is only 30 days (so not sufficient to fully cover the permission to stay you would receive on entry), but the full period of your trip is covered when you buy a return-ticket.  So when you foresee to fly back to your home-country it could be worthwhile to book a flexible ticket so that you can change the return-date flight if your schedule is not fixed yet and use that return flight at a for you convenient date. 

16 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

The reason why the death toll from Spanish Flu was so high was because the second wave was a mutation that killed off young, healthy victims as well as the old.

 

Let's hope this virus doesn't emulate it, or gawd 'elp us!

Already happening with the P1 variant...

So yes, God help us...

26 minutes ago, polpott said:

Mitigates spread but the virus doesn't go away. If you believe that herd immunity will occur naturally, you're deluded. It would be the first virus in history where herd immunity was achieved without vaccines.  Try using your common sense.

The idea that herd immunity could be achieved with mass-vaccination also looks like a pipe-dream according to this March 2021 article in Nature.

      > https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00728-2

Even with vaccination efforts in full force, the theoretical threshold for vanquishing COVID-19 looks to be out of reach.

And the author spells out five reasons why COVID herd immunity is probably impossible:

• It's unclear whether vaccines prevent transmission
• Vaccine roll-out is uneven
• New variants change the herd-immunity equation
• Immunity might not last forever
• Vaccines might change human behavior

Five reasons why COVID herd immunity is probably impossible _ Nature - March 2021.pdf

4 hours ago, bill014 said:

What they haven't said is that you have to initially book 14 days at your chosen hotel then, after showing and getting your vaccination certificate approved, try and get your money back from the hotel!!

The (UK) Embassy recommends applicants to book the 10-night quarantine package and, once the 7-night quarantine has been approved, to request for a refund from the hotel. (ASQ hotels have been informed by the central authorities to refund if customers' vaccinations has been approved for a "7-night quarantine".)

The above is an excerpt from a response by the Consular Officer from the London Thai Embassy on an enquiry about this matter.

Attached the full response.

Vaccination requirements for reduced ASQ-booking when returning to Thailand from UK.rtf

13 minutes ago, placnx said:

You might read this to understand the trend to ideological medicine:

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/stephaniemlee/herd-immunity-bhattacharya-atlas-barrington

Thanks but no thanks for letting me waste my time on one of the most biased articles on covid strategy that I ever read > total trash!

You stated > Male 77 years old.  Renewed my retirement visa in Pattaya on 11th May 2020. Got single re-entry visa.

In order to provide you with useful advice - surely in view of the tight deadlines you mention in your message - some more info from your side is needed.

• Did you buy a Re-Entry Permit to protect the permission to stay of the 1-year retirement extension based on your Non Imm O Visa?
• If so, what is the expiry date of that 1-year retirement extension you got in Pattaya?
• Are you married to a Thai national or have Thai dependant children?
• Do you have the documents of Thai wife/children that would enable you to apply for a Non Imm O Visa for that reason (instead of returning on your current Re-Entry Permit)?

4 hours ago, Bob4u said:

Things may change in 90 days.

Be positive and good things happen.

Hi Bob,

You are obviously betting on relaxed border entries in approx 2-3 months allowing you to do a border-run with your METV and get another 2 months permission to stay.  But I would be highly surprised if border restrictions would be loosened by then, so unfortunately you might be in for some trouble later on.

Spilled milk at this moment, but a better option for you would have been a VisaExempt entry or applying for the 60-day SETV, as both of these can be extended for 30 days and after that you could make use of 60-day covid extensions to extend your stay (as it is expected that those 60-day covid extensions will only be stopped when borders are open again).

But there is a real risk now that you will not be allowed to apply for a 60-day covid extension, as your METV is valid for 6 months....

Let's hope for you that with the phasing-out of the STV, that Thai Immigration would allow 60-day METV extensions in-country (or allow 60-day covid-extensions for non-expired METV) after you used up your 30-day extension at the end of your 2-month permission to stay. 

30 minutes ago, Tanoshi said:

...

If you intend to stay longer than 90 days you would have been better with the STV.

Thai Immigration and MFA have already started with phasing out the STV.

• STV's applied for are only valid until 30 September 2021;
• When entering Thailand after 3 July 2021, you won't be able to extend your STV anymore:
• When on an STV (or extension of it) that expires before 30 September 2021, you can only apply for an extension before the date of 30 September 2021.

As we are already April, you cannot get the full 9 months out of an STV anymore.

And it would be crazy to apply for an STV when you enter Thailand after 3 July, as it would be limited to 3 months only with no option to extend. 

So well possible that - in view of the above - MFA recently 'revived' the METV, although the CoE requirements do not yet mention that option.

4 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

I just noticed, although its a ME visa, it only valid for 6 months, at best you could only get a 2nd entry. Isn't 12 months the usual validity for ME ?

No, the METV validity is 6 months.

However, by exiting and re-entering Thailand just before Visa expiry you would get another 60 days Permission to stay, which can be extended for 30 days.

So an METV can provide you with a maximum of 9 months stay in Thailand.  But as mentioned earlier you would need to exit/re-enter Thailand twice to get hold of those 9 months.  And with current border restrictions and quarantaine measures that's not very convenient.  But of course if such border restrictions are lifted 3 months after OP enters Thailand, he could make use of that opportunity. 

4 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

I just went back in my sent emails and I was asked to show ticket, just so happened I was flying with a return ticket purchased Sept - 2019. Just saying this was an OA in Hollywood, Ca.

Thanks, but must be a case of Thai Consulate staff asking for 'additional documents' as the published US Thai Embassy/Consulate regulations do not require it.

8 minutes ago, Bob4u said:

I got one last week in USA, multi entry tourist visa.

Can post an image if u need proof.

You say you did got an METV last week.

As Thai Embassies are phasing out the 'temporary' STV (valid until 30 September 2021) , it is indeed logical that you would be able to apply again for an METV.

However, it might be a bit premature to do so, because in order to make full use of the potential 9 months of stay an METV can provide you, you would have to exit/re-enter twice.

With current border restrictions and quarantaine measures that would be rather inconvenient (to use an understatement).

But it is of course possible that Thai Immigration might introduce a temporary regulation allowing you to extend your METV in country beyond the first 30-day extension.  Still I would not bet on this and would be reluctant to already apply for an METV now.

10 minutes ago, BritTim said:

For a Non O visa, the LA consulate might require it. There is no reason it would be a requirement for a Non O-A (long stay) visa.

According to the published regulations < https://thaiconsulatela.org/en/non-o/ >proof of a confirmed return-flight is NOT required for a Non Imm O Visa application.

But there is of course the 'catch-all' note at the bottom:

Please note : 
Consular officers reserve the right to request additional documents
as deemed necessary and also reserve the right to reject any application
without having to provide reason. 

2 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

But, does the Consulate in LA require it? I seem to remember when I got mine I had to show return ticket?

No, for a Non Imm O or O-A Visa application you only have to show

> Flight confirmation / reservation, showing going from US to Thailand.
     (The name of the applicant must indicated clearly.)

A return-ticket is not required when entering Thailand on a Non Imm O or O-A Visa.

Such return-ticket is required when planning to enter Thailand on a Tourist Visa (or Visa Exempt).

7 minutes ago, KhaoYai said:

...

For those, who have completed their COVID-19 vaccination for at least 14 days before departure to Thailand, will be considered to reduce the number of quarantine days to 7-night quarantine. The Embassy recommends applicants to book the 10-night quarantine package and, once the 7-night quarantine has been approved, to request for a refund from the hotel. (ASQ hotels have been informed by the central authorities to refund if customers' vaccinations has been approved for a "7-night quarantine".) So please contact your ASQ hotel directly. A certified proof of vaccination shall be uploaded when registering for the Certificate of Entry (COE). The document shall have the number of doses being vaccinated, dates of vaccination, type and batch number of vaccine, and check if the vaccine being vaccinated has been approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Ministry of Public Health of Thailand. The list of vaccines approved by both authories (as of April, 2021) as follows:

 

- CornaVac (or also known as Sinovac)

 

- AstraZeneca

 

- Pfizer - BIONTECH COVID-19 vaccine

 

- COVISHIELD (ChAdOx1_nCoV-19)

 

- Janssen COVID-19 vaccine

 

- Moderna COVID-19 vaccine

 

- Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine 

 

Your Certificate of Entry will indicate the number of nights to be quarantine.

 

(Remarks: If any family member traveling together has not been vaccinated, all family members will be subject for a 10-night quarantine. For example, parents, that have been vaccinated, traveling with a child, that has not been vaccinated, all family members will be subject for a 10-night quarantine.) 

 

Booking for ASQ hotels for quarantine can be made directly with the hotel of your choice or conveniently done through the websites below:

 

https://www.agoda.com/quarantineth
https://asq.locanation.com/
https://asq.ascendtravel.com

 

https://entrythailand.go.th/

 

If you meet the requirements below, you can apply for the Certificate of Entry through the online system at https://coethailand.mfa.go.th/

 

For more information, including the list of permitted airlines that can carry passengers to Thailand, please see https://london.thaiembassy.org/en/publicservice/application-for-certificate-of-entry

 

For COVID-19 insurance, applicants can buy UK/Irish or Thai insurance. For the list of companies that offer COVID-19 insurance, please see https://covid19.tgia.org/

...

Thanks for sharing that useful information for those returning to Thailand from UK.

> The Embassy recommends applicants to book the 10-night quarantine package and, once the 7-night quarantine has been approved, to request for a refund from the hotel. (ASQ hotels have been informed by the central authorities to refund if customers' vaccinations has been approved for a "7-night quarantine".) So please contact your ASQ hotel directly.

1 minute ago, darrenr said:

Question if you are coming to Thailand on a retirement visa, when you depart your home country do you have to show the airlines and/or immigration an onward ‘return ticket , or is a one way ticket alright ?

No need for an outward bound ticket when entering Thailand on a Non Imm O or O-A Visa.

8 minutes ago, darrenr said:

Hi everyone thanks for your replies. Yes I am trying to avoid the extension of stay as don’t want to keep money in a Thai bank account and have to renew the extension of stay at a Thai immigration.

 

just though I could get the retirement visa in Australia ( only need to show Australian bank statements ), then go to Thailand for 6months ( obviously 90 day reporting ), then return to Australia to work for 6 months , by that time,I would need  to submit a brand new application in Australia  for retirement before going back to Thailand 

 

basically I am always applying for a NEW retirement visa application every year in Australia and don’t have to deal with Thai immigration such as you would if you were applying for an extension. Probably more expensive , but less hassle and no requirement to show money in a Thai bank account.

 

When you write 'retirement Visa' you should be more specific.  Your plan would only work when applying for the 1-year Non Imm O-A Visa at the Thai Embassy/Consulate in your home-country.

When applying for the 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of retirement, you would be confronted with the need to extend your permission to stay once you are in Thailand, thus having to apply for an extension at your local Imm Office and having to meet the financial requirements for such application.