Initial STV Application Instruction from Thailand Longstay Company

[Maestro]

2 hours ago, Bender Rodriguez said:

this is nonsense as you might be on a flight with an INFECTED THAI

 

The STV (Special Tourist Visa) is not available to Thai nationals

[Maestro]

33 minutes ago, CanuckThai said:

CV19...

 

What does the number you give to your CV (curriculum vitae) have to do with it?

[alianware]

3 hours ago, Max69xl said:

Everything is about making as much money as possible for everyone. That includes the company in charge, the ASQ-hotel and also the connected hospital in Thailand. Don't forget the airline ticket which won't be cheap. The 10,000 baht application fee is probably the cheapest cost of all. It seems one requirement is missing, the proof of funds enough for at least 90 days. To me it looks like the old list for the suggested Phuket model which was a 30 days minimum trip. The STV is supposed to be a 90 days minimum trip which is extendable twice. 

Yes that's true. And the most expensive one could be in hospital. We never hear any report from any falang who in sent to hospital

1. What happen with them ?

2. What kind of treatement do they get ?

3. Do they have bad experience there ?

4  How long they have to stay in hospital ?

 

Remember that they requiere insurance cover with minimum $100.000 . Imagine this could lead to insurance scam. 

 

No western countries obligate you to hospital if you get infected unless you get sick. Instead you have to quarantine yourself in your property.

But in Thailand they force you to be in the hospital even that you have no symstoms. This is insane.

Edited September 24, 2020 by alianware

[Geordie59]

At least 72 hours before flying?

or within 72 hours of flying?

[ubonjoe]

13 minutes ago, Geordie59 said:

or within 72 hours of flying?

Yes

[Dan O]

4 hours ago, zzzzz said:

still NO info on flight costs and how the 100/flight will get to Bangkok ( via from where?)
how many airlines are willing to operate at a loss as flying 100 passengers is hardly even breaking even
OR cost for the 15 night stay and at which hotel and are the hotels ONLY in Bangkok?

The flight info and cost are provided to you once you pass the initial screen as are the info on insurance options, ASQ etc. The current ASQ list is already available from various sources and there are hotels in International flight areas. I believe they dont want people arriving at one location and then traveling thru the country to some random place like they did originally when the country first allowed returns. They lose control and monitoring and people dont follow the rules.  They are using "charter" flights in order to give some control over the movement and to help maximize the flight use

[Dan O]

1 hour ago, dblh said:

Good info, thanks for it. This is way better option than applying Elite visa and still go through ASQ and everything else. Some of my friends will go for this once all the details are out.

What's the FB group where is recent information coming to Thailand?

I have no clue what FB page has info for the return. I would not rely on any second hand source of accurate information on returning as that's where a lot of the mis-information comes from. Get the info from the Thai government dept or assigned companies, even then info will change as it gets refined and inacted 

[Dan O]

3 hours ago, treetops said:

Now touted as 30 days minimum (including 15 days ASQ).

The new STV is a 90 day visa with 2 - 90 day extensions available to it. The listed comment is a minimum suggestion I think and not been finalized requirement yet. If it is part of the final regulation it is much better as it is listed as part of the pre-paid requirements unless you can prove your own home or condo or lease. That's much short than having to pre-pay for a full 90 day initial visa stay. Again this Visa isn't intended for short stay tourist but I don't think they can force you to stay in the country any longer than you want to. 

[Dan O]

4 hours ago, CanuckThai said:

I'm not an applicant, nor will I be.  There's a lot of quirky news about the newly proposed/offered STV.  One would assume that an application or inquiry could be discussed directly with one's local Thai embassy/consulate.  I'm guessing it would follow suit with a repatriation flight request (until international flights resume).  That's why it's a bit odd, to be paying for the service of the "Thailand Longstay Company".   

 

It gives the same greasy feeling, I had, when I was directed to book and pay for my repatriation flight, through an "appointed agent" in Bangkok, at 3-4 times the going rate, that the flight booked directly with the same airline would have been.

I think they are setting this up in this way to help manage the flow of information and coordination of paperwork and flights to help take the burden off the Embassy staff. I presume that even though there may be only 1200 visas issued a month initially there will be countless more people contacting for information and questions. The embassy are then relieved from that burden and can continue to deal with other visa issues and other business. There was quite the long lists of complaints before about the non response from Embassies during this Virus situation and this may help eliminate most of that.  As for paying for the service of the Thailand Longstay Company is like any other business, there are cost of operations that have to be paid for in order the handle all these tasks. I suspect that you never worked for free did you?   

[Dan O]

9 hours ago, farang51 said:

Thanks for your hard work to make this thread more serious - I hope the worst of the complainers stay away, so this thread does not get polluted too.

 

I hope the STV succeed and will be the first step to a more open Thailand - and I hope that we will not see some idiot breaking quarantine and then test positive; that would effectively close up the borders again.

Thanks. Posting Threads here can be like herding cats or 3 year olds most times. You get every version of question not related to the thread, every complaint about countless wrongs that have been done and general down right bitching that has nothing to do with serious threads meant to help, not to mention the comments from people that dont read what is written. It makes me feel sorry for the moderators here to try to sort through posts.

 

I hope this can help people needing info and hope those that are stuck outside trying to get back and can qualify have some success. Again this info is not all finalized and doesnt apply to all but its part of a starting point to help get back to normal

[SpanishExpat]

Wait for the flight costs and you will be shocked for sure ????charter flights with social distancing....50-60k Baht from Europe sadly wouldn’t shock me.  That plus 3 months pre paid health insurance of most probable a Thai insurance company along with crazy rates. GL and I hope I will be proved wrong.

 

This visa is only appealing for people stuck outside the country while paying double rent at the moment. I totally get that every additional month double-payments are frustrating. They will sadly be the Guinea pigs and milked to the Max!
 

 

[alianware]

1 hour ago, SpanishExpat said:

Wait for the flight costs and you will be shocked for sure ????charter flights with social distancing....50-60k Baht from Europe sadly wouldn’t shock me.  That plus 3 months pre paid health insurance of most probable a Thai insurance company along with crazy rates. GL and I hope I will be proved wrong.

 

This visa is only appealing for people stuck outside the country while paying double rent at the moment. I totally get that every additional month double-payments are frustrating. They will sadly be the Guinea pigs and milked to the Max!
 

 

Does it mean they decide which airline to fly with ?? So we can only choose the product from their list ??

[SpanishExpat]

22 minutes ago, alianware said:

Does it mean they decide which airline to fly with ?? So we can only choose the product from their list ??

That‘s how I understood it. If not, you could easily choose Qatar Airways/Emirates flights, if you know the flight date from the embassy. That’s how it worked for the people with marriage visa and they paid/pay the regular price like in the booking engines.
However, that has nothing to do with a charter flight. That’s one of the main reasons I would wait now for details and not rush with the application. 
 

The funny thing is that there ARE daily commercial flights to BKK with full crews on it, but they can’t sell the tickets, as Thailand just allows repatriation flights/ the few scheduled flights arranged with the embassies/private jets.
Just Qatar Airways itself is flying 2x per day to BKK.

They should have developed a special booking engine for the ASQ Hotels, let everyone book their own flights + the usual negative Test proof etc when going to the embassy. Much easier, faster and cheaper process.

Edited September 24, 2020 by SpanishExpat

[4evermaat]

48 minutes ago, SpanishExpat said:

They should have developed a special booking engine for the ASQ Hotels, let everyone book their own flights + the usual negative Test proof etc when going to the embassy. Much easier, faster and cheaper process.

[emphasis mine] And that explains precisely why Thai logic has not been able to fully embrace this method quickly.

Edited September 24, 2020 by 4evermaat

[charmonman]

I received the same email after enquiring with the TAT office in my home country. I completed the first step, sending off the initial email to the thailongstay company but received no confirmation yet.

The STV suits me as I usually stay 2-3 months and it currently is the only way that gives me any hope of getting back anytime soon but I have the feeling it will be too complicated and expensive to be worth it.

[Dan O]

Yes according to the current information they will be supplying the list of available flights that are associated with this Visa as only approved airlines\flights will travel as part of this Visa 

[Dan O]

23 minutes ago, 4evermaat said:

[emphasis mine] And that explains precisely why Thai logic has not been able to fully embrace this method quickly.

Im not sure what you said makes any more sense than what is being outlined.

 

Unless something changes the information will be provided to you by the Agency (Thailand Longstay Co in this instance) of the approved ASQ hotel accommodations, available flights, various available insurance etc. You choose the ones you want for the dates you want and book it yourself directly with the appropriate company. They dont choose any of those for you, you choose yourself 

Edited September 24, 2020 by Dan O

[Maestro]

4 hours ago, SpanishExpat said:

 ...GL and I hope I will be proved wrong...

 

Who is GL?

[Dan O]

17 hours ago, Maestro said:

 

Who is GL?

I think that is suppose to be Good Luck, but not sure?   It becomes maddening trying to understand or guess what some people's abbreviations are suppose to me as most are just made up slang that not widely known. 

[Dan O]

The latest discussions that are popping up about possibly reducing the quarantine to 7 days from 14 days for the new STV if all goes well after the first few weeks is interesting. It's just discussion but I think it signals the fact that the people at the top are really starting to see they need to consider ways to do more to lessen the hurdles on returning tourist in all categories somehow to stimulate the return. It's by no means final in any way shape or form but until they start having those true discussions at the top the longer this problem will get worse. I'm sure we'll see other discussion topics pop up over the next few weeks as the internal issue from the lack of tourist (dollars) dwindles with the end to amnesty and exit of many shorter term tourist further reduces money and impacts the economy even more.  This is just my opinion on the situation and hope at this point. 

 

Again this thread is to try to help with positive information for those stuck outside Thailand and trying to get back. There are plenty of other threads available for the general complaints and bitching for those that want to do that. 

 

 

[zzzzz]

read on
 

Quote

 

But Richard Barrow, a popular Thailand travel blogger, tweeted on Thursday: “Travel agents have started to ask for a THB10,000 upfront service fee which is non-refundable. As the government hasn’t announced any details yet, including which countries are allowed to take part, it’s advisable not to pay yet.”

Barrow’s warnings are gospel for thousands of travellers planning Thailand trips, and his latest tweet fuelled a flurry of questions that suggest the special tourist visa could be a step too far for cost-conscious travellers.

The identity of the travel agents authorised to handle the new visa option and charge a fee is far from clear, although the  Tourism Authority of Thailand’s long-stay company does have preferred agents overseas that act as sales representatives for various holiday options.

https://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2020/09/special-tourist-visa-has-a-high-price-tag/

 

 

[Dan O]

33 minutes ago, zzzzz said:

read on
 

 

As far as a fee, I see no problem with a fee for service for an approved Agency.  You don't work for free do you?   Thailand Longstay Company is approved. As for an upfront fee, per Thailand Longstay Company  you don't pay anything unless you have the initial pre-approval (free) to determine if your you \ your country are acceptable to apply. That includes the check to make sure you have no issues with criminal or visa issue within Thailand that would exclude you.  At that point you receive all the information and approved vendors from TLC for the various services and you choose if you want to move forward with an application. 

 

As far as being non refundable that is no different than paying for a visa. You prepay and there is no guarantee of approval. 

 

I think it's wise and good advice to not presume you can use any Agency on the market and only use authorized vendors. As I've mentioned a number of times since I started this thread, this is the all still up in the air as the final rules have not been approved and posted yet.

Edited September 25, 2020 by Dan O

[farang51]

16 minutes ago, Dan O said:

As far as a fee, I see no problem with a fee for service for an approved Agency.  You don't work for free do you?   Thailand Longstay Company is approved. As for an upfront fee, per Thailand Longstay Company  you don't pay anything unless you have the initial pre-approval (free) to determine if your you \ your country are acceptable to apply. That includes the check to make sure you have no issues with criminal or visa issue within Thailand that would exclude you.  At that point you receive all the information and approved vendors from TLC for the various services and you choose if you want to move forward with an application. 

 

As far as being non refundable that is no different than paying for a visa. You prepay and there is no guarantee of approval.

Usually, the number of visas are not limited. Here, you may get 10.000 people or more applying for a visa that is limited to 1.200 the first month. We need more information about how they are going to do it.

 

Also, what happens with the flight, hotel, and insurance if you test positive before boarding the plane? Are there any kind of refund or do you simply lose the money?

 

And regarding the insurance, they say that it only covers COVID transmitted in Thailand. So, if you test positive when you arrive, will they reject covering you, saying you got the virus before arriving? https://www.tipinsure.com/CovidRegional/product_detail

[Dan O]

1 hour ago, farang51 said:

Usually, the number of visas are not limited. Here, you may get 10.000 people or more applying for a visa that is limited to 1.200 the first month. We need more information about how they are going to do it.

 

Also, what happens with the flight, hotel, and insurance if you test positive before boarding the plane? Are there any kind of refund or do you simply lose the money?

 

And regarding the insurance, they say that it only covers COVID transmitted in Thailand. So, if you test positive when you arrive, will they reject covering you, saying you got the virus before arriving? https://www.tipinsure.com/CovidRegional/product_detail

Those are very valid questions and certainly everyone going back to Thailand on any visa currently need to understand before they commit. 

 

If you test positive you will not be allowed to board the airline as one of the main requirements for any return now under all visa options is a negative covid test and fit to fly cert within 72 hours before you board any flight back

 

As for refunds of fees for any hotel, insurance etc, or changes of dates those are all questions you need to ask each vendor directly and the Thai Embassy if you choose to move forward. 

 

As for more info about the visa and requirements. Nothing has been finalized yet  untill the happens there is no additional information available. We all need to wait until that is produced, approved and published. Ive tried to post the most recent and current info available at the moment, all of which is subject to addition, deletion and\or change until final approval 

 

[farang51]

5 minutes ago, Dan O said:

As for more info about the visa and requirements. Nothing has been finalized yet  untill the happens there is no additional information available. We all need to wait until that is produced, approved and published. Ive tried to post the most recent and current info available at the moment, all of which is subject to addition, deletion and\or change until final approval 

As far as I understand, they will release more details Tuesday or Wednesday after a government meeting. A little late when they expect the first batch of tourists a few days later; but, ok, we are in an unprecedented situation.

[Dan O]

4 minutes ago, farang51 said:

As far as I understand, they will release more details Tuesday or Wednesday after a government meeting. A little late when they expect the first batch of tourists a few days later; but, ok, we are in an unprecedented situation.

Yes more to come soon hopefully. But that may be a good thing if they decide to lower the quarantine time after a couple of successful weeks of returnees. It would be much cheaper financially. It will probably take a couple weeks to work thru all this info, requirements and approvals anyway 

 

I've already started with the first step so I can be in the list if they decide to allow the USA to be included. If not I haven't lost anything that I already had 

[FlyingThai]

4 hours ago, Dan O said:

As far as a fee, I see no problem with a fee for service for an approved Agency.  You don't work for free do you?   Thailand Longstay Company is approved. As for an upfront fee, per Thailand Longstay Company  you don't pay anything unless you have the initial pre-approval (free) to determine if your you \ your country are acceptable to apply. That includes the check to make sure you have no issues with criminal or visa issue within Thailand that would exclude you.  At that point you receive all the information and approved vendors from TLC for the various services and you choose if you want to move forward with an application. 

 

As far as being non refundable that is no different than paying for a visa. You prepay and there is no guarantee of approval. 

 

I think it's wise and good advice to not presume you can use any Agency on the market and only use authorized vendors. As I've mentioned a number of times since I started this thread, this is the all still up in the air as the final rules have not been approved and posted yet.

That's not really an accurate perspective.

 

Thailand Longstay Company isn't just any private travel agency. It's a government spin-off previously used (rather unknown) to promote retirement in Thailand. It's pretty much a government advertising agency.

 

When paying for a visa application you know what the process is. In this case you don't know any parameters whatsoever, it's basically "Pay us and eat the crumbs we feed you!" and there is no way I'd wire some obscure agency $340 upfront without having any guarantees or even reliable info about what they're able to provide. Credit card or Paypal maybe, I could always dispute that transaction if this turns out to be a giant turd (which I fully expect).

 

On top of that I pretty much guarantee you that all prices they'll eventually quote are HIGHLY inflated so someone is clearly taking the p*ss here.

[cjinchiangrai]

Has anyone gotten past the preliminary approval stage?  I submitted an inquiry but no response yet. My biggest concern would be getting the initial approval but not getting the COE approval or having flights available. 

[Dan O]

1 hour ago, FlyingThai said:

That's not really an accurate perspective.

 

Thailand Longstay Company isn't just any private travel agency. It's a government spin-off previously used (rather unknown) to promote retirement in Thailand. It's pretty much a government advertising agency.

 

When paying for a visa application you know what the process is. In this case you don't know any parameters whatsoever, it's basically "Pay us and eat the crumbs we feed you!" and there is no way I'd wire some obscure agency $340 upfront without having any guarantees or even reliable info about what they're able to provide. Credit card or Paypal maybe, I could always dispute that transaction if this turns out to be a giant turd (which I fully expect).

 

On top of that I pretty much guarantee you that all prices they'll eventually quote are HIGHLY inflated so someone is clearly taking the p*ss here.

The information I posted is accurate and directly from Thailand Longstay Company, the company that has the ability to process your documents and assist in the interface with the Thai Immigration and other departments.  They have a fee for the service they supply aside to any Visa fees. 

 

 I stand by what I posted. Perhaps you may have missed something I posted but it's all there for you review if needed. 

 

 

[FlyingThai]

1 hour ago, cjinchiangrai said:

Has anyone gotten past the preliminary approval stage?  I submitted an inquiry but no response yet. My biggest concern would be getting the initial approval but not getting the COE approval or having flights available. 

Have you even paid or gotten any payment information? Highly doubt they'll do anything without seeing the moolah.