Is it really allowed now to enter Thailand with visa 30 days waivers?

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

It was advertised that The Thai visa exemption stamp (sometimes referred to colloquially as the 30 day visa stamp)

is again a possibility for those seeking admission to Thailand.

The exemption period is, as of the time of this writing, currently being extended to a total of 45 days

for those arriving in Thailand from certain countries  (for citizens of the 56 countries under 30 days visa waiver, and of course subject to quarantine).

does anyone has experience with that? entered or knows someone who entered Thailand RECENTLY on a 30 days visa

waiver?

i also got an email from the thai embassy confirming this, but want to be sure it is true, before i catch a

long flight filled with corona viruses.

 

 

 

[jackdd]

If the Thai embassy issues you a COE you should be good to go

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

6 minutes ago, jackdd said:

If the Thai embassy issues you a COE you should be good to go

HOW to get this COE?

[ubonjoe]

You apply for a certificate of entry (COE) at a embassy or consulate.

In the US you do it online here. https://thaiembdc.org/onlinevisaapplication/

At others here. https://coethailand.mfa.go.th/

[mtls2005]

Approved by the cabinet on 22 Dec. 

 

Not sure if it's been gazetted yet.

 

In effect unntil 30 Sep 2021.

 

 

Summary based on articles published here on ThaiVisa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Phillip9]

Yes, but you still have to do a 2 week quarantine in an approved hotel, and have covid insurance for the duration of your stay.......and get a COE first as others have mentioned

[Pattaya Spotter]

40 minutes ago, Phillip9 said:

and get a COE first as others have mentioned

The COE is basically a seal of approval that you have met all the Covid requirements to enter Thailand (insurance, quarantine booking, etc.). It's issued last when everything is in place.

[jossthaifarang]

COE is done online in almost every country now, with 3 days pre-approval and 15 days to complete uploading remaining documents. Then issued prior to travelling...

[tomauasia]

8 hours ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

It was advertised that The Thai visa exemption stamp (sometimes referred to colloquially as the 30 day visa stamp)

is again a possibility for those seeking admission to Thailand.

The exemption period is, as of the time of this writing, currently being extended to a total of 45 days

for those arriving in Thailand from certain countries  (for citizens of the 56 countries under 30 days visa waiver, and of course subject to quarantine).

does anyone has experience with that? entered or knows someone who entered Thailand RECENTLY on a 30 days visa

waiver?

i also got an email from the thai embassy confirming this, but want to be sure it is true, before i catch a

long flight filled with corona viruses.

 

 

 

Nothing is approved formally and it's a 45 day exempt to allow ASQ..All other previous conditions remain. No Thailand not open currently 

[tomauasia]

9 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

Approved by the cabinet on 22 Dec. 

 

Not sure if it's been gazetted yet.

 

In effect unntil 30 Sep 2021.

 

 

Summary based on articles published here on ThaiVisa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's not  going to happen until there satisfied with COVID Containment 

[Kalasin Jo]

8 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

The COE is basically a seal of approval that you have met all the Covid requirements to enter Thailand (insurance, quarantine booking, etc.). It's issued last when everything is in place.

Apart from a PCR negative test result,  the much quicker antigen test is not good enough,  and a Doctor's fit to fly certificate both of which must be obtained no more than 72 hrs before your flight and produced at check in. That's quite a challenge, depending on your departure flight date and time, as PCR tests take 48 hours to process. You will be refused check in if you don't have these.

[Pattaya Spotter]

3 minutes ago, Kalasin Jo said:

Apart from a PCR negative test result,  the much quicker antigen test is not good enough,  and a Doctor's fit to fly certificate both of which must be obtained no more than 72 hrs before your flight and produced at check in. That's quite a challenge, depending on your departure flight date and time, as PCR tests take 48 hours to process. You will be refused check in if you don't have these.

3 of my friends have returned from the US in the past 6 weeks so it can be done...not easy or cheap for sure but not impossible. 

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

so i have to pay for a flight, an ASQ hotel and for health insurance, and only than

the damn COE will be approved?

and in case it will not be approved or any other problem, like not getting the PCR fast enough,

  i lose all the booking expenses ??

how stupid that is.

i rather wait in costa rica for few months until all this quarantine nonsense will be cancelled.

 

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

8 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

3 of my friends have returned from the US in the past 6 weeks

they propably did not return on visa waiver be because this is possible only from 22 december - 2 days ago.

[Pattaya Spotter]

8 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

3 of my friends have returned from the US in the past 6 weeks so it can be done...not easy or cheap for sure but not impossible. 

That's correct, they obtained visas. My comments was in regards to the mention of how difficult it was to coordinate all the steps needed to return, especially the medical certificate and testing 72 hours before flying. It can be done.

[Peter Denis]

29 minutes ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

so i have to pay for a flight, an ASQ hotel and for health insurance, and only than

the damn COE will be approved?

and in case it will not be approved or any other problem, like not getting the PCR fast enough,

  i lose all the booking expenses ??

how stupid that is.

i rather wait in costa rica for few months until all this quarantine nonsense will be cancelled.

It is recommended when you apply for the CoE to return to Thailand to:

- Book a flight option that can be postponed or cancelled (e.g. paying the flight ticket with a Golden credit-card often includes free cancellation or re-scheduling);

- Choose an ASQ Hotel that provides free cancellation for a 'no-show' (often at 3 day notice), use a Hotel booking website like Booking.com where free cancellation is often foreseen or can be opted for a small fee;

- Some insurance policies allow you to reschedule policy start-date in case of postponement of your trip. 

>> Taking such precautions is indeed recommended in case there are hickups in the application process.

[Pravda]

44 minutes ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

so i have to pay for a flight, an ASQ hotel and for health insurance, and only than

the damn COE will be approved?

and in case it will not be approved or any other problem, like not getting the PCR fast enough,

  i lose all the booking expenses ??

how stupid that is.

i rather wait in costa rica for few months until all this quarantine nonsense will be cancelled.

 

 

Few months? Good luck with that. Chinese first then you. Maybe 2024

[ubonjoe]

19 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

Approved by the cabinet on 22 Dec. 

Actually the cabinet approved visa exempt entries on the 8th.

Then the 45 day entries were approved on the 22nd.

Embassies and official consulates have already been issuing COE's for visa exempt entries.

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

7 minutes ago, Pravda said:

Chinese first then you. Maybe 2024

no need to be so dramatic.

i think that within few months this whole corona travel restrictions will be over.

the vaccines, combined with herd immunity, will do their work, infections levels will be much lower and

all the world will go back to thailand.

[GroveHillWanderer]

1 hour ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

so i have to pay for a flight, an ASQ hotel and for health insurance, and only than

the damn COE will be approved?

and in case it will not be approved or any other problem, like not getting the PCR fast enough,

  i lose all the booking expenses ??

how stupid that is.

i rather wait in costa rica for few months until all this quarantine nonsense will be cancelled.

 

Airlines and ASQ hotels providing refundable and/or changeable bookings are not difficult to find. 

 

My daughter just returned (and is currently in quarantine) and the several airlines she looked at were offering more or less unlimited rescheduling at "normal" prices and without using any special payment method or card. Also many of the ASQ hotels offer fully refundable and re-bookable packages.

 

As others have said, insurance policy start dates can be altered.

 

So any small scheduling hiccups or delays should not really be a problem in the final analysis.

 

[scorecard]

21 hours ago, ubonjoe said:

You apply for a certificate of entry (COE) at a embassy or consulate.

In the US you do it online here. https://thaiembdc.org/onlinevisaapplication/

At others here. https://coethailand.mfa.go.th/

 

And check here   https://covid19.tgia.org/   for accepted Covid 19 insurance, much cheaper cost.

[Pattaya Spotter]

5 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Other governments just as complex. 

I agree...my 20 years in Thailand have been pretty uneventful. 

[scorecard]

1 hour ago, GroveHillWanderer said:

Airlines and ASQ hotels providing refundable and/or changeable bookings are not difficult to find. 

 

My daughter just returned (and is currently in quarantine) and the several airlines she looked at were offering more or less unlimited rescheduling at "normal" prices and without using any special payment method or card. Also many of the ASQ hotels offer fully refundable and re-bookable packages.

 

As others have said, insurance policy start dates can be altered.

 

So any small scheduling hiccups or delays should not really be a problem in the final analysis.

 

Initially the COE was useable only oh official repatriation flights organized by agencies of the Thai government.

 

However from mid December there's another possibility in terms of what flights are now approved with a COE.

 

These flights are listed here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ijBJOTgFJPAuWUfkPIA60iniXB9j9Ba2XHafXzA6JCw/edit#gid=1066446947  These flights are labelled as 'semi-commercial flights'. 

 

Temp., and other medical checks on arrival still apply, quarantine for 14 days on arrival in Thailand still applies. 

[hotchilli]

2 hours ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

so i have to pay for a flight, an ASQ hotel and for health insurance, and only than

the damn COE will be approved?

and in case it will not be approved or any other problem, like not getting the PCR fast enough,

  i lose all the booking expenses ??

how stupid that is.

i rather wait in costa rica for few months until all this quarantine nonsense will be cancelled.

 

You asked the question... these are times of Covid, did you think you could come as a tourist & skip quarantine?

[Phillip9]

2 hours ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

no need to be so dramatic.

i think that within few months this whole corona travel restrictions will be over.

the vaccines, combined with herd immunity, will do their work, infections levels will be much lower and

all the world will go back to thailand.

 

Keep in mind that the Thai PM has reiterated multiple times that the quarantine will stay in place until the Thai population is vaccinated, and the first vaccine is not expected to be available here for 5-6 months.  Surely it will take many many months after that to get most people vaccinated.  And 90% or more of the population agree with keeping the quarantine.

[scorecard]

12 minutes ago, Phillip9 said:

 

Keep in mind that the Thai PM has reiterated multiple times that the quarantine will stay in place until the Thai population is vaccinated, and the first vaccine is not expected to be available here for 5-6 months.  Surely it will take many many months after that to get most people vaccinated.  And 90% or more of the population agree with keeping the quarantine.

 

Nowadays an interesting subject.

 

On the Australian news this morning (Fri 25 Dec), up to last night over 600,000 UK citizens had been vaccinated (first Jab) and the NHS is expecting to seriously increase the speed and broad geographic coverage of the jabs.

 

Another news mentioned the 600,000 jabs and that there had been just 4 reactions, none of which were serious, all fully recovered without hospitalization within 24 to 48 hrs and with no negative effect of the value of the vaccine.

 

Let's hope this means vaccination of the majority of the world will not take as long as the pessimists were predicting. And of course the whole world population vaccinated (if they want it) quite speedily.

 

Now stand by for the anti-vaxxers and conspiratory theorists. 

 

 

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

57 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

did you think you could come as a tourist & skip quarantine?

many countries wellcome tourists these days with no need for quarantine, tests, COE or any other

thai bullchit. costa rica, mexico, brazil, tourkey, greece, dubai, and more - all open for tourists from all countries

with no need for quarantine, nor insurance nor positive blah blah blah...

thailand took it few steps too far, and is killing itself in trying to save the...what acctually? the corona is allmost over.

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

6 minutes ago, scorecard said:

vaccination of the majority of the world will not take as long

there is no need to vaccinate the majority of the world. enough to vaccinate 60-70% of the population,

or even less, for the pandemic to be over.

[CANSIAM]

21 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

The COE is basically a seal of approval that you have met all the Covid requirements to enter Thailand (insurance, quarantine booking, etc.). It's issued last when everything is in place.

And at airline check in they LOOK at your documents CAREFULLY not glance at them !!  as said it can be done with some effort !

[GroveHillWanderer]

52 minutes ago, SCOTT FITZGERSLD said:

the corona is allmost over.

Based on which trends or figures from which countries? In a large proportion of countries around the world, it's on the rise. That includes Thailand just at the moment.  Although it remains to be seen how things will play out here, (hopefully it's just a minor, soon-to-be-controlled outbreak) - but it could also be the start of a continuing rise in cases.