oldcpu

11 hours ago, stat said:

 If need arises for an extension and insurance not accepted I will cancel my policy and have to go for a thai insurance, agreed. That will be end of 2023 who knows what rules they will come up until then. Hanse Merkur is the biggest and best rated insurer I came across in my search for Germans. Thanks for putting this scenario on my radar! I will either go with Hanse or the Emirates insurance.

Noted ...

One caution about changing insurance ... in general, especially when one starts to get older ... when one changes an insurance company, the rates in general tend to be more expensive.  Typically, it is better to try and stay with the same insurance company, and avoid changing companies.

In my case, my health insurance (which is very good with unlimited coverage) comes as a heavily subsidized part of my pension package from Europe ... and unfortunately its not on the limited Thai list of insurance companies. 

Ergo it was pretty much necessary for me to purchase a second policy for Thailand (in essence double insuring myself) to get a one year extension on my Type-OA permission to stay.   I am age-67, and the 40k/400k insurance (note double insurance as I already have insurance) was not too expensive when going for a high deductible on this 2nd health insurance. 

However if Thailand increases the Thai health insurance requirement for a Type-OA to 3-million baht insurance, then my getting double insurance (unlimited insurance for my the insurance that comes with my pension) and also 3-million to meet the limited Thai list) makes no financial sense for me.    I definitely will not leave my excellent subsidized insurance for one that costs a lot more and is not as good in coverage.  ... Also changing insurance companies when one is older can be an expensive proposition.

Hence I plan to move away from the Type-OA visa to a visa where I am not pushed into a double insurance situation.

On 11/23/2021 at 2:28 PM, stat said:

a. German health insurances generally have no EUR limit (why anyone has  a limited insurance still baffles me, because I can easily pay 20000€ but not 2 Million€. So when I need the insurance I reached the limit).

Is your German Health Insurance on the Thai approved list of Insurance companies? 

If its not on that list, it might help getting the OA-Visa, but later,  it won't be accepted when it comes time for your 1st extension on your permission to stay on a Type-OA

On 11/23/2021 at 2:28 PM, stat said:

 

b. The signature no problem for my insurance company Hanse Merkur or the Emirates insurance AIG

Many Insurance companies (European) will not provide the signature ... and even if they do, that my understanding is paper is only good for the initial OA visa application. 

After that you will need an Insurance company on the limited Thai approved list of health insurance companies.

If it is not on that list, and IMHO there is a good chance it is not on the list as the list is limited, then the signed paper will no longer help you, nor will your excellent health insurance.  You could be forced into getting double health insurance if you choose to stay on a Type-OA and try to go for 'retirement' extensions on your permission to stay.

4 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

Many airlines will want to see a ticket out of the country within 30 days. A one way ticket to anywhere will be accepted or a temporary onward ticket (search for onward ticket) that many website offer.

No problem to enter visa exempt to apply for a non-o visa based upon retirement at immigration.

Thanks. February/March-2022 (when I plan to be out of Thailand) is still a ways off, and things could change ... but I am thinking given the Type-OA has in essence pushed me into getting double insurance (currently double insured from Feb-2021 to Feb-2022) that letting my Type-OA permission to stay in Thailand is a good plan.  If my current excellent Health Insurance (that comes with my pension) was on the Thailand acceptance list, I would likely not consider this plan.

I do confess thou, letting a good permission to stay deliberately expire, does bring with it a degree of 'trepidation'.  lol !  I guess I have not been traveling enough lately and that adds a level of psychological uncertainty.  ... lol !

I will probably purchase a one-way ticket from Bangkok to a neighboring Asian country just prior to my returning to Thailand in March-2022 so to met any such Airline requirements (for entering Thailand Visa Exempt).

What ubonjoe mentioned is what I am contemplating doing in Feb/March next year. I am thinking to leave Thailand in mid Feb (a week before my permission to stay expires on my current Type-OA visa) and hopefully return to Thailand in mid-March, under a 30-day tourist visa exempt.  

I assume I will need to get 30-days COVID insurance and meet all the other Thailand Pass requirements for my return.  I suspect < not sure > before leaving Canada for Thailand, I may need to show a future ticket leaving Thailand.  Hence I may buy a Thailand-to-Cambodia inexpensive one way ticket (with the flight timed a few weeks after my arrival in Thailand) . Then I will just not use that inexpensive ticket.  

@ Marjf, if I am correct, you also may need to consider getting a throw away ticket (to leave Thailand), if you enter on a 'visa exempt'.  < I am not sure > ...  A throw-away ticket is a lot cheaper than the (duplicate for me) Health Insurance, as I already have great health insurance, but its not recognized by Thailand for my Type-OA

Once in Thailand on the 30-day Visa exempt, I plan to go to immigration and apply for a 90-day Type-O visa.  Then 30-to-45 (?) days before the permission to stay on that new Type-O visa expires, approach immigration and apply for a 1-year permission to stay based on retirement.

i already have the required amount in a Thai bank, but likely before leaving Thailand in Feb next year, I will check with the local immigration to see if they will accept that in March for a permission to stay on a new Type-O Visa - as the money has been in Thailand for years, so to show it coming into Thailand is not so simple anymore.

That's my tentative plan at present - but the situation appears to be dynamic - so I am watching best I can to see if requirements evolve.

One possible thing to consider, if entering Thailand on a tourist Visa exempt, is you may need to show an unused flight ticket leaving Thailand (prior to being allowed to board your flight for Thailand) ? 

I don't think this is a requirement for those who have Visas, but for those who no Visa (but are planning on a Visa exempt entry) it may be needed. < unsure > 

You may need to buy a one way flight/ticket from Bangkok to some other city before you fly to Thailand ... maybe a 2,000 baht to 4,000 baht or less one-way ticket from Bangkok to Phnom Penh, or Singapore, or Kuala Lumpur, or other ??

I'm curious if this is accurate? 

I am on a type-OA visa, and I plan to leave Thailand for Canada in February and I will likely do so without a re-entry stamp (so to invalidate the visa).  And when I return from Canada to Thailand in March, I was thinking to come Visa exempt, and then switch to a 90-day Type-O, ... eventually followed by a 1-year permission to stay (on retirement). ... I am starting now to plan the details.

17 hours ago, Kopitiam said:

I have done my last 2 O-A retirement extension at Phuket Immigration without the need of medical insurance.  Phuket Immigration is the ONLY office in Thailand that has the correct interpretation of the O-A Visa medical insurance requirement.  It is required when you first apply for the Non-Imm O-A Visa (Retirement).

I did my Type O-A retirement extension at Phuket Immigration back in February this year and they DID require Thai approved medical insurance. 

I already had excellent health Insurance from Cigna (far exceeding Thai requirements) but since that was not on the Thai approved Insurance company list it was not accepted.  I had to purchase additional insurance from LMG (I went for such with a high deductible as I was already covered by Cigna).

So in my case I ended up being double insured - because of immigration requirements.

Edit - as pointed out already on this thread, for Phuket - it all depends on when one obtained their type-OA visa.  I ended up going for health insurance from LMG for my 2nd health insurance (to meet Thai requirements).

It reads that other countries where AstraZeneca (quality approved by Oxford) are also not accepted, and not just Thailand. For example Jamaica and India  (in addition to Thailand).  My understanding is the UK government link for this information is here:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/red-amber-and-green-list-rules-for-entering-england

1 hour ago, Bkk Brian said:

Take your rantings elsewhere mine contained none, just stating fact

Indeed yours didn't. ????   Sadly I can't say the same for some others posts.

On 9/15/2021 at 8:25 PM, Bkk Brian said:

and of course this is the real reason why, from the article link:

 

“To return to normal life, the third dose of vaccine is very necessary, and in the situation that we have limited doses of vaccine, the subcutaneous injection using less amount of vaccine helps us achieve that goal faster,” she said. 

“This may be an important method to solve shortages of vaccine doses in many countries while the Delta variant is spreading,” Dr Withita concluded.

Indeed !

And if a valid reason ... and valid medically, and Thailand does nothing - how much do you want to bet that sometime in the future the forum cynics will be out in force, bashing Thailand for not acting upon their study.

For some - for Thailand, the Thailand actions are always lose lose from bad to very bad. 

Bashing Thailand is what the cynics look forward to doing.

4 hours ago, wensiensheng said:

Indeed. If intramuscular injection is such a good idea, why didn’t AZ and all the other vaccine manufacturers recommend that from the get go?

 

I know people will say that it uses less vaccine so the pharma companies couldn’t charge so much, but I don’t really believe that. If it was such an obvious money grab the companies would get called out on it, particular during such challenging times.

There are this forum who think big pharma is constantly out to screw the public, and if you are in that group?? (which I speculate you are not) then you would believe Big Pharma do indeed use too much vaccine than needed, in order to justify their price.

so I guess it depends on what side of the fence you sit as to what you believe or don't believe?

Lets look a hypothetical - where in this hypothetical, Thailand did NOT adopt this approach. And further in this hypothetical it is shown, say in a year from now from studies else where in that world, that this is indeed a smart approach.  And also known that Thailand conducted the noted study, and that Thailand has known this all along (because of the noted Thai study) and yet Thailand did NOT adopt the approach it is about to adopt. 

I'll bet in that hypothetical, the cynics on this forum would again be out, having fun in their cynical bashing of Thailand for failing to act on knowledge from a test they conducted.

IMHO it doesn't matter that Thailand does. The cynics and the whiners will be out in force regardless, bitching about any Thai action.

On 9/12/2021 at 1:35 PM, oldcpu said:

My Thai wife, who received 2xSinovac earlier this year, received an SMS less than an hour ago, and here in Phuket she was offered the opportunity to get an AZ booster even earlier this week. She chose 14-September at Karon Orchid Resort for an AZ booster.

 

 

I drove my Thai wife to the Phuket Orchid Resort Spa for her AZ booster jab earlier this morning.  Her appointment was at 9am.  We arrived at 8:35am, and she was out / finished (including a 30-minute wait after the jab) by 9:35am.  I was surprised how quick.

She noted they were very organized, and with the paperwork mostly already online in their database, it sped up the process.  Her main complaint was she kept having to shuffle chairs to new 'zones' (when in line) not giving her enough time to spam people on social media from her mobile device.  ... lol !!

She noted her first two (Sinovac) jabs were in completed prior to the end of May this year, while her Thai friends (who also received 2 jabs of Sinovac, and have yet to be advised of an AZ booster) had their Sinovac jabs in June/July.  So maybe timing is also a factor here? < unsure >

Afterward she successfully used the MorProm app (on her Android Tablet) to get an electronic certificate of her vaccinations (ie it lists on 1-page her 2xSinovac and 1xAZ). 

On 9/12/2021 at 2:21 PM, oldcpu said:

She could check the web site 'Phuket Must win'.  My wife's SMS told her to go to that site.  Once on that site, she was given an option of various places/dates to choose for her AZ jab.

Further to this, a few of my wife's Thai friends in Phuket, who received 2 x Sinovac jabs, did not receive the SMS, nor does the "Phuket Must Win" website indicate an AstraZeneca jab appointment possible for them.

My wife subsequently learned that for these Thai people, their Thai 'registration' is actually in a different province other than Phuket - so the speculation is that only the registered Thai residents of Phuket are receiving such an SMS (advising of an AZ booster to the 2xSinovac), and only the registered Phuket residents are having the "Phuket Must Win" website updated to indicate a booster jab possible at this time.

My understanding is the Thai produced AstraZeneca is accepted as a valid vaccine in the UK, and hence 2xjabs of Thai produced AZ is assessed similar to 2xjabs of AZ produced in the UK.  There is thou, more to this than just being vaccinated.

Where one originates from(ie which country) as a traveler is a different matter.  One could arrive at the UK directly from Thailand after having received 2xPfizer jabs, and I think one still needs to quarantine. 

Sadly, NONE of the vaccines will 100% stop infection.  Their strength is typically in reducing the risk of serious illness and reducing the risk of death.   And fortunately the mRNA vaccines appear to be better than other vaccines in most all efficacy categories (infection, symptoms, death) but even the mRNA can't 100% stop infection.

2 minutes ago, LivinginKata said:

 

My wife had the 2 sinovac some time ago at Orchid. She has yet to receive a booster notification on Line.

She could check the web site 'Phuket Must win'.  My wife's SMS told her to go to that site.  Once on that site, she was given an option of various places/dates to choose for her AZ jab.

My Thai wife, who received 2xSinovac earlier this year, received an SMS just over an hour ago, and here in Phuket she was offered the opportunity to get an AZ booster even earlier this week. She chose 14-September at Karon Orchid Resort for an AZ booster.

It does (IMHO) mean the non-refundable Moderna jabs that we bought and paid for her, may go unused by her, "if" and when the Moderna is available in Phuket (where NO ONE knows when those jabs will be given).  We don't mind if the Moderna goes unused by my wife, as we both considered (when buying the Moderna for her) that it was to be more of a donation to a local private hospital - and we weren't so 'fussed' about having to receive a Moderna jab.  This could mean the Moderna will be available for someone else, which will be good.

I'm curious as to what this 2xSinovacx + 1xAz will mean for any possibility of my wife's international travel. 

I suspect for her to fly now to Europe or to Canada, she will need sometime in the next few months, to get another AZ jab (so to have 2xAZ which is accepted by Canada, UK, Germany, France, even if not by EMA) ... Or if "AZ+Moderna" is eventually accepted for International travel to Europe/Canada, which it is not accepted at present (to the best of my knowledge), to instead use one of her paid for Moderna certificates to get a Moderna jab some TBD after the AZ booster (if that is accepted for international travel)). 

Getting different types of vaccines at times appears to me to be somewhat political - where sometimes I wonder if politics gets mixed in with assessments of vaccine efficacy.

My appointment for AZ is still on Friday this week (17-September). No change.  I checked a few minutes ago, due to what the next sentence in this post notes:

My Thai wife, who received 2xSinovac earlier this year, received an SMS less than an hour ago, and here in Phuket she was offered the opportunity to get an AZ booster even earlier this week. She chose 14-September at Karon Orchid Resort for an AZ booster.

It does (IMHO) mean the non-refundable Moderna jabs that we bought and paid for her, may go unused by her, when the Moderna is available.  We don't mind that as we both considered (when buying the Moderna for her) that it was to be more of a donation to a local private hospital - and we weren't so 'fussed' about having to receive a Moderna jab.  This could mean the Moderna will be available for someone else, which will be good.

I'm curious as to what this 2xSinovacx + 1xAz will mean for my wife's international travel.  I suspect for her to fly now to Europe or to Canada, she will need sometime in the next few months, to get another AZ jab.   ( ...  or if AZ+Moderna accepted for International travel to Europe/Canada, which it is not at present, to use her paid for Moderna certificate to get a Moderna jab sometime after the AZ booster (if that is accepted for international travel)). 

Of course this is a 'bit off topic' as my wife is Thai and not a Foreigner.  

On 9/9/2021 at 2:59 PM, fcbkk said:

 

Local infections have risen to some 200+ daily, i hear of clusters (recently in Rawai) via local friends, but have not found any single reliable public source of such news.

Possibly the 'Sea Gypsy' village in Rawai (as reported by Phuket news) : https://www.thephuketnews.com/rawai-sea-gypsy-village-under-lockdown-81357.php

3 hours ago, club said:

Exactly, most locals their were vaccinated with Sinovac 

In case any curious for reported 'counting' of the Sinovac to AZ split, according to a Phuket news article ( https://www.thephuketnews.com/pfizer-injections-begin-in-phuket-81309.php  ) the ratio of Sinovac to AstraZeneca given in Phuket is about 5x as much Sinovac. ( ie 5 Sinovac jabs for every 1 AZ jab, in Phuket)

13 minutes ago, club said:

They did get priority as they should and I agree with you but now its time for millions of other citizens to get the same booster.

I think every one who is not an anti-vaxer, and who is not opposed to mixing vaccines (if a different vaccine to be given as a booster) would agree with you that boosters should be given as soon as practical.

I do note thou, there are many people in Phuket (and elsewhere in Thailand) who have yet to receive any COVID vaccine jab, and these people may like to be vaccinated. 

In the case of Phuket, going by a 6-September government slide, while 424,462 people in Phuket had received at least 1-jab, only 378,628 had received 2 jabs.  Further, the new target of people in Phuket to be jabbed is 547,584.

So before the average person receives a booster, it would be useful to first give the 123,122 people (in the target # who have not recieved any jabs) two jabs, and also give the 45,834 who only received 1-jab their second job.   Also, the population of Phuket is likely closer to 600,000 to 650,000 people, so that suggests there are still more than the 547,584 not in the 'target' who also should be vaccinated before general boosters to everyone given.

Priority for vaccine and booster application is IMHO always a controversial topic.

This has been common place in other Thailand provinces for some time - so soon or later it was bound to take place in Phuket.

4 hours ago, club said:

Didn't most of the locals in Phuket get 2 jabs of Sinovac ? If they did, they should have had boosters

Boosters are just now starting to be offered in Phuket, but typically to qualify (at present time) for a booster after having received two Sinovac jabs,in Phuket one needs to be over a certain age, or one needs to have preconditions to qualify for the booster jab.    I suspect as weeks go by this will open up to more ...

4 hours ago, Bkk Brian said:

I too live in Phuket and have been for 15 years, my daughter who is 13 cannot attend school because they will not open for her age group but most international schools are open for 9 years and below so long as parents and household members are all vaccinated, that is already in place and working. For the over 9 year olds that is not the case.

I think this is very difficult at present for both children and parents - and not just difficult for Phuket - globally, where dependent on the region/country, school re-openings have already taken place, or in other places school re-openings have been delayed.  Children at home, means parents have to ensure they are looked after - which as am pretty certain means you know much better than myself, adds an additional layer of complexity wrt one's daytime work.

Difficult times.

In the condo complex where I live, almost exclusively foreigners renting, I do not know of any who have received two jabs.  Often the Thai spouse or Thai maid/nanny has received two jabs, but not the other (or both) falang parent(s), and as I noted, many are waiting until mid-September for their 2nd jab.