CCSA offers incentives like visa extension to make up for 14 days lost in quarantine

[ccarbaugh]

... anything having to do with Thai Immigration - as usual, ' as clear as mud.'

[djuiiy]

13 minutes ago, Salerno said:

 

In that case you can come back as as you normally used to (visa-wise that is, obviously quarantine, COE, health insurance etc. still required), visa exempt is even allowed again (45 days instead of 30).

 

Check with the Thai embassy website in UK and ensure you book allowed flights. Also worth keeping an eye on UK travel restrictions to make sure any insurance will be valid.

wow, sounds good, i will investigate. Thanks. I just can't imagine at immigration control :

" what is the purpose of your visit during this world health crisis ? " 
" for a holiday "
" yeah ok, we'll let you in "

I think I need a better reason.
 

[Salerno]

@djuiiy

 

Link to the info on the Embassy website here (info and links on airlines, ASQ etc..

 

Selecting visa exempt at the start of COE aplication from Embassy in London:

 

Escape winter ????

[sandyf]

18 hours ago, bermondburi said:

They just don't get it. You can give all the extra time in the world but no tourist in their right mind is going to pay through the nose to spend 15 nights of their holiday in jail. 

 

I'm in quarantine right now. It's shxx. I'm only doing it because I've got 9 weeks off work and I've not seen my family since January. I'm still pixxxd off at losing those 15 nights. 

 

I came on a 777 with Emirates. There were maybe 30 people on the whole plane. 

 

You can dress it up any way you like but quarantine = no tourists. 

You didn't quite finish.

 

You can dress it up any way you like but quarantine = no tourists = a healthier Thai population.

 

Shame the western countries didn't pay any attention.

[ronaldo0]

Unless they reduce quarantine to 5-7 days no tourists will come ! 

[djuiiy]

16 minutes ago, Salerno said:

@djuiiy

 

Link to the info on the Embassy website here (info and links on airlines, ASQ etc..

 

Selecting visa exempt at the start of COE aplication from Embassy in London:

 

Escape winter ????

Thanks, I will start work on this asap. 

[DogNo1]

Considering the disastrous situation in America, I applaud the Thai government for continuing the strict quarantine procedures.  Take a look at the news from the US.    I don’t want to die alone in a Thai hospital.  Do you?

[MarkyM3]

I'm from the UK. Looking for a minimum 90 day stay and willing to do ASQ. What visa options, if any, are open? 45 days - 15 days in quarantine is not good enough. 

 

Not looking for immediate entry, maybe April or May 2021.

 

UbonJoe?

Edited December 18, 2020 by MarkyM3

[Kalasin Jo]

On 12/17/2020 at 9:49 AM, SGD said:

So the exemption is still 30 days, only extendable once (presumably) for another 30 days and then that is it.

 

No mention of 45 days or 45 + 30 or 45 + 45 or anything else concerning exemption entry.

 

And before you say it, yes I know how to get a visa but I want to go in the next 2 weeks and over Xmas in the UK, there is zero chance of a passport going back and forth and a visa coming back with it.

But surely if you can come in visa exempt and then can  extend that by a further 30 days you can then start the process of obtaining a 1 year extension in country, provided you have stuck the requisite funds in a Thai bank to "season"( I do hate that word in this context). Am I wrong?

[bermondburi]

1 hour ago, sandyf said:

You didn't quite finish.

 

You can dress it up any way you like but quarantine = no tourists = a healthier Thai population.

 

Shame the western countries didn't pay any attention.

In my country of residence quarantine is 3 days. There is no mass outbreak. Numbers are very low and have been for months. They have learned to live with the pandemic and are managing the situation. 

[bermondburi]

1 hour ago, DogNo1 said:

Considering the disastrous situation in America, I applaud the Thai government for continuing the strict quarantine procedures.  Take a look at the news from the US.    I don’t want to die alone in a Thai hospital.  Do you?

In my country of residence quarantine is 3 days. There is no mass outbreak. Numbers are very low and have been for months. They have learned to live with the pandemic and are managing the situation. 

[khunjeff]

3 hours ago, desert dueller said:

As to quarantine, since vaccinated visitors would be asymptomatic, any period of compulsory quarantine would be rendered useless as there would never be a determination of any vaccinated person carrying the virus - and thereby potentially contaminating the unvaccinated population. 

 

I'm not following you. The determination of whether someone is carrying the virus is made by testing, not by whether a person has symptoms. Unless vaccination causes people to register false positives on the virus test - and I haven't heard that to be the case - quarantine is just as useful for vaccinated travelers as it is for those who have not been vaccinated. 

[bermondburi]

47 minutes ago, bermondburi said:

In my country of residence quarantine is 3 days. There is no mass outbreak. Numbers are very low and have been for months. They have learned to live with the pandemic and are managing the situation. 

That's with a 3 day quarantine. Looks okay to me. 

[Blumpie]

Boy,

What market are you going after?  Just so you know, the vast amount of tourism to Thailand is the two week variety.  Not all foreigners have oodles of time to sit around for 14 days before and after in their own countries.  

 

You do realize that for all the writhing that your tourism industry is completely and utterly done right now, and for that matter 2021 too.  Widespread inoculations will not be present for a long long time.  

 

 

[Muzzique]

If you put lipstick on a dead pig it's still a dead pig.

 

No matter how you dress it up, tourism is still dead in Thailand. No tourism till 2022 as I have said many times before and even then, it will never be the same as before.

 

But if these morons don't keep coming up with this <deleted>, everyone will see they don't have a job anymore.

 

So they just keep reapplying make up to the pig, in the hope that you will not see through the disguise. The reality is there nothing for them to do for the next 12 months at least. They have no jobs anymore.

 

Should have laid them off in March and saved all these pointless salaries.

[connda]

On 12/17/2020 at 6:10 PM, batata said:

who is stupid enough to book a 30 day vacation but has the right to enjoy only 15 days out of it  and having to spend the other 15 days in a supervised "jail" and paying for it

They're going to have to ditch New Normal before any sane tourist will return.  Most won't come as long as there is a gauntlet of expensive regulations to follow as well as mandatory jail, errr, quarantine.  And a strong Thai Baht isn't helping matters any.

 

[Blumpie]

18 minutes ago, Muzzique said:

If you put lipstick on a dead pig it's still a dead pig.

 

No matter how you dress it up, tourism is still dead in Thailand. No tourism till 2022 as I have said many times before and even then, it will never be the same as before.

 

But if these morons don't keep coming up with this <deleted>, everyone will see they don't have a job anymore.

 

So they just keep reapplying make up to the pig, in the hope that you will not see through the disguise. The reality is there nothing for them to do for the next 12 months at least. They have no jobs anymore.

 

Should have laid them off in March and saved all these pointless salaries.

2022?

It wouldn't surprise me if it's until 2023.  

I guess it all comes down to what you call "a tourism rebound".  In 2022, you mean 1/5 of the amount of arrivals?  Is that the quantity?  

People are not making money right now.  I can't see it being any more than 1/5, but things are changing so who knows.  Much better, much worse?  One thing is for sure, it' won't be 39 million tourists!  I'm sure that most people agree too.

This is a devastating blow to the economy that will not go away soon.  The elephants kept for their childish silly rides by bozo tourists will continue to starve.  

[The Now Factor]

My country is on the list...wonderful,but that doesn't change the fact the 14 day or 10 day quarantine is still in effect and a non starter.They're dreaming if they think tourists are coming in droves with that hanging over their heads.

[desert dueller]

1 hour ago, khunjeff said:

 

I'm not following you. The determination of whether someone is carrying the virus is made by testing, not by whether a person has symptoms. Unless vaccination causes people to register false positives on the virus test - and I haven't heard that to be the case - quarantine is just as useful for vaccinated travelers as it is for those who have not been vaccinated. 

You are right - and I stand corrected on that one. So, in that case quarantine would still apply to -  and be useful for -  all vaccinated and non-vaccinated arrivals (certified or not). It just underlines my point that unless the host population is fully - or close to fully - vaccinated, any opening of borders is a risk, with or without quarantine. Any vaccination obtained by a foreign arrival is therefore -  under present circumstances - of no benefit. I need to underline that the underlying premise of my comment is the current level of scientific knowledge (as disseminated by Pfizer itself) as to the vaccine's efficacy being limited to blocking symptoms and illness, and not extending to actually fully or partially limiting the vaccinated person's contagious effect on persons in contact. 

[DefaultName]

The condo building I live in normally has a lot of over-wintering Scandinavians.  They get here about October and leave about March, so about 5 months here.  They aren't here, reports are that they wouldn't put up with the quarantine, even for that length of trip.  IMO, as long as it's in place (as it should be) any tourism will be minimal.

[KhaoYai]

On 12/17/2020 at 7:33 AM, webfact said:

Meanwhile, tourists who arrive on cruise ships and complete their 14-day quarantine on board will be allowed to extend their visa by another 15 days. The CCSA said that under the current 30-day visa, tourists only have 15 days to travel around after they have completed their 14-day quarantine.

Is the whole article poor reporting, poor information or both - confused here. Surely those arriving on a cruise ship don't pass through immigration until they leave the ship - after quarantine?  If that's correct then they wouldn't they get the full 30 days in any case?  Also, I wish they would stop saying 14 days quarantine - its 15 and I've heard in some cases, 16.

 

On 12/17/2020 at 7:33 AM, webfact said:

Tourists have until December 29 to apply for the 15-day visa extension.

So this is a 'one off' then - I thought the previous mentions of this stated the proposal was to extend visa exempt entries to 45 days to allow for quarantine.  If this ends on 29 December, what's the point?

 

On 12/17/2020 at 7:33 AM, webfact said:

Meanwhile, tourists who are unable to travel within the time period specified in the certificate of entry (CoE) will be granted an extra 24 hours. If the travel can be completed within 72 hours after the original timeframe, then a new CoE will not be required.

That's the only part of this announcement that seems sensible and understandable.

[davee58]

39 minutes ago, desert dueller said:

You are right - and I stand corrected on that one. So, in that case quarantine would still apply to -  and be useful for -  all vaccinated and non-vaccinated arrivals (certified or not). It just underlines my point that unless the host population is fully - or close to fully - vaccinated, any opening of borders is a risk, with or without quarantine. Any vaccination obtained by a foreign arrival is therefore -  under present circumstances - of no benefit. I need to underline that the underlying premise of my comment is the current level of scientific knowledge (as disseminated by Pfizer itself) as to the vaccine's efficacy being limited to blocking symptoms and illness, and not extending to actually fully or partially limiting the vaccinated person's contagious effect on persons in contact. 

My understanding is that the scientists need to prove that vaccinated people cannot spread Covid-19 rather than just assume.

 

Once vaccination becomes widespread the statistics will become available, and international guidance issued for some or all vaccines.

 

At that point Covid-19 may well be treated like yellow fever, once you have proof of vaccination you should be free to travel.

[desert dueller]

2 minutes ago, davee58 said:

My understanding is that the scientists need to prove that vaccinated people cannot spread Covid-19 rather than just assume.

 

Once vaccination becomes widespread the statistics will become available, and international guidance issued for some or all vaccines.

 

At that point Covid-19 may well be treated like yellow fever, once you have proof of vaccination you should be free to travel.

I agree. Until such evidence / proof / data is available, the default position is that humans will continue to potentially spread the virus, even if vaccinated. The degree or level of contagiousness might vary and decrease after vaccination, it might not. This aspect of vaccination is extremely important for destination countries that have a limited ability to achieve a 100% vaccination level of their population. Travel between developed nations, ie Europe, might be back to normal soon, travel to less developed ones might take years to fully recover.

[bermondburi]

1 hour ago, desert dueller said:

You are right - and I stand corrected on that one. So, in that case quarantine would still apply to -  and be useful for -  all vaccinated and non-vaccinated arrivals (certified or not). It just underlines my point that unless the host population is fully - or close to fully - vaccinated, any opening of borders is a risk, with or without quarantine. Any vaccination obtained by a foreign arrival is therefore -  under present circumstances - of no benefit. I need to underline that the underlying premise of my comment is the current level of scientific knowledge (as disseminated by Pfizer itself) as to the vaccine's efficacy being limited to blocking symptoms and illness, and not extending to actually fully or partially limiting the vaccinated person's contagious effect on persons in contact. 

Borders open for 4 months already with a negative test before travel and a 3 day quarantine on arrival provided test after 2 days on arrival is negative. 

Looks good to me. A very manageable risk. We have to learn to live with virus, it's going to be with us for a long time. Of course Thailand can do whatever it likes, but it shouldn't be surprised that it loses out further down the line. 

[Freigeist365]

There's more lost to quarantine than just "time"... they don't really get it do they? ☹️

[RR2020]

2 hours ago, davee58 said:

My understanding is that the scientists need to prove that vaccinated people cannot spread Covid-19 rather than just assume.

 

Once vaccination becomes widespread the statistics will become available, and international guidance issued for some or all vaccines.

 

At that point Covid-19 may well be treated like yellow fever, once you have proof of vaccination you should be free to travel.

 

I am free to travel now !!!!!!!!!!

 

Lots of countries in the world are open.............there is the world out there.   I have been in 5 countries this year, and off to another soon and then another in January.  All is fine in the world, some countries have sensible entry requirements.........some are crazy.

 

And one hopes reciprocity will be applied...........so any country demanding vaccine certificates will be hit with the rest of the world banning their citizens from entry unless they also have a vaccine certificate.  Reciprocity is the best leveller.

 

 

[kg1947]

Closed until November 2021 , regardless of the bureaucratic mumbo jumbo .

by then - 90% of small tourist related business will have disappeared .

HCQ is still blocked as OTC , must use expensive hospital procedures to get it .

Big Pharma is obviously still in control . Then the Insurance industry still

wringing their hands with " extra premiums " , as if the " retired expats " can 

freely print money in their basement ..... 

[Melik82]

Some of you guys need to chill out, a lot of country’s round the world are closed to tourism completely at the moment, a lot of them being in Asia and Thailand is opening up slowly so why so much complaining it’s better than nothing!! If you really want to go there you can! If not then chill out. Thailand knows they won’t get big numbers of tourists with the long quarantine but they never said they would and it’s better than nothing at the moment. I respect them trying to open slowly like I said a lot of other Asian county’s are completely closed to tourists in these current times 

[smew]

AGAIN confusing as hell:

 

 

Visa on arrival (VoA), however, is still suspended until the Covid-19 situation gets better.

 

and at the same time:

 

The CCSA has also issued a new list of 56 countries and territories whose citizens do not require a visa and can live in the Kingdom for up to 30 days. The countries are: Andorra, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bahrain, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Latvia, Principality of Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Monaco, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, San Marino, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Republic of Slovenia, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States of America, Peru, Hong Kong, and Vietnam.

[Salerno]

13 minutes ago, smew said:

AGAIN confusing as hell:

 

Not confusing at all.

 

There has always been VOA and Visa Exempt, they are two different things. They have now reinstated Visa Exempt, VOA is still not an option.

Edited December 18, 2020 by Salerno