British Consular Team

Let’s start this update with some positive news. Thailand is now on the Green list for entering England and has been added to the list of countries with approved proof of vaccination. Check out our Living in Thailand guidance on Gov.UK for details on how to obtain proof of vaccination in Thailand. Since we resumed our in-person notarial services, we have provided 56 affirmations of marriage and 21 affirmations of residency. In the office, we continued to provide support to the families of British people who have passed away in Thailand. We also had our first deployment in quite some time up country to help with a case of a highly vulnerable British person who has severe mental health issues. The team also worked with Thai authorities on providing necessary support to arrested British nationals.   As part of our prevention work to make sure that British nationals have access to information about support they may need, we published a list of medivac company and Child Abduction guide on GOV.UK. These guides contain useful information on what support we can provide and who to contact when you need help. Ending this update with a video message from the Ambassador for World Mental Health day. Remember that there are supporting facilities and resources are available if you are experiencing mental health issues. Check out our Mental Health Support guide for more information.

Hi @Whale. If you were vaccinated in Thailand and received a complete dose of an approved vaccine you may be able to use a vaccine certificate to prove your vaccination status. A ‘Covid-19 Certificate of Vaccination’ for international travel is available from the Department of Disease Control (DDC). Please contact the Provincial Public Health Office where you live for details on how to obtain your certificate or you can find further details are also available from the DDC Facebook pages.   If you're planning to have a second AZ dose in the UK, check out more Information about who can access the COVID-19 vaccine through the NHS and accessing the NHS if visiting from abroad on Gov.UK.

Hello @OJAS, The British Embassy does not provide reference letters. You should contact the bank/branch to check if one of the following documentary services we provide may be accepted in its place: Affirmation of Residency Certified copy of a British Passport Further information on these services is available from Gov.UK at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/notarial-and-documentary-services-guide-for-thailand

Thailand will be added to this list of countries and territories with approved proof of vaccination 4am Monday 11 October. If you arrive in England before that date you must follow the rules for people who are not fully vaccinated. If you arrive after that, you can use a vaccine certificate to prove your vaccination status. Check out this page for more details: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/countries-with-approved-covid-19-vaccination-programmes-and-proof-of-vaccination.

Thailand Travel Advice has been updated with new information on Thailand being removed from the UK's red list. Check what you must do to travel abroad and return to England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Hi AliG. The Consular team can answer this one for you. Yes, it is. HMG staff working overseas have access to the national COVID-19 vaccination programme in line with the prioritisation set by the UK. This is because as we have said on this forum before we have a duty of care to ensure staff and dependants overseas in the diplomatic network are vaccinated. On your second point, the UK government recognises it needs to consider how to treat British nationals who have been vaccinated overseas. Work is ongoing to determine which non-UK vaccines may be recognised. You can keep an eye on progress on this work here.

I am afraid we have no further updates. The UK is taking a phased approach to restarting international travel from other countries and is working to extend its approach to vaccinated passengers from other places.

Hi PaDavid, The Embassy should automatically be notified of the death of a British National, usually by the Royal Thai Police or hospital where death occurred, but this does not happen in every instance. Registration of deaths tends to differ throughout the many provinces. For more information, we have published Information relating to death in Thailand on GOV.UK. If there is an emergency, we can be contacted at 02 305 8333. Hope this information is helpful.

I see your point. Sorry - our reply did not address it. This link might though: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/find-a-walk-in-coronavirus-covid-19-vaccination-site/

If you are planning to travel to the UK, please check the rules on GOV.UK. Information about who can access the COVID-19 vaccine through the NHS can be found here. For more information about how to access the NHS if visiting from abroad please see the link here.

Currently, only a limited number of countries require proof of vaccination to enter. Proof of vaccination is not required to enter the UK. Instead, a combination of testing, self-isolation and quarantine is being used to manage the risk of COVID-19 entering the UK. COVID-19 vaccines administered in Thailand are not fully recognised in the UK. The UK government recognises it needs to consider how to treat British Nationals who have been vaccinated overseas. Work is ongoing to determine which non-UK vaccines may be recognised. At present, if you have been vaccinated in Thailand and need to demonstrate this, you can register on the “Mor Phrom” application to get the digital vaccine certificate. Instructions can be found on the PR Thai Government Facebook page.

At present UK approved vaccines fall under one of the following programmes: the UK vaccination programme, approved by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) UK vaccine programme overseas, approved by the MHRA an approved vaccination programme in Europe or the USA – not all are recognised in England HMG staff and dependants are offered UK approved vaccines. They are not deemed to be working in London but it is a matter of duty of care, as you say.

Thailand Travel Advice has been updated with addition of information on registering on the “Mor Phrom” application to obtain a digital vaccine certificate and information on quarantine rules.

Sorry for the delay on this. We report the Covid-19 and vaccination situation in Thailand to the Consular and Global Health and Covid-19 Directorates of the FCDO. The responsibilities of the Foreign Secretary and the FCDO Ministerial team can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers.

Thailand is now on the UK Red list, which means new restrictions when entering the UK. Check out more details on GOV.UK. Travel Advice has also been updated – we now advise against all but essential travel to Thailand. You can sign up to get email notifications on when it changes again. Our in-person notarial services have now resumed. You can see available slots and make appointments on our booking page. See Notarial and Documentary Services Guide for Thailand for more information. In the office, we provided support to bereaved families, dealt with welfare and hospitalisation cases, and worked with Thai authorities on supporting Brits who were arrested. We also facilitated 3 citizenship ceremonies in the past weeks, which is always a welcome note of positivity in our work Our Prevention work continues to make progress. One of our focuses at the moment is British nationals in care homes. The team works with care home staff in Thailand to provide support to Brits who live in homes and suffer from dementia. To reduce vulnerability, we plan to deliver specialist dementia training for these care workers. Last week, the team facilitated a video call between Dementia Carers Count UK and McKean Senior Care workers in Chiang Mai to discuss views on dementia care in Thailand. These will be used to tailor a training programme for care home staff. We continue to issue our weekly vaccination bulletin with regular updates about the vaccination programme in Thailand. If you would like to receive this, you can sign up by sending an email to [email protected].

If you have a question about vaccines, please post it here.

Apologies for missing this question, Oxx. Same-sex marriage is possible at the British Embassy in Beijing. Marriages conducted there are under UK law, so recognised in the UK and other countries where same-sex marriage is legal. Same-sex marriage is not permitted at the present time in Thailand. https://www.gov.uk/marriage-abroad

We spoke to the team in charge of registrations at the MFA yesterday. They told us that this may be due to the high number of registrations. They said they will look at this issue now. They also suggested you send them a message at [email protected]. This should include: 1. Your full name 2. DOB 3. Passport number 4. Technical errors/issues 5. Any supporting evidence to confirm your eligibility to register. Let us know if the problem continues. if it does, we will raise again.

Thanks for this, OJAS and animalmagic. We've raised this issue before with the MFA and been told all declined applications will be re-approved. And that people having problems should contact the MFA on 025728442. But we will also contact the MFA and raise again now.

I can appreciate your views on this. The UK government recognises it needs to consider how to treat British Nationals who have been vaccinated overseas. Work is ongoing to determine which non-UK vaccines may be recognised but I am afraid there is no solution yet.

We've updated our travel advice for Thailand. We now advise against all but essential travel to the whole of the country, based on the current assessment of COVID-19 risks.

We've updated our Travel Advice pages. From 4am on Monday 30 August Thailand will move to the red list for entering England. Check what you must do to enter England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. (‘Summary’ page)

Rather than specifying that a certain number be given to any specific group (including British Nationals), we believe vaccines should be distributed in a way which prioritises the most vulnerable - of all nationalities. We have consistently made this point in all our discussions with Thai authorities. This was also the case with the vaccine rollout in UK; the most vulnerable were vaccinated first. By doing this, we aim to help save as many lives as possible.

Yes. The UK government also donated vaccines. We did so to the national programme, where our donation will help vulnerable people of all nationalities in Thailand get vaccinated.

Sorry about the delay responding to this one. We are just checking how much detail we can include in an answer, as it's a complex picture, with several departments within FCDO and also other ministries involved in gathering data from Posts. We will get back to you as soon as possible, so hold on the FOI if you can.