I flew out of Thailand to get a new visa – one person’s experience with the “new normal” - Report

[webfact]

I flew out of Thailand to get a new visa – one person’s experience with the “new normal”

By The Thaiger

 

 

My experience flying back to The Netherlands to arrange a new visa, and then staying in an Alternative State Quarantine Hotel in Bangkok.

 

My name is “Theo” from the Netherlands, I am 44 years old, married with my Thai wife for over 5 years and we have 2 children together. I have lived permanently in Thailand since June 26, 2014.

 

When I gave up my shares in my Chiang Rai business I founded in 2014 because of a “burn out” last October, I ended up – since my arrival 6 years ago – on a tourist visa. I decided to have a short break before doing anything about the situation and I visited South Africa for 10 weeks to get my energy back.

 

When I returned to Thailand in February, I started the process of getting a NON-O visa because I was married and had a Thai family. The plan was, and still is, that I would open a new rehab centre in Phuket in July – The Diamond Rehab Thailand – and eventually would apply a NON-B visa.

 

I was in the process of getting my NON-O visa then Thailand went into lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak – I was still on a tourist visa.

 

Luckily for me and many others the Thai Government provided an amnesty on visas until the end of July (it has since been extended to September 26.

 

I read in the news somewhere around the third week of June that some foreigners were then being allowed to re-enter The Kingdom under specific categories and restrictions – having family in Thailand, medical tourism etc. I took my chances and left the Kingdom on July 2 to fly to Holland. I thought “let’s do it now, maybe they will change it again in the nearby future”

 

The plan was to go directly to the Thai Embassy in The Hague, spend 10 days with my family in Holland, before returning with my new NON-O visa. The plan was that I’d return to Thailand at the start of August to be with my family in Thailand.

 

I flew with KLM directly and noticed that 95% of the flights that evening had been cancelled. I was the lucky one, KLM was still flying. (Most previously scheduled flights were still being listed on the arrivals and departures screens, just being listed as ‘cancelled’)

 

I flew Economy class and had to wear my face mask for the entire 11 hours. In front of me was a plastic bag with some water and cookies, cheese and a sandwich. There was no other food or drinks being served. I was flying on a repatriation flight without even knowing it! It wasn’t the most pleasant flight I had, but I thought “it is what it is…”

 

I arrived on Schiphol airport and rented a car, drove straight to the Thai Embassy in The Hague and there they told me I couldn’t enter the Embassy without an appointment… “these are the new rules since the coronavirus”. To make an appointment I had to email them and wait.

 

I went back to my car and emailed the Embassy with my request to go return to Thailand ASAP on a NON-O visa. That same Friday afternoon they emailed me back with a list of documentation and procedures I needed to follow to be able to fly back to Thailand, – Step 1, Step 2 and Step 3. The appointment at the Embassy was set for the following Tuesday.

 

The first step was to gather the following documents:

 

1. A cover letter I have to write indicates the necessity and urgency for me to enter the Kingdom of Thailand.

 

2. A copy of my marriage certificate.

 

3. A copy of my passport.

 

4. A copy of the birth certificates of my two kids together with a copy of their passports.

 

5. A valid health insurance policy covering all expenditures of medical treatment, including Covid-19, worth at least 100,000 USD (a statement in English).

 

6. A filled in declaration form that was attached.

 

I had all of these documents luckily well prepared in Thailand knowing I would apply for a NON-O visa, including a bank statement of showing more than 400,000 baht in the account, if the account is on my name only, otherwise 800.000 baht if the account was in my wife’s name together with my name on it.

 

Tuesday, July 7, I went to The Thai Embassy, gave them all my paperwork and Step 1 was officially finished. I now went to Step 2 which meant that all my paperwork would then be considered… I could not do anything at this stage besides wait. I left my passport behind and was told it could take up to 2-3 weeks and they would contact me.

 

I was already a bit shocked with the 2-3 week timeframe because I was planning to only stay 10 days maximum… that turned out a bit differently from my plans in the end.

 

2 weeks and 2 days later the Embassy called me and asked if I would be available for a flight with KLM back to Bangkok on the August 7. There was also a possible alternative flight on August 14 with EVA air but they weren’t sure at that stage. They would let me know later. That same day I got an email that the August 7 flight was confirmed and I now went to Step 3 and needed to gather some more documents in preparation for the flight.

 

The ASQ (Alternative State Quarantine) hotel reservation was already booked on August 8. They also told me in the email that they would contact me later about the ticket, visa, ‘fit to fly’ documentation and covid-19 test.

 

I emailed all 26 ASQ-qualified (at that time, now there are more) Hotels immediately and 24 of them were already full, only 2 of them had 1 room left. By the time I was ready to book my first option was already sold, so I quickly called the second option – Anantara Riverside Bangkok – and paid the 77.000 baht fee to make sure I had that room confirmed.

 

I knew before I left that I had to stay in an ASQ hotel. I expected that, and was actually looking forward to two weeks of ME time.

 

I emailed the embassy that I had an ASQ booked and confirmed, and again I had to wait.

 

I spent time with my family and I started to get a bit nervous, thoughts like: “what if I have Covid, that means I can’t fly back?” Around this time I also heard that the Government in Thailand had already given foreigners a longer time in Thailand with an extension to the visa amnesty, until September 26, and I started to doubt my decision to fly all the way to Holland for a NON-O visa and all the money that this was costing me…. I could have stayed in Thailand until the end of September and who knows what plan would pop up to renew my visa?

 

Step 3 required the following documents…

 

1. A proof of confirmation that ASQ (Alternative State Quarantine) has been arranged.

 

2. A confirmed plane ticket (if your flight is cancelled, you will need a new COE – Certificate Of Entrance – you may need a new fit-to-fly health certificate if the one you have no longer meet the 72 hours requirement.)

 

3. A fit-to-fly health certificate issued no longer than 72 hours before departure.

 

4. A Covid-Free Health Certificate issued no longer than 72 hours before departure.

 

This is where it all got a bit tricky in my head. First of all I already paid the ASQ hotel but they would not refund me if I cancelled less than 72 hours before arrival. The Covid test and Fit-to-fly test needed to be done within 72 hours before departure, so if I came back positive, I would have lost my money that I paid to the ASQ and have to go through ALL the same processes again, with all the additional cost.

 

I called the Dutch Government for a free Covid-19 test, but they wouldn’t give me the result through email, only through the phone, this meant I had to do the test at KLM Health services for Euro 149 (4,5450 baht). Secondly, I did not have a doctor in Holland that could give me a Fit-to-Fly document so I called my parents’ doctor and she was so friendly to sign off on the document for free!

 

The 72 hours before departure were hectic, I had to go to Amsterdam to get a Covid test, I had to go to The Hague to get my passport back with my new NON-O stamp – they would only do single entry at the time instead of multiple entries, and I had to visit the doctor for the fit-to-fly document as well. Besides that I had to book my ticket through a travel agent approved by the Thai Embassy.

 

It was stressing, waiting for the result of the KLM Covid test, and the next day. 36 hours before departure, they called me and told me they lost my test somewhere.

 

I got totally stressed and I could hear the woman on the other end of the phone was stressed as well. She told me she would call me back and hung up the phone without telling me when she would call. I waited nearly 2 hours in the car but it felt like a day and she called back and reported… “I have double good news; we found your test and you are negative”

 

I sent all the documents to the Thai Embassy and they replied with a last email with an attachment “Certificate Of Entrance” and that I needed to take the following documents to the airport:

 

• Certificate of Entry

 

• Covid-19 test result (English)

 

• Fit to fly document from the doctor (English)

 

• Insurance letter indicating that Covid-19 is also covered

 

• My ASQ (accommodation in Bangkok) confirmation

 

I printed out everything and on August 7, my father brought me to Schiphol Airport to catch the flight back to Bangkok, and knowing I wouldn’t return to Holland for at least 6 months, maybe longer, I felt a bit emotional.

 

The plane arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport around noon on August 8. I was lucky enough to be able to get off the plane in the first group.

 

I walked out of the plane and what I saw was surrealistic, like being in on the set of a Hollywood disaster movie. Men and women in fully-covered white hazmat suits. Over 300 chairs lined up for the passengers to sit on whilst they waited for arrival processing.

 

I was sitting in the front row and immediately a woman (I think it was a woman, difficult to tell with the full white suit and PPE gear) came to me and asked me for all my printed documents. The next step was to go to the next hall were we had to sit in lines of 5 people to get the next check. Then we had to go to Immigration and 2 officers were doing passport checks. I then ended up at the arrival hall to collect my suitcase and 8 minutes later I was in a hospital van again with drivers, also fully covered in white suits and PPE, that took me to my hotel.

 

When we arrived at the hotel, it was the same story. Everything was like I was in a movie… nurses checking my temperature, the reception taking my credit card, the doorman cleaning my suitcase. I had to put on a plastic cover over my shoes and they took me to my room.

 

I first took a LONG shower to wash away all the stress from the trip and arrival, and then lay on my bed overlooking the Chao Phraya River realising the impact of the “new normal” and the total cost of my endeavour to return to Thailand with a new visa – over 300.000 baht. Besides that, I had now been away for a total of almost 8 weeks, instead of the planned 4 weeks. I miss my kids and my wife.

 

On the third day I received a Covid test in the hotel and that was negative. From that moment they gave me 1.5 hour per day to go to the relaxation area of the hotel. I walk for an hour to get the blood flowing and drank lots of soda water. I hadn’t been drinking any alcohol for many years already, but according to the Thai law, its forbidden to drink alcohol in an ASQ hotel.

 

I received 3 meals a day and can order additional room service if I want to. My room was cleaned every 3 days by a cleaning lady, again in a full white hazmat suit which looks like she is cleaning an ICU room.

 

I read books, watched a bit of Netflix and called with my wife and family to keep me busy. It was challenging, but I noticed that once I accepted the fact that there was no other way, it became easier being in a 35 square metre room 22,5 hours per day.

 

I also had a lot of time to think about the future… on one side I am very proud of Thailand keeping Covid outside the country. On the other side I had been planning to open my rehab centre in July, then it became September, now it will definitely not be before January next year, or maybe even later. I am completely depending on foreign patients that travel to Thailand to stay in my facility.

 

What is the future going to look like even when they open the borders again? I noticed that as a frequent flyer, flying wasn’t fun anymore. We can’t ask tourist to go through the same process as I did to enter Thailand. I don’t think they will come if we ask them to go through all the paperwork, hassles and the “shite suit welcome”. I certainly couldn’t ask my patients to do so, they would already have the personal fears of confronting their detox and rehabilitation as well.

 

Then I think to myself… I am still lucky to have my wife, my kids, some money in the bank to survive, a new visa, a new business that opens in the future, being healthy and I am certain that at the end everything will always be OK.

 

“Everything will be alright in the end so if it is not alright it is not the end” – The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

 

Theo

 

 

 

 

Sourc: https://thethaiger.com/coronavirus/i-flew-out-of-thailand-to-get-a-new-visa-one-persons-experience-with-the-new-normal

 

 

-- © Copyright The Thaiger 2020-08-17

 

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[thaibeachlovers]

Interesting thread, but proves my belief that one should never "assume" anything in relation to government in general and Thai government in specific, especially immigration.

Always pays to over prepare, and assume that they will come up with something they hadn't mentioned, including spare documents and more than one colour pen ( also several photos in different sizes/ background colours ).

 

1 hour ago, webfact said:

4. A copy of the birth certificates of my two kids together with a copy of their passports.

While I don't doubt they were required, I don't see why they were necessary. Would they have refused a visa had the OP not had children? Far as I know the visa is granted for marriage and not for parenthood.

 

I'm actually surprised they didn't require a hand drawn map to the wife's house, multiple photos of the couple in every room of the house as well as standing outside pointing to the house number, and a letter from the head man supporting the application.

 

IMO, for what it's worth, they don't want us farangs anymore, but can't come out and just ban us outright.

[bodga]

 Good  if painful report  to say the least and the cost is excessive imo. Why any hotel costs 5500baht a  night when good  rooms  can be had for way less anywhere in Thailand  reeks  of scamming and cashing in.

[steve187]

i haven't read the whole op as its more of a book, or movie script, but i could be wrong, he was in Thailand on a tourist visa, under the amnesty with a Thai wife and children, and had not used a 60 day extension, so why did he not convert to a non immigrant visa and then do a yearly extension, he had the money in the bank, seems a waste of money, and the return flight could have been used by someone that hadn't chosen to 'trapped' outside Thailand

edit a good report/eye opener none the less

[4reaL]

Quote

my endeavour to return to Thailand with a new visa – over 300.000 baht.

 

Hope it was worth it.

[Somtamnication]

Good report. I would have just stayed in Thailand.

[irishken]

Good read and I’m sure it was an experience but why did you leave your kids during this mess to go back to Holland. I mean, I love my genetic family but I am not leaving my kids in Thailand for anything and you must have known there was no way you could just come back after 10 day. 
google is a great source of information for this. 

[darrenr]

How can you get health insurance that covers COVID 19? In Australia as far as I am aware there is no such insurance ! They also exclude pandemics , does anyone know of any companies that offer the required insurance ?

many thanks 

[Vee DeMarche]

Thank you Theo,

 

One can only shake one's head... if the virus doesn't kill us, the authorities will. Thanks for the excellent recount of your "adventure" in "New Normal" travel to Thailand. I spent 25 years in Thailand -Ohhh the good old days!  ...and now I'm sitting here in the USA waiting to get back after a long 8 year break. Seems I've got a bit more waiting to do.

 

Good luck with your family and future business prospects -you did well maneuvering through the maze!

 

V

[Vee DeMarche]

1 minute ago, Vee DeMarche said:

Thank you Theo,

 

One can only shake one's head... if the virus doesn't kill us, the authorities will. Thanks for the excellent recount of your "adventure" in "New Normal" travel to Thailand. I spent 25 years in Thailand -Ohhh the good old days!  ...and now I'm sitting here in the USA waiting to get back after a long 8 year break. Seems I've got a bit more waiting to do.

 

Good luck with your family and future business prospects -you did well maneuvering through the maze!

 

V

Imagination is more important than knowledge... Einstein

[gungadin1]

I don't get why you were so desperate to get back so quickly,spending all that money.Thailand isn't going anywhere.Why not spend some extra time with your family in Holland?I'm flying to UK in 2 weeks.My wife is here in Thailand.im not bothered if I can't return quickly.Nice to have some time away.Will visit other countries if I can't return before Christmas.Spend some time with my elderly parents in England.Just relax.Been here 21 years,I'm 51.More to life than Thailand

[american2]

Good job  But unfortunately expensive for you.  Questions that have been asked.  Why leave Thailand,,,Because the Immigration Dept. is requireing changes to Visa's be done Out Of The Country (so I have been told, (perferably in applicators home country.)  Why both Marriage Certificate and Childrens Birth Certificate.  The fact you have both can alleviate further problems. (Divorce or Wife dies but not children,  children die but not wife.)  Having both document forms pretty much insures fewer problems when applying and renewing the following year.

[jgm005]

48 minutes ago, darrenr said:

How can you get health insurance that covers COVID 19? In Australia as far as I am aware there is no such insurance ! They also exclude pandemics , does anyone know of any companies that offer the required insurance ?

many thanks 

Yes there are a few.  Luma Thailand  Pass is one in Thailand.  Three plans. Each has the coverage but has other items.   Plan 1, 360 days 15,000 bht if you are 75 <.  I have NO connection with them other than purchasing a policy last Friday to repatriate with my Thai wife from USA to Thailand (assuming I can find a darn Covid-19 test/results in < 72 hours).  

 

There are others.  If you are on Facebook than follow Alternative State Quarantine. It has named others. It is the only reason I am on that Social Media

[Dr Rodrigues Pereira]

I'm with you ! I've read some comments of people talking about money !!! For once in your lifetime, would uou please recognize that money isn't teh mso important of things ??? Hope you're fine ????

 

[Laza 45]

I hate to say it but.. if you were here on a TV and were married and you had the 400K in the bank here you could have applied for a Non O marriage here.. not leave the country.. I just did it.. 

[merlin2014]

Well written & informative. Thank you. 

[SiSePuede419]

Hate to tell you this, but you could have just stayed in Thailand and applied to the CR immigration office for your "Marriage Visa". 

 

Oops. ????

[vandeventer]

When the pandemic dies down will everything go back to normal? This power over us to stop

the virus is making the world go nuts. We are not fighting the virus alone,there are so many 

other factors.

[Dinobot]

Thank you so much for this post Theo. You just saved me a lot of money and more importantly, my sanity. 

[MJKT2014]

20 minutes ago, Laza 45 said:

hate to say it but.. if you were here on a TV and were married and you had the 400K in the bank here you could have applied for a Non O marriage here.. not leave the country.. I just did it.. 

That's what I did as well. The op says "I was in the process of getting my NON-O visa then Thailand went into lockdown as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak – I was still on a tourist visa. " which I don't understand?

 

Why would lock down stop the ongoing Non-O visa process from within Thailand?

[naryan]

Just a note if anyone needs update on the latest visa info call 1178 they talk great English and they have all the info and they are very polite it is the bureau of imagination at Bangkok. They have helped me every time local imagination seems to be playing games, cut out the middle man and get the direct info.

[Crossy]

13 minutes ago, SiSePuede419 said:

Hate to tell you this, but you could have just stayed in Thailand and applied to the CR immigration office for your "Marriage Visa". 

 

My thoughts exactly .

 

A good report on the hassles and costs of getting back in to Thailand, but he didn't need to leave in the first place.

[BritManToo]

Wouldn't it have been cheaper to pay an agent 25kbht?

Quite frankly I doubt the veracity of the OP, nobody could be this stupid.

[Taco]

Going through the process now on step 2. These precautions are so overdone. Proof Thailand can’t live with reality (and covid) but can only only suppress their possibilities and people

[thaibeachlovers]

1 hour ago, darrenr said:

How can you get health insurance that covers COVID 19? In Australia as far as I am aware there is no such insurance ! They also exclude pandemics , does anyone know of any companies that offer the required insurance ?

many thanks 

While I'm no expert on it I believe it's insurance from a THAI company. Must be possible as it's now a requirement for an O A visa, or so I believe.

[PaDavid]

Well done Theo. And here was me thinking three 4 hour return journey journeys, and 10 hours of hanging about at immigration was stressful. 

[trucking]

Blow that for a game of soldiers.

 

Credit to the OP for staying the course. No way would I go through all that. Wife and I would have to get by with skype calls. Free !

[Bender Rodriguez]

while most thai people don't have any savings, you wasted 300.000 baht on going to holland

 

while you already were here and did not use your 60 day extension and who knows if thailand will show mercy and extend till x-mas (dreaming)

[pookondee]

2 hours ago, 4reaL said:

 

Hope it was worth it.

He mentioned he was on a tourist visa beforehand, so wouldnt that have allowed  him to get converted to an Elite visa in-country?

 

Considering the various costs, risk of it all falling through at any stage, the time & stress and rigmarole,

 

If this whole sorry ordeal was costing 300k, id think extra 200k for the Elite visa would have been preferable option?

 

[Bender Rodriguez]

Just now, webfact said:

The plan was, and still is, that I would open a new rehab centre in Phuket in July – The Diamond Rehab Thailand – and eventually would apply a NON-B visa.

this is a long interesting "story" but it smells like an advertorial for your expensive REHAB centre you advertise at the same time

 

The cost for 28 days is as follows:

The Executive suite:	USD 12.500.-
The Deluxe Suite:	USD 11.500.-
The Deluxe Room:	USD 9.500.-