shdmn

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...together with the results of their COVID-19 tests conducted no longer than 72 hours before their flights, the spokesman said.

So is it 72hr before the flight or 72hr before entering the country?  I've heard the latter from some people. When some itineraries can be more than 24-48hrs, distinctions like that matter. 

That could easily be one of those things some low level immigration person could interpret different/wrong and ruin your day.  The only safe bet imo would be to try get it the day before, but then you don't get the results till the day of your flight, which is cutting it close.

I was asking myself the same thing.  Cranking up the deductible can save quite a bit.

1 hour ago, ChiangMaiThai said:

Ok for a regular tourist visa, here's the documents you have to provide. There is no clarification or elaboration on their website. Emailed the consulate and they sent me to the useless 40 page PDF which is screenshots of how to use the website. Thailand never ceases to amaze me. They want tourists to come right? How have they not figured out how to make this process as easy as possible? Ever applied for a visa to Mexico?

1. Biodata page of Passport or Travel Document
2. Photograph
3. Declaration (download from website, print and sign)
4. Travel booking confirmation (pay for your ticket before you know if your visa is approved)
5. Proof of accommodation in Thailand, e.g. Accommodation bookings, invitation letters from family/friends in Thailand
6. Financial evidence, e.g. bank statements, proof of earnings, sponsorship letter
7. Confirmation of legal residence in a country in which you are applying for the visa. (In case that you are not a national of the country in which you are applying for the visa.) No info on what kind of document would be accepted. 
8. Medical insurance policy that shows minimum medical coverage in Thailand for Coronavirus Disease(COVID-19), of amount equal to or greater than 100,000 USD
9. ASQ (Alternative State Quarantine) Hotel Reservation Confirmation
10. A copy of flight confirmation reservation (The name of the applicant must indicated clearly) Didn't we just provide this above?
11. Applicant is required to upload his/her passport pages which contain all travel records for the past 12 months (1 year) since the last international trip. (Wow, keeping it simple)
12. Applicant must apply for e-Visa via specific Embassy/Consulate conforming with his/her consular jurisdiction and residency. Applicant is required to upload document that can verify his/her current residency. (what kind of document???)
13. Please upload your picture holding the photo and information page of the passport. (ok standard KYC hostage photo).

 

The ASQ reservation is definitely wrong since that is no longer required after Nov 1.  One night in SHA+ is all that is required after Nov 1 and there are lots of those in all sorts of price ranges.

18 hours ago, EricTh said:

Just come in visa exempt and if you want to extend get another tourist visa. It's much simpler in Thailand

But then the airline could deny you boarding.  I know they carefully checked my 60 day visa on a 59 day return ticket.  Also, the same thing could happen on the other end.  There are services you can use that give you a cancellable onward ticket to show as proof, to get around it, but that's just another thing to deal with and another thing they could potentially deny you boarding or entry for.  Getting the 60 day visa is the safest bet.

18 hours ago, Golden Triangle said:

Having lived in the greater Pattaya area for 10 years & was visiting the same areas for at least 6 years prior to retiring here, I have seen and done every tourist attraction, temple and the whole of the country your statement holds no water, how many times do I have to go to Nong Nooch gardens, Sanctuary of Truth, Mini Siam, et al ??

 

I have had friends visit us, family visit us, they all demand a guided tour and taxi driver, I am sick to death of people like yourself who blindly state their are plenty of attractions to visit, I've been there, done it & got the T shirt more than once.

Yes, going to temples all day every day is exactly what I was talking about and what all expats and tourists are expected to do.  ????

Replace everything you said that I highlighted in bold with "bar" or "the bar" which is equally ridiculous, and yet that's all many guys who visit and live in Pattaya do all day every day.

1 hour ago, freedomnow said:

at point of just checking in next year, when things are a bit more stable.

 

I hear the place is a buzzkill due to decimated shuttered businesses all over.

 

Surprised the currency is still so resilient...no furlough for the poor Thais who have lost any savings at their back who owned businesses.

Where?  Here? ????

On 10/17/2021 at 7:21 AM, 3NUMBAS said:

just a trickle of die hard  mongers  not enough to  bring stickman out of retirement is my guess

Sounds great to me.  Mr. "all thai sex workers have HIV" can stay in retirement wherever he is, not that anyone cares either way.

5 minutes ago, DrJack54 said:

They would require covid insurance to cover their initial 60 day stamp upon entry. 

Why state with such confidence that's it's required for 30 day extension.

Because that's what they told me firsthand.  Like I said, they went to immigration on Soi 6 in Jomtien after their 60 days were almost up, wasted an hour and got told they had to get more Covid insurance.  So they had to purchase more and then go to a print shop to get it printed out and then go back to immigration the next day. If you don't believe me then too bad so sad.  That's what the guy told me.  End of story.

5 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

What category of extension was it.

At this time only the extension of a STV visa entry requires proof of covid 19 insurance.

As far as I know they just had the regular 60 day tourist visa but I am not 100% sure.

On 10/15/2021 at 10:12 AM, Martin Brit said:

I have been in touch with a Thai travel/visa agent re coming for 90 days. They suggest Tourist Visa 60 days and extend for a further 30 at immigration. They also stated I would only need 60 days covid insurance if I did it that way making it cheaper.

Then they don't know what they are talking about.  When you go to immigration to apply for the extension they will check for Covid insurance covering the extension time.  No insurance, no extension, so then you will have to purchase addition insurance and then go back.

On 10/10/2021 at 12:18 AM, cape said:

But when you extend, would immigration check the insurance before making the extension? 

 

Yes, that is correct.  I know someone who got refused an extension because they didn't have Covid insurance covering the length of the extension, so they had to to purchase that and then go back the next day.

21 hours ago, billd766 said:

You are only 1 person, but the PM and TAT are talking about millions of tourists.

I don't care about what others are doing.  The less of them that come the better.

Notifications on the Gmail app have been broken for a long time.  I switched to an App called Aqua Mail.  Now my Gmail notifications work perfectly. 

Notifications on Android in general are hopelessly broken.  I can't get selective notification sounds to work reliably no way no how.  It may work one time but stop working 10 minutes later.  I've tried setting them per app, and also per contact and restart the phone and every other fix I could find by googling it.  It just won't work.  Same thing on multiple Samsung phones.  It's hopeless. 

I'm about ready to switch to iPhone because of it.  Also because Apple gives you OS updates for a lot longer than Samsung does and you can no longer install 3rd party OS images on newer Samsung phones.

A lot of them go to Mexico or Bali or wherever.  They have a completely different agenda to guys so Thailand doesn't have the same appeal to them.

23 hours ago, Boarn said:

If this was only for tourists I could stomach it, but if long terms expats have to pay as well that would be yet another spit in the face.

Long term means you are not coming and going and if you can't afford 500baht a year or whatever to get out during sonkran you don't belong in Thailand anyways.

On 10/2/2021 at 3:42 PM, Swiss1960 said:

Your main problem is your internet requirements. The more "local" and outside heavily populated paths you live, the less choices for internet you will have, both with regards to providers and speed. Also, the more local you live, the less reliable your internet service tends to be, and it might take hours for the local provider to fix it, if i.e. a transformer did blow up in the middle of nowhere. Remember, Thailand is still a country with majority of cables overhead, and falling trees, lightening etc. are main concerns for people who "need" fast and reliable internet. 

It keeps getting better though.  A lot of people in the boonies have pretty good internet now and you also often have a 4G option, if not for primary internet then as a backup for outages.

I also need good internet and my requirement is a fiber connection, which is getting fairly common even is some out of the way places, or a decent wired connection in addition to decent 4G signal.

Do they have those little stand up electric scooters in Thailand yet?  Seems like something that would be popular to rent.  They are all over the place in the west.  No idea what sort of range they have but they seem to zip along at a pretty good clip.  Can go in traffic or on the sidewalk although sidewalks don't really stop people on motor scooters in Thailand.

6 minutes ago, Atlantis said:

I don't even like to use "anti-vax" anymore. Not on here anyway. On forums like these, that term is bandied around so casually that it's almost lost its meaning. And the sad thing is, this abuse has so blatantly been perpetrated for the sake of their egos and to cover-up their own poor argumentation, and even to get cheap, ignorant "likes".

The infamous one the comes to mind was the thread headlined  84 or (86%) of deaths being among the vaccinated that turns out to be a near useless statistic after a few seconds of reading.

Would you prefer I use the word "anti-vax sympathetic". ????

What the clickbait headline failed to mention, and predictably buried further down, was.....

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Neutralizing antibodies are not the immune system's only defense against the virus.

Specifically, which they again failed to mention because it won't get as many clicks, is that you still have t-cells and memory cells generated by the vaccine.  This gives your immune system a memory of previous infection including what is simulated by a vaccine.  This can be remembered for years.