KhaoYai

I (hopefully) arrive in Bangkok on 15 March on Test & Go and should be free to go on 16th. I have a flight to Chiang Mai booked with Vietjet on 16 March and I'm getting peed off trying to get Covid related information from them. They say I have to register on the CM Chana App at least 24 hours before my flight and sent me a link that doesn't work (twice) Can anybody tell me what the current regulations are for traveling to Chiang Mai from Bangkok and please give me a link to the CM Chana App that works - preferably an English version.

Agreed. I usually have a Multi Non O and enter 6 - 8 times per year but a few years back I decided I wasn't going to pay for a visa when I usually only stay 2 weeks at a time. After 5 or 6 visa exempt entries I was asked what the purpose of my visit was. I told the officer I was visiting my wife and was told in no uncertain terms that I would not be allowed in again without a visa and he typed something into his computer. The time before that a female I.O. spent a while looking at my passport and counting the stamps. Around the same time exactly the same happened to a mate - back to Multi Entry's. Whether they will start the same antics again in the current climate is another matter but anyone who's previously entered several times per year on visa exempt without question is simply lucky. There is of course the argument that the Thai authorities don't class visiting a spouse as tourism and therefore I should have had a visa but there were plenty of reports of denied entry using exempts around 2017 - 2019 - I don't remember any of those mentioning being married. I believe the Thai authorities at the time stated that they suspected people who entered often and did visa runs etc. of working illegally.

I thought this had stopped. It came about a few years ago as a result of some Indian gentlemen faking documents for marriages. An Amphur manager was fired for allowing fake documents so others decided it was safer to simply stop marrying foreigners as they didn't know which documents were fake and which were real. I spoke to the consular section at the British Embassy and a very helpful young lady offered to call the Amphur and sort things out. She did and they agreed to register my marriage. Around that time there were quite a few reports of refusals. All you can do is get your girlfriend to ring round and ask - or, if you want to be sure, book a slot at Bang Rak Amphur in Bangkok. As for your visa - have you considered a Multi Entry Non O Visa (MENOV) based on marriage? They are still available at some embassies/consulates in countries neighbouring Thailand. You would have to check the entry requirements re; Covid but they all seem to be opening up now. A MENOV is valid for one year and grants an unlimited amount of entries with a maximum of 90 days per entry. They can be extended, I thought for 30 days but I have been reliably informed its 60 days, so basically giving you a 5 month stay. If you want to stay longer you simply leave and re-enter. I am told that they are available from the consulate in Laos - although their website only lists a single entry NON O. I got my last MENOV from Ho Chi Minh with no proof of income or cash in the bank. Just my passport, marriage certificate and registration and a letter from my wife inviting me to stay with her + signed copy of both sides of her ID card and the main pages of her Tabien Baan. Plus the fee of course. The MENOV is slowly disappearing as embassies/consulates go over to the E-Visa system which only offers Single Entry Non O's but they are available for now. Having said that, once married you could obtain a Single Entry Non O based on marriage from the Thai Embassy in London. That would give you 90 days + a 60 day extension. You'd have to check on their website but whereas when they issued such visas themselves, they didn't require evidence of income etc. - now they are on E-Visa they almost certainly will. Note, when you visit your local immigration office for the 60 day extension, your wife needs to be with you and will need some documents - probably marriage certificate, registration, Tabien Baan, ID card. The information that your Affirmation of Freedom to Marry needs to be done at the British Embassy in Thailand is correct. You will also need to have your passport certified by the British Embassy. https://www.gov.uk/marriage-abroad/y/thailand/opposite_sex

Nowhere near unfortunately.

Yes, It is currently saying 'Reviewing'

The price of Cheese in Thailand has always amazed me, its not imported so why is it so expensive?

I'm aware that the Thailand Pass website states 3 - 7 days for the application process but my last application was approved in seconds. I applied early morning on 1 March and haven't heard a thing. I submitted the same insurance, same vaccine certificates as I did last time and a correct hotel booking showing an ATK test so there should be no problem. My flight is on 14 March so I have just over a week and I'm starting to get a little concerned. I wondered if anyone else has applied under the new rules - have you received your approval yet and what date do you fly? I only know of one other and they got there's within 12 hours but I believe their flight was this week.

Precisely! Are they forced to stay there now? We have 3rd and 4th generation Pakistanis and Indians in the UK - should they be able to break-away and form their own republic on UK soil? I believe they have a choice to live in Russia or Ukraine - if they choose to stay where they are, they cannot simply decide to take over an area. This is 2022, the world is a different place, your history lesson has no relevance. Ukraine has fought and earned its independence and democracy, now they have to do it all over again? In any case, I don't believe this problem actually started because of a group of ethnic Russians living in Ukraine, the reasoning behind it is a lunatic who is in part, using those people as an excuse for his real intentions.

You were lucky. I know they say 3 to 7 days but my application last year was approved in minutes - literally. My new application has been in since Tuesday with exactly the same key documents - nothing yet.

Its a while ago and I can't really remember but I've often had language problems there. I do remember that I only actually needed to stay for another week so I wouldn't have argued with the 1 month granted.

It has everything to do with democracy - a democracy that Ukraine's people died for. They know the sort of democracy they'll have under Putin's control, they've had a taste of that before.

Reading your dribble is getting tiring. There is no and can be no, justification for one nation attacking another and killing its people without any provocation. What possible reasoning are you using? That Russia liberated your country 87 years ago? Get real. That Ukraine's military have been engaged in a battle with 2 breakaway republics? Is that it? Those areas were and are, part of Ukraine - the simple fact that a lot of Russians decided to live there does not give them the right to take those areas over. As with many countries, the UK has a large Asian population, mainly concentrated on a handful of larger citiies. If they wanted to break-away, should the UK let them? Give up its land? or perhaps: You believe Putins BS that he will not allow NATO on his borders - as I told you in an earlier post, that's rubbish, he already has NATO on his borders. Putin is a madman and madmen often slip up and make mistakes - he has slipped up and revealed his true thinking on a couple of occassions - he doesn't think Ukraine has a right to exist, he said it had no right to sovereignty, he simply wants it under Russia's control. The West, (and I use that word lightly because other nations such as Japan and Australia have joined in) has amazed me with the unity they've shown on this matter and what that unity shows is that by and large, democracy and freedom are alive and kicking. Contrast that to Putin's version of democracy where any opposition that looks like it might be a threat suddenly finds themselves imprisoned on spurious charges. A 'democracy' where the state controls the media and fills the heads of its citizens with its own parallel reality. A democracy that controls the judiciary and puts down the slightest dissent. You might have missed that over 4000 Russian citizens have been arrested and detained for simply holding a peaceful protest and carrying placards stating 'No War'. Today Russia passed a new law that will imprison anyone involved in the media that calls the current offensive a 'war' for 15 years! The Russia that liberated your country is not the same Russia as that of today - not by a long way. Putin wasn't even born! Any Thai citizen that is prepared to leave their homeland and fight alongside Ukranians deserves our applause, not condemnation.

I bow to your greater knowledge UJ. However, I was granted a 30 day extension to a 90 day entry on a Multi O on 3 October 2018 by Korat Immigration. I was later told that my wife should have been with me (she wasn't). Could this be the reason? Did they only give me a 30 day extension BECAUSE my wife wasn't with me?

Given that the flight cost me 1500 return - that would be crazy. I'll wait for Vietjet's reply - you and I read a different meaning in their current wording. I know AZ is OK in Thailand - it is in Vietnam too - that's what surprised me, at least going by my interpretation.

Wong on all counts. Keep out of it? Where might you be now if the UK and its allies had not taken on Germany when it invaded Poland? Ukraine is a sovereign nation and has a right to choose its destiny and alliances. If you believe Putin's rubbish about being threatened by having a Nato member on his border - you need to do a little geography, he has 2 already! 3 if you class Belarus as really being Russia. What Putin really wants is the Ukraine firmly back in his control but he'll disguise that by installing a puppet government and calling it an independent country (as per Belarus). If he gains control of Ukraine, he will have then in effect have 4 Nato members on his border. No, its not about Nato - he just simply wants it back under Russia's control and has said as much. So in your book this is just big brother fighting with little brother and nobody should help the little one? What if big brother murders his sibling? Thousands have died already and its likely that hundreds of thousands more will die - because of what? The savage, land grabbing actions of a mentally ill despot that rules his people by controlling them and feeding them 'news' that suits his purposes? And you think nobody should help? Should Ukraine's people be forced to live the life and face the same constraints that ordinary Russians do? Be fed with total lies and contrived versions of the truth? Fantasies that the rest of the world hates Russia? I think Ukraine made it quite clear in 1991 and again in 2013/14 that they want to be part of Europe and they have every right to do that - because they are! They are quite happy to live side by side with Russia and each go about its own business - they jusy don't want to be part of it. You need to read up on the historical context. Putin is a murderer and should be punished - hopefully he will be. Likening this to a dispute between England and Scotland is quite frankly, ridiculous.

Except AstraZeneca means good to go? That's how you read it?

Until Covid I have always had a multi Non O - however I use them for the purpose they were intended as I don't work in Thailand - I come and go. I have extended my visa once and it was for 30 days - I have never seen a 60 day extension. However, I know 2 people that have more or less lived in Thailand on Multi Non O's. Each 90 day stay is extendable by 1 month (wife must be with you at immigration). If you time it right and enter on the last day of vailidity for your final entry, you can get 15 months out of the visa with just 3 times out of the country. If there is a 60 day extension its a new one on me - could it possibly only apply to single entry Non O's?

I have a flight from Suvarnabhumi to Chiang Mai with Vietjet on 16 March and I'm struggling to get correct information from either the airline or the booking agent. I am trying to get information on any precautions that may be required for travel as a result of Covid 19. I would point out that no precautions were mentioned on either the booking confirmation from the agent Opodo or on the ticket sent by the airline. I have given up trying to get information from Opodo - they are probably the worst agent I have even booked with, this was my first booking with them and it will be the last. When I try their telephone lines and enter my details, an automated message tells me they are busy dealing with customers who's flights are prior to mine - please use their Live Chat service. The Live Chat firstly is a Bot that cannot answer my questions and after entering 'Agent' several times, tranfers you to an agent but gives a very long wait time. Worse still, you cannot move from your computer as every few minutes you are asked if you wish to continue waiting - if you're not there to answer, you are disconnected. Anyway..... enough of that! Vietjet sent me a notification of a slight change in flight times with my ticket which was in Vietnamese language. I e-mailed them to advise but once again they sent me the same e-mail and ticket in Vietnamese. On the second attempt I finally got an English version of the ticket and an apology - fair enough. Nowhere on the ticket does it mention any Covid precautions but I took it upon myself to e-mail again and ask. Below is the content of the reply I received today: Dear Passenger, Regarding your email, we would like to inform you that the Travel Measures for Domestic flights entering Chiangmai International Airport are as follows: (choose either one of the documents) Passengers must show the Negative of Covid-19 test results within 72 hours before the flight departure (RT-PCR or Antigen Rapid test method or ATK negative test result from medical facilities ) upon check-in. or Fully vaccinated of Covid-19 vaccine (according to the requirements of each vaccine, except AstraZeneca can enter 14 days after the 1st injection). Register your information at CM-CHANA Webpage( https://cmsdm.net/COVIDH/cm_rule.php) at least 24 hours prior to your arrival. Remark: For further information about Covid-19 travel documents requirement, please visit the website www.moicovid.com/ข้อมูลสำคัญ-จังหวัด/ Best regards, Amika K. Contact Center Support Team Does anyone know what they mean by 'except AstraZeneca' - I know that AZ is an acceptable vaccine in Thailand and in Vietnam. As it happens, I am fully vaccinated but my vaccinations are indeed, AZ. I am currently in the UK and neither of the links in the above e-mail content will work - I don't know if that's a geographical thing but they won't work for me. I have asked Vietjet to explain but they take a long time to reply. If I need to change airlines - the flight prices are going up in price daily as it gets nearer to the flight time. As it happens I will have a PCR test result available as I will have been tested at my quarantine hotel the day before - however, I am aware that some airlines want the test result to include a Fit to Fly certificate which I am sure will not form part of my test result.

But to be able to do that, they have to be able to see ther real news.

Change of heart? https://theweek.com/russo-ukrainian-war/1010836/only-5-countries-including-north-korea-vote-against-un-resolution

Well they seem to have had a change of heart: https://theweek.com/russo-ukrainian-war/1010836/only-5-countries-including-north-korea-vote-against-un-resolution

I was refering to the 1 month extension to the 90 day day stay - not a 12 month extension of stay.

You don't need 400k in the bank anywhere that I know of for a Multi Non O. But you do have to leave every 90 days - longer with extensions.

I hadn't considered that - I went to Ho Chi Minh in any case but that was because I wanted to visit the country. From what I saw I'll be back too. I went to Laos 15 - 20 years ago, I wasn't impressed. I just have a bee in my bonnet at being charged £35 more than the official price.

As I said in a previous reply - please show evidence of an E-Visa embassy or consulate that allows non-residents to make a visa application. Either that or retract your claims and denials. I'd be happy to be proved wrong - E-visa is not in my personal interests. Can you do that? For tourism and leisure activities For Single Entry (stay up to 60 days) A current passport with validity not less than 6 months and at least 2 blank pages. Applicants must fill in online visa application with their given name(s) and surname as appear in their passports. Printout of visa application form submitted online, with bar code Travel booking confirmation Proof of accommodation in Thailand e.g. hotel booking, invitation letter from family or friend in Thailand Financial evidence e.g. bank statements, proof of earnings, sponsorship letter Confirmation of legal residence in the UK or Ireland (if applicants are not nationals of these countries) e.g. long stay visa, residence permit, BRP card https://london.thaiembassy.org/en/publicservice/84451-tourist-visa?page=5d6636cd15e39c3bd00072dd&menu=5d6636cd15e39c3bd00072de