ThaiVisaCentre

1 hour ago, samtam said:

Also, be warned, I am informed by a friend who is returning from the US at the end of May, (having gone only for 4 weeks), that the insurance he wanted from the Thailand Pass (through the "gateway"?) wasn't working, (cost THB695), so he had to buy another insurance @ THB3900. May also be a temporary glitch, but another pain/scam which highlights the stupidity of the TP.

There are other insurers which are much less expensive like

https://AQ.in.th/MSIG

We have noticed general issues sometimes with FWD's payment processing.

16 hours ago, RedArmy said:

Thats excactly the point I'm trying to make.

Perhaps you could have kindly provided this information to the forum earlier.

We are sorry we did not mention anything here.

We did provide an announcement to our clients, and we do make announcements regularly via our @LINE.

The reason we did not make any announcement here is because each immigration was still enforcing it differently.
 

12 minutes ago, RedArmy said:

I'm sure that there would have been a lot of people on here who would have really appreciated this information a lot lot earlier.

 

This is the 1st time i have heard or read about this.

 

We still sometimes have reports of officers not allowing it, or requiring an embassy letter.

This change in enforcement happened about a week after the extension was originally announced.

On 4/29/2022 at 4:57 PM, Letseng said:

Since when can you get Covid ext. on O visa? Hadn't this option ended in March?

 

They brought it back.

There was a one month period where we could not assist clients in that situation with covid extensions.

5 hours ago, jimn said:

So much misunderstanding of the policy. It is designed purely to meet the insurance requirements of the Thailand Pass. The policy cost is 650 baht. You have 2 choices

 

(1) If you wish the policy to be effective immediately you will need a negative RT PCR test

(2) If you wait 14 days before the policy is active no RT PCR test is required.

 

So much fuss over something so simple.

Yes this is what we were trying to say.

14 hours ago, 2long said:

Today I tried to do the Thai Pass as a tax-paying expat but I needed insurance. So I clicked on the ThaiPass 'buy insurance here' link, paid 650B, uploaded a screenshot (because the insurance company hadn't and still haven't sent me the promised email with the policy) and my Thai Pass was approved.

I couldn't give two hoots about the cover or policy (and I didn't read any small print or even large print).. I just wanted the ThaiPass to be approved, which it is.

 

Now I'm not suggesting that anyone's charging 650B for non-existent cover that's connected to 'someone somewhere' but all I care about is a smooth journey back to Swampy.

This is very odd, as we have personally assisted with thousands of travelers obtaining this policy through our FWD link.

If you purchased through our page here
https://AQ.in.th/INSURANCE

We also provide you the document if you had any mail issues by emailing us at [email protected] (we also include a free DTAC 5G SIM now).

2 hours ago, freedomnow said:

if you buy 60 days you are covered on that 14 days before departure and it only costs 1000 Baht !

 

Where does it say that?

7 minutes ago, aussiexpat said:

This is not correct info. I just emailed them with response below. The waiting period is clearly 14 days after entering Thailand

 

I also really don't know what they mean by you have to test negative to make a claim?

 

 

I think they are saying that no matter what the policy will activate, just not on the day you selected if you did not have a RT-PCR and purchased it with less than 14 day leadtime.

Because they clearly state the rules here

- Waiting Period of 14 days or negative PC-R Test within 72 hours prior to inception of policy.

- This plan has 14 days waiting period or the insured shall provide negative PCR test result within 72 hours prior to the policy effective date

- แผนประกันภัยนี้มีระยะเวลารอคอย 14 วัน หรือ ผู้เอาประกันจะต้องแจ้งผลการทดสอบ PCR ที่เป็นลบภายใน 72 ชั่วโมง ก่อนเริ่มความคุ้มครอง

With FWD Covid Insurance there are two ways for it to be considered a "valid/claimable" policy

• Buy it 14+ days before your actual arrival date
• Take a RT-PCR test 72h+ before your arrival date

Many are confused about this, but the actual policy is issued within 10-30 minutes.

We recommend MSIG Covid Insurance, or WorldTrips Covid Insurance if you plan on leaving with less than 14 day lead-time, or do not wish to do a RT-PCR test. 

We charge 1,500 THB to take over the whole process for you, and ensure speedy approval.

Thailand Pass Service Request (400THB extra if you wish us to also include insurance)

Our team has already successfully obtained 150+ approvals for the new entry quarantine-free scheme (since yesterday).

All of our submissions used one of these Thailand Covid Insurance policies. As long as all your documents are clear, and you use an insurance policy which provide a clear single page document which meets the requirements the approval is quite fast.

You can submit on your own here: https://tp.consular.go.th 

22 minutes ago, Sambotte said:

FG = Free to Go ?

 

Tried at 00:01, was fine for me.

 

Question : it is possible to come before the date ? Looks like...

I can change the flight ticket.

BUT :

-> I doubt i can change the insurance (but i could take an extra one maybe)

-> Risky for boarding ? (main question).

And at arrival ? (i doubt since it's just for free tax/money).

When we checked the status it worked for us, but when we clicked EDIT it shows someone else's data :/.

This issue did not impact the approval though.

Im sure they will work out these errors very soon.

This is how it looks under the new program when you get an approval.

Not really sure what FG stands for.

Before it was
AQ - Alternative Quarantine
SB - Sandbox
EQ - Exempt Quarantine 

As long as you get the confirmation email you might be ok.

Our team was expecting issues like this so we have put safeguards in place to ensure that we can still submit cases in a timely matter.

We are seeing 500 errors all over the place so it would seem like it is simply overloaded.

2 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

That is the list for insurance for a Non-OA visa application or the extension or a entry from one.

There is no list for covid 19 insurance. See: https://covid19.tgia.org/

This does not look updated at all.

They are pushing 11,000 THB insurance plans



This is almost 400% more expensive than the AXA policy (which is the most expensive out of the 8 insurers we compare)

20 minutes ago, LoeiI said:

Just for ultra clarity in the currently changing situation as it stands when i return to Thailand from the UK in June on an O visa (retirement) with a 1 year extension (Expires Oct 22) my only requirements to get the Thailand Pass and entry into Thailand are 30 days covid insurance $10k+, proof of vaccination and flight details from UK to Bangkok (No return or onward flight required) have i missed anything ?  TIA

Just an additional thought is the Mor prom app required for re entry to Thailand ? i had the Thailand plus app when i arrived last year but it hasn't worked for ages 

You will not need an onward flight if you already have a NON-O visa.

You should not have any issued obtaining your Thailand Pass with policy which meets the requirements (30k+). (the duration requirement over 30 days has not been enforced)

The Mor Prom is not required, also these application requirements were not enforced upon arrival, so it's hard to know what will happen with the Mor Prom / Morchana apps. 

8 minutes ago, oznomad said:

I've been searching Aseannow for info on the OA insurance, and who might offer the best deal.

Searches produced nothing, but I know there are threads there.

This quoted post got me excited, until I checked the TGIA OA page, and Tune Protect isnt on it.

 

Other suggestions most welcome.

You can use the Tune Protect 100K USD policy for OA/STV.

That page is outdated, and you can also confirm this by contacting Tune.

You also can grab this one 

https://www.dhipaya.co.th/en/product-detail-10-17-10.html (offline application)
 

4 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

This insures to the age of 99. https://www.tipinsure.com/CovidRegional/product_detail

They stopped offering more than 30 day coverage, and increased their rate to 20,000 THB. (hardly an option).


TR/Exempt Entry

To simply enter under a TR / Exempt visa any of the listed policies here would be fine:

https://asq.in.th/thailand-covid-insurance (select 65+)

The go-to cheapest option is WorldTrips, or FWD (both approve within 30 minutes).

OA/STV Visa

If you need a policy for your OA/STV visa which satisfies both the Thailand Pass requirements, as well as the visa requirements you should pick the 100,000 USD plan by Tune Protect Here (select 90 days or 1 year).

OR

If your intention is a 1 year multiple entry visa then we would advise just entering under TR/Exempt with any of the low cost insurance options, and then obtain your Retirement Visa once you arrive in Thailand.

If this is something you are interested in you can message our team via @LINE.

41 minutes ago, sandyf said:

How many of the hundreds did it without the PCR test which would mean only 14 days actual insurance cover for covid.

A lack of PCR would bring into doubt a requirement for 30 days suggesting it is more to do with what the certificate looks like rather than what it says.

I am all for taking an easy route, last time I used an airline certificate, but also want to be fairly sure it is not going to backfire.

Well, the actual rules are that the policy covers the duration of your stay/visa which you are stamped in on.

But this has not been enforced, and many have successfully used a 30 day policy instead.

Most did the pre-departure RT-PCR as it made sense at the time, and was required for some time. But now with the lack of testing on arrival we don't expect many travelers to do a pre-departure RT-PCR unless required.

5 hours ago, OJAS said:

Not to mention that said letter or documents, which will almost certainly have been provided in PDF format, will, as things stand, need to be converted to JPEG's for Thailand Visa application purposes - a far from straightforward task for anyone who isn't a whizzo IT geek.

 

One would earnestly hope that, as part of the modifications which are currently been made to the Thailand Pass application process following the scrapping of Test & Go, it may, in future, be possible to upload supporting docs in PDF format. But I'm not holding my breath that this will be the case.

 

Yes, it will need to be a JPG image if you wish to attach all under the insurance section. 

Otherwise you would need to attach it under the "additional" files section which does support PDF but we advise against that as it may slow down the approval process.

As long as the policy covers you while you are traveling to Thailand, and the coverage surpasses the $10,000 USD requirement then it does meet the requirements to enter Thailand.

Just be aware that the Thailand Pass application does not fair well with multi-page documents, and you may need to ask the insurer to provide a single letter confirming coverage. Or attempt to combine multiple documents into one page.

1 hour ago, aussiexpat said:

I thought most of the Thai pass approvals are supposed to be automated...either way marketing an insurance policy that is only valid for 16 days of the 30 days policy is ridiculous. Proves its just a fee to enter rather than a meaningful policy

 

Note: if having to do a PCR within 72 hours to activate the policy, that makes the 650 baht insurance policy about 3,650 baht after you pay for the PCR test

 

Back in 2021 they did have fully automated approvals, and we did see approvals which happened within a few minutes.

They changed the process a few months ago, and since then we have never seen a "fully automated" approval.

Our team has assisted with thousands of cases in the last few months and the approval time ranges from 3 hours to days.

Clients have come to us after getting a rejection based on insurance documents, as well as vaccination documents so there is a manual review happening at the moment. It is hard to know what will happen after April 29th but we will have to wait, and see.

 

3 minutes ago, sandyf said:

You should read what gets posted, this is what i said.

" I find it difficult to see how they would issue the TP with only 14 days insurance and no PCR test."

What I asked was had anyone been successful using the 650 baht option?

Hundreds of our clients have successfully used the 500-650 THB options to enter Thailand.

The good thing about using FWD/WorldTrips, or any of the popular insurers is the staff which does the actual Thailand Pass approvals is familiar with the document formats, and we rarely see any rejections.
 

11 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Assuming the insurance requirement remains in place, would the OP need to get another 30-day insurance coverage ($10,000) for their second and third entries?

 

Has anyone seen any policies/pricing for the new $10,000 cap? For those planning a few weeks/months out?

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are still waiting on insurers to release pricing for this option.

But given the last reduction we don't expect prices from the bigger insurers to decrease by much.

You can see a price comparison against 8 of the most common insurers here for COVID policies:

https://AQ.in.th/INSURANCE

The cheapest options are provided by FWD, and WORLD TRIPS (offer daily rates).

You may obtain a 1 month policy at minimum, or less if you have a return flight.

1 hour ago, MajorTom said:

Yeah. If a flight its rescheduled its usually by hours or at most a day. Will be tricky to to get new T&G confirmation within that timeframe. Took me at least a day in both cases. Not impossible now though. Some hotels have instant confirmation.

 

Insurance update would be another problem. If you paid for 30 days from arrival it would be challenging to move that by a day and get the paperwork in time..?

 

If they did the test and go at the airport and scrapped the hotel and insurance it would make more sense to have the TP flexible.

The current rumor is that the RT-PCR will be replaced by ATK, and only Phuket / Samui airport arrivals will be allowed to do the test at the airport.

ATK test may not be at Suvarnabhumi Airport for logistical reasons, and instead arrivals would have to book a Hotel + ATK + Transport.