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JomtienExile
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1 hour ago, than said:
In order to prevent the arrival of a more virulent strain of the virus, the Thai authorities should also follow the example of the countries of the European Union and prohibit the access of the kingdom to the English citizen
Are there in fact any flights allowed from the UK at present? If so they should be stopped at once.
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23 minutes ago, murraynz said:Ive lived in pattaya 4 yrs..
Have never noticed a dislike for foreigners...
Thais in tourist towns of course have a vested interest in being nice to foreigners. But I can only say that if they really dislike foreigners they are very good actors. I think if you show interest in their lives and don't just treat them as servants or sex-objects, they will respond accordingly.
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It seems I was wrong about travel from Europe. Here in my quarantine room, I can talk to the guy in the next room across our two balconies. He flew in yesterday from Zurich, and he tells me that Swissair have regular flights.
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5 minutes ago, Haveasay said:Things I may have missed is that it's been obvious as I walk beach regularly and in time hopefully Jomtein gets a wider beach as well, that's the towards Rayong end. But the Thais in their numbers have been able to utilize their country with a lot less non Thais about. Good on them. There's been loads, especially along beach road of food stalls, a weekend fireworks and music festival and more, to brighten Thai faces. To watch Thais enjoying what's there's unhindered, in couples or groups, whether seated or on mats, with their children playing, alleviates their no doubt poorer predicament. However on a sad note as motorbike bike taxis have more freedom as a result of less presence of, leave it at that, but there's an equal quantity of various food delivery drivers, with scant skills, zooming or zig zagging, everywhere. So, in the event you didn't notice other nationalities, who previously occupied the sois and byways, there's a new pest if you own transport. Apart from that the roads are generally quieter in the morning, and adjust at times to not seeing many drivers at all. Here that's definitely not normal, as the absence apart from weekends of the previous plethora of buses, squeezing in and along sois.
Yes, I'm sure many Thais welcome having the beaches to themselves for a while. On the other hand, places like Jomtien really only exist because of tourism, and most of the Thais who live there earn their living from tourists. So in the long run they need tourism for economic life to revive. Some of my friends have had to go home to Isan or the North, or back to Lao and Cambodia, and now have no money, although at least at home they get fed.
I bought my place here three years ago and no longer class myself as a tourist. I try to be courteous and respectful, and tip generously, and I now know some Thais well enough to hear their side of the tourism story. Some love the opportunities which tourism gives them to make more money, go to university, learn languages and to travel. On the other hand many tourists behave very badly and treat all Thais as either whores or servants, which of course they resent. They despise tourist behaviour which cuts against Thai values, such as public drunkenness and crude sexual behaviour in public. They also have a definite hierarchy of which tourists they like and dislike. Fortunately for me Australians are close to the top.- 2
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10 minutes ago, BKKBike09 said:Thanks for the response about the letter.
My sympathy for the government is diluted by the fact that they do not require a pre-flight Covid test for Thai nationals. For that reason alone I would try to avoid a repatriation flight because the more untested people on a flight, the greater the risk of catching it. Not that I'm particularly worried about catching Covid: my concern would be more that after all the hassle and expense of return, even an asymptomatic positive test in ASQ after 12 days or whatever would translate into another lengthy period of quarantine in a hospital = yet more expense and potentially long-term implications for health insurance eg "you were hospitalised for 2 weeks with Covid ergo we will not cover you in future for X / Y / Z" - even if it was asymptomatic admission (and particularly if hospital notes record any form of treatment).
As an aside I find it astonishing that your supposedly progressive and democratic government can forbid a law-abiding citizen from leaving his or her country without 'permission'. What on earth has that got to do with the government? But I digress.
Yes, those are valid points. I was certainly apprehensive about the flight itself. I don't know what the requirements were for Thai nationals - everyone was temperature tested on check-in, on boarding and on disembarkation. I was seated between two other Australians so that helped a bit. The cabin crew were all in full PPI.
On Australia, our government may be democratic but it's far from progressive. The idea was to stop people skipping off to Bali for the weekend and coming back with COVID. But the restrictions are excessive and have gone on too long.- 4
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27 minutes ago, ezzra said:
Now read the OP post, and read the daily news how Covid infested people coming from Burma and other neighboring counties unchecked bringing the virus in to what used to be a virus clean country until very recently, now read the OP post again, do you see the irony here?...
I do have some sympathy with the Thais here. Controlling entry of affluent visitors through Suvannaphoum is fairly easy, and they are right to do it. Controlling their long and remote land borders with countries a lot poorer than Thailand, particularly Burma, is obviously much more difficult, particularly when officials on both sides of the border are sometimes both incompetent and bribable. Thailand has been lucky so far, but it's inevitable that their case numbers will go up as movement and business pick up again. That will be true everywhere. In the long run lockdowns and border closures only delay the progress of the pandemic, not stop it. Only the vaccine will do that.
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Haveasay: Thanks for that local update. It does sound a bit sad. I can only say that several local Thai friends have been texting me all through, saying "You come back now, everything here is fine, bars open, beach open etc etc." I'm sure this is because they miss me and nothing to do with money ???? Anyway I will find out on 29 Dec when I get down there.
I'm surprised to see you say that the Russians and Indians are coming back. I was told that the Thais have a very short list of countries whose citizens will be allowed in: Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. No Americans, no British and no Europeans, although I'm sure they want the Norwegians back. Maybe this is not the case, or maybe the Russians and Indians are finding back door ways to get in. Personally I'll be happy if they never let the Russians back in, and so will many Thais.- 1
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BKKBike09: No that's not the complete letter, it does have the clinic's letterhead on it. I posted the text because the Embassy insists that the letter says "TR-PCR COVID-19 test" and that it states the date and time of the test, and the date and time of the doctor's certification of the test result. I don't know if that reflects Thai government policy, or is just a fetish of the Canberra Embassy.
Singo: I'm sorry I don't remember the exact sequence of events with Home Affairs. There's an online form you fill in. They are impossible to speak to directly, but Members of Parliament can speak directly to them, so call your local member or Senator if you get stuck trying to deal with them. As I said, they seem to be more lenient now than they were during the winter. I told them that (a) I own a condo in Thailand, (b) I have a long-stay visa, (c) I have vacated my Melbourne home, (d) I have bought a one-way air-ticket. That apparently satisfied them. -
Lovethai123: "The only reason i am so vocal is because of the terrible attitude of young thais and their hostility towards foreigners. otherwise there is no country like thailand where there are so many girls easily available."
Has it occurred to you that this attitude towards Thai women is why so many young Thais dislike foreigners? (I must say I haven't noticed such dislike in the 16 years I've been coming here, but maybe I've been lucky.)
Elski: the hotels say they are flexible on dates but won't refund if you can't get into the country. I don't know about the Thai flight.- 2
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Bluetongue: I have a non-O retirement visa which I obtained in March just before I left. I also have a re-entry permit valid until mid 2021. The Embassy advised me that the visa is now activated again but not the re-entry permit, so I had to obtain a new Certificate of Entry. The compulsory health insurance is a new thing as far as I know. This will be a problem for older exiles if they have health issues. Fortunately I'm a fit and healthy 67yo and passed the medical exam with no problems. I bought from Blue Cross because I can afford a more comprehensive policy but I know there are cheaper alternatives. My approach was to do exactly what the Thai Embassy told me, no matter what the cost. Now that I'm not paying rent in Melbourne I will recoup the full cost of getting back here if I stay for six months.
This by the way is the form that your COVID test must follow or it won't be accepted.- 4
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I love the smell of Bangkok in the morning. ????
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Pookondee: As I noted, I flew on the Thai Airways repatriation flight from Sydney. As far as I know there are currently no scheduled direct flights from Australia to Bangkok. If you don't get on the repat flight, you have to fly indirect with Singapore or Qatar, both of which involve long stopovers. But this will no doubt change in the new year as demand starts to pick up again.
BudRight: Yes I can see how the 72-hour requirement is complicated for you coming across the IDL. Fortunately not a problem for me ????
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One of the grounds on which Home Affairs will give you an exit permit is that you are leaving Australia for at least three months. I showed them my retirement visa, the title deed to my condo, and my one-way air ticket, and I told them I had given up my Melbourne apartment, which is true. I said I would stay in Thailand until the travel and quarantine restrictions in Australia are ended, which I think will be at least six months away. They accepted that and gave me the permit in 24 hours. They were a lot harder to persuade a few months ago I am told.
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I have every sympathy with Thailand in the current situation. They badly need the tourists to come back, but they don't want to expose the country to COVID. Sadly they can't have it both ways. They can't expect many tourists while this entry regime is in place. But I think they are correct to stick to a restrictive policy. They will have to accept the economic pain for a while longer, although obviously this is feeding into the current political discontent. Maybe the vaccine will change the outlook for the better in the coming year.
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After nearly nine months in exile, I arrived in Bangkok yesterday afternoon on the Thai Airways repatriation flight from Sydney.
I returned to Australia in March and endured a winter of hard lockdown and curfews in Melbourne. In retrospect of course I should have stayed, but it was impossible then to know what would happen in Thailand with COVID.
In September I applied for the new Special Tourist Visa. I got a pro forma response but nothing ever came of this application. Don't bother with this is my advice.
In November I learned, at this forum, that my non-O Retirement Visa would again be honoured. The Thai Embassy in Canberra confirmed this by email.I then bought the required health insurance from Pacific Cross. Since I am over 65 I had to have a full medical exam to qualify. Their Bangkok office was very helpful, but this still took two weeks to process.
I then tried to fill in the online application form for the Certificate of Entry, but was unable to make it work. It took many phone calls, with long waits, and many emails, to get the Canberra Embassy to fix this and allow me to submit the CoE form. The staff tried to be helpful but no-one seemed to be responsible for fixing the problem.My travel agent was unable to find a direct flight. The best she could do was via Singapore with a ten-hour stopover. The Embassy then told me I could take the weekly repatriation flight out of Sydney. The 7 December flight was full but I got on the 14 December flight. I booked and paid for this direct with Thai.
I then booked and paid for a repatriation hotel. I rang through the list of eligible hotels until I found one that had a room with a balcony so I would not have to endure 14 days of hotel air-conditioning, which always makes me sick. This place is expensive by Thai standards but the room is very nice.
Then I had to wait for the CoE to arrive, which it did only on the Friday before the flight. The CoE seems to take two weeks to process even if approved, so the flight must be timed accordingly.
Once I had the CoE I could apply to the Home Affairs Department for an exit permit. I told them I would be away for at least three months. I showed them the title deed to my condo in Jomtien and the one-way air ticket. They accepted this and issued the permit without fuss. Others have not been so lucky.
Then I had to get a COVID test and a fit-to-fly letter within 72 hours of the flight. Since the flight was in on a Monday morning, this posed a problem. My GP is not available on weekends, and most public COVID test sites won't test people who don't have symptoms, and don't issue results in writing. So I had to pretend to have symptoms to get tested on Saturday morning, wait 24 hours to get the result by text message, then find a doctor available on Sunday to issue the letter. Beware that the letter must conform exactly to the wording required by the Embassy or it won't be accepted.
So I then fronted at Sydney Airport a full three hours before the flight, and this was necessary because the check-in process was slow and complicated. I had to show passport, visa, CoE, exit permit, health insurance, hotel booking, fit-to-fly and COVID test to at least five people. All were polite and helpful, but the queue was long and slow.
At Bangkok Airport we were greeted by what looked like half the Thai workforce in full barrier nursing costumes, and went through all the paperwork several times again. We were then dispatched to our quarantine hotels in sealed vans (really) and did the paperwork again on arrival. Again, everyone was polite and helpful but the process is slow. Patience is required. The Thais are naturally edgy and anyone making a fuss will not be well received.
Nevertheless, here I am on a beautiful Bangkok winter evening, very happy to be back. I will be in quarantine for Xmas but be back home in Jomtien for New Year.
So it can be done. The process is slow, complex and expensive, and requires patience and persistence. I don't think many actual tourists will be willing to jump through all these hoops.- 34
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The guy at Pacific Cross I bought my insurance from confirms that they will sell insurance to people over 70.
"Yes it is possible just the age bracket will be different ... Same as you we typically require the health check up but can do it when he arrives in Thailand." I can provide a contact if that is helpful to anyone. -
I'm 67 and I have just bought the required health insurance to return to Thailand. I don't think there is an upper age limit, but if you are over 65 you will have to pass a fairly rigorous medical examination, as I did. I would think the older you are the higher the premium you will have to pay. Insurance companies are not charities, but if they think you are a reasonable risk they will sell to you.
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Anyone who is willing to put 3 million baht in a Thai bank has rocks in their head.
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Rule Number One: don't get involved in local politics.
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OK, thanks kap. I will contact them.
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Will it be accepted by the Thai Embassy as meeting their requirements? (I'm sorry to keep at this, but that is the ONLY thing I care about.)
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Surely it is possible to buy one insurance policy that has $US100k coverage, covers COVID and covers the whole time I am in Thailand. I don't care about cost.
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I don't have any health insurance at present, I can pay for my own healthcare. I don't care greatly about the cost, I just want to buy insurance that meets the Thai government's requirements.
I'm looking at the TravelWing website now. It sells *travel insurance* not health insurance. I think the Thais require health insurance that covers the whole period of stay in Thailand, which in my case would be at least a year. I don't think that's what TravelWings is selling. Correct me if I'm wrong. -
Thanks for this very helpful post. Perhaps you can clarify my options: I am a 67yo Australian currently just coming out of lockdown here in Melbourne. I have been here since I foolishly took my friends' advice and left Thailand in March. I own a condo in Jomtien. I have a Non-O Retirement visa plus re-entry permit, which of course are not operative at the moment. I have a Thai bank account with B600k in it, untouched since March. I am happy to buy health insurance and to do hotel quarantine. I am happy to agree to stay in Thailand for a year or any other time they require. I have contacted Thai Long Stay about the STV but they say they are not yet authorised to process applications. If I understand you correctly, I would be better applying for the one-year OA visa directly from the Thai Embassy. Is that correct? If so, should I buy the health insurance first? Can I do that online from the company you mentioned, LMG? Kop khun krab
Tourism Restarting?
in Thai Visas, Residency, and Work Permits
Posted
The resort where I am doing quarantine is close to full, but none of the residents I have spoken to are tourists. They are all people like me, with property, family, romantic or business reasons to want to be in Thailand. Like me, they have all spent a lot of time, effort and money meeting all the requirements to get here. I don't think anyone just wanting a beach holiday is going to be willing to do that. If Thailand wants tourists to come back, they will have to open their borders much more widely. And they would be very unwise to do that until the vaccine rollout has started to take effect. For Thailand 2021 will nearly as bad economically as 2020 has been. Next winter is the earliest they can realistically expect tourism to recover. (Last day in quarantine tomorrow!)