Where are we getting our Covid tests within 72h of flying?

[unheard]

3 minutes ago, Mama Noodle said:

I dunno why you keep hounding me on this. I’m just relaying what he says and he 100% is going through the process right now. If all goes well he’ll be here on the 19th

Hey, please don't take me wrongly, I have nothing against you.

Unfortunately you don't have a first hand experience with the situation and some things could be "lost in translation".

I still have some doubts about his story.

e.g. this line:

"I have been granted entry, they are waiting for the certificate to be written up and received and then will send me a link next week to pay and bring my passport in to process my visa".

 

Who's waiting for the certificate? And why? Received by who?

If he's gotten the permission from MFA then the consulate doesn't have to wait for anything and fully takes over the process.

It's not as the story is not believable it's just some little bits and pieces don't quite align to make it credible, at least in my view.

Also, what does the lady at the consulate have anything to do with the approval chances?

Unless there's some criteria that she was made aware of by MFA so if presented properly to them could speed up the application processes.

Anyways, thank you for the report and please ask him to keep you (us) updated.

And tell him Good Luck!

[Mama Noodle]

1 minute ago, unheard said:

Anyways, thank you for the report and please ask him to keep you (us) updated.

And tell him Good Luck!

And I’ll ask you the same thing I asked you in the last thread - why not call and start the process yourself? Well know In 10 days If my buddy is successful. 
 

He also screen shot me an email of the consulate telling him to book the “ASQ Hotel” as well. 
 

Whatever he is doing is progressing. 

[unheard]

6 minutes ago, Mama Noodle said:

And I’ll ask you the same thing I asked you in the last thread - why not call and start the process yourself? Well know In 10 days If my buddy is successful. 
 

He also screen shot me an email of the consulate telling him to book the “ASQ Hotel” as well. 
 

Whatever he is doing is progressing. 

I've started the process by filling out an online form and sending it out.

Weeks ago.

Got a confirmation of them receiving my application and that was it.

So far not a single report of anyone receiving an approval with the sole exception of your friend.

Did he give them any special reasons on why they should grant him entrance?

Edited July 9, 2020 by unheard

[Mama Noodle]

3 minutes ago, unheard said:

I've started the process by filling out an online form and sending it out.

Weeks ago.

Got a confirmation of them receiving my application and that was it.

So far not a single report of anyone receiving an approval with the sole exception of your friend.

Did he give them any special reasons on why they should grant him entrance?

No, married to a thai same as me. Nothin else. 
 

Well see in a few days what happens. 

[unheard]

1 minute ago, Mama Noodle said:

No, married to a thai same as me. Nothin else. 
 

Well see in a few days what happens. 

Cool thing, please keep us posted.

Edited July 9, 2020 by unheard

[Don Mega]

7 minutes ago, unheard said:

I've started the process by filling out an online form and sending it out.

Weeks ago.

Got a confirmation of them receiving my application and that was it.

So far not a single report of anyone receiving an approval with the sole exception of your friend.

Did he give them any special reasons on why they should grant him entrance?

You applied in Australia ?

 

To note though you filled out a application form and sent it in, Mama Noodle's mate took the completed  paperwork into the Embassy in person to lodge, maybe thats the difference.

Edited July 9, 2020 by Don Mega

[unheard]

8 minutes ago, Don Mega said:

You applied in Australia ?

 

To note though you filled out a application form and sent it in, Mama Noodle's mate took the completed  paperwork into the Embassy in person to lodge, maybe thats the difference.

Maybe, maybe not

Apparently the embassies have no say one way or another and the applications go straight to Bangkok without any input from them.

But,

according to ambassador to Singapore his embassy was charged with a task of preliminary evaluation of the applicants on the urgency of their need to come to Thailand.
Who knows...

[Starmocihc]

3 hours ago, mike787 said:

GOOD luck!  NOT gonna happen anywhere.

Are ye drunk mate? 

[crazykopite]

8 hours ago, Mama Noodle said:

My understanding is that the fit to fly cert to return to Thailand (either thai or foreign) does not require a covid test - it’s just a basic health questionnaire. 
 

Can anyone post a link where it says a covid test it required????

This might help but in short in the U.K. it’s impossible to get one that’s where my wife is stuck and I will be lucky if I see her this side of Christmas ☹️

[crazykopite]

On 7/7/2020 at 10:15 PM, Bkk Brian said:

Thai returnees don't need covid tests before returning back to Thailand, that happens once they enter quarantine over here.

If that is the case why was a Thai lady refused onboard a flight from Canada to Thailand ,she was refused as she did not have a madical clearance certificate when she turned up at the airport It is my understanding that everyone of every nationality needs the certificate before being allowed on a flight into Thailand ,Thais however are exempt from having a Covid Covid insurance policy to the value of $100,000

[sometimewoodworker]

9 hours ago, Mama Noodle said:

My understanding is that the fit to fly cert to return to Thailand (either thai or foreign) does not require a covid test - it’s just a basic health questionnaire. 
 

Can anyone post a link where it says a covid test it required????

Look on the London embassy page.

 

you must have a RT-PCR test within 72 hours of departure, Item 4 to get a visa or item 6 a COVID-19 free health certificate.

[Guderian]

In the good old days you'd simply have put your "test result" in a brown envelope along with some folding spendable stuff and handed it over in exchange for immediate approval. The times they are a-changin'.

[flinc2020]

11 hours ago, Mama Noodle said:

My understanding is that the fit to fly cert to return to Thailand (either thai or foreign) does not require a covid test - it’s just a basic health questionnaire. 
 

Can anyone post a link where it says a covid test it required????

There has been a post about this elsewhere on Thaivisa by a member coming (sorry, TRYING to come) from Europe who was told by his local embassy he needed the Covid and Fit to fly to put in the application for the CoE. This would not surprise me since the embassies, like the immigration offices, all seem to apply their own interpretation of the rules. Since the paperwork for the CoE application is meant to be put in 10 days before you want the CoE it make little sense doing a test that far in advance. That being said, even 72hrs before the flight is no guarantee, especially if you are coming from the UK or USA or any other country that has had a recent uptrend in infections. You pay for a test then take public transport to a crowded airport thereby nullifying any result you may have got 24 hours earlier. If they can do the tests on arrival for Thai nationals why not do that for everyone and do away with the expense and inconvenience of travelling for miles to get a test in your home country. I'd be happy to pay 5000 baht for a test at my arrival airport rather than waisting a day travelling miles to find a clinic that will charge me two hundred quid for a test that I MAY get the result from before I have to fly. Maybe I'm just tight fisted but if I'm expected to pay 3000+ baht a night for an ASQ hotel room (that was probably charging 500 baht a night this time last year) why should I also have to fork out a fortune for test(s) and Fit to Fly letters too? (My Gp sharges 25GBP for the fit to fly). I realise, for the Thais they are returning to their own country so the free quarantine is only right and just. But if they don't have to be tested before departure then you are paying for a test that is worthless after sitting for 20 or 30 hours or more with infected people. (Just look at the new infections over the last few weeks, all Thai arrivals on overseas flights)

[Chongalulu]

11 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

Agreed... Hopefully all of this nonsense is resolved within a couple of months.

If this is still an issue in 6 months time I will have little choice but to move back to the UK (something I’ve been looking at anyway). 

 

Those like me face the situation of having to travel overseas to Quarantine for 2 weeks before, then work offshore for 4 weeks. Then travel back to Thailand to quarantine for 2 weeks - Effectively a life of 4 weeks in quarantine and 4 weeks offshore !!! 

 

A lot of things need to be ironed out. 

 

 

 

 

 

I have read   your posts with interest,and no little sympathy! The more I have,along with others on this thread the more pessimistic I become about this process being workable as it currently stands - and with the tests/ hotel bookings  a certainly very expensive process with not much more of a lottery of a chance whether it will work. Is it Hanlon’s razor,I wonder, or more sinister? I know you are anxious to return and we thank you for volunteering as the "guinea pig ' and for sharing the process with us - please continue-. For me,even if writing off the value of my return flight in September,this seems a small price in comparison with cost of 'buying a ticket' to this uncertain process. While keen to return to the wife as planned ,I suspect waiting a few months may be the more practical option given I’ve somewhere to stay in UK. The very best ,Richard ! 

[rct99q]

Canada Consulate just informed me today that they received my application and it has been forwarded to the appropriate personnel in Thailand. She indicated a reply should come by Friday the 10th or Monday the 13th.

 

However the issue for me is finding a flight. I had booked China Airlines via Taipei but those flights were cancelled and i am being refunded. 

It appears the only option is getting on a Thai Government sponsored repatriation flight. I was told this would be possible if there were seats available. Thai Nationals would have first chance at any seats. Anything left over i could book.

No idea of price. I noticed LH flights via FRA from Toronto but again not sure if they will be cancelled. There are flights happening but it appears they need to be given permission to carry passengers. Air Canada, JL, Korean, Eva, dont have any confirmed connections via their hubs in Asia to Bangkok. from Canada anyways. Only ANA which is the airline carrying the Thais from Vancouver and Toronto. These are set for July 21, 23, and 28.

 

Not very hopeful at this moment. It took forever to get thru to the Consulate and very little information was given. I do believe they have little information to go on and are taking it day by day. 

[mikecha]

To all here that read the site news 

realy sorry for all that are going through this delemma  

the thai {goverment} is making life very hard for all

no country in the world ask this 

 

best of  luck to all  

maybe someday they realise how silly they actualy are and wonder why many tourists dont come any more .

then to late 

all the fact anfigures of 1,5 million tourists before December  wont happen   better let he people in that spend money on the famly and building EXPATS    and count there blessings that they get something 

[Letseng]

22 hours ago, unheard said:

Plan to fly out?

Could you please point me to a case of an approved application?

I haven't heard of a single one.

I might be wrong but at this point virtually no one in the married group is making any plans to fly out.

Richard Barrow posted the link to a write up by a German guy who returned. Check his blog. Was last Sat/Sun

[unheard]

5 hours ago, rct99q said:

Canada Consulate just informed me today that they received my application and it has been forwarded to the appropriate personnel in Thailand. She indicated a reply should come by Friday the 10th or Monday the 13th.

A reply in the form of an acknowledgement email with a link allowing you to edit your application if needed?

Certainly not a notification of being approved to enter?

[unheard]

11 minutes ago, Letseng said:

Richard Barrow posted the link to a write up by a German guy who returned. Check his blog. Was last Sat/Sun

He's in the work permit category.

Those have been allowed to come back for quite some time already.

[richard_smith237]

7 minutes ago, unheard said:

5 hours ago, rct99q said:

Canada Consulate just informed me today that they received my application and it has been forwarded to the appropriate personnel in Thailand. She indicated a reply should come by Friday the 10th or Monday the 13th.

A reply in the form of an acknowledgement email with a link allowing you to edit your application if needed?

Certainly not a notification of being approved to enter?

 

@ rct99q - pls keep us updated - Friday 10th or Monday 13th would be a good turn around time, but I wonder if the embassy were not indulging in a little guesswork. 

 

The Thai Embassy in London informed me that all documents were correct, but the couldn’t tell me how long the approval process would take. 

 

My guess is, there is an inbox somewhere at the MFA overloaded with 1000’s (5000 ???) unopened e-mails and some poor MFA Officer is opening each of them, one by one, going through the attachments checking the content, forwarding to his boss, who then goes through the attachments, who then forwards back to the Junior MFA officer, who then forwards the approval to the relevant Embassy...  (thats just what I’m picturing)... 

 

If the approval process were at the Embassies themselves it would be a lot more efficient, but the decision makers don’t care about efficiency. All a moot point anyway if we can’t get on a repatriation flight.

 

 

 

 

 

[SunsetT]

I was hoping that, if and when, I need the same in the Autumn, that after getting the NHS negative test result sms, I could ask my obliging GP for something official in writing (Certificate) to confirm it.

[superal]

On 7/9/2020 at 4:05 AM, richard_smith237 said:

Unheard's scepticism was well placed. 

 

The list of requirements in applying for the Certificate of Entry included (amongst other things) Flight bookings and ASQ Booking. 

 

Flight Arrivals for Suvarnabumi showed a number of international flights arriving.

Qatar Airlines being one of them. Qatar Airlines website had available flights for next week (at the time)

I checked with a contact at immigration (Suvarnabumi airport) who confirmed passengers are arriving on international flights (hindsight suggests this was a mistake). 

 

In short: I bought the Qatar Airways ticket for next week.

The Ticket is still ‘Confirmed’ on the Qatar Airways Website (when I go to Manage My booking). But, I am quite sure Qatar will cancel this flight.

By law they have to provide a full refund within 7 days.  

 

Conclusion: the Qatar Airways flight booking is an unethical sham - unheard was correct. 

The airlines appear to be running a ‘cash grab’ in the hope they can ’secure’ passengers and keep postponing them until passenger flights are permitted. 

 

 

There has been a lot of misinformation and confusion (par for the course). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Refund in 7 days by law ?   Emirates are taking up to 4 months to refund fares .

BTW respectively asking , the covid test is one of the obstacles but have you managed to secure the $100,000 insurance ?