8 hours ago, sweetserenity said:

By the thai government, 4th phrase reopening

That just isn't going to happen. Heck, they extend the state of emergency even though there has been barely a case of community transmission on months. Try Jan 2021, and that would be dependent whether tourists have been vaccinated or not. Evwn then, tourist numbers will be realtively low. 

Edited November 19, 20205 yr by DavisH

8 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

I think peole would rather the quarantine be removed, the insurance isnt much and probably not a bad idea

 

Yeah, except most tourists contemplating a trip to Thailand are probably quite healthy and have money for the odd hospital bill.

(most of which will probably never eventuate anyway).

 

So forcing people to throw away money on insurance for things that will most probably never happen,

just spells SCAM in my book.

 

Most people who have money are not in the habit of throwing it way,

and do not appreciate being scammed.

 

Mandatory insurance is just ONE of many silly things that will deter folks from choosing Thailand when all things are being considered.

 

I love Thailand too, but it aint that great that one should have to beg and grovel for a visa AND put up with government sanctioned scams. 

 

There will be plenty of other nice places to choose from once travel opens up again.

Places where you will get treated better, and where governments don't openly encourage xenophobia.  

The game is virtually over anyway now, bu I wont be visiting again until the rest of the stupid restrictions are scrapped. See Y'all soon.

 

10 hours ago, bdenner said:

A breath of fresh air. Some embassy staff with more common sense than their counterparts here in Thailand.

 

still a waste of effort.. only the needy will come and it will not help thai economy much at all.....

There is now much talk of vaccine being available in UK and other countries by the end of the year.  Does anyone have any idea of how Thailand will react to this? 

For instance, a logical approach might be to allow in anyone who has been vaccinated, and has proof of this.  No need for Quarantine or Covid test, just vaccine certificate.  Is this too logical for Thailand to contemplate?  Will this start a market for fake vaccine certificates?

Will Thailand insist on only the Thai vaccine, that seems to have stalled (anyone surprised at this?)

I can see the possibility of Thailand only accepting a vaccine made or administered in Thailand by Thai Dr.  Thus making money for Thailand.

How many would chance a vaccine made in Thailand and offered without full International testing and approval?

Anyone doubting the competence of Thai officials involved in setting entry requirements, should download the 'Fit to Fly'  certificate and see how relevant it is.

Can we expect Thailand to follow what seems to be a perfectly logical approach?

Do the 'high ups' in government actually want to start mass tourism again, or would they prefer to keep the present situation where Thailand is cut off from the world?

I would say on this news + the Vaccine , looks like the fund managers are correct to move funds into the Thai Baht....it will rise some more.

53 minutes ago, SpanishExpat said:

I rather expect neighboring countries to follow TH approach, instead of going their own way. Do NOT expect that the ASQ will be scrapped before May 2021! Japan said they will start in April a pre-Olympics strategy with entry based on just a negative PCR-Test.

 

1 month ago I would have laughed at anyone telling me that TH will let in genuine tourists. Now its reality, but still lots of guys are complaining. 99% of the genuine tourists won`t accept the ASQ, but I guess most in this forum have more ties to TH then just being genuine tourists.

 

Right now you can get a nice ASQ + Health Insurance for 3 months + PCR Test for around 50-60k THB. That`s quite cheap to be able to visit loved ones /friends or whoever! There will always be cheap-charlys who complain about everything, but that's it.

I think the problem is not really in the requirements or the cost. It's the fact that it's all a gamble. With all the risk sitting in the lap of the tourist. 

I apply for a COE, get approved to book everything , it turns out I have to prepay for pretty much everything,  and if my visa is denied there is no refund. The same if the COE is not sent back. The same if the PCR test is positive or late.  That last one is a killer, since it normally takes up to 72 hours to get the results.

 

If this crazy offer was packaged with any kind of safe-guards or guarantees, then the cost wouldn't be so bad. But as it now stands, there's a significant risk you might pay THB 150,000 and still get nothing. 

Is there any official word of the THB 500K requirement being withdrawn? Or is it just conjecture based on the actions of a few embassies? (Maybe not conjecture so much as good reasoning based on experience with the Thai government's standard style of backtracking, but still a guess.) 

2 minutes ago, androokery said:

But as it now stands, there's a significant risk you might pay THB 150,000 and still get nothing. 

 

Or even better, get a false + in quarantine, dragged off to hospital without any symptoms for a minimum 14 days and find out the small print in your covid insurance states it doesn't kick in for the first 15 days 

1 minute ago, androokery said:

Is there any official word of the THB 500K requirement being withdrawn?

 

It's officially scrapped as per numerous examples from various Embassies around the world posted in this thread.

3 minutes ago, Salerno said:

 

Or even better, get a false + in quarantine, dragged off to hospital without any symptoms for a minimum 14 days and find out the small print in your covid insurance states it doesn't kick in for the first 15 days 

Is that small print real or just something you worry about?

2 minutes ago, Salerno said:

 

It's officially scrapped as per numerous examples from various Embassies around the world posted in this thread.

Still not scrapped at "my" Thai embassy...

8 minutes ago, androokery said:

Still not scrapped at "my" Thai embassy...

 

That sucks, Australia updated (back to 20K) and other countries have too. Keep an eye on it, perhaps in the next 24 hours for yours with luck.

 

 

Edited November 19, 20205 yr by Salerno

9 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

Yes, get a negative covid test, buy insurance and quarantine, you can come to Thailand.

The link is a legitimate link of Thai insurance companies offering the insurance, its listed on embassy websites as where to buy insurance.

Don't forget that the first 14 days of the $100.00 insurance scam  do not count, yet that is the most likely time to catch it, when you are out of the country.

4 minutes ago, possum1931 said:

Don't forget that the first 14 days of the $100.00 insurance scam  do not count, yet that is the most likely time to catch it, when you are out of the country.

You are wrong. There are some companies that may have that clause. The insurance on the TGIA website starts on entry or before.

9 hours ago, Oldie said:

They think more and more often to reduce the quarantine. And the pressure gets higher and higher. The tourism industry and the entertainment industry wants to see money as long as there is the main season. Bad for them that at the same time there are the highest Covid rates in very many countries.

 

But first they allowed only tourists from safe countries, then from high risk countries with financial requirements and now without financial requirements. Problem could be that they get too many tourists that have Corona. Too many to handle. Other problem could be that the Covid numbers in tourist areas go up. This might keep local tourists away. And the main problem - if Corona is in the country at higher numbers it is very hard and expensive to get rid of it. But everything is up to them. I am just another (longtime) tourist.

"The figures already for ASQ show over 700 have returned carrying the virus."  Did many of these people had to pay hospital costs? What percentage of these people were not Thai?

People talk like Thailand is the only country in the world with travel restrictions, Most countries in the world have restrictions and conditions for entry at the moment, visa's, insurance, quarantine etc etc

I dare say its just as difficult and costly to visit any countries in the region

 

6 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

You are wrong. There are some companies that may have that clause. The insurance on the TGIA website starts on entry or before.

That's fair enough Joe, But as it has been well documented here on Thaivisa, I wonder how many people have insured with companies that have that clause, and ended paying for their hospital treatment.

with the advent of this latest entry rule I sensed already that before long this would develop into just another <deleted> shot in the foot (left)

The requirements keep on changing in Thailand. Why can't they think carefully before putting up the requirements?

10 hours ago, 2long said:

Any news on the smart watch tracking things that can give the wearer a full medical diagnosis while tracking their whereabouts and forewarning the locals that a dirty infected farang is nearby? That story only lasted 48 hours, didn't it?

Still required, 200 baht a day.

that didn't take long for the 180 degree turn. Someone must have shook their head and realized the 500K would hamper and not attract tourist.

54 minutes ago, androokery said:

Is that small print real or just something you worry about?

 

Sorry, just noticed the question. There has been reports of some policies actually have that clause; as always, caveat emptor, make sure you understand what cover you're buying.

10 hours ago, Cabradelmar said:

drop quarantine and $100k covid insurance and Thailand will be open. 

Open to the Corona Virus. Let's take things slowly. The vaccine should soon be here. Have patience. Keep the quarantine until the vaccine arrives.

If not wrong, even being issued COE at your country and landed in BKK by flight. 

All your COE required documents still need to check again before proceed to immigration for entry. 

If received COE without this THB 500k condition means risking of being rejected to entry at airport...

 

really wonder where weather vane policy making is taught, or if the policy makers did not go to class but got the degree instead.

1 minute ago, Calvin1976 said:

All your COE required documents still need to check again before proceed to immigration for entry. 

If received COE without this THB 500k condition means risking of being rejected to entry at airport...

 

If that was the case you wouldn't get a visa in the first place or get boarded at departure.

10 minutes ago, Calvin1976 said:

If received COE without this THB 500k condition means risking of being rejected to entry at airport...

Immigration will only want to see the COE, covid 19 test, fit to fly certificate and a valid visa in your passport.

9 hours ago, NorthernRyland said:

I continue to be confused. Are you saying there are still SETV available for Americans? Why did they introduce the new 9 month tourist visa then? I thought the borders were only open to particular categories of visas that didn't include the common tourist.

9 hours ago, 2long said:

I think you will find that a huge reason for the positive test case numbers is that in Europe they're increasing testing all the time, hence more positives. And that in Thailand they only test people in quarantine, going to prison and for special reasons. Hence the lack of positives, and the blame all going to returnees.

Like many others, I feel that the virus is very much here and was probably a year ago.

I am reliably informed by a good friend in Scotland that all the local schools in his part of Glasgow have most of their classrooms half full, and also half of the teachers off with the virus.

Does anyone know if that is the case in any part of Thailand?

1 hour ago, androokery said:

I think the problem is not really in the requirements or the cost. It's the fact that it's all a gamble. With all the risk sitting in the lap of the tourist. 

I apply for a COE, get approved to book everything , it turns out I have to prepay for pretty much everything,  and if my visa is denied there is no refund. The same if the COE is not sent back. The same if the PCR test is positive or late.  That last one is a killer, since it normally takes up to 72 hours to get the results.

 

If this crazy offer was packaged with any kind of safe-guards or guarantees, then the cost wouldn't be so bad. But as it now stands, there's a significant risk you might pay THB 150,000 and still get nothing. 

Don`t know where you live, but here in Germany the risk is close to 0 to get trough the process. 

Here you first apply for the visa and after that you start to COE process.  Haven't heard of any case, where the COE was rejected, if you upload the right flight/ASQ booking & the health insurance.

 

Airports like Frankfurt offer PCR tests, where they guarantee 97% will be done within 12hrs and 99% within 24hrs. If you pay premium, you even get your result within 6hrs.

 

The only small risk is the ASQ thing, but for that you clarify their cancellation-policies before you book it. Some hotels offer free date changes. If there is a problem <72hrs before flying with a cancelled flight/ positive PCR test, there are still enough hotels which rebook it for free or allow to cancel it for 10% of the total price. 

So if someone doesn`t check the cancellation policy and looses 50% or even the full amount, it`s that persons fault .