covid-19 insurance for certificate of entry

[durhamboy]

I'm trying to get my head around the minimum US$100k Covid-19 insurance required for a Certificate Of Entry (COE) into Thailand.

 

I understand that it has to be for the length of the visa. So for a 90 day non-O visa (based on marriage to a Thai) then the insurance is only needed for 90 days.

 

I presume that the 100k must be for medical expenses and not just repatriation expenses.

 

Is there a list of approved insurance companies that must be used or can I just go online and get insurance from any company?

 

I am over 65 and currently live in the UK. It seems a lot of insurance companies don't quote for old farts like me. Can anyone recommend an insurance company that ticks all the boxes for the COE requirements?

 

Thanks a lot.

 

 

[howerde]

If  you get stuck try this, https://covid19.tgia.org it not based on age, again not cheap, there are lots of reports of embassy accepting travel insurance as long as it mentions covid-19 i would look around before buy here, i just looked 6400 baht for 90 days

[durhamboy]

Howerde, many thanks for this. I took a quick look also and got the same quote i.e. 6,400 baht for 90 days. It doesn't ask for age so as I am over 65 it looks very attractive to me.

 

Does anyone know if this company policy (Tip - good name!) is accepted by Thai Embassies for the COE?

[Peter Denis]

18 minutes ago, durhamboy said:

...I took a quick look also and got the same quote i.e. 6,400 baht for 90 days. It doesn't ask for age so as I am over 65 it looks very attractive to me.

Does anyone know if this company policy (Tip - good name!) is accepted by Thai Embassies for the COE?

Yes, the covid-19 policies on https://covid19.tgia.org 

are issued by TGIA - the Thai insurance lobby and they do meet the 100.000 US$ covid-19 insurance requirement to apply for the COE.

But there are far better (and cheaper) options available.

 

If your current foreign/international health-insurance or your travel-insurance does not meet the covid-19 coverage of at least 100.000 US $, it is worth looking for a foreign insurance policy that does cover it.  The Thai TGIA insurance < https://covid19.tgia.org/> is in fact very expensive for the single coverage of covid-19 it provides.  The only advantage I see in that Thai policy is that you can subscribe to it till 99 years of age (and there is NO difference in premium per age-category which is of course ridiculous again from an insurance perspective but good news for older applicants).

 

When under 70 years of age, e.g. the SafetyWing travel-insurance policy < https://safetywing.com/nomad-insurance> will provide accident/illness cover of 250.000 US $ (including covid-19 coverage).  And that FULL travel-insurance policy sells at at premium of 40 to 130 US $ per month depending on your age, and so the premium is often LOWER than the limited covid-19 only Thai insurance premium.

 

Edited October 17, 2020 by Peter Denis

[durhamboy]

Thanks Peter I'll bear that in mind

[smylee52]

On 10/17/2020 at 4:55 AM, Peter Denis said:

Yes, the covid-19 policies on https://covid19.tgia.org 

are issued by TGIA - the Thai insurance lobby and they do meet the 100.000 US$ covid-19 insurance requirement to apply for the COE.

But there are far better (and cheaper) options available.

 

If your current foreign/international health-insurance or your travel-insurance does not meet the covid-19 coverage of at least 100.000 US $, it is worth looking for a foreign insurance policy that does cover it.  The Thai TGIA insurance < https://covid19.tgia.org/> is in fact very expensive for the single coverage of covid-19 it provides.  The only advantage I see in that Thai policy is that you can subscribe to it till 99 years of age (and there is NO difference in premium per age-category which is of course ridiculous again from an insurance perspective but good news for older applicants).

 

When under 70 years of age, e.g. the SafetyWing travel-insurance policy < https://safetywing.com/nomad-insurance> will provide accident/illness cover of 250.000 US $ (including covid-19 coverage).  And that FULL travel-insurance policy sells at at premium of 40 to 130 US $ per month depending on your age, and so the premium is often LOWER than the limited covid-19 only Thai insurance premium.

 

 

I quickly checked cost and it looks reasonable. Just wondering if they provide a letter you can show

Thai immigration that specifies you have  Covid19 and 100k US coverage. 

 

[smylee52]

I guess I should specify I was talking about SafetyWing .

[Peter Denis]

4 hours ago, smylee52 said:

I quickly checked cost and it looks reasonable. Just wondering if they provide a letter you can show

Thai immigration that specifies you have  Covid19 and 100k US coverage.

Yes, SafetyWing will provide you with a certificate stipulating the period of coverage.  You should ensure that it aligns with the permission to stay the Visa you will be entering Thailand on.  The permission to stay stamped in your passport by border-immigration will be CAPPED to the shortest one.  So when entering on a Non Imm O-A Visa your insurance should be for a full year, and when entering on a 90-day Non Imm O Visa you only need it for 90 days.

 

[smylee52]

41 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

Yes, SafetyWing will provide you with a certificate stipulating the period of coverage.  You should ensure that it aligns with the permission to stay the Visa you will be entering Thailand on.  The permission to stay stamped in your passport by border-immigration will be CAPPED to the shortest one.  So when entering on a Non Imm O-A Visa your insurance should be for a full year, and when entering on a 90-day Non Imm O Visa you only need it for 90 days.

 

Thanks for your quick response . I will be entering on an exisiting Non Imm O Visa that expires Feb. 9 , 2021 .  The only 90 days for insurance has me wondering why 90 days as I will apply for another 12 month extension in February . Is the Non Imm O only capped at 90 days ?

 

This does get confusing becasue I will apply for 6 month insurance but then if things aren't under some sort of control by  the end of April 2021 then I will need to extend month to month with SafetyWing . I don't want to leave Thailand and have to jump through these hoops again to return October 1, 2021. 

 

Just bizarre how they can make , what should be , a simple process into a  cluster  *uck .

 

 

 

[Peter Denis]

2 minutes ago, smylee52 said:

... I will be entering on an exisiting Non Imm O Visa that expires Feb. 9 , 2021 .  The only 90 days for insurance has me wondering why 90 days as I will apply for another 12 month extension in February . Is the Non Imm O only capped at 90 days ?

 

This does get confusing becasue I will apply for 6 month insurance but then if things aren't under some sort of control by  the end of April 2021 then I will need to extend month to month with SafetyWing . I don't want to leave Thailand and have to jump through these hoops again to return October 1, 2021. 

 

Just bizarre how they can make , what should be , a simple process into a  cluster  *uck .

A Non Imm O Visa is a short-stay Visa and on entry you will only receive a permission to stay for 90 days.  In the last month of those 90 days you would have to apply at your local IO for the 1-year extension of stay based on that original Non Imm O Visa.

Such application does require that you meet the financial requirements (e.g. 800.000 THB seasoned for two months on a personal Thai bank-account at the moment of application), but it does NOT require a continuation of that covid-19 insurance. 

Hence there is no reason to subscribe to a 6-month covid-19 insurance.  You only need it for your intended period of stay on the Visa you entered with (in your case 90 days).

[smylee52]

9 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

A Non Imm O Visa is a short-stay Visa and on entry you will only receive a permission to stay for 90 days.  In the last month of those 90 days you would have to apply at your local IO for the 1-year extension of stay based on that original Non Imm O Visa.

Such application does require that you meet the financial requirements (e.g. 800.000 THB seasoned for two months on a personal Thai bank-account at the moment of application), but it does NOT require a continuation of that covid-19 insurance. 

Hence there is no reason to subscribe to a 6-month covid-19 insurance.  You only need it for your intended period of stay on the Visa you entered with (in your case 90 days).

 

Thanks for your help Peter . Looks like I can return sooner than I expected with the inclusion of Non Imm  O. 

[Peter Denis]

22 minutes ago, smylee52 said:

...

Thanks for your help Peter . Looks like I can return sooner than I expected with the inclusion of Non Imm  O. 

Be aware that it seems they also added the 400K/40K in/out-patient health-insurance requirement on the Non Imm O Visa for retirement application.

So there are now Thai Embassies that do offer that 90-day Non Imm O Visa for retirement purposes, but it requires the same IO-approved health-insurance as the 1-year Non imm O-A Visa application.

That being the case, one wonders why slamming the insurance requirement on that 90-day Non Imm O Visa and thereby making it a 'watered-down' version of the Non Imm O-A Visa.

[smylee52]

37 minutes ago, Peter Denis said:

Be aware that it seems they also added the 400K/40K in/out-patient health-insurance requirement on the Non Imm O Visa for retirement application.

So there are now Thai Embassies that do offer that 90-day Non Imm O Visa for retirement purposes, but it requires the same IO-approved health-insurance as the 1-year Non imm O-A Visa application.

That being the case, one wonders why slamming the insurance requirement on that 90-day Non Imm O Visa and thereby making it a 'watered-down' version of the Non Imm O-A Visa.

 

Yes I will insure I have good travel insurance . No idea why i was allowed to get my Non Imm O extensions without proof of insurance even though I had it but now I just need to remember to bring the documents on my next renewal . i never look forward to spending time at Thai IO . 

[Peter Denis]

12 minutes ago, smylee52 said:

 

Yes I will insure I have good travel insurance . No idea why i was allowed to get my Non Imm O extensions without proof of insurance even though I had it but now I just need to remember to bring the documents on my next renewal . i never look forward to spending time at Thai IO . 

Be aware that it is not just 'any' travel insurance that will meet the requirements for re-entering Thailand.

> The 90-day Non Imm O Visa for reason of RETIREMENT, you are currently considering now seems to require the same IO-approved health-insurance (400K/40K in/out-patient) that is required for a Non Imm O-A Visa.  You need a Foreign or Thai Insurance Certificate that meets the stringent IO requirements to be accepted by the Thai Embassy where you apply.

> If your travel-insurance includes covid-19 treatment for 100.000 US $, you can use it to meet the CoE requirement.

 

[durhamboy]

I have just purchased the covid insurance at https://covid19.tgia.org. Eventually I got an email from a company called Dhipaya Insurance. It has an attachment with the suffix .bin which is a format I have never heard of. Tried to open it but couldn't. Sent it to my wife's nephew in Thailand but he couldn't open it either. I'm hoping it contains my Certificate of Insurance which I need for my COE registration.

 

I clicked on another part of the email and some details of my insurance came up in Thai but doesn't seem to be the certificate. It also has the sum insured as THB6,400,000 but doesn't specifically mention covid. I thought I was getting the required THB3,200,000 (ie US$100k) of covid cover.

 

Anyone had these problems with this company and how did you resolve them. Thanks.

[mishie2]

Thank you for your informative posts, Peter.

 

Michelle

[howerde]

19 hours ago, durhamboy said:

I have just purchased the covid insurance at https://covid19.tgia.org. Eventually I got an email from a company called Dhipaya Insurance. It has an attachment with the suffix .bin which is a format I have never heard of. Tried to open it but couldn't. Sent it to my wife's nephew in Thailand but he couldn't open it either. I'm hoping it contains my Certificate of Insurance which I need for my COE registration.

 

I clicked on another part of the email and some details of my insurance came up in Thai but doesn't seem to be the certificate. It also has the sum insured as THB6,400,000 but doesn't specifically mention covid. I thought I was getting the required THB3,200,000 (ie US$100k) of covid cover.

 

Anyone had these problems with this company and how did you resolve them. Thanks.

The comany Dhipaya is the company, you will need to contact them, use the reply on the email you got, mine came as a PDF,   was about 13 pages, and cover states 3 .200.00

for death and the same for treatment,  the .bin is used in dvd back ups or similar files

Edited November 17, 2020 by howerde

[durhamboy]

Hi Howerde, thanks. Yes I managed to get a PDF file from them and it is pretty much as you said. Just got to get the COE now. Cheers.

[howerde]

4 minutes ago, durhamboy said:

Hi Howerde, thanks. Yes I managed to get a PDF file from them and it is pretty much as you said. Just got to get the COE now. Cheers.

Good stuff, don't forget to click on the link in the covering letter to confirm and verify 

 Thank you for your trust in Dhipaya Insurance Public Company Limited. Your policy number: 14048-151-205931426

According to the regulation enacted by Office of Insurance Commission (OIC) regarding
e-insurance, the insured has to verify and confirm his/her insurance policy.

Therefore, we would grateful if you please do so within 7 days following the receipt date of the insurance policy.

Click here to verify and confirm your insurance policy

The policyholder may terminate the insurance policy within 15 days free look cancellation period from the policy received date without paying any surrender charges
and receive a full premium refund by calling Dhipaya Insurance Public Company Limited at 1736. The policy shall be deemed no coverage since the effective date
stated in the policy schedule.

[durhamboy]

Excellent point howerede. In all the pallaver I forgot that I had to do this. Done it now. Many thanks!