Despite the criticism (in some cases unfairly) of some on this site, it does however show all the loops that Tourists might have to go through to come on holiday to Thailand.  I believe that many will opt for a staycation and consider coming to Thialand maybe next year.  Sadly, that would leave many in the hospitality industry quite desolate.

6 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

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

I believe that the mid to long term aim is to rid the country of as many Westerners as they can, but they'll do it the Thai way and make it our fault and not theirs that we leave by making the conditions to stay so difficult that we give up and go. The first stage in this has been the demand for health insurance for one visa group, which would be unobtainable for many of the elderly who have made Thailand their home.

Thanks a million for your post Theo. Very well written, very thorough and very informative. I appreciate the time you took to do this for us!

Hence its cheaper for the Elite Visa lol

4 hours 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 

I have Company provided insurance and they have been sending me emails since March that they are there to help me and that they cover all COVID-19 related illness. Hope I don’t need to use it. The insurance company is called NowHealth (Singapore) and the plan is called worldcare I think. From memory I think it cost around 3-4K US but don’t quote me on that

1 minute ago, HuaHinHim said:

I have Company provided insurance and they have been sending me emails since March that they are there to help me and that they cover all COVID-19 related illness. Hope I don’t need to use it. The insurance company is called NowHealth (Singapore) and the plan is called worldcare I think. From memory I think it cost around 3-4K US but don’t quote me on that

The required insurance is readily available from many companies and not so expensive, depending on age 20-40,000 baht a year.

 

4 hours 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 

Most regular expat health insurance covers COVID. It is travel policies that often wxclude it.

Theo,

Many thanks for an extremely well written report.  Best of luck starting your new business.

Cheers,

Don

5 hours ago, bodga said:

 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.

He has 'money' -- pretty obvious by reading his dialogue. He would have paid to stay in a 'better class' hotel than you and I would have been put in: his room overlooked the Chao Phraya River -- hotels a bit pricey there!

OMG   unbelievable...........................

 

Is it only Thailand  this happens  

 

I have a wife in Thailand  even Buddha  does now  when I  can  come back to her  

 

I an not rich  like that dude   I am jusy in love with my  Thai  wife  

 Very sad 

I pray  for a Vacine  soon  everyday 

Re my comment on page 3 and the addenda on page 4: No reaction from the 'confused' individuals (on the contrary: one more joined in) - not that I expected one, because I know you lot. And rest assured, politicians know you too - that exactly is the reason why they keep on (re-)acting as they do - which of course means that everything stays the same, giving you plenty of reasons to whine - and dine, in order to drown your blue mood. That gives you more excess fat (and possibly resulting lifestyle diseases), which makes you more susceptible to covid, which is all the justification politicians need to further limit your remaining freedoms. Shouldn't be so hard to understand, if you dispose of a minimum of realism?

 

Maybe you want to give it one more try and read my initial comment again, on page 3? Nothing much to laugh there, but possibly some interesting life advice to learn. Even if you're past 70. 
 

Happy chap. But just another Thai rip off scam.. 

troll posts, nonsensical post and post with conspiracy theory nonsense have been removed

    This is the way the world ends
    This is the way the world ends
    This is the way the world ends
    Not with a bang but a whimper.

 

We gave up our freedom for a virus that has a 99.99% recovery rate and only kills people on deaths door.

 

 

What a palaver.

1 hour ago, paulbrow said:

The required insurance is readily available from many companies and not so expensive, depending on age 20-40,000 baht a year.

 

Wow, that is expensive. Travel will be beyond the means of most people in the new Covid world. Think of what air fares will cost when very few people travel. 

7 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

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 ).

 

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.

This post is a load of <deleted>. For a non o immigrant visa you do not need 400k thb in a bank account. He said he was all prepared.  Obviously not because if you look on the Royal Thai website it tells you everything you need to know. I am currently in the process of putting together my paperwork. So treat this with a bad experience because he was not prepared 

6 minutes ago, nemo38 said:

 

 

We gave up our freedom for a virus that has a 99.99% recovery rate and only kills people on deaths door.

 

 

 

Both of these statements are completely untrue.\

 

Mortality rate appears to be around 1% alliwng for asymptomatic cases.  However the other  99% do not all completely recover.  There are many long term effects, including cardiac and neurological damage.  It is early to say just what percentage of people recover with no long term damage but it will probably not exceed 50-75% of people who had symptomatc infection.

 

Many fit, active, previously healthy people have died of COVID. Obviously people who are weakened by age (which is NOT the same as being "at death's door"...elderly people can live many years and enjoyable ones at that ) or pre-exisitng diseases will have a higher mortality rate, but there have been deaths in all age groups and among active, fit people.

 

Give this man a medal. "Silver Cross of Valiance in Battle against Thai Bureaucracy".

29 minutes ago, nemo38 said:

We gave up our freedom for a virus that has a 99.99% recovery rate and only kills people on deaths door.

Not really. A lot of countries are getting back to business as usual, with an ongoing management plan. Others are still to suffer the initial impact. The obvious freedom that has been lost is the freedom to travel. It'll come back, provided you have the $.

 

What many will lose though, is their financial position in the years to come. That's the price of not creating a test, trace & isolate system ( TETRIS ) in time. Uruguay seems to have done a splendid job of it: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.07.24.20161802v1

 

Thailand can't seem to be able to ever get to the management phase.

Edited August 17, 20205 yr by DrTuner

6 hours ago, bodga said:

 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.

The guy gets 3 meals, his Cov19 tests. This makes price reasonable. I'm sure he has a nicer room than a 1000Baht room would be.

18 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

https://www.tipinsure.com/Ph/step_2

 

 

That coverage doesn't look like it meets the $100,000 USD (that's USD, not THB) requirement for incoming foreigner arrivals:

 

 

Edited August 17, 20205 yr by TallGuyJohninBKK

6 hours ago, 4reaL said:

 

Hope it was worth it.

I guess you didn’t see his family is here...of course it was worth it.

"I am very proud of Thailand keeping Covid outside the country".  Unfortunately I think that it is "Thailand has done a good job of delaying the inevitable, and seriously damaged the economy in the process".  https://sebastianrushworth.com/2020/08/04/how-bad-is-covid-really-a-swedish-doctors-perspective/?fbclid=IwAR0MeUoD-xe3ZX_4IwXlm3LNoEK2GDTfWsQZAsfXfKC7v8m5i3f2tnVpUo8

 

7 hours ago, bodga said:

 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.

It is a scam. A very expensive scam.

15 hours ago, nemo38 said:

 

We gave up our freedom for a virus that has a 99.99% recovery rate and only kills people on deaths door.

 

 

Rubbish...

 

https://www.foxnews.com/us/georgias-youngest-covid-19-death-is-7-year-old-boy-with-no-underlying-conditions

 

Quote

 

Georgia confirms healthy 7-year-old is state's youngest coronavirus-related death

 

 

Georgia health officials have confirmed that a 7-year-old boy with no underlying conditions has become the youngest person in the state to die from COVID-19.

 

The African-American boy was infected with the disease after attending a Savannah church where he was in contact with two senior members who were also stricken with the virus and died, the local NBC affiliate reported.

...

At least seven minors have died from COVID-19 in Florida including a 9-year-old girl who had no underlying medical conditions.

 

 

 

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html

 

168,000+ dead and counting in the U.S., likely heading beyond 200,000 dead in the coming months.

57 minutes ago, dougiemac52 said:

This post is a load of <deleted>. For a non o immigrant visa you do not need 400k thb in a bank account. He said he was all prepared.  Obviously not because if you look on the Royal Thai website it tells you everything you need to know. I am currently in the process of putting together my paperwork. So treat this with a bad experience because he was not prepared 

Embassies can make up any rule that they want, and they don't put their requirements on the official website....i know all about it.

I guess some people don't realize this is a news post..

saw a lot of people saying "Thanks Theo" like he was the posted on here himself

 

who knows, Theo might be a TV member but hey.

Why would you do that when you can apply within Thailand for a Non O Visa

 

https://siam-attorney.com/conversion-visa-to-non-immigrant-visa-inside-thailand/

 

so he succeeded in getting back to Thailand. he is luckier than a lot of Australians who can't even get home to their own country. and those who are  there being locked up in homes. It also seems that the Thai embassy iwas very helpful,but it seems there is always the demented Thai bashers on this forum seem to think these sort of things only happen here, they have probably never been anywhere else.