aggacitto92

Hello,

I'm currently abroad in Colombia but plan on returning home (USA) before travelling to Thailand. I'm fully vaccinated. Do I need to stay in the US before travelling for a certain length of time (ie 2 weeks) or could I leave again after say 4 or 5 days? 

Also, I'll be doing test and go. If I arrived at night can you leave the following morning?

Thank you

2 minutes ago, aggacitto92 said:

They stopped doing R visas during the pandemic. I went through this last year and both the officials at the embassy and at the monasteries told me I needed an ED visa.

Rather i should say, at the time it didn't seem like the way to go. It's very possible things have changed. I'll keep that in mind and go directly to the monastery. Thank you.

12 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

You would get a non-r (religion) visa to study Buddhism and then a extension of stay for the same reason.

For a non-r visa application the requirements are here. https://bangkok.immigration.go.th/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/12-1.pdf

For the extension see number 13 here. https://www.immigration.go.th/en/?p=14714

They stopped doing R visas during the pandemic. I went through this last year and both the officials at the embassy and at the monasteries told me I needed an ED visa.

2 hours ago, secondtime said:

I don't know how likely this is to work, but I do wish you the best of luck.  If I see a Colombian monk in Chiang Mai I'll put a beer in a Sprite bottle in your begging pot.

Haha. Wow. Thank you. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long time... But in all seriousness, forget about the boat nonsense. I'll probably go home to see some family and friends for a bit and get a flight like a normal human. I've just been thinking about this for too long...

Look, I didn't come on here to start bickering with people. I used to be a monk in the states but disrobed last year. It's personal and I'm not interested in getting more into it on a forum that is evidently littered with people who have nothing better to do with their time than to start fights over the internet. I looked into returning to Thailand but with COVID it didn't seem like a good idea. So this has been on the back burner for me for a long time.

I would look into departing from the nearest port city, Tumaco, Colombia. Whether I'd be able to find work on a direct boat to Thailand, I don't know. It's possible I would have to stop in Indonesia and find another boat from there. As for the ED visa, another option I've considered is getting a three month visa with a Thai language school and use that time to A. Work on my Thai and B. to look for a temple more oriented to the style of monasticism I'm interested in rather than go with the only temple that said they could assist me through email. The question being would I be able to extend the same ED visa I received from the language school to studying at a monastery without having to leave the country?

Thank you. As of now my plan is to apply online for a tourist visa and upon arrival at the temple in Chiang Mai, they will help me to change it to an ED. I am looking into arriving by boat and from what little i could find online on the subject, it doesn't seem that arriving by water would be a problem. Also, regarding the Test and Go, it seems I'll need to pre-book a hotel the first night at the point of entry and again, presumably in Chiang Mai, on day 5. If there's anything I may be missing, any respectful and constructive advice would be appreciated.

I don't have that kind of money. I would get an ED visa with support from a monastery but i believe you need to travel to Bangkok periodically to check in. Do you know anything of the interprovincial travel restrictions that may complicate this?

Hello,

I have had a desire to return to Thailand to since shortly after COVID-19 started but decided to wait until things calmed down with COVID. As it doesn't seem this will ever be the case I'm looking in to my options again. From the little that I have looked at things, it seems to be even more of a headache and risk than it was over a year ago.

I would only desire to do this if I could find a way to stay long term.

If anyone has any helpful information I'd be grateful.