Soup Dragon

Nope. It's covid-related illnesses only plan limited to 90 days. It's not a annual general health insurance plan. You can see for yourself on the Tip insure website. The embassy website is not clear to me as they put health plan, covid insurance together so I wrote and asked them.  And they said covid-only insurance from Thai insurer for duration of stay .I.e 90 days was fine. I also have accident and emergency insurance too. I have a Non-O visa in my passport.

I obtained my 90-day non-imm O visa from London with a 90-day covid only plan ($100k coverage) from Tip Insure website. Cost 6,800 baht. Most of the 40k/400k health care plans seem to be annual, which doesn't make sense for a 90-day entry visa. And most of companies offering the annual plans are specifically stating O-A, not O. I think the 40k/400k plans come into play when you apply for a 1 year extension of 'O'. But I could be wrong. I hope they don't refuse me entry at Swampy next week because I don't have a 40k/400k annual plan. Even though I have the visa.

I Likhit! (Or is that Likit) It's kinda cute. And you can see all the little curly-wurly bits more clearly.

For me the problem with this debate lies in the terminology people use. i.e the word "renew/renewal" alongside the word "visa". From what I have learned (mainly on this forum) one can't "renew" or get a "visa renewal" while in country. One can either apply for an extension (permission) of stay when the visa used for entry has expired (e,g 90 days in the case on Non-Imm O) or leave the country and apply for a totally new entry visa (and come back in). If people are applying to extend their stay (after the entry visa has expired) then it's an "extension/permission of stay (for reason of, etc)", not a "renewal of the visa".

And according to the Immigration Bureau websites "immigration.go.th/en/" (which relates to the Suan Phlu office), and "bangkok.immigration.go.th/en/" (which relates to CW) the 800k has to be in the account "60 days" prior to a first 1-year extension of stay, but "3 months" prior to a second, 1-year extension of stay. It's clause 4.

I'll attach screen shots.

OK. Thanks again ubonjoe and others.

Thanks ubonjoe. It's a lot clearer now in terms of scheduling the account/funding and extension application.

On the matter of the 1-year extension itself, do I need to take on a long-term apartment lease to show Immigration as part of the application? I know I have to provide address details and a map, but my plan is to hotel hop (perhaps 30 days in each) for the first few months, depending on my partner's (we're not married) situation. And I think I need to renew my covid insurance as well (once the 90 days covering the visa entry are up). Do I need to take out an annual health insurance plan too as part of the extension application? I read conflicting reports about this. Some say yes for extension to O-A visa, but no for O. I already have good accident and emergency travel insurance (£10m coverage).

[I wrote this before seeing Tuvoc's reply so I though I might as well publish it and see if it makes sense]

OK. So let me lay it out and see if I can explain myself better:

I arrive BKK on 27 July and get 90-day stay stamp that expires on 24 October.
I finish quarantine on 10 Aug (15 days).

If I apply for the retirement extension 45 days before entry stamp expires that would on 9 September, which means I would have to transfer money into the account on 9 July (to fulfil the 2-month rule). But I don't have an account yet and don't arrive until 27 July.

If I apply for the extension 30 days before my entry stamp expires that would be 25 September, which means having money in account on 25 July. But again, I don't arrive until 27 July. I can't open an account until I'm in BKK. And I will be in quarantine.

If I apply for retirement extension 15 days before entry stamp expires that would be 9 October, which means having money in account on 9 August. But I'm still in quarantine until 10 August.

If I apply for extension 14 days before entry stamp expires, that would be 10 October, which means opening and funding account on 10 August, the day I finish quarantine.

So I can't apply for the retirement extension 45 days, 30 days, 15 days, or even 14 days before my entry stamp expires. It would have to be 13 days or less. I think I would need at least 3 days after Q in which to open and fund account, which means not being able to apply for retirement extension until 11 days before entry stamp expires, at best. I may need more than 3 days to get my account set up and funded. If it took 5 days (to open and fund account), then that would mean not being being able to apply for the extension until only 9 days before entry stamp expires. Which I hope is acceptable to Immigration Dept. But as has been pointed out, technically I could apply for the retirement extension on the last day of entry stamp expiration, but it's not advisable.

Does this make sense?

Thanks Tuvoc for your input. So is it actually possible to get a 30-day extension to the 90-day entry stamp to give me that extra space? as I will be trying to attend to a very serious matter relating to my Thai partner as soon as I come out of Q and don't need the extra worry and hassle of visa expiration deadlines, bank accounts, funding, etc.

Thanks all for the feedback.

Sorry. Just realised I read about the "45-day extension" the wrong way. It's applying for the retirement extension 45 days in advance of visa expiry. Think I've got it now.

OK thanks for the replies. I like the sound of the 45-day extension before applying for the retirement extension. It would give me the breathing space to make sure the money is in the account for at least the 2 months (not 60 days).

Hi all. I'm coming in on Non-Imm O visa (90 days) and hope to do 1-year retirement extension (with 800,000). What's the latest I can apply for the extension, as the money needs to be in the bank account for at least 60 days before day of application. Looking at my schdule it looks a bit tight. I arrive in BKK on 27 July, then 14 days quarantine (out of quarantine on August 10). Visa expires on 24 October. Let's say I transfer the money to Thai bank account on 12 or 13 of August (need to open the account first), that only gives me 12 days before the visa expires to put in the application. Is that enough days? I've read through the forum and seen that the application has to be done within the last 30 days of the entry visa.

Thanks

SD

Hey everyone. There does seem to be a lot of confusion over this insurance issue. Last week I was issued with a NON-O visa (for stay not exceeding 90-days, based on retirement) in UK. At first I just uploaded my regular travel insurance (accident and emergency £10m coverage) along with the bank statement. I then got an email a few hours later asking me to send a further document. The exact words were: "Please submit as follows. 1. Health Insurance or Covid-19 Insurance, Long-Stay type insurance (coverage of 40,000 baht for outpatient and 400,000 baht for inpatient) for entire period of stay in Thailand. We will hold your application until we receive it."

The way this is worded (punctuation and grammar) is confusing. Are they asking for: Health Insurance (no stipulation as to what type) or just Covid Insurance  and/or 40k/400k insurance?

So, I sent my 90-day covid insurance only details (cost 6,800 baht with the $100,000 coverage, that I bought from the Thai insurance website) by email.  And a few hours later they sent confirmation that they were processing my application. My passport (with Non-o visa) came back 2 days later. So now I have permission to enter for a stay of up to 90 days. A few days after that I got my COE. So, it seems they don't require the 40k/400k insurance for a non-o, but perhaps they do for non-o-a/x. Perhaps they thought my accident and emergency travel insurance was good enough?

Perhaps the 40k/400k may only be needed when going for the extension of stay stamp after entry into Thailand? But again, maybe that only relates to non-o-a/x, not to non-o. The health insurance plans relating to 40k/400k seem to only be yearly plans, which wouldn't make sense if the non-o entry visa only gives 90-days.

While I'm on, does anyone know if I could actually change my non-o visa to ED visa in Bangkok? Or would I just go for extension of stay (of this non-o visa) for education purposes. I quite like the thought of going back to school. And having lived and worked in Thailand for 23 years previously my Thai is not too bad.

SD

There's an interesting video on youtube called "Sailing the world with only 6 months to live" (and a follow up) about a guy taking chemo tablets. He was diagnosed with lung cancer but was still doing well (last update 9 months ago) on these tablets called Tagrisso (osimertinib). My partner has recently gone through chemo-radiotherapy and surgery.It has been extremely gruelling for her but appears to have worked for now. But she's still in hospital (for just over 4 months now) due to complications from having type 1 diabetes. The doctors are hopeful that she can go home soon.

Thanks for the input chaps. It's always useful and helpful to get the perspective of others on what can perhaps appear as mundane.

Me again.

The T.8 form is straight forward enough, but on the Declaration Form it asks for address of residence and mobile phone number in Thailand. I have neither of these. Do they mean the ASQ hotel? And they ask for details of two other people, including their passport numbers. But I am travelling alone. Do I leave these sections blank?

Thanks

SD

4 minutes ago, Eugen63 said:

I'm in the same situation as you. I want to enter Thailand on visa exempt, get a 30-day extension and then apply for a non-O visa in Thailand and an extension later, so I don't want to waste my money in a return ticket.

The question is if you can get the COE with an onward ticket or if the airline company will accept an onward ticket to Vietnam considering that right now Vietnam is not allowing tourists enter the country.

Quote

 

Yes, it's a bit tricky with all surrounding and nearby countries having some form of travel restrictions and quarantine of differing periods. But these things might change in the coming 3-4weeks. If Vietnam is no-go by then I'll keep the ticket as a souvenir. I don't mind having the return ticket to UK, so I might just go back and rebook the return so the dates line up for 30 days, just to be sure. I can't remember if I had to input outbound and return dates (as well as name, address, telephone, pp number, etc) on the initial registration for the COE. I'll wait a couple of days (is it three?) and check. I think the only thing I uploaded was pp copy.

29 days and cost £53. Yes I was hoping Thai Imm wouldn't be bothered about it. Just the check-in people in UK.

Oh well. Never mind, I've made a real booking with a well-known local budget carrier to Vietnam now.  So I'm good.

Thanks DrJack. I just tried that website but it gave me a ticket with no names, or the website owner's name and dates for 2018 and showed a flight not connected in any way with Thailand. Why didn't it use the name,  dates and origin port I put in the form? The airline it used was spelt incorrectly too (i.e EnairobiTIHAD). Don't have a lot of confidence in it.  If it's just a template that we need to fill in ourselves why bother asking us for names, dates and onward flight from...?

Hey all, I booked a return flight for 59 days after starting my application for 60-day Tourist visa in UK. But after having problems uploading photos to the application website (I could give more details on this if anyone wishes) and some other issues, I gave up and decided to come in Visa Exempt. So I've started the COE process based on that. Would the COE process (or the airline) have a problem with my "planned" return flight now going beyond the 45-day VE period?I haven't uploaded flight data for COE yet. Should I rebook the return flight to bring it within the 45-day visa period? I read on the forum that a 30-day extension (to take it 75 days) is almost a formality and would give me that extra time to coincide with return flight. But I don't know If the COE process or airline would see a problem with this. If there's a problem could I just say "It's OK, I'll get a 30-day extension". My plan is to apply for the 30-day extension (to make 75 days) and then apply for non-o visa (90-day) in Thailand and then go for extension based on retirement. The reason I'm worried about flight dates is due to the COE process that requires uploading flight info with the aim of ensuring I don't overstay my visa. Would COE process decline my certificate because of this missmatch in visa and flight dates? I'd rather not mess about with flight bookings unless I really need to.

Thanks

Regards

SD

Thank you so much for your advice Sheryl. I shall advise her son and hopefully he can do this.

Hello forum.

My long-term partner (not married) was diagnosed with stage 2 lung cancer about 2 weeks ago and is currently undergoing chemo treatment at what I believe to be a government hospital (Vajiralongkorn) in the Rangsit area. It's listed on the Thai Cancer website (thethaicancer) and appears to be a good hospital. After her first (of six scheduled) chemo treatment she went into diabetic shock and spent 4 days on a ventilator in the ICU. Thankfully she's recovered from that and is back on a ward ready for her next chemo. I've been stuck in the UK for the last year because of the Covid thing and will be going to Thailand as soon as I can get my tourist visa (hopefully within the next 6-8 weeks). In the meantime, I'm paying the hospital bills which so far have come to 150,000 baht for 10 days. As the hospital has not allowed me to contact my partner directly (not surprising really when she was in ICU and is still very poorly) I'm getting the information via her teenage son, who is also not allowed direct contact with him his mum, except through passing messages via nursing staff because of Covid measures at the hospital. My question is: do these costs seem reasonable for government cancer treatment for a Thai national? Has anyone on the forum had cancer treatment at a government hospital and know what the costs should be? Before she was admitted to hospital, my partner was offered treatment at Chulalongkorn or Ramathibodi (which I believe are two of the best) but there was a waiting list to get in (I think she said 2 months). I urged her to ask if there was another place where she could start treatment sooner (the place she is now). I'm not too worried about the bill (yet), but don't like the thought that the hospital may be taking advantage of the situation (I hope I'm wrong) as she only has her 14-year-old-son for support at this time. It takes him about 4-5 hours each way on public transport from home in Ratchaburi province to visit the hospital. I will feel better knowing that she is getting the right treatment, at the right government hospital, at the right price.

Appreciate any information from forum members with experience in this area.

Thanks and regards.