Getting in to Thailand!

[BritSteve]

Hi All

My first post here so just saying hello.

Im currently in China working till the end of April and I am retiring to Thailand to go live in Roi Et this year.

 

What are my chances of actually getting into Thailand from China in the beginning of May?

I know things change on a daily basis but all advice so far seems conflicting.

 

I have no visas currently and have just been entering on a Visa on Arrival with my UK passport.

What would I need to enter?

 

Many thanks in advance

 

Steve

[ubonjoe]

All you do is wait and see what the entry requirements are. At this time all normal passenger flights cannot land here.

If they go back to what was required before you would need health certificate and proof of a $100,000 covid 19 insurance policy. They could also add a 14 day quantene when you arrive.

Check here for updated info. https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/international-travel-document-news/1580226297.htm

Since you are from the UK you would get a 30 day visa exempt entry not a 15 day visa on arrival.

[Captain Monday]

You need to wait, all you will hear here is speculation.

 

I am a woking pilot. Our flight operations department has a plan for a massive redeployment

of flights starting May 20.. We have hundreds of aircraft, thousands of pilots standing by home, ready to work.

Our management is mostly ex Military officers. They have the connections and experience with this kind of deployment. All is waiting on Governments to relax their ridiculous restrictions, and you will be home.

 

[FritsSikkink]

7 minutes ago, Captain Monday said:

You need to wait, all you will hear here is speculation.

 

I am a woking pilot. Our flight operations department has a plan for a massive redeployment

of flights starting May 20.. We have hundreds of aircraft, thousands of pilots standing by home, ready to work.

Our management is mostly ex Military officers. They have the connections and experience with this kind of deployment. All is waiting on Governments to relax their ridiculous restrictions, and you will be home.

 

Hello woking pilot, the restrictions are good. He will need a proper visa to retire here too. No idea what your statement about the management is mostly military has anything to do with this.

Edited April 15, 2020 by FritsSikkink

[ubonjoe]

Just now, FritsSikkink said:

He will need a proper visa to retire here too. 

He can enter visa exempt and then apply for non immigrant visa at immigration and then the extension of stay. No need for a non-o before entering the country.

[OnTheGround]

Logic: wait for official announcement that airport now open for international flights. 

Don't hold your breath. Might take a few months. 

Edited April 15, 2020 by OnTheGround

[steven100]

OP .... as Ubonjoe mentioned, no flights are permitted at this time so it's a wait for official government announcements on air travel and airport entries. 

It could be 6 weeks or 6 months longer ....  no one knows.

[petermik]

Just announced Thai airports closure extended until 30th April.....

[Captain Monday]

21 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Hello woking pilot, the restrictions are good. He will need a proper visa to retire here too. No idea what your statement about the management is mostly military has anything to do with this.

We have plans and contingency plans. Then backup plans, I don't think May 20 is realistic (personally) but I have a choice. Based on seniority I already took 2 months partial voluntary leave. Others don't. The pain will be massive. The top level are MBA types but flight operations management is mostly ex military, as I said. 

 

Anticipate, Improvise, and Overcome. This will pass.

[ubonjoe]

5 minutes ago, petermik said:

Just announced Thai airports closure extended until 30th April.....

Actually the airports are still open. Only this "The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) has extended its inbound flight ban to April 30 except repatriation flights and some others for coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) control."

[Captain Monday]

I wanna get back to Chiang Mai also. When will that be possible?

My Girlfriend is probably is OK but our cat misses me!

[dbrenn]

18 minutes ago, Captain Monday said:

Unless the restrictions are 100 percent, they are not effective.

 

After Trump locked down flights from China, at least 40,000 people came from China to the US.

 

Pilots from the US have never stopped flying back and forth from China to the US either. There is Cargo. Essential workers.  At least 200 members of my union caught cover-19 and 3 died, as of last week. There is evidence most of the US outbreak in NYC came from EU. We probably need to totally re think the organization of society and also the response to virus incidents but the idea that passengers can't go on a 777-200 with 50 people temperature checked before boarding  (with superheated and recirculated air through HEPA filters), but we  can go to a supermarket with anybody should be reconsidered, just sayin.

 

I don't think that HEPA filters and super-heated intake air would offer much protection from people coughing and sneezing within inches of you in the average aircraft cabin.... as you say, not sure where this will end as far as airline travel goes, until a vaccine is discovered. Social distancing in economy class would mean flying around 30% capacity, even for those who do want to fly. I'm thinking that the days of cheap air travel are gone.

[ChouDoufu]

38 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

He can enter visa exempt and then apply for non immigrant visa at immigration and then the extension of stay. No need for a non-o before entering the country.

he has a work visa/residence permit in china.  he could get a non-resident visa at a thai embassy or consulate if needed, assuming the embassies are granting visas now.

 

do you think thailand may open gradually, first allowing in thai citizens, then foreigners with thai spouses, then foreigners with work or study visas, and then tourist visas or visa waivers some time later?

[Captain Monday]

5 minutes ago, dbrenn said:

I don't think that HEPA filters and super-heated intake air would offer much protection from people coughing and sneezing within inches of you in the average aircraft cabin.... as you say, not sure where this will end as far as airline travel goes, until a vaccine is discovered. Social distancing in economy class would mean flying around 30% capacity, even for those who do want to fly. I'm thinking that the days of cheap air travel are gone.

No that is unrealistic. People who are coughing and sneezing should probably not be let on planes but everyone who coughs or sneezes does not necessitate a cover-19 diagnosis.

[EricTh]

37 minutes ago, petermik said:

Just announced Thai airports closure extended until 30th April.....

What was the original date?

[ChouDoufu]

@BritSteve   is this applicable to your current visa?

 

China offers exit, entry conveniences to foreigners amid epidemic control

 

http://english.www.gov.cn/statecouncil/ministries/202003/01/content_WS5e5bbb71c6d0c201c2cbd51f.html

 

Your Chinese visa during the coronavirus epidemic (UPDATED 12 Mar): further measures to fast-track and streamline visas and residence permits; foreign nationals eligible for automatic two-month extension; how to renew Shanghai work and residence permits

 

https://www.thesquare.blog/2020/03/01/chinese-visa-coronavirus-update/

[EricTh]

20 minutes ago, ChouDoufu said:

 

 

do you think thailand may open gradually, first allowing in thai citizens, then foreigners with thai spouses, then foreigners with work or study visas, and then tourist visas or visa waivers some time later?

 

Excuse me, but why should foreigners with Thai spouse be more important than those with work visa or retirement visa?

[Vigilante]

1 hour ago, Captain Monday said:

You need to wait, all you will hear here is speculation.

 

I am a woking pilot. Our flight operations department has a plan for a massive redeployment

of flights starting May 20.. We have hundreds of aircraft, thousands of pilots standing by home, ready to work.

Our management is mostly ex Military officers. They have the connections and experience with this kind of deployment. All is waiting on Governments to relax their ridiculous restrictions, and you will be home.

 

Massive redeployment of flights?

To where?

..and where is your base anyway?

Thailand opening up is pointless if other countries are still shut.

 

 

 

[EricTh]

5 minutes ago, petermik said:

Wuhan refugees.......

I am not going to make funny remarks because I was banned in the past for making similar remarks.

[dbrenn]

38 minutes ago, Captain Monday said:

No that is unrealistic. People who are coughing and sneezing should probably not be let on planes but everyone who coughs or sneezes does not necessitate a cover-19 diagnosis.

Of course. But neither do spot temperature checks rule out people who are infected and can pass it on. You can be shedding virus before and after you show a fever.

 

Economy class is so very cramped. I don't see how HEPA recirculated air would protect you from the people sitting around you - as is evidenced by the government here in Australia calling in for testing people in adjacent seat rows to the infected. 

 

Most people won't want to take that kind of risk, just for a holiday. 

[garygooner]

33 minutes ago, EricTh said:

What was the original date?

Extended from April 18th to 30th.

[JackThompson]

55 minutes ago, dbrenn said:

I don't think that HEPA filters and super-heated intake air would offer much protection from people coughing and sneezing within inches of you in the average aircraft cabin.... as you say, not sure where this will end as far as airline travel goes, until a vaccine is discovered. Social distancing in economy class would mean flying around 30% capacity, even for those who do want to fly. I'm thinking that the days of cheap air travel are gone.

Perhaps not for those with serious underlying health conditions or of advanced age.  The rest of us will be fine - very little additional-risk, as compared to other, existing, risks we already "factor in" to our lives (cars, etc).

 

49 minutes ago, Captain Monday said:

No that is unrealistic. People who are coughing and sneezing should probably not be let on planes but everyone who coughs or sneezes does not necessitate a cover-19 diagnosis.

Yes - a Thai family member got the flu a couple weeks ago, and that was scary* for her grandparents who live in the same home - for a day, until the hospital-tests came back for influenza - not covid.  (* my wife and I worried more than they did, it seems).

 

No one else in the house became ill. which is fortunate, because the "ordinary flu" can be dangerous to the elderly - a risk we have lived with since the dawn of time, though significantly reduced through modern medical treatments.

[ubonjoe]

1 hour ago, ChouDoufu said:

he has a work visa/residence permit in china.  he could get a non-resident visa at a thai embassy or consulate if needed, assuming the embassies are granting visas now.

No sure what a non-resident visa is. He might be able to get a single entry non immigrant O visa if he is 50 or over.

 

1 hour ago, ChouDoufu said:

do you think thailand may open gradually, first allowing in thai citizens, then foreigners with thai spouses, then foreigners with work or study visas, and then tourist visas or visa waivers some time later?

At this time no normal passenger flights can enter the country until the 30th.. They have already arranged some repatriation flights for Thais.

When flights resume the may be different allowances for Thais but I doubt they will do it for their spouses.

[ubonjoe]

Several off topic and baiting posts have removed.

[dbrenn]

22 minutes ago, JackThompson said:

Perhaps not for those with serious underlying health conditions or of advanced age.  The rest of us will be fine - very little additional-risk, as compared to other, existing, risks we already "factor in" to our lives (cars, etc).

Perhaps so - I agree that there's not much to worry about, so long as you don't then go near elderly friends and relatives. I still think that a holiday will be viewed as not worth the risk for many, most people being risk averse as they are, so I'd be very surprised to see a rush to pack out flights, at least until a vaccine is available. That might not be such a bad thing - cheap air travel and mass tourism has blighted Thailand in recent years.

 

Holidays will also be seen as an expensive luxury for people whose jobs have been affected by the lockdown hysteria.

 

[lopburi3]

Any return to Thailand may be well in the future if what was posted by The Nation today (one mans opinion - so we can hope not the last word).

 

Quote

In the future, foreign tourists wanting to visit Thailand will have to apply a month ahead and must agree to a 14-day quarantine upon entering the country.

If above become the rule suspect there will not be any visa exempt entry.  But probably the only reliable prediction - is that we can not.

[treetops]

3 hours ago, Captain Monday said:

Our management is mostly ex Military officers.

So is the Thai government.  Keep up the good work.

[Jackcwba]

How do you get one of these ‘corona health certificates’ anyway ? Do you just show up at a hospital  in let’s say.. Vietnam and say you need a health certificate showing you don’t have corona ? 

 

you couldn’t just do that in the uk as it’s up to it’s knees and only famous people are getting checked out And regular people like you and me they couldn’t care less about

 

how much are they anyway roughly for a certificate anyone know ? 

 

 

[RotBenz8888]

34 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

 

 

37 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

In the future, foreign tourists wanting to visit Thailand will have to apply a month ahead and must agree to a 14-day quarantine upon entering the country.

I doubt any tourists would accept that, but for those who are desperate to see their family probably would. And maybe that's what thay ment, since those with non o family visas are basically treated like tourists.

[Captain Monday]

2 hours ago, treetops said:

So is the Thai government.  Keep up the good work.

We don't make policy. We follow orders. Open the borders. A massive air force of Boeing and Airbus jets will appear. We are flying some already, cargo only. Where do you think masks and medical supplies come from?