Carrbhoy

Siam Legal provide this service for 4500 THB. I'm in the process of doing the same thing - arriving on a TR & converting to a Retirement. Got an email from them this morning to arrange a meeting to sort when I arrive in Chiang Mai.

The other ways (covered in the other replies) were too hit and miss (& time consuming) for me. I need the account open quickly so will throw some money at it and remove the hassle.

You may book for our service for opening a bank account through this
page:
https://www.siam-legal.com/other-services/opening-a-bank-account-in-thailand.php

17 hours ago, scorecard said:

So are you saying that one of the three districts is 'Muang Chiang Mai', which includes but is bigger than the old city?

Yes, that is what I read.

On 9/30/2021 at 10:46 AM, scorecard said:

In a report yesterday, for Chiang Mai one of the 3 areas mentioned was 'Muang Chiang Mai' which is much wider than the old city. 

You are correct - it is 3 districts being suggested for the scope of the Chiang Mai ' blue zone' one of them being the district which covers the Old City, I just didn't know the name of it.

20 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

Well, that's a second source, maybe. 

 

Still no confirmation by any Thai sources.  Since Google is my friend, what I am seeing is instead of a formal quarantine, they are talking about a Sandbox quarantine, like Phuket. In other words, an area wide quarantine, not a room quarantine. 

This is my understanding. I've seen it referenced as 'Blue zones'. I've been describing it similar to you - a Phuket island zone within each of the 9 provinces on the mainland within Scope. You can move within these 'Blue zone' areas only for probably 7 days then be allowed to travel wider. No doubt app tracking / tests & SHA+ daily check-ins will be part of the package.

For Chiang Mai, there are 3 districts mentioned which include the Old City, Nimman area and a district out in the sticks. How this will be policed / risk managed etc I'm sure the devil will be in the detail.

Just now, JackGats said:

I had an old Galaxy S7 and it wouldn't work on that. Itworked on my newer Galaxy S10+.

 

I assume the Thais didn't want people to run the app on older phones instead of the number one phone you carry around.

Not sure what the issue was but the large number of 1 star negative reviews have prompted the Devs to do something about it!

I was unable to get v1.0 of the app to work on my Samsung (bought 2 years ago) but it worked fine on my iPad. Anyway, the amended version is now working fine on my phone so good news and once again, the posters of ASEAN are able to assist.

4 minutes ago, club said:

Its still a scam . Fully vaccinated, negative Covid test and .05% if that entering Thailand internationally  Do you know of any other country in the world that is doing this?

Not tracking it mate - got better things to do with my time. Crack on.

I've got what I wanted from the thread - once again the people of TV / ASEAN have been very helpful and that is why I continue to use the forum. Wade your way through the constant negativity & you will find helpful / knowledgeable posters who are more than happy to share their own experiences and help.

Thanks for your input and for clogging up this process!

6 minutes ago, LoeiI said:

Same story as a lot of the previous posters I downloaded Thailandplus in the UK I was advised it was a mandatory requirement to enter Thailand and it worked I perfectly flew into Bangkok mid June nobody mentioned it at the airport, I asked when i got to the ASQ hotel and neither the hotel or the nurses had even heard of it. Its now stopped working (not sure when last week or so) opens then closes straight away have reloaded it a few times and still not working. Not sure if its still a mandatory requirement or if it ever was, would be interested if anyone knows

Thanks for sharing - if you want to sort the issue, see the earlier Post from @Lemsta69

Bit of a palaver manually keying it but I've now got it working. Whether it is needed or not - I'll find out in a few weeks! 

7 hours ago, Lemsta69 said:

g'day mate. the devs, such as they are, responded to my one-star review on the Play Store with the URL for a pre-release patched version of the app, v1.0.1, hosted on Google Drive.

 

I downloaded the APK file from their gdrive folder and installed it on my Sammy S21+ but can't fully test it because I don't have my COE yet. but the app a least opened and let me take a propic and then let me get as far as entering the COE access code.

 

I won't post the link here because I'm not sure about the rules but you should be able to find it on the Play Store by looking up the bad reviews. it's not a hyperlink so you'll have to input manually if you're keen enough.

 

Excellent mate - this has sorted the issue.

Thank you.

7 hours ago, JerseytoBKK said:

I just read on an embassy website that the Health Official at entry will decide length of quarantine.This is the same as happened in April. People at the airport will get a document stating what how long their quarantine will last.

 

The interesting thing for me was when I checked into my hotel just before midnight on April 1, the hospital staff and hotel staff had never seen a 7 day stamp. Took about 36 hours to have the hotel confirm because they were waiting for an official response.

Interesting. I suppose each hotel would have been dealing with those changes for the first time.

My SHA+ is very much on the ball - they emailed me yesterday morning confirming I would move to their 7 Day Package once I provide vaccine status proof. They would sort a refund too - once they decide on how much they can charge for 7 days!

A good lift. The 14 days was always going to be painful. I'm actually feeling positive now that it's 'just' the 7 days! 

On 9/23/2021 at 3:21 PM, JerseytoBKK said:

I arrived on April 1st, which is the day the new program started. At the first processing stop received general paperwork with a 14 day stamp. At the 2nd stop they reviewed my vaccine cert and changed the quarantine period to 7 days. Took an extra day before the hotel officially received the info about 7 days. Anantara Riverside issued a refund within 2 days of me checking out of the hotel. Part of the new rules back then were that the hotels were required to refund any differences.

Great news Jersey.......changes are being applied consistently. My ASQ has been in touch this morning to amend my booking to the 7 day package and sort out a refund once they are satisfied with my vaccination proof documentation which I've sent across.

I also see some ASQ restrictions are being relaxed for the 7 day package - small but helpful. I'll await further details but it looks like outside exercise & food deliveries are being allowed.

On 9/7/2021 at 10:36 AM, EricTh said:

I think the link below explains everything

 

https://www.siam-legal.com/thailand-visa/Thailand-Marriage-Visa.php

 

• You must obtain a 90-day visa Non-Immigrant O visa at the Thai Embassy or Consulate from your home country or country of residence prior to your application for the Thai marriage visa. The 90-day Non-Immigrant visa may also be obtained from the nearby countries of Thailand.
• Once the non-immigrant visa is obtained, you must travel to Thailand to activate the initial non-immigrant O visa.
• You must prepare all needed documents for the conversion of your non-immigrant O visa to marriage visa.
• The extension will take place on the last 30 days of the 90-day permit to stay.
• The visa extension application is submitted to the Immigration Office with all the necessary documents for the visa application. The processing period may take about a month before issuance of the one year Thai marriage visa.

Additionally, the foreigner on a Visa Exemption stamp or a Tourist Visa can still apply for a Thai marriage visa inside Thailand as long as the foreigner has already met the requirements for the non-immigrant O visa and the one year Thai marriage visa applications. This can be done at the local Thai immigration office in the province where the foreigner and Thai spouse are residing.

 

 

Looked into this issue a few months ago & Siam Legal appeared to be the best solution for a small fee for their services. Job done.

2 hours ago, alyx said:

Sorry but isn't it !st of November instead of October ?

 

Read the article - it answers your question. Reduced from 1st October.

2 hours ago, alyx said:

Sorry but isn't it !st of November instead of October ?

 

All will become clearer later this week, if not tomorrow.  The official TAT article outlining the 4 phased appraoch released since my Post makes no reference to the quarantine reductions whatsoever so who knows!

Wow! So it looks like the proposal to reduce the quarantine periods from 1st October have been agreed. Great news!

Hope it also confirms how this applies to existing bookings like before. Feeling very positive about this.

1 hour ago, alyx said:

Why would you wait for Friday afternoon ? ???? 

Is the proposal not being considered tomorrow? I assumed we would know the outcome tomorrow and as I’m in the U.K. and 6 hours behind, that would be Friday afternoon my hopes would be dashed!

I actually think the proposal will be approved. If so, it makes sense (I know it’s Thailand!) to follow the same approach as before so apply to existing ASQ reservations and instruct ASQ hotels to issue a refund.

That would be an unexpected result!! We’ll see.......

3 minutes ago, JerseytoBKK said:

Fingers crossed here also. I had to return to the US 5 weeks ago but will return to Bangkok in 2 or 3 weeks. Hoping for 7 days in Hua Hin but will take 7 days in Phuket. No way I'm going to do 14 days confined to a hotel room in Bangkok. 14 days roaming Phuket or doing a 7+7 is the limit for me. One good thing is that most people in the Phuket Sandbox are loving the much less crowded places. 

Each to their own - there were a number of factors I weighed up & ASQ was less Risky / easier to travel onwards to Chiang Mai so I decided to just take the hit and do Bangkok ASQ. Hopefully this can be reduced to 7 days following agreement of these proposals. Refund is an added bonus.

19 minutes ago, JerseytoBKK said:

I arrived on April 1st, which is the day the new program started. At the first processing stop received general paperwork with a 14 day stamp. At the 2nd stop they reviewed my vaccine cert and changed the quarantine period to 7 days. Took an extra day before the hotel officially received the info about 7 days. Anantara Riverside issued a refund within 2 days of me checking out of the hotel. Part of the new rules back then were that the hotels were required to refund any differences.

Thanks for confirming - this rings a bell now. Fingers crossed the proposals are agreed and applied in the same way this time.

9 minutes ago, martin81 said:

When I arrived in start of April the actual quarantine period ( 7 nights ) was only determined when I arrived. It said 10 or 14 days on the Coe but as I was vaccinated ended up with only 7 nights after document check at BKK airport.

Very useful Martin - thank you.  Had you paid for more than 7 days? If so, did you get a refund from the hotel? Any issues?

I'm actually feeling quite hopeful my 14 days will be reduced........no doubt be dashed by Friday afternoon but in the meantime I'll stay overly optimistic!! It's a laugh this malarkey.....

4 minutes ago, sirineou said:

These officials who come up with these schemes to revitalize tourism , They need to do what they propose at least once themselves, not have their secretaries  do it for themselves,  but do it once themselves. Go to the US and then try to come back , and after you do it, ask yourself. 

If I was a tourist with a three week vacation from work,  would I do it?

We Just came back from the US last May. The hoops we had to jump troughs to get here were numerous and frustrating. Trying to get our health insurance to issue a letter that we are covered for covid in Thailand, Then the letter getting rejected because it did not say "Minimum $100K coverage" then I had to argue with them before they relented.  "It says unlimited, last I checked Unlimited was more than $100K"  ,

Vaccine certificates to qualify for 7 day quarantine, , then we got the COE and we had the ASQ booked for 7 days, for an arrival on May 7th if I remember correctly. Then they announced  that they are changing things and anyone arriving after  May 6th will have to do 14 days quarantine. So we had to change our departure date to an earlier one to get in before May 6th. 

Because no FN way was I sitting in a room for 14 days.

but to do that we had to change our COE, , finally we got that done , Now we had to find a place for the PCR test that would give us the results in 24 HRS.  We made it by May 4th and did only 7 days quarantine , but it was nerve wrecking and expensive. 

Does anyone believe any tourist on their right mind will go though that ?

Now we need to go to Europe to take care some personal business and we are afraid we will have to jump through similar hoops to get back again,

Are you kidding me? 

 

 

Thanks for this info. So when the earlier changes got introduced, the changes (albeit increased no. of days) got applied to existing bookings. In your case, this would have increased your ASQ from 7 to 14 days.

My situation is the reverse of that. I have an ASQ booking based on the current rules which is of course 14 days - I'm wondering if the proposals get approved whether this will be reduced to 7 days (vaccinated / recent RT-PCR test etc).

Previously, this would have increased the ASQ revenue - my situation would reduce this so not sure if the changes will be applied consistently. Be interesting to see what happens!

3 minutes ago, alyx said:

Sincerely nobody will be able to answer that ( and I am not only referring to this forum)

This being said I would not hold my breath if I had already got the COE as it seems to be your case

I was hoping someone could recall how this was applied when similar changes were introduced previously. They either adjusted existing bookings or they didn't. I'm confident someone will be able to clarify.

Now, whether they are applied consistently if approved this time around - I agree, nobody with any confidence, will be able to answer that.

1 minute ago, BLACKJACK2 said:

Done 2 COE's, February and July, didn't work either time and no one asked for it.

Useful info - much appreciated. Makes me feel more relaxed about travelling with this requirement unresolved.

Did they ask you to use an alternative tracking app / solution? One of the other posters said they used Mor Chana at the Phuket sandbox instead.

10 hours ago, Sato said:

Arrived in Phuket under the Sandbox model and they checked Thaiplus App on arrival.

People without having Thaiplud installed on the App had to install it first.

The App worked till a view day's ago on my phone but since then I cannot open the App anymore.

 

Thanks for this info. Sato.  What does the check actaully involve? Do you need to open / show tracking status etc or is it a merely checking you have the App installed on your phone?

Re the people who didn't have this installed, do you know if they faced any issues? Also, can I ask when this was? The Play Store reviews for this app are showing negative reviews from about 2 weeks ago flagging this issue of Open / Closing and unable to register.

Hopefully they are able to fix whatever issues / bugs there are or I will need to try and wing it with my iPad!

6 hours ago, Sheryl said:

App does the same for me and as I complete quarantine tomorrow I have uninstalled it. (uses a lot of memory and drains the battery)

 

At no time on or after entry did anyone ask to see that I had it installed.

Thanks for your reply Sheryl - very useful.

Just to clarify, pre-travel did you manage to install and register using the CoE Ref / Number and get it working? And during the entire journey from check-in at home country to ASQ check-in, nobody asked about the ThailandPlus app (or any other App)? Lastly, is your ASQ in Bangkok?

You will be delighted to be through ASQ - safe onward travels.

CB